Chapter 3:
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AN: As promised, the pairings list from last time.
The coyote and skunk: (Knoton's) Ake'cheta and Roxxie.
The white wolf and thylacine: (Koraru-san's) Eliot and Chloe Fanghanel.
The echidna and bat: (from Sonic) Knuckles and Rouge.
The mouse and horse: (from Animaniacs/ Pinky and the Brain) Pinky and Phar Fignewton (Yes, she still resents her parents a little for that one).
The jaguar and giraffe: (HarryLime03's) Desmond and Molly.
Grey fox and a bobcat: (Sapper Joe's and Chris the bobcat's) Sam and Kristy.
The silver fox and flying fox: (Crewefox's) Aleks Rojek and Zoe Nightfall.
The black mountain lion and the deer doe: (Ubernoner's) Jean-Pierre DuPrey and Jeannette Deaux.
The male bear and red fox todd: (From Night in the woods) Angus and Gregg.
The lion and hyena: (For the Lion guard, (but here because of Crewefox's TAS series)): Kion and Jasiri.
The gray fox and fennec: (Eng050599's) Clawson's.
The panda and anteater: (My) Melony Bao-hu and Grisha 'Grima' Huvertung.
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Sidenote: I've done a little cover which is up over on A03, if you wish to check it out.
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Not long after their first meeting, the two pred-prey couples reached a bar area at the convention and settled down in a little corner. Jack and Skye sat down on some chairs on one side, while Haida sat on a mat on the floor given his much larger frame. Retsuko sat on his lap as he tried to work out what kind of expression was on Jack's muzzle.
He had a little smug smile, but quite why she didn't know.
"Uh…" Haida said, pausing as he noticed it too, before glancing over his shoulder. "Is there something funny behind me?" he asked. Seeing nothing he turned back, a grumpy look growing on his muzzle as he saw Jack's grin widen just a little. "Hey, I don't think there's anything funny going on with me right now…"
…
"-Is there?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "You two just reminded me of a little thing Skye was doing earlier."
Sitting next to him, munching on a sweet potato fry, the vixen's eyes widened as he said that.
"-when I was sitting on her lap, and…"
Swallowing her food down, she turned to him urgently. "Jack, I don't think…"
"She began petting me."
"Aaaawwww," Retsuko cooed, chuckling. "That sounds cute."
"It looked cute too," Jack replied, bringing out the drawing that had been done of them. Skye's ears peeled back, as she let her bottom lip slide back so she could bite it ever so slightly. Thankfully her tail was close at paw too.
Retsuko couldn't help but look at the picture and chuckle, while Haida had a big cheesy grin on his face. "Heh… That does look cute."
"Haida, can you pet me?"
"That looks really… -HUH?!" The hyena blinked a few times, as what his date had said caught up to him. Coming out of the blue, slapping him like that, it should have been a golden ticket to let him do what he wanted to do to her. He'd wanted nothing better than to hug and snuggle her and just give her care and attention, yet his mind was seemingly filled with a static fizzle. The only coherent thought that came in his mind was that at least Fenneko wasn't here to rub it all in.
That, and him registering the sad sigh from the red panda in his lap. Looking down, seeing her disappointed at the lack of a reply, he immediately pushed forwards, stroking her head a little. There was a little jitter, then a chuckle, and then she settled back into him as he began reflexively paying her attention. Given his size, it was often just a thumb and forefinger that did the work, petting her left paw or circling on her scalp, the odd ear getting a fidget.
"Hai-Haida," she sighed contently, settling back even further as he boyfriend smiled. "This is nice…"
"Yup," Jack agreed, as he slipped onto Skye's lap, settled down and waited.
And waited.
"Skye," Haida said, finding the situation amusing. "I think your boyfriend wants your attention."
She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't think…"
"Oh, sorry," he agreed, before looking down at the hare. "Jack, I think your girlfriend wants your attention. That is kind of the way it usual goes."
Looking up at Haida, his nose twitched a few times as he reluctantly sat up, his arms still crossed. "Fine, I'll," he began to groan, before stopping as he thought it through. "Wait, I'm the small one here. That's not gonna work."
"He has a point," Retsuko agreed, looking up. "Imagine if you tried to sit in my lap!"
Haida nodded in agreement, before his eyes widened slightly, a blank look on his face. "Retsuko, that was not an image I needed there," he said starkly, before relaxing somewhat. "Besides, I like being the one treating you. Makes me feel good, and strong, like a real boyfriend!" The red panda giggled some more, her boyfriend pausing his affection session in response. "Hey, if you think me being a real boyfriend's funny, you don't get the perks of being a real girlfriend either."
