Lanny couldn't remember the last time his truck was so clean. There was no lingering smell of old soda or fries, nothing shifting around in the back seat when he drove (aside from his luggage, of course), and the bunnies that cleared out his clutter even pulled down the air fresheners that piled up behind his rearview mirror. Additionally, they got the vacuum from Gideon's house out to the road with a few extension cords to suck up any debris off the truck's floor (he couldn't pull into the Greys' driveway since the sheer size of his vehicle would have crushed the fence and mailbox).
As he drove from Preds' Corner to the outskirts of Bunnyburrow Proper, he nearly bounced in his seat with giddy anticipation for the cinnamon rolls which Nick so slyly hinted at, having purposefully made a show of sending off a text message to Gideon as he did. The lion would enjoy the baked goods on his drive back into the city, but then his mood took a dip when the dashboard-mounted phone chimed with a traffic alert.
"Uh oh," cooed a voice in the back of Lanny's mind, causing his jaw and knuckles to clench, "That can't be good."
It doesn't exist, it's imaginary, Lanny repeated to himself, eyes darting to the quieted (maybe muted…) interactions between the two rabbits and the fox sharing the front bench of his truck, It doesn't exist, it's imaginary…
"Hey, I get it, you're stressed out and still grappling with the idea that you just might be teetering off the deep end," said the unnervingly calm and amiable voice of a giant, glowing blue fox that Lanny knew floated directly behind him. The lion was fairly big for his species, and except for polar bears, tigers, elephants, and rhinos, didn't expect others to be bigger still. But the blue fox was not only taller but broader and looked more than capable of throwing Lanny over his shoulder like a cub. He didn't begin that big, either, but rather normal sized and then just kind of grew… such an implication that its hold on his mind strengthened was not a comforting thought, either. "You should take a look at that traffic alert, though… could be important, couldn't it?" was insisted.
After kneading the steering wheel, a tawny paw unlocked from its grip to jab a wary finger at the alert on his phone: "Zootopia Sound Highway expected to experience high volume commercial traffic. Drivers are advised to avoid the ZSH for the remainder of the afternoon," it read. ...Crud, Lanny rued with a powerful, if gravelly exhale. He then cleared his throat when he noticed his three passengers staring up at him.
"They know…" the imaginary fox dramatically revealed, "They know that you have a 'Dawson'."
You don't exist, therefore, you don't have a name, Lanny argued, his jaw clenching tighter, Hallucinations do not have names! He then turned an awkward smile towards the rabbits and red, real fox, "Oh, don't mind me. I just found out that the ZSH isn't safe for non-commercial drivers, at least for the afternoon. I guess I'm staying in Bunnyburrow until nightfall."
"Bummer about that, Lanny," Bo sympathized, "But hey, you could always hang with us at the TBR? The Lookers shipped out hours ago, at least the bulk of them, so if anyone's still skulking about," he said, and thumped his chest proudly, "Just point them my way, and I'll take care of them."
"Really?" wondered Lanny.
"You betcha! Sheriff Longmare put her hoof down to 'either come for the TBR or go home, none of this Missing Prince business'. Apparently, there were more than a few lions, like yourself, voicing complaints about the Lookers harassing them."
"Now I feel kind of silly hiding from them all of yesterday," he muttered, "I guess it couldn't hurt to enjoy myself for a few hours… I snuck a few smells and sounds, and it really did seem fun…"
"'Every cloud has a silver lining'," Judy agreed, and then exchanged a curiously knowing glance with Nick, "We'll make a day of it! If you've never been to a farm fair out in Bunnyburrow, then you are in for a treat. I went to the TBR back when I was six, and I still cherish those memories today."
"I spent almost all of yesterday afternoon walking the grounds - only walking it - and haven't covered half of what there was to see," Bo enthusiastically reported.
"I spent all that time sleeping, but in the hike from the parking lot to the tractor pull, I was actually a little excited to check it out myself," Nick confessed, and then pinched his fingers together, "And not only for the over-abundance of foods available, which you'll now have the chance to partake in," he said before shifting gears in the conversation as he began to wonder, "Still, it sounds like a lot of commercial traffic on the ZHS…"
"Knotash moving trucks," said the blue fox.
