Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney ,least of all Zootopia (yet)
Now after having bought some clothes it was time for Runa to finally see her new home.
And she realized something. Anticipation was worse than boredom.
Being bored was bad yes, time seemed to stretch and that could drive you mad. But at the very least you can distract yourself with basically anything.
Now anticipation was different. There is this feeling of want deep down in your body. That yearning for whatever it is you are waiting for. And the closer you get the worse it seems to become. The nasty thing about this is. You can't really distract yourself from the carrot dangling in front of your nose.
This was the problem Runa was now facing as they made their way through the skyscrapers of Savannah Central. Liska had told her that they were almost there and he was probably right.
But as always in a city this big traffic left much to be desired. And so they slowly moved forward, at what felt like sloth pace, towards their designated goal. And while Liska was really relaxed about it all, Runa wasn't. No definitely not. So she just sat there and glared at the back of the taxi in front of them. Currently she resented all traffic, since it was not really something she knew from the farm. Yes she had read about it, but experiencing it firstpaw was downright agonizing. So she tried to go for conversation with Liska by asking questions about where exactly it was he lived, but she was shot down every time.
Liska seemed to get a kick out of letting her run into this without any knowledge whatsoever so he could surprise her.
But even though it did not feel like it ,they were moving and so they ultimately reached their goal after what had felt like an eternity.
The building was a tall blue, black tinted skyscraper that looked like was made entirely out of glass and spray painted steel. It had taken them a while to get here and from the looks of the building itself as well as the buildings surrounding them it seemed to be located in the heart of the district as it was one of the biggest buildings around.
They entered the building itself through another parking garage, which they were only able to enter when a guard let them in. And it was huge, there were expensive cars everywhere and it seemed to go down multiple stories underground. And like the building above it was designed with blue and black accents everywhere it was impressive to say the least. All the parking spots where marked by floor and as Liska explained where meant so that every mammal on said floor had a designated parking spot available to them. Once they made it to a row of parking spots that was mostly empty which read 'Floor 145' Liska parked the car and they both grabbed the bags containing her clothes. At this point Runa was ready to jump of the walls. Her excitement seemed to have hit it's peak and she just wanted to see the flat. "So", she asked as they made their way into an elevator which strangely only had eight buttons, "the apartment is on floor 145 ?"
Liska smiled as he hit the 'E' button and replied, "technically? - Yes."
Upon hearing that Runa frowned, "what is that supposed to mean ?"
As the elevator doors opened before them Liska's smile grew into a smirk and he said ,"don't worry you will see."
The lobby of the building was a spacious room covered in a calming blue light and the sound of flowing water. The origin of the sound were giant chainmail curtains that were covered in flowing water spaced out in small intervals all over the room forming pathways that were designed to lead any entering mammal towards the receptionist at the far end of the room.
It was a magical experience to enter the room for the first time.
Runa had no idea how long she just stood there and stared. And she did not care.
It was just too beautiful. The water that was constantly flowing broke the light of the hidden light sources all over the room and caused it to playfully create a flowing motion made of pure light on the decorative floor tiles.
Liska meanwhile just stood there and smiled at the flabbergasted bunny,"Welcome home."
This did the trick as she broke out of her stupor Runa decided to go with the most obvious of questions, "I am going to live here ?"
That cause Liska to chuckle, "Well not here ,as this is the lobby. But yes, you will live in this building. Come on let's go."
With that he made his way over to the reception and Runa followed.
The receptionist was a male Lynx wearing a suit and he eyed Runa somewhat dismissively.
But he never stopped smiling as he greeted them , "welcome home Mr. Hunter, so glad to have you back."
Liska, wearing his own trademark polite smile, answered, "And I am glad to be back, Stan how is your daughter ?"
To which the Lynx answered, "she is much better thank you for asking, sir. And if I may be so brazen as to ask. Sir, why is there a rabbit with you ?"
"This young rabbit here is my new personal assistant, and as such she needs a keycard since she is going to be living with me from now on."
The lynx paused for a moment and just mustered Runa.
Which made her feel very uncomfortable. She really did not feel like she belonged here at all. Even Liska seemed to be really under dressed.
The silence was broken by Liska himself.
"Is this going to be a problem ? ", his voice was just as cold as in that moment on the farm where she had asked him what his reason for attacking the farm had been. And just like back then she could feel her fur stand on end. Even though his threat was not directed at her it made her feel endangered just by proximity. She was not the only one feeling fear in this moment though.