Looking up at him from his lap, she frowned a little, putting her paw on his shoulder. "Sorry there."
"Thank you," he replied, before tickling under her chin a little. From Skye's lap, Jack, his musings coming to an end, gave her a little tap, asking for attention but only getting a few weak pats on the head back.
The jackrabbit frowned. "Skye, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong."
"Skye," he said, going all pompous. "I can tell that something is wrong right now."
"Nothing's…"
"It's so wrong I'm actually going to press this issue," he said with a serious and important tone. "What is it?"
Sighing, she slipped him off of her and looked down. "I just feel it's inappropriate to be doing that…"
Jack paused and just pointed to the pair across from them. Haida was still fussing with Retsuko's ear, but she gently tapped him to make him stop it and looked across the table to the swift fox present. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," Jack added, bringing the picture up again and pointing at it. "What's wrong with this?"
Skye sighed, grabbing some more sweet potato fries, dunking them into a ton of blue cheese sauce, and eating them down to try and calm herself. Taking a long breath in through her mouth and out of her nose, she looked at the group. "You remember that presentation, right?"
Three sets of nods were returned.
"Well, Jack and I met when I did some work for him not too long ago. We became friends when I saw his meddler of a boss trying to mess up his work and we got our own back and, after that, we sort of joked our way into a date. We're quite different, into different things, and part of this date was to see if… -well you know, there was anything more between us."
"You know, I sort of thought the same thing," Jack agreed. "But… I found a very suitable place as your emotional support bunny…" He was broken off by a chuckle from the other two, but stayed firm. "I was led to believe that this was an exciting opportunity we both happened to like, me especially as it means I don't have to do anything. I most certainly saw a future in it, and I do believe you did too."
"Well, then I learned that the entirety of my attraction to you was based off of a misfiring hunting instinct," Skye pointed out, a slightly harsh tone to her words. "Now, I'm not saying that it'll make me literally eat you up, or it'll make me a prime target for these nighthowler thieves, but… -But I don't really feel that that's the kind of thing you can really build a relationship out of." She sighed, looking down. "I mean, this was a spur-of-the-moment thing already, and the only thing we found we did well together was you being a good cuddle-toy…"
"Ahem," Jack said indignantly. "Emotional support bunny."
"Yeah," she said, "which doesn't really count any more, and that leaves nothing." Her ears drooped down a little. "You're a good friend Jack, but I'm just not sure you and I…"
"You know," Haida butted in. "Even if that dumb 'used to be a hunting instinct thing' is true, who cares?"
"Yeah," Retsuko added. "So what if it used to be like that? It isn't anymore, is it?"
Looking up at them, Skye remained unconvinced. "It just feels a bit…"
"A bit off?" Haida asked.
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh," the hyena replied, nodding a little. "I know that feeling."
Pausing, Skye looked between the two. "You mean, you realised it was the same thing with you and Retsuko?"
"No, not that," he began, before slamming to a halt, his eyes going wide. "Huh… What if it is?" he asked, a worried tone in his voice.
"Haida?" Retsuko asked worried, before looking over at Skye, her face wincing up angrily. "Did you just break my boyfriend!?"
A few coughs from the hyena cleared the notion from the air, while a few shakes of his head cleared the idea from his mind. "Never mind," he told himself, before looking up at Skye. "How much do you know about us hyenas?"
"Not much," Skye replied honestly. "I'm not familiar with the species."
"Right," Haida began. "The thing about us spotted hyenas is that we're really matriarchal, and I mean really. That means the females tend to be the ones going out, getting the big jobs, earning the money. They also woo and do the romantic stuff with the boys, who do the domestic stuff. Now, most of us and most of my family is fine by that, fair is fair and big sister gets the money for a life changing study opportunity rather than me getting it for an 'unneeded cosmetic dental procedure'... yadda yadda I'm totally not salty," he said, resting his chin on his paw, his lips going up and part covering his three big snaggle teeth. There was an awkward silence, Jack and Skye glancing at each other before Haida waved it off and carried on. "So, most boys in the family were fine with that but, from early on, I wasn't. I wanted to be the big man! Going out there, earning the money and being the man of the house! It was tough though, pushing against this idea you could just give up and settle, and as I tried to move away from that I sometimes overreacted." He paused, looking down at Retsuko sadly; the red panda looking up at him with a newfound curiosity, learning a whole side she didn't realise existed. "Now, I love things like harder music and all that but when starting at my job I began meeting friends and hanging out with them, trading gossip, and then I realised I was doing it with a group of girls."