"Must be those moving trucks from Knotash," said the red fox.
Lanny said nothing, only grunting in curious affirmation of the logical leap matching his own, one such in a long line of increasingly frequent chains of induction since he woke up that morning. Every other fiber of his being, however, dedicated itself to ignoring the minor psychosis that he managed to sequester to the back of his mind.
"I know I said they'd be 'gone by the afternoon', but I figured it would be closer to evening," worried the brown bunny, "I guess those from Knotash want to leave Bunnyburrow before sundown."
"To get all of those trucks out here so quickly, though, and going over the Felix's ears, no less," Judy picked up, "City-bunnies are sticklers for schedules, more so than us out in the country, so to execute such a drastic change in the timetable…"
Bo grumbled in thought. "You know, I'd bet it's all those raven sightings I heard about over the radio," he realized, and turned up his walkie-talkie a bit louder to listen in, "Nothing recent since this morning, but if I know my Tenets, all those prim city-bunnies are quaking at the thought of so many ill omens."
"Fear is an excellent motivator," said the girl bunny, "Mr. Barley should be able to keep things running smoothly, though, I hope."
"Definitely. If anyone can organize a panicked, mass exodus, he can," Bo said, "I feel like I should be there helping, but my duty is to keep an eye on Nick-"
"Nick and ravens, hmm…" mused the glowing blue fox. Lanny glanced at the lounging red fox (notably, not glowing), suspicion warring with the profound gratitude that he felt for him, considering the tremendous, emotional load Nick only just helped him with back at the hospital.
"Mr. Barley was very clear on that," the boy bunny concluded, and then grinned, "No more 'communing with specters', right Gloves?"
"I do hereby swear off all supernatural activity," Nick assured, holding up a lazy paw, "until it directly benefits me and the cost not too steep. I am a practical fox, after all."
"But what about wolves and ravens?" the imaginary fox continued, "Wolves like the Mallupes."
"Well…" Lanny muttered under his breath, "There was that… Lory Mallupe you spoke with earlier. She had ravens following her."
Both bunnies looked at Nick. Nick looked back with a roll of his eyes, "I really don't see what that has to do with anything. 'Raven' was never even mentioned in the few words of small talk we exchanged, and neither did I so much as imply that I needed anything from her," he briskly explained, "Again, the ravens have absolutely nothing to do with me, and I'll thank you lot to stop resting all blame on yours truly."
"Alright, sorry…" replied Lanny, shying at the furrowed, sidelong glance of the fox.
"Well, you act behind the scenes so much, Slick, it's no wonder you're suspected as often as you are," Judy retorted, "It wouldn't kill you to operate out in the open every once in a while, or at the very least include someone else in whatever you've got planned."
"I…" Nick began cautiously, shying some at the harsher gaze of the gray bunny, "told… Lanny, as it so happens. And Gid," he boasted, "See? Already, that's two others I've included in my mid-morning scheming which - I'd like to add - is already concluded with a confirmation text from Esther. And, all before either you or Bo showed up. So, there."
Bo groaned, "Nick, I was hoping that you wouldn't cause trouble before I got to Preds' Corner…"
"This is exactly why Chief Bogo mixes chamomile tea in with his coffee," Judy berated in equal parts frustration and amusement.
"Watch, he's going to ask for your help next," said the blue fox.
"Lanny, how about a little back up for your fellow predator over here?" said the red fox.
"You…" the lion proceeded to answer after a calming breath, "have a way of complicating things, Nick, and granted you also manage to figure everything out in the end. It can get… confusing for those of us that, perhaps, need some more time to… understand, I guess?"
"Hmm…" Nick considered, "I do tend to go a bit faster than others, don't I."
"And that's all I'm saying," Judy concurred, and then touched her partner's arm, "Just… say your plans aloud sometimes, that way the rest of us can help you in them."
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, looking from Judy and then to Lanny, and then to Bo, "And you're in agreement, Punch?"