Stan's smile had faded and fear was written all over his muzzle. He seemed to deflate a little before he meekly replied, "no, sir."
"Great", Liska said with a smile that almost seemed devilish, "we will be on our way then. Get it done till tomorrow."
There was another meek ,"yes, sir." as they walked past Stan's desk towards another elevator.
Once inside Liska swiped a card and pressed a keypad to dial in ninety and the elevator came to life.
And like always Runa's curious side took over, "Why are going to floor ninety ?"
Liska chuckled, "one problem of the wealthy and rich is living high up in the city."
He made a little pause for emphasis as the elevator was still moving.
"And the elevator can only cover so many floors so we are going to change elevators once we are up to floor number ninety."
Runa nodded and they continued waiting for the elevator to reach its destination.
After about a minute of waiting it then finally did and the doors opened to reveal another beautiful floor.
There were chainmail curtains once more but this time there was something that stood out even more that the play of light created by them that captured Runa's eye.
The room again was spacious, there were tables and aquariums all over the place and it seemed to be some sort of restaurant. There were predators eating and talking, but nothing of the sort registered to Runa. The thing that caught her was the view. Just beyond the tables, the aquariums and the curtains was a gigantic window front which allowed all mammals in the room to gaze at the city below. She was just about to move towards one of the windows when Liska caught her by the hood and stopped her.
"You will have enough time to look out of windows when we get home."
For a moment she felt sad but she obliged and followed Liska into another elevator while staring at the windows that were so close yet so far away.
Once more he swiped his card but instead of the number 145 he entered an eight digit code and the elevator started moving.
It took them another minute or so to reach their destination.
And once they did there was a triangle shaped room before them. There were curtains once more but this time they only decorated the walls. Each edge of the triangle was a door and Liska made his way over to the door opposite of the elevator.
"So we have two neighbors ? What are they like ?", Runa's interest was peaked as she knew she was most likely going to live here for the rest of her life.
Liska smirked as he turned around to face her, "This is my floor there are no neighbors."
Her eyes went wide as she realized what that meant.
"But...but..isn't that...like really expensive ?" ,she asked at a loss for words.
Liska chuckled as he turned around dialing another combination into another keypad.
"Well crime does tend to pay really well if you do it right."
And with that he opened the door leading her into a big spacy living room.
It was a very modern apartment with lots of black and white furniture.
The things that stood out the most where a grand piano in the left corner just in front of the big panorama windows. A giant TV hanging on the wall on the opposite side of room the with leather sofas and a leather armchair surrounding a glass table in front of it. On the right side of the room the floor was raised higher than on the left and there was a bar that made up almost the entire wall. She did not even try to count the bottles as there were too many. In the far right corner of the room , just parallel to the TV was another smaller TV in front of a pool table.
While Runa was being impressed by her environment Liska made his was over to a door on the right side of the room just next to the bar. Runa followed out of habit as he lead her into the next room. Which happened to be a kitchen.
At least half of the room was upon further inspection. The part of the room they were in was the kitchen part of the room with counter tops all around and the usual kitchen equipment, all of which looked high end. There was also a table like work surface in the middle of the room that had a sink and was home to the hotplates of the kitchen. At the end of the kitchen half of the room there was a half wall which functioned as another little bar and a divider for the room. On the other side of the room she could see a kitchen table in front of another window and a few cupboards.
And just as she was taking in the whole of the room before her she heard an unfamiliar voice.
"There you are. And damn, you brought home a pet.", the source of the following sigh was a white female rat with blue eyes and an unamused look on her face standing on top of the kitchen table with crossed arms. She was wearing jogging pants and a hoodie. But what stood out about her most was a pink floral pattern on the right side of her head which was dyed into her fur. Starting under her right ear and going down to her throat and god only knew how far further down it reached.
"Awww...come on Runa is a cutie isn't she ? And now we finally got someone who can do the housekeeping for us.", Liska tried his best at appeasing the rat before him but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever as her expression did not shift at all.
The rat continued, "at least now I know why you needed to buy rabbit clothes."
She was now looking at Runa ,"and let me guess her being here means more work for me, right ?"
Liska tilted his head to the side a little bit before asking, "why are you so mad ? This is so unlike you."