"What's the matter with that?" Skye asked.
"Because the whole sharing gossip thing is what us boy hyenas usually do… I mean, when I was a little cub my dad would be taking me out to shop, meet another father hyena he knew, and then they'd start talking! Wham! Whole morning, gone!"
"Sounds like my mother," Retsuko said, shivering quite a bit at her mention.
"And mine," Skye agreed.
Jack groaned. "I'm having a flashback!"
"Yeah," Haida replied, waving a paw up. "Us boy hyenas tend to be more like other species' females, so getting into a gossip group like that was natural, but it went against what I wanted. It felt off." He paused, laughing a little, before scratching the back of his head. "Heh… So, after I realised I was regressing, I originally thought that I'd cut all contact with that stuff. But then I thought, 'who cares!' Just do what you enjoy. I can be a big strong man, rock out when I want, and chat with a bunch of girls about feelings and gossip. So I returned to that group, and that's how I became a great friend with Fenneko, and with Retsuko here."
Skye nodded back, smiling before lightly slapping her head. "Thanks," she chuckled, shaking it slightly. "You know, that does sort of make me feel better there."
"Yeah," Retusko agreed, smiling. "Just do what makes you feel happy, what you feel okay doing."
"Four hours," Jack moaned.
There was an awkward silence as everyone turned to him.
"That was her longest record for a 'quick chat'. Booorrrriiinnggggg…" He made an exaggerated yawn, before looking up at Skye, wiggling in her lap.
Skye looked at him, then at the others, and paused. "Still," she said slowly, "all we really have is the fact that I like petting him, and he likes being petted. That doesn't really feel like enough for this kind of thing, does it?"
"Trust me," Retsuko butted in. "I've had experience, and having someone who doesn't do the whole physical affection thing gets really irritating really quickly."
"Huh…" Haida stuttered, looking down at her. "Is this about Whatsisface? -The not rich one."
"You mean Resasuke? Yeah…"
Haida couldn't help but smile slightly, his fists clenching and shaking a little with a pure unadulterated feeling of success. Retusko, meanwhile, looked up at Skye. "He was a nice guy as a person, we probably had a lot in common, but I made the mistake of pushing it too hard… That and he was pretty much on another planet the whole time. I ended up having to take a break from relationships for a while. As for Haida and me, well we've known each other for years, but it's only now that we've started learning more about each other…"
"So you're saying we should give it a chance, as we've got a nice thing going already?" Skye filled in, latching on.
"Yeah," Retsuko agreed. "Just be honest with each other, and maybe try not to take it so seriously at first. You two both have a thing going on that you enjoy. It might work out, it might not, but if it doesn't, is that really a bad thing? I had another relationship where a guy loved me, treated me very well, but it just didn't work out. I was sad, yes, but for what it's worth, I had a good time."
Skye nodded and paused, looking down at Jack. There was certainly an urge to pet him, just a little.
Or maybe a lot...
She smiled and patted him, watching as he lounged down into her lap, even putting his feet up on the table. In retaliation her tail came around and over, and her paw dug down beneath his shirt, stroking around his belly fur and earning a good deal of chittering in response. "This is the life," he moaned, grabbing the last of Skye's fries and chewing on them.
She should have been mad, yet she wasn't. It felt good to have a warm, furry, purry mass on her lap. "Maybe we can keep trying this out," she said, smiling. That sounded good.
Jack nodded. "Sounds good."
"What?" she smirked. "You being an emotional support bunny?"
"Ahem," he replied, before a deep scratch of hers sent one of his feet drumming into the air. He looked back at her, now extra serious. "I think you'll happen to find that I'm your emotional support bunny."
"Fine by me," she replied, sighing. "You know, we're quite different, aren't we? But I've never wanted anyone to look after me, or anyone who I can look after, but I do find I quite enjoy this arrangement, and I happen to think you're probably the same. So, maybe, we are a good fit for each other?"
Jack nodded in agreement. "What you said."
"Yeah," she replied, before looking up to the others. "Sorry for going all dumb and stupid there."
"No worries," Haida replied.
"None at all," Retsuko added, still sitting in his lap but brushing away his paw, wanting a break from his TLC.