"Oh my stars, yes," he blurted out as nonchalantly as possible, "If it was at all possible to get a guide or a manual to how your brain works, I'd be sure to always keep one within arm's reach," and then gestured accordingly to the truck's own convenience-based container of the front seat, "Ideally, I'd keep it in the in the 'Gloves' compartment."
The cab of the truck lingered for a split second before Nick sputtered and covered his mouth as it split open to join the lion in a sudden round of uproarious guffaws. Judy followed suit soon enough in the diffusion of a mildly tense situation… mild for the passengers, at least, since Lanny's nerves were being ridden by the disembodied voice that was, also, laughing; merrily, but still laughing such that Lanny felt the need to drown it out with his own.
"I walked right into that one…" Nick commended and wiped the corner of his eye, but soon held out both his paws over Judy's head in presentation to Bo, "Up-high, double this time," he offered and was paid a dual clap of palms (and even though slightly crowded, Judy squeaked a giggle of approval).
"And," Bo proceeded to say, "do you promise that you didn't employ the help of ravens today?"
Nick smiled and held out his paws in acceptance, "May lightning strike me down if I did."
Judy beamed and then tugged the seatbelt she and Bo shared for enough slack to slip out from it and stand in his lap. "Brace," she instructed, and his brown mitts crossed over her haunches to secure her stance as she looked out over dashboard, "Thank you," she sweetly added before saying, "Alright, Lanny, you'll want to take a left up here. Your GPS will use the direct road to Gid's bakery, but there's a good chance that Tad's pawn shop is still under investigation, not to mention the lookie-loos from the neighbors. Best to avoid it for now."
"They must have found contraband in his inventory, or something," Bo reasoned.
"There is a lot of his stuff to go through, trust me on this, and I do not envy the deputy that drew the short straw on this one," Nick reviled, "To top it all off, his cousin is a drug dealer and smuggler from the city - that he obviously kept in contact with - so I wouldn't doubt if the sheriff's office tripped over 'something' in that quaint little shop of his."
"Hey, let's ask Nick what Tad was up to," the hallucination suggested to Lanny, "Dr. Honey's thoughts on the matter were just a teensy bit confusing, weren't they?"
I don't need to know what Tad did, Lanny asserted, He kidnapped Nick, and Gideon's sister, that's all I know about; that's all that concerns me.
"Yeah, but you're the only one of your friends here that doesn't, aren't you? I'm sure half of Bunnyburrow knows, and that's only because the other half is visiting."
"I don't need to know!" Lanny asserted again, but aloud.
"I feel ya', Freight, believe me, I do," Nick immediately responded, "but the fact of the matter is, I was the one that found out he was still at it," and shuddered in his seat before glowering out the window, "It makes one's pelt crawl." He grunted as Judy nimbly hopped from Bo's lap to his.
"Brace," she again instructed, and got a weary sigh as 'gloved' paws held her waist so that she might look out the passenger's side window, "Slow down a smidgeon, please?" she requested of the driver. Through the buildings to the street on the other side, the taped-up building of the Antiquities & Pawn Shop of Tad Wooler sat with a cruiser bearing the sensible brown and unmistakable insignia of the sheriff's office. "Oh, that's Deputy Catmull!" Judy identified, watching as a cougar in the broad-brimmed hat and jacket of his profession walked out to his vehicle with a stack of boxes that, from the distance, definitely looked like they were labeled as "evidence", "His younger brother Bobby and I went to school together at Woodlands."
"Guess he 'drew the short straw'," Bo reasoned.
"Doubtful," Nick replied.
"Considering what that 'evidence' likely is, it might call his objectivity into question," Judy deduced, "Good chance he's only retrieving it so that someone like Officer Legrande can look through it, instead."
"Legrande, Legrande…" the glowing blue fox pondered, "Why, that's the giraffe with the stuck-up attitude, isn't it? Of course, he wouldn't be the one to retrieve the evidence, not if he can't fit inside the shop, and there are no giraffe-sized vehicles in sight, either; those things are kind of hard to miss. The 'evidence' must have something to do with Deputy Catmull, but that was a lot of stuff to bring out, wasn't it? And he's going back in to get more, so it can't just be him… maybe it's to do with cougars or just predators in general."
