-Trisha: Masters in world domination-


The diverse array of trees and wooden buildings zoomed by in the window of the ZTA inner-city train line. A few out-of-towners sat throughout the car, spellbound by the sights.

Mammals in business apparel busied themselves with their phones or sat reading magazines.

There was even a yak currently passed out in the corner, several happy flies buzzing around his head.

A lovely brown bunny in a crimson shirt with blue trim sat with her knees to her chest as she leaned against the window, the doe stared out at the cityscape as the train weaved between the various buildings of the Rainforest business district.

As the train approached the central part of the city the trees were replaced by colorful and eloquent buildings.

Trisha adjusted herself slightly in her spot on the train as her bright blue eyes took in the beautiful views. No matter how often she saw the metropolis she still found the city so beautiful.

Her ears twitched as the music playing in her earphones changed.

While normally filled with upbeat rock or the occasional pop song today the doe had opted to shuffle her soundtrack.

She blinked a few times in surprise as a song she hadn't heard in a long time calmly filled her ears.

The familiar gentle piano slowly introducing the famous classical song Claire De Lune.

As the train rose up over a series of buildings Trisha was given a view of the city that spread all around her, only stopping at the water that encompassed most of Zootopia's perimeter.

The beautiful and serene music complimented the view in a way that made the doe's lips curl into a pleasant smile.

She tried to remember the last time she had even listened to the song currently playing in her ears

That's when she remembered.

They would normally listen to classical music in the lab back at school.

Doc said it would help us focus…

The beautiful music turned somber as the doe began to close her eyes and remember her time back at school. When she had different plans and goals.

All of which changed when-

The train gave a slight lurch as its speed decreased.

Trisha popped her eyes back open and she sat up in her seat as she glanced out the window.

She recognized the buildings around her and knew her stop was coming up.

She collected her backpack and took a second to find her phone.

The bunny looked down at the screen, the music app displaying the classical song still softly playing in her ears.

With a sigh, she pressed the button to skip to the next song.

The screen filled with a bright-colored album cover as a pop song replaced the previously calm music.

Trisha let out the softest of breaths through her nose before placing her phone in her shorts pocket.

As the train finally came to a stop Trisha skipped over to a set of doors that slowly slid open.

The small bunny weaved gracefully through the legs of her larger fellow commuters who paid little mind to the bunny.

Being a city filled with mammals of such a variety meant that a majority of the citizens had grown used to moving around one another.

Most of the time the smaller mammals had already timed the steps of the larger ones and if someone were to stop or slow down it could cause a jam or worse lead to a smaller creature getting stepped on.

Trisha had grown accustomed rather quickly to the city she called home and had practiced the almost dance-like movements that allowed her to squeeze past an elephant couple without a care in the world.

As the bunny descended the staircase from the ZTA platform to the street below she had a slight skip in her step as the music from her pop album played in her erect black-tipped ears.

Her bright blue eyes darted around the street and she smirked as she noticed how a few of the shops were still opening up.

It was rare for the bunny to actually be heading into work this early. She was normally on the later shift with Em but on occasion, Echo would ask for coverage in the morning. This normally happened on inventory days or whenever the bar was rented out like it had been this afternoon.

While Echo wanted to always ensure the bar was open to any responder who needed a quick drink she would occasionally close the 10-7 for a special event. This mostly occurred in the early afternoons.

Even then though she managed to convince the events to allow anyone to enjoy the bar still.

Since most of these events were hosted by a certain department they never seemed to mind and embraced any random arrivals.

Today's event was a little odd to Trisha though. Mainly because she had no idea who the event was for.

Normally Echo was good about keeping everyone in the loop. It allowed some of the bartenders to dress up in a shirt that matched the department hosting the event.

The painted boss though had been oddly quiet about what department was hosting today's event. Which annoyed Trisha slightly but not in the way one would think.

She was always the type ready to roll with the punches but what did annoy her is how her normally flirty nature had failed to get any information out of Echo.

Next time it will be a muzzle time and I'll do the thing with the ears. No one can resist the ear droop.

As the bunny made plans for future interrogations with her boss she arrived at the large black doors that led into the bar.

Petey was absent which made sense, he wouldn't arrive till later when the paw traffic picked up.

Trisha pushed the large door open and skipped inside as she pulled her earphones out.

"Alright make way, trouble has ar-"

The bunny stopped midstep and froze as she stared at the gathering of mammals who were waiting inside the bar.

Trisha's bright blue eyes widened and seemed to shimmer as she noticed the sea of familiar faces.

All the mammals present turned and smiled at the bunny as they stood underneath a large banner that had two words written in dark blue.

"Congratulations Trisha!"