The rat's expression changed from annoyed to angry, "Why am I so angry ? Geez, I wonder why ! I mean the mission you went on, ALL BY YOUR LONESOME, went completely off the rails. And the only thing you do when you call me on the way back is ask for a place where you can buy rabbit clothes!" The angry expression had turned to a sad one, "YOU COULD HAVE DIED !"
Liska dropped the bags he was carrying, went closer, picked up the much smaller mammal and embraced her.
And she continued,"what would I have done if you had died ? I mean there is only four of us left. And you are our LEADER. If you are gone then it will all fall apart."
Runa was just staring at the two mammals before her as the fox comforted the rat just as he had comforted her just the night before. Holding her and stroking her back.
Liska seemed to wait whether the rat in his arms had anything left to say before he spoke.
"Come on Clara", he said in his soft voice, "I was a field agent for most of my life and I have killed more mammals than I can remember. Something like this is not enough to take me down. And even if it did, I sincerely doubt that Leah or Jack would abandon you. You are my most important resource after all. I am sure they would fight each other over which one of them gets to keep you."
Clara was sniffling but her her voice did not break when she said defiantly. "Alice was a field agent just as long as you were and that did not stop her from dying!"
When that name was mentioned Runa saw a chip in Liska's armor for the first time as his ears fell and his eyes seemed to be filled with sadness. And for the first time she heard Liska genuinely beg for something,"please let's not go there."
Clara replied somewhat startled, "Sorry I did not mean to...well, open up old wounds. I just wished you would have told me about the backup plan you and Jack made. Please forgive me." Liska just nodded before saying , "Damn that could have gone better ", he sighed ,"I need some sleep now. So let's talk later."
Liska seemed really down and that did not fit him at all in Runa's opinion.
After putting Clara back down onto the table he went for the door on the right side of the room.
"Come on Runa I will show you where your room is."
With one last look towards Clara before leaving the room Runa could clearly see the damp spots in the rats fur that she was trying to dry with the sleeves of her hoodie after having cried.
And Runa wondered if her being here was really okay.
Before them was a long corridor with multiple doors. "Yours is the last room on the left and there is a bathroom next to your room so you should be fine." ,came Liska's emotionless voice from the front.
"And this is my room if you need to wake me up for some reason." , he said while pointing at the door next to him as he came to a stop.
He looked at her before saying ,"Just stay in your room till I come and get you since Clara seems to be a little bit sensitive at the moment."
With that he went into his room and closed the door.
Which left Runa alone. And while she might have been alone she also had orders and she would not cause anymore trouble by disobeying them.
So she went towards the end of the corridor and surely enough there was a door on the left.
A door she went through that revealed a big bedroom.
The first thing she saw was that the entire wall before her was a big window from which she could see down into the city. There was a bed big enough to fit at least twenty rabbits on the left side of the room with two nightstands. And next to the bed there was a door.
In the in the middle of the room was lots of space. And once she closed the door she could see a desk right next to the door she had just closed. It was a little bit high for a bunny but she was sure that she would be able to manage. There was a computer on top and it seemed to be fully stocked with papers and pens. A little bit further to the right was a shelve filled with books and then there a little corner with a sofa, a table and TV. She was sure that if someone asked her to live here she would have been able to comfortably do so without ever setting foot into the rest of the apartment.
After she put down her bags she went exploring.
The door next to the bed lead into a bathroom with a shower, a bathtub and a walk-in furdryer.
She also found a remote which could be used to turn the window into a milky white color which made it impossible to see through with the click of a button. It was a neat little gadget.
When she was through exploring she decided to take a well needed hot shower before she sat down on the side of the bed and watched city below her.
Authors note:
So if I count together the views from here and AO3 I got over a 1000 now which is more than I thought I would ever get. And before you say it ,yes I now there is always a romcom story out there that looks like it has been written by a dyslexic four year old that has 10x as many views and a dozen more follows and favs and that is part of why I love this fandom. It is so random. ^^
As for the chapter. I did not want them to have a fight but it just felt so right. It felt wrong for Clara just to accept having been left out of the loop by Liska.
I am very proud of my building design by the way. It just came to me on a whim while writing this chapter I think it sets a great atmosphere.
And onto my random trivia for research , I heard that language or more importantly the way that it is used says a lot about the person that uses it. I wonder what this story says about me ?
And I noticed that about 20 of you are dedicated and come back to read every update and I want you to know that I am grateful to all of you.