Hey, how about you stop talking for a bit, okay? Or better yet, go away entirely, the lion rebuked, forcing himself to look out the driver-side window while his truck idled.
"No can do, champ, I am a burning question snuggled into your brain-meats, and like it or not, I'm not going anywhere until I've run my course. But hey! At least we're talking now, right? I'd call that pro~gress!" the hallucination announced in a festive, singsong tone.
The lion twisted where he sat to glare into the back seat and its abundant vacancy. "No one behind us," he confirmed aloud and turned forward again to release his foot from the brake pedal and shift gears, "To Gid's bakery?"
"To Gid's bakery, yes," Nick placidly agreed, exchanging concern with Judy as she slipped back under the seat belt alongside Bo.
"We're not far from it," the gray bunny reported.
"Are you feeling alright, Lanny?" asked the brown bunny, "You keep growling under your breath… was it something I, or we, said…?"
Quiet followed for a bit. "I'm fine."
"You are not fine, your tail is twitchy," Bo pointed out, and it indeed was, so the lion pinned it to the seat with a clap of his paw, "I'm sure Judy and Nick are being considerate of your feelings, but when I can tell that there's something bugging you, then it's got to be bad. C'mon, buddy, we're here for you."
"Oh dear… legit concern for your emotional state… that'll be a tricky one to shrug off…" the blue fox said with some mixture of sincerity and snark.
The stony lion kneaded and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel before he answered, or at least, responded, "I know, it's just…" By that time he'd pulled into the empty lot behind Gideon's bakery and turned off his truck, the lazy growl which heralded its resting state also muted Lanny's own esophageal worrying.
"Hey, Judy, Bo," Nick spoke up as Lanny remained reluctant, "Give us a minute?" He insisted as politely as he could to the questioning purple and suspicious hazel eyes while also insisting to the best of his ability, an endeavor aided by a less veiled expression that he projected towards the empathic Judy, "Please?" After a round of unbuckled seat belts, he opened the passenger-side door so that the bunnies could both shuffle out, sporting their own variation of uncertainty, and then he closed the door again to walk across the seat and sit nearer the lion.
"I'm fine," Lanny languidly repeated, arms crossed over the top of the steering wheel.
"Except for that glowing blue fox you told me about," Nick responded. Neither he nor Lanny looked at each other, but were instead thinking aloud and uncaring if they were overheard.
"I have him… it under control."
Green eyes watched the clouds drifting by outside for a moment. "I reckon you spent a lot of time fending for yourself, so the trust you have in your own sanity is something you especially value. A fine sentiment, until you encounter something that goes against it," Nick eventually said, finally addressing the larger predator.
"Clever fox; you are an open book to him, aren't you?" came the imaginary voice yet again, except it wasn't sitting in the back seat, oh no, it was in the front seat and on the other side of an unsuspecting Nick. He wasn't any smaller, and was still done up - or rather, not done up at all - like those naturalists from the Mystic Springs Oasis; interestingly, he had something dangling down the front of his chest which Lanny figured was something of a beard (he'd seen them on lions, goats, and other such mammals with fluffier fur beneath the chin) and numerous… swirls or markings all over his body which Lanny couldn't make heads-or-tails of, but guessed were tattoos of some kind.
"He said something just now, didn't he?" Nick immediately reacted to another clenching of Lanny's jaw.
"…No."
"You're lying. What did he say?"
"He… it! It didn't say anything, Nick," the lion denied, only then addressing the smaller, redder, realer fox.
"Another lie," Nick said matter-of-factly, and stood up in the seat to look Lanny in the eye; as best he could, anyway, "So you know, I'm-"
"A walking lie detector," the faux fox promptly inserted.