The small bunny put a paw to her mouth as her eyes welled up with tears.

The group all raised their glasses and let out a series of cheers, greetings, and congratulations to the stunned lagomorph who simply stood anchored in her spot at the entrance to the bar.

Two bunnies approached the stunned barmaid.

Trisha's mother Peggy who was accompanied by a shorter dark gray buck who was beaming at his daughter as they approached.

Trisha closed the gap and embraced her parents as she openly wept happily.

"Congrats Pumpkin," Peggy whispered sweetly to her daughter as she gave the doe a loving kiss on the cheek.

"So proud of you Petal," Trisha's father whispered as he placed his paws on the does cheeks and leaned up, planting a kiss on her forehead.

Trisha's parents stepped aside so the doe could see a smug-looking otter in a red 10-7 shirt waiting just a foot away.

The brown bunny put her paws on her hips and playfully scowled at Em, knowing full well she had something to do with this.

The otter however stood her ground and simply opened her arms and wiggled her paws.

Trisha rolled her eyes and stepped over to her friend, embracing the smaller otter happily and planting a kiss on Em's cheek.

"Thanks, Em," Trisha whispered.

"Anything for my favorite trouble maker," Em whispered sweetly. "Now if you excuse me, I just met your college roommate and she said she had a story about you and the school fountain."

Trisha tensed up suddenly as she moved back and scanned the crowd before spotting a black and white spotted bunny who waved eagerly.

"Congrats Trish-" The bunny began before being cut off by Trisha.

"Dani! What have you told them?!"

The black and white doe blushed before grinning.

"Just what the campus police report already said," the bunny began as she did a 180 and tried to escape.

Trisha however managed to catch up as she wrapped a paw around the other bunny's waist and began to growl.

"My parents are here, you know?" Trisha pointed out.

"Oh please, they are well aware of the trouble you caused," Dani snorted.

"Well, we aren't," Echo said as she strolled past carrying a set of drinks for Trisha's parents who happily took the glasses filled with a bright orange concoction. The painted dog then turned back to Dani and Trisha as she folded her arms. "So what's this about a fountain?"

As it turned out the mischievous brown bunny had a rather long rap sheet when it came to her college exploits.

During her first year at college alone she helped organize a charity run only to set up barrels full of water balloons so the 5k turned into a kind of water balloon fight dash to the finish.

Then there was the time during multicultural appreciation week she set up a booth on the quad and represented a country she made up. Complete with a flag and national anthem that involved everyone standing on one foot.

As time went on she apparently became a little more creative.

Trisha somehow joined the welcoming committee to the college and managed to shanghai one of the tour groups and led them throughout the campus. The tour ended in the large fountain in the center of the main campus.

"You mean at the fountain, right?" Em asked a rather amused-looking gazelle who shook his head and laughed.

"No, like right in the middle of the fountain, the looks on their faces as Trisha kept talking about the school as if this was all normal."

Each year the bunny seemed to try to find a way to one-up her silly antics.

Echo's personal favorite was how Trisha managed to sneak into the administration halls every night and leave a different kind of paper hat on top of all the statues of the founding members of the university.

Em's favorite though was during one of Trisha's classes. Apparently, the bunny was presenting a series of slides about the theory of the multiverse which is the idea of how there are multiple realities with only slight differences.

To get the point across Trisha presented several expertly photoshopped pictures of her and the professor in which the two of them were happily married and celebrating a 5 year wedding anniversary.

The professor, who was a normally reserved but lovely raccoon, had to dash down the rows of seats as she tried to stop the slides as Trisha showed pictures of their honeymoon on some distant mountain vista.

"I seriously have no idea how she managed to make the pictures look so real," The raccoon said as she put a paw to her head and blushed as Em poured out another round for the embarrassed-looking raccoon.

"Well I thought you two looked very happy," the raccoon's husband snorted as he tried not to fall off the barstool as he laughed.

There were many other silly stories being shared throughout the bar about the mammal of honor.

She had apparently made friends easily and been rather involved at school. Whether it was joining an all-female paintball team or organizing clubs.

As the party went on the stories continued, some of them Trisha seemed proud of while others she tried to cut off in her own playful manner.

Whether it was tossing a coaster or in the current case climbing up on a snow leopard's shoulders as she tried desperately to grab the feline's phone.

"Oh yeah I mean not many of us had the guts to pose for the calendar but Trisha just dove right into the idea," The large predator laughed as she held the phone just out of reach.

"First off it was for a fundraiser, secondly Amy if you dare show them I will steal all your spots!" Trisha laughed.

The snow leopard thought for a moment and looked as if she was about to put her phone away only for her to suddenly hold it so Echo and Em got a view of the bunny.

"Oh wow," Em smirked.