"Thanks," Skye replied, shaking her head, realising how dumb she'd been. "I mean, I couldn't let myself down if I'd done a Nick to all you lot."
Haida blinked a few times. "Heh…"
"Nick, as in Nick Wilde?" Retsuko asked.
Skye nodded, a whole host of distasteful memories returning. "He seems to have changed," she clarified, "but when I first met him he was this dumb melodramatic paranoid idiot who figured everyone in the entire world was out to get all of foxkind because of a boo-boo or something he'd had, and that there was no point in trying to be anything. Instead, you should just prove them right by being sneaky and miserable and just moping about in your self-made misery, all while trying to bring others into the fold." She paused, glancing over at Jack's drink and having a little sip, knowing it wouldn't push her over the limit. "To the point where he'd often explain to me why my good grades and good chances and all that were a backstabbing waiting to happen, and that I and every other fox in the city should just give up."
"Hmmm," Haida noted. "Well, you weren't trying to knock us down, were you?"
"Yeah," Retsuko added. "You just weren't sure about your relationship."
"You're just a mammal trying to find their place in the world," Haida said, gesturing around. "I think we all are. This is what this thing is all about, after all."
For some reason, his words really resonated with her. They made her feel better and more confident that things would be good. Skye nodded and smiled. "Thanks for talking me through that. I should have been able to work it out myself, but here we are. Me, with a bunny that I must confess I'm quite fond of, having a fun time with two new friends."
"F-friends?" Retsuko asked.
"Yeah," Skye said, smiling. "Isn't that right Jack?"
…
"Jack?" she said, pausing her petting and nudging him.
"Uh… -Yes Skye?"
"Don't you think they're friends?"
"I don't see why not?" Jack said. "I mean, we talk, we enjoy each other. Sounds like friends." He shrugged. "I think we feel like friends!"
Haida couldn't help but nod, and then smile. "Maybe we could meet up again like this," he said, before his eyes widened. "We could do double dates."
"Yeah!" Skye agreed, Retsuko joining in.
Jack gave a smug look over at Haida and nodded. "You could plan the dates and such."
They hyena nodded firmly. "They are going to be fantastic and romantic!"
Retsuko looked between them all happily. "This sounds amazing!"
"It sounds magnificent!" Jack hammed up. "Spectacular and glorious!"
"Heh, calm it down there Mr Actor," Haida joked, bringing a proud chuckle from the bunny.
"I am an actor, Mr…"
"Accountant."
"Accountant," Retsuko added.
"Mechanic," Skye finished off.
"So, tell me," Retsuko asked, leaning forwards curiously and with a gleam in her eyes. "What are the details behind your first meeting and, more importantly, how did you deal with your bad boss?"
"Yeah," Haida said, leaning forwards. "We're thinking about leaving our one, and some of your ideas might be too good to pass up."
Jack looked at them both. "I'll only tell you my bad boss stories if you share yours."
The hyena and red panda looked at each other, then back at him. "We might be here a while," they said in perfect unison, leaving Jack wide eyed and blinking at the display.
"...That was amazing! Did you rehearse that?"
Retsuko was taken aback, and Haida broke down into a pair of cackles. "I wasn't expecting that reaction," he said.
"Why, what were you expecting?" Skye asked.
"Another story," he said. "It might take a while."
Jack shrugged, feeling happy where he was, and looking up he was pretty sure Skye felt the same way. "We've got all night," she said, settling down to pet her bunny.
All night they did have.
Stories were shared and laughter exchanged and, by the end of it, phone numbers were written down. The two couples departed, knowing they'd meet again, with Skye racing off in her car with Jack sitting by her side.
"I enjoyed that," he said.
"I…" she began, before blinking as a sudden shock rattled through her mind. Smiling, she turned to face Jack. "I've just realised you dumped all date planning activities onto Haida," she pointed out.
He shrugged. "What? He enjoys it?"
"And you don't?" she teased.
"A little," he defended. "But you don't punch a gift giving horse in the mouth, do you?"
"True that, though I'll have to offer to share the load with him" she replied, as she turned off into one of the windy back roads that went through the dune areas. Threading the gears, her feet dancing on the pedals, she looked to her side and noticed that Jack was enjoying this. "Hey, you like going fast?"
"I feel the need, the need for speed!" he said dramatically, as his body poised itself up.
"Now I know where that one came from, and I now know there's more things in common between us," she said, grinning. "How about we do a little detour, and have some fun?"