"Probably a walking lie detector, right?" the lion shot back, "Alright, fine, yes, a giant, glowing blue fox is telling me things, things I would've never realized before, and quite frankly…" he began in anger, but collided his forehead upon the folded paws, "I'm scared. It… he showed up yesterday, and he wasn't any bigger than you are now, but I nearly hit a tree after jumping out of my fur when he popped out of thin air. And now he's bigger than I am, so I guess that means the Night Howler is getting worse, but I'm not exhibiting any withdrawal symptoms which, I'd like to point out, I am very familiar with; I've seen it in others plenty of times during my night shifts at Lions Gate General," he sighed and rubbed his forehead against his wrists, "The real issue was we talked for a bit before I even considered that he wasn't actually there, like…"
"Like he was always there?"
"Yes!" Lanny admitted, sitting upright again, paws spread in bewildered revelation, "He was insightful and witty, but yet I can't remember who he is or where I saw him. For crying out loud, Nick, he has a smell!"
"Hey, come on, I'm sitting right here," the hallucination said.
Nick's eyebrows about shot off his face, "Okay, that's a new one for me, because Dawson's only been an audio/visual nuisance by my experience."
"The truly confusing part is the smell reminds me of…" he began, but clasped his paws together and ground the bridge of his nose into his joined thumbs, "This isn't going to make any sense, but his smell reminds me of my uncle…"
"Who is a lion," Nick dully recalled.
"A fox that smells like a lion, yes," Lanny grumbled, "It's my green-eyed uncle, I'm sure of it, the same lion who…" he grumbled again and lurched with disbelief, "Who rescued me from a car accident that never happened?" He slung his arm back over the truck's seat and stared out the window, grinding his fist into the arch of the steering wheel, "I still remember the fire and smoke, Nick, so my green-eyed uncle saved me from something, but why does some ghost fox smell like him?"
Nick's paws wheeled some as he seemed in search of an answer. "Maybe… it's some kind of memory association. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a head doctor or a biologist, I only know mammals that are, but one thing I do know about this new Night Howler drug is that it does wonky things to your brain. So, maybe it represents something else, like…" he began, but then promptly stopped talking. When Lanny looked at him, the red fox reached up to adjust his tie but cleared and rubbed his throat, instead.
"He's got that look again~" the glowing fox said with a high lilt, "Like he keeping a secret~"
"Like?" pressed Lanny.
"Like," Nick continued, ears splayed back and sparing glances at the lion, "your conscience, except you can actually hear, see and - in your case - smell it."
"Who's a 'liar' now, hmm?" poised Lanny's 'Dawson', grinning though he was.
Lanny's face hardened. "Were you going to say something else, Nick?"
Nick rubbed his chin and hooded his eyes, and then smiled with a limp flicking of his pointed finger. "You know, I should be scared when a lion looks at me like that, but…" he mused, and with a quick step back along the front seat and a half-pivot of his hips, his tail swept behind him in a wide arc as he then stood in the passenger's spot, and leaned back on the door when the leonine nurse opened his eyes again after a hard blink. "That glowing blue fox was sitting right behind me, wasn't he? That's why you kept glancing over my shoulder and stopped clenching your jaw. You were listening to him."
"Ooh, he is good," whispered the imaginary voice, but had since retreated from whence it came: to the back of Lanny's mind.
The lion stared crestfallen and yet oddly hopeful. "Can you… make him go away, or teach me how to make him shut up…?" Lanny quietly asked, "I've already swatted at him but it doesn't help much."
Nick shrugged his narrow shoulders with a narrow smile, "I cannot 'make' anyone do anything, only convince them that it's in their best interest to help me. What you have is a certain slyness that you've picked up as a cub by dodging the Lookers. I'd bet you keep a low profile at the docks where you work, right? Head down, chin up, ears forward-" he went on.
"Actually, I'm the alpha for the pride I'm in, even though I'm only there part-time."
The fox seemed stunned a moment, and put a paw on his hip, "You are, are you. So, you're… bigger and louder than the other lions there."
Lanny laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "No, no… Well, not louder, I just challenged the previous alpha and won, even though he was bigger than me at the time. He's my 'beta' now, and deals directly with the foremammal, union rep, a number of the other alphas… he found that it was easier to get things done with my authority than his."