"You look good in fire gear," Echo snorted.

The image was of the bunny of honor leaning against a firehouse pole. A black fire helmet sat on her head and she was adorned in the standard bunker gear pants. That however was all the doe was wearing.

The bunny was still decent though as the suspenders to the pants looped over her shoulders and down her bare chest, covering up the doe just enough but leaving very little to the imagination. The outfit wasn't the only thing that would make most mammals' hearts skip a beat.

The doe had on a rather lustful look, her eyelids having drooped and her bright blues stared right at the viewer, a look of heat reflected in them.

"We should put that on a coaster," Em suggested as she strolled away to attend to the other party-goers.

"Oh I could put an order in, Amy you mind sending that to me?"

"My revenge will be swift and absolute!" Trisha shouted as she continued to try and grab the phone from her college friend.

Em smirked as she strolled down the bar, filling the occasional glass here and chatting with a mammal there.

When she was satisfied she could break away again to hang with the bun of honor she found Trisha dancing with a ram who had their college logo across his shirt.

Em watched for a second before a pair of bright blue eyes met her own.

"Oh dang.." The otter chuckled as Trisha began to twirl her wrist before tossing an invisible line over to the otter.

The barkeep remained leaning against the bar as she watched Trisha begin to reel in the line she had tossed.

After two pulls Em finally relented and acted as if she were being slowly reeled towards the bunny who giggled excitedly.

When the otter finally reached the bunny the two paused for a second before Em detected a beat coming from the speakers overhead, she began to slowly sway to the rhythm and soon was enjoying a little dance with Trisha and her friend from school.

Trisha laughed happily as she let the beat take her. Closing her eyes as she raised her paws overhead and gave her hips a little sway.

The doe's ears twitched as she heard someone behind her and she smirked as she twirled happily to see who had come into dancing range.

For as long as Trisha had worked at the 10-7 Em and Echo had never seen the bunny freeze so quickly.

Trisha stopped mid sway as one of her paws went to her mouth, hiding a surprised gasp at the mammal who had come up behind her.

A porcupine in a pair of slacks and a button-up teal plaid shirt stood a foot away from Trisha, a hesitant smile on his face whose fur had flecks of white from age.

The mammal had a set of sharp yet caring eyes just behind a pair of glasses

"Graduate Rose…" The porcupine said with a slightly raspy voice before clearing his throat. "I mean…umm…well…"

As the mammal began to stutter Trisha took a step forward, reaching out and placing a paw on the porcupine's chest, causing him to fall silent.

Trisha's bright blue eyes began to well up with tears as she stared up at the porcupine. She stood in silence for a second before finally speaking.

"Hi, Doc…"

The two stood like this for a moment or two before Trisha stepped forward and placed her paws against the porcupine's chest, closing her eyes as she rested her head against the new arrival.

The porcupine looked surprised as he lowered his gaze and watched the small bunny but eventually he ran a paw down the doe's limp ears and gently patted her on the back.

"I didn't know if I should c-"

His words were cut off by Trisha who raised a paw and put a digit to the porcupine's lips.

"Shut up Doc."

The porcupine smirked and nodded before clearing his throat.

Trisha took a step back as her old friend produced a bottle of wine he had been hiding behind his back.

"I thought it was a good idea until I realized the party was at a bar….so umm…"

Trisha chuckled as she reached over and took the bottle of wine and inspected the label.

"For the smartest mammal I know, you can be pretty thick sometimes Doc." The bunny sighed before looking back at her friend, "But thanks."

The doe's ears went up as she realized Em and Echo were both staring at the odd interaction.

The bunny slowly turned and stared at the others before doing something rather unpredicted.

Trisha reached the top of the bottle and with practice ease popped the cork off which flew over the heads of the crowd and landed somewhere in the bar.

"Oh darn…guess we will just have to drink this whole bottle."

"I'll get some glasses," Echo mumbled as she rolled her eyes, knowing full well that it would be easier to let Trisha have her way rather than argue over an outside drink coming into her bar.

Trisha grinned mischievously as she nodded at Em who approached the two.

"Em, this is Dr. Salt, inventor extraordinaire and slayer of ladies."

The porcupine looked suddenly flustered as he fixed his collar and looked at Em.

"You have known Trisha for a bit right?" Em asked as she put a paw on her hip and looked up at the larger mammal.

"Well yes…back when she attended school I-"

"Good so I don't need to point out how weird she can be," Em chuckled as she looked over at Trisha who stuck out her tongue. The lovely otter then looked back at the porcupine. "You wouldn't happen to have any embarrassing stories of my bun, would you?"

Trisha's jaw dropped, "Feeling like this party was more about getting ammo on me than celebrating me."