Giving her a wink, he shook his paw, pretended to spray all over his muzzle, and held his paw up in a fist. "WITNESS US!"
"WITNESS US!" Skye shouted in response, as her foot went down at they raced off into the distance.
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AN: There's a difference between taking an existing character and exploring/ developing them with your own ideas (similar to what I did with Haida here), and doing it to a blank slate. At this stage, Jack and Skye, Skye especially, are like that, so when writing this oneshot I was still trying to get a feel for the characters. By and large, Jack is a mammal happy to take the path of least resistance, bar when his passions are involved. Skye, though… I had her penned as a very independent and self-reliant character previously, and there needed to be a way of making her bond with Jack. They are wildly different, and I don't want to do the 'head over heels' approach I've seen done elsewhere. As Haida said, in what I think is the best description of the themes of season 1 of this series, she's a character trying to find her place in the world.
But she's got her bunny to cuddle, and two new friends, to help her with that.
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Far away, at a non-descript house, a car pulled up. The figure walking up to it carefully looked over his shoulders, one of his paws brushing past his holstered gun. Recent updates about their most important business had been marred by both good fortune and unfortunate setbacks.
The whole thing was about as slippery and fidgety as a certain weasel he'd dealt with in the past. Sadly, action towards their goal had to be far more covert, far more careful.
The city would naturally be on alert.
Aware of what was going on.
Flicking a light on, he looked up to see his partner in crime. "I'm sure you've heard the update."
The white figure in front of him nodded, before yelling out. "I HAVE, I HAVE, IT'S HAPPENING!"
Bracing from Eliot Fanghanel's shout, Chief Ramic nodded back, before yelling out too. "THE CITY WILL BE GRACED BY WILDEHOPPS! TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!"
They were both cut off by a slamming door from the side, as a very tired Chloe Fanghanel walked in. "Guys… It's…" she began, checking the time on her phone. "Tomorrow. Go to bed."
"But don't you see pumpkin?" her mate urged. "We have confirmation that Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps are staying the night in the former's flat. This is a major step forwards and…"
-PRONG…
The white wolf wobbled a bit, before collapsing into his wife's arms, the thylacine removing her fork from him and dragging him away. She gave a death glare to Chief Ramic, holding the utensil up and waving it for him to see, before closing the door. He took that as his cue to leave. Still, he was content. Why else would Nick and Judy be in the same place at the same time?
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"Carrot's," he whined. "It's… -tomorrow. We need to get you home."
"Just one last roll of recordings," she moaned, her eyes skipping over the sped up jam cam pictures, watching and waiting for anything that might be a clue.
"You know fluff," Nick moaned, sleepily standing by her. "This is why I think taking your work home with you is a slippery slope."
"I'd then stay in the precinct."
"Where Bogo could tell you to go home, and your work can't follow," Nick lectured. He reached down, gently touching Judy to move her on, only for her to shake her shoulder to throw him off.
"Nuuuhhhh…"
…
Rolling his eyes, Nick looked at her. Her ears had lost all structural integrity, almost hanging off the back of her head, while her tired eyes were wavering and dull. "Do you know that naughty Carrots's who don't want to go to bed get no bedtime stories?"
"But it's important," she moaned, pointing at the screen. "Gotta find the nighthowler thief. Make things right. Fix it all…"
"You'll miss anything actually useful at this rate," he pointed out.
"No I won't," she moaned, before pressing the pause button. "Look, I saw that bat."
"Right, and…" he began in response, only to pause. Coming in closer, his eyes widened, seeing a little thing above the top of the store. "Well I never. Serves me right to underestimate the bunninator. Then again, I am a dumb fox."
"And I'm a sly bunny…" she wearily boasted, trying to give him a playful punch on the shoulder but only producing a light touch.
"Ow, that's fox abuse," Nick replied back, as he recorded the timestamp on a piece of paper. "But now that you've found that we can get you back…" He trailed off as he saw Judy slumped in the seat, fast asleep and with her mouth agape. There was absolutely no way he could get her back to her place. Thankfully she was in her casual wear, having changed out of her duty gear when she got here, so he could put her to sleep in that… -And totally not picture her in her fox onesie instead, -stop that brain! Gently picking her up, he carried her into his tiny excuse for a spare bedroom, which had a bed she could sleep quite happily on. Down she went, covers over her, as Nick gave her a goodnight kiss on the forehead and headed off to rest as well.