As he grinned and sauntered back across the front seat, Nick propped an elbow atop the tawny shoulder in masterful casualness, "There's something to be said for being a 'behind the scenes' leader," he wondered aloud, "So, you won an alpha challenge against a larger, older lion. Do go on."
After a quick blink, Lanny softly grinned and glanced up with a scratch at his cheek, "Well… I used to work at the docks as a teenager. Pridelands is really good about giving us cubs after-school jobs, because that's how Memphis King started; he built the company up from nothing, you know, and the docks were very laissez faire, almost anarchic before he came along, ran mostly by the mafia," he explained to a patient nodding from Nick, "Anyway, this older lion, Terry McManee, took me under his wing because unlike the others, I was an orphan; I didn't even have a foster family, and he became my 'uncle', of sorts. He's got blue eyes, by the way, and likes to braid his mane down the center," Lanny quickly specified, and drew a line from his chin to sternum, "He encouraged me to go to college, and so I followed his brother, Keith, who was the then breath-of-life nurse for Lions Gate General.
"When I got my nursing degree I didn't want to just leave the docks, I practically grew up there, but I couldn't just come back either, so… I challenged my uncle for the position of alpha. And like I said, he was bigger than me at the time, but I knew he also loved me and still saw me as a cub. In prep for the challenge, I wore two shirts, both really old and a size too small. By the way, what do you know about alpha challenges, Nick?" he asked.
"Feats of strength, speed, or stamina, staring contests, the sort of stuff you see at the 'Mr. Zootopia' competitions," Nick detailed offhandedly.
Lanny chuckled, "That's pretty much what I challenged him to, a good, ol' fashioned stare down. He took off his shirt and flexed and growled, you know, normal posturing stuff. When it was my turn, I purposefully left both shirts on, and since they were tight and worn out, I flexed and burst through the outer one for effect, and when everyone watching was still reeling, I then burst through the undershirt and growled louder. I defiantly squared my shoulders, standing there in tatters and him in shock, which about cemented my position as alpha, especially with all the other big cats watching. He still handles all of the actual alpha duties but with my authority, and since I'm now bigger than he is, it actually works out rather well," he explained, and then chuckled, trading the fox smirk-for-smirk, "What?"
"I mean this in the best possible way, Freight, but lions are not the subtlest mammals in the world, but what I just heard has to be the slyest I've ever heard a lion be," Nick began, "In fact, I would bet my tail - which is a fancy, fox-way of saying 'There's no possible way I can be wrong on this' - that you knew a fox sometime in your cubhood, before you lost your memory. There's a good chance the blue glow connects directly to them, in some way, maybe a blue light, or a blue sweater."
"My…" the lion began.
"Say it…" the glowing blue fox anticipated.
"My 'Dawson', for lack of a better word," he begrudged, to which the imaginary voice quietly cheered, "is based off someone from my past, like… a friend?"
"It might not even be a boy, could be a girl," Nick suggested, "And he or she might be part of a memory when you realized something about yourself, something that you came to terms with, that is part of the core of who you are," he began with dramatic flair, and then continued casually, "I'm guessing it was happy, though, otherwise this whole Dawson thing would be a much harder experience."
"Well, let's see now… I haven't known a lot of foxes, so when would I have…?" Lanny began, brow furrowing some as he thought back, lightly clapping his denim thighs.
"Found something!" echoed the voice in the back of his mind.
Lanny's eyes widened and pupils narrowed as he gasped high, and then clapped his face with both paws, even bringing his legs up as far as he could while in the cramped space behind the steering wheel…
Nick reeled, ears pinned and frown falling off his jaw as it tried to get as far away from his eyebrows as possible. "Lanny…?" he attempted, reaching for the shoulder of the sudden ball of quaking tawny muscle crammed into the driver's seat. No, no no no! raced his mind, grabbing at his skull, eyes scanning and head whipping to look for any kind of water-filled container, A water bottle, a bucket… a fire extinguisher, anything!
This wasn't supposed to happen; he wasn't supposed to go back to pred-therapy! Nick about panicked, 'Happy thoughts', 'girl fox', 'before you lost your memory', what part of this brought you back there? he worried still, You were filled with confidence talking about being an alpha, hope and love talking about your uncle, pride from graduating as a nurse; you're not supposed to spiral into insanity from that!