"Little column A little B," Em said sweetly before looking back at Dr. Salt. "So?"

"I am afraid most of the stories I have are just me embarrassing myself."

Oh even better," Em said with a grin. "Come on Doc, got a drink with your name on it somewhere."

"We always have wine," Trisha chuckled as she followed the others to the bar where Echo was already setting up some glasses.

While many of Trisha's fellow classmates and friends from school had stories of the goofy bunny it was Dr. Salt that had the most important story to tell.

The porcupine seemed a little awkward at first but after a glass or two of wine, he started to open up.

Em was grateful for Echo and the other bartenders still working the event, it allowed her to sit back and enjoy the stories that the older mammal had of a certain blue eyed terror. Occasionally she would look over at Echo and raise a brow only to get a wave of a paw from the owner of the bar, signaling that the otter should enjoy the chance to chat.

"So how did this little bundle of fun manage to terrorize you at Uni?" Em asked as she gave her shoulder the gentleness of shrugs which caused Trisha's head to bounce up before nestling back against the otter.

The wine bottle Dr. Salt had brought was now sitting empty in front of the brown bunny who seemed to have gotten extra affectionate in her now inebriated state.

"Oh, on the contrary, think I was the one causing the most trouble," Dr. Salt chuckled as he looked at the blue-eyed bunny who beamed before letting her eyes flutter close as she used Em as a pillow. "We first met at the large fountain at the main campus-"

"The one with the tours?" Em chuckled, remembering the story of how Trisha had led a poor tour group right into the waters of the fountain.

"You know it," Trisha giggled, her eyes still closed.

"Yes, I believe the same," Dr. Salt continued. "Well, I was working with one of my lab assistants-"

"Former and not as cute lab assistant," Trisha added.

"Yes thank you, Trish," Dr. Salt said with a roll of his eyes. "Anyways. I was testing out a new UAV-"

"Underwater autonomous vehicle?" Em asked as she raised a brow.

Trisha sat up suddenly and looked at Em with new appreciation.

"What? I am not just a pretty face," Em said smugly as she gave the doe a sideways glance. "Ack!"

The otter let out a sudden surprised noise as Trisha pressed her lips to the otter's cheeks.

"Brains and beauty," Trisha whispered. "Let's run away together."

"Maybe next week," Em said playfully before looking back at the porcupine across the table from them. "You were saying, Dr. Salt?"

"Harold please….or Doc."

"Only I can call him Doc," Trisha began.

"You were saying Doc?"

"Oi!" Trisha grumbled.

"So I was testing out a new battery system for our UAV."

"Called him Bruce," Trisha added.

"Yes Bruce," Dr. Salt laughed. "Anyways we were testing out the new system and set him in the water, turned him on, and….well…"

"It fried?" Em asked as she glanced between Trisha and Dr. Salt.

"If only.." Dr. Salt grumbled.

Trisha was at the point of losing it, the doe trying not to laugh but eventually, it became too much.

"It shot off like a torpedo and blasted a hole in the other side of the fountain!"

"Oh my gosh," Em said as she put a paw to her chest.

Dr. Salt nodded before glaring at Trisha, "You don't have to laugh so loudly."

"But it was hilarious Doc! I mean I had plans to flood the main quad later that week but you beat me to it," Trisha snorted.

"Wouldnt put it past you," Em chuckled.

"Anyways," Dr. Salt said with a sigh. "Let's just say I had a few other experiments that had caused property damage in the past and the school administration was not exactly pleased. I was on my last chance…"

Em's widened slightly as she imagined the scene playing out in her head.

"So what happened when security showed up?"

Dr. Salt took a second to adjust his glasses before looking at Trisha with a loving expression.

"My savior showed up."

Em looked surprised as she turned to look at Trisha who was actually blushing. She looked at Em and noticed the surprised look and her brow immediately furrowed.

"What? I can be a beautiful savior!"

"I just said savior…"

"I added what was in your heart Doc," Trisha said without looking at the porcupine.

"Trisha hurried over and when she overheard my former lab assistant saying how they were done and they wouldn't be taken down with me she stepped up. She grabbed the remote to the UAV."

"Oh?" Em asked with genuine interest.

Dr. Salt smirked and nodded over at Trisha who suddenly sat up a little straighter and cleared her throat.

"Oh gosh, officer I just don't know what happened! I am so sorry, please it was a test for my final and I wanted it to be perfect…"

Trisha began to breathe faster, her chest going up and down as a few fake tears began to well up in her eyes.

"And…and…I don't know what happened…it got away from me and if I lose this scholarship I have to go back work in the fields…"

Em watched as Trisha put on quite the performance.

When the bunny was done the otter put her paws together and laughed as