Healing hugs! the fox suddenly thought up in his desperation, and threw himself around… onto the lion's shoulder, reaching as far about his neck as he could, soothingly stroking the back of his cropped mane. The last thing I need to deal with is an emotional basket case of a lion locked inside a truck, and even before I got to eat any of Gideon's cinnamon rolls… "Okay, it's okay, Lanny," Nick said in his most comforting, fatherly tone, "I'm right here, everything's fine, just tell me what it is, okay?"
As Nick's cheek pressed to Lanny's, he paused and looked at the brilliantly red ears of the lion, Wait a minute… "Hey, uh… Freight… are you blushing?"
Crimson eyes peeked around tawny digits, and it was clear that the lion's fur could not hide the hot rush of blood inside his face, which soon matched the surrounding mane in color. "I…" he whispered, paws gradually lowering until his padded fingertips brushed at his dark lips, "I think… I just…" he stammered, "I think I just remembered my first kiss…"
Nick slumped atop the lion's frame a bit, arms dangling as he sighed, I am both relieved and annoyed by this situation, he lamented, and clapped the broad back, "That's great to hear, Freight, I'm happy for you." Ears from either predator flicked towards the passenger-side door as it flung open, and through it, a bolt of gray streaked to land atop Lanny's knee.
It was Judy, starry-eyed and gushing adorable adoration. "Tell, tell!" the girl bunny beseeched of the utterly thunderstruck lion, her voice high but sweet as she held his mitt-of-a-paw. Suffice to say, any negativity that dared linger was thusly dispersed by the meteoric, emotional beacon that was Judy Hopps.
"We were not eavesdropping," Bo declared while climbing through the open door.
"Mainly Jude was, on account of her worryin'," Gideon explained, also standing right outside, who then smiled as he held up a box with his bakery's logo on it, "I got the cinnamon rolls y'all asked for."
The camera on Travis's phone shuttered before he admired the picture he took of the three inside the truck, thumbs then tapping at the screen, "That's going up on Fuzzbook. By the way, hi Nick."
"Bo, Gid, Travis," Nick listed off, as he walked across the front seat and stooped down to retrieve the box and a pawful of napkins… but then reached out to close the door.
Except Bo was already in the truck and extending his arm to keep the door open, effortlessly. "They requested a ride to the TBR, and I'm going to ask Lanny as soon as he's available," the boy bunny said… smugly so.
"By the way, this is my bestest friend from when I was a kit: Travis Blackfoot," Gideon introduced.
"And newly brought back together as adults," the ferret added, leaning over to wave at the lion, who smiled and waved back, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Oh, uh, hiya. And yeah, they can come, that's not a problem," the lion said, perhaps a bit shyly, daintily picking Judy up by her waist to set her on the adjacent seat. She still bounced on the balls of her feet as she looked at him.
Nick grimaced, eyes hooded and eyebrows arching, but then he grinned all the same as he set the cinnamon rolls on the dashboard before lowering the back of the seat, thus providing access to his fellow small predators, "Well, if word-on-high deems it so, then who am I but a humble fox, yada yada, get in here already."
"So… Judy and/or Nick and/or Lanny… what was it that lit a fire under your cottontail?" Travis asked, standing in the backseat and leaning forward on the front.
Judy beamed hopefully at Lanny. Lanny blushed still, but it was only visible in his ears. "Well…" he softly smiled and touched the tips of his index fingers together as Nick closed the door. Quite clearly nervous but also glancing between the green-eyed fox and the purple-eyed bunny to find support, he took a deep breath. "I… have retrograde amnesia… everything before puberty is a blur, at best," he admitted, and from the looks of it, felt a bit lighter as he gazed about at the anticipatory faces, "But… I just remembered something from when I can't have been much older than six, maybe seven… and that was my first kiss."
The cab of the truck broke out in supportive adulations and praise, either from those, like Nick and Judy, who were aware that a mysterious trauma blacked out his past, or Gideon and Bo, who considered him a good friend, or Travis, who knew how to read a room and act accordingly; but all, it seemed, were genuinely happy for him.
"Okay, so, details," Judy requested, and was once more holding the lion's paws, or rather, his thumbs.
"Let's not overwhelm him, Juju," Bo cautioned.
"It's alright, I want to get this memory out in the open," Lanny then said, "I don't remember her face, because I think my eyes were closed, but I remember her smell, and her voice, and the… the feel of her lips… She was a lioness, like me, and I think she was also my best friend, or one of them because there was another lion cub with me, I remember his scent, too… I think he dared me to kiss her, and her friend dared her to kiss me… It's just a gut feeling I have, because I felt urged to do it but also really hesitant," the lion said quietly, and then glanced up at Nick, "and I think… I think her friend was actually a fox."
Gideon 'whoop'-ed knowingly and exchanged a smirk with his cousin and then with his kithood friend, the three smaller predators all sharing in some cabal-esque secret, "Dared by a fox."
Travis grunted and rubbed his chin in amusement, "Us shiftier folk do not lightly dare, no sir, and foxes doubly so. What a precarious situation you must have been in, Lanny," he casually mentioned, "Still, that's one sly little vixen, palling around with and daring lions."
"Yes," mused Nick, tail swishing behind him as he reached up for the cinnamon rolls and napkins to allocate them, using the baked treats as a distraction so that he could directly address Lanny, And hopefully, your Dawson is listening in, "How unique," and spared him a single wink of the eye. As he hoped, Lanny's lips gradually puckered in thought as his eyes brightened… and then he smirked, likewise sparing a single wink. Message received, Nick pondered, There aren't many foxes in cahoots with lions, even if from several years ago, so that should narrow down the search for his past.
"Alright," Judy determined, plopping herself down as Bo buckled them both in, "We've still got plenty of afternoon left to enjoy the TBR."
Nick leaned up and hooked his arm around the back of the seat with a grin, "Do either of you have any plans for later on this evening?"
Gideon grinned and shook his head, "No sirree! I'm with you, Stretch, looking forward to checking out all those int'resting food stands, maybe get a few ideas for my pastries."
Travis sighed and shrugged, "I need to be back by sundown, or thereabouts. Exotic fish-sitting, and all; such a pain…"
"Well, don't worry your pretty little head about it, Trav, we'll get you back to those lovely fishies in due time," said Nick.
"On the way to the TBR, would you be open to… filling me in on some around-town rumors?" the ferret requested with more than a subtle lilt to his voice.
Nick first glanced at Gideon and got an apologetic but amiable shrug. He then looked to both Bo and Lanny, the former more understanding of the situation than the latter, it seemed and pursed his lips a bit. And then to Judy… who softly smiled with a nod of her head towards Travis (even if he likely couldn't see her due to the seat). "Well, we're dealing with some highly sensitive information, so I cannot, as of yet, confirm or deny anything, you understand," he responded with a smirk.
Travis smirked in kind, "Oh, I'm not looking for specifics; just… if there's anything I should keep an eye out for."
"Just the basics, then, at least what we know what Sheriff Longmare wouldn't mind an upstanding citizen, such as you, being made aware of," the taller fox decided and flicked his pointing finger onward to signal for the lion to drive before he began. Actually, you hanging around is something of a blessing in disguise, Travis, since it'll keep us vigilant and prevent any tongue-slips about this whole Night Howler travesty, the taller fox pondered, smiling to his conspirators in turn before sitting back down and buckling in, Still, I'm kinda bummed Esther couldn't be here to join this merry band, she could do with a break as much as the rest of us… I figured we would have heard back from her business with the Felix by now…
Author's Note:
No citations to reference here, except for perhaps the more important one of the character "Terry McManee", a reference to my great friend and fellow author, Nievelion of "To Mend a Broken Hart". This little cameo is a 'thank you' to him for all the help he's provided in the writing of The Neverwere Moments.
And thank you all for continuing to read and review, your input aids in in the honing and bettering this story. I think this shorter chapter method is working so far, so with that said, see you next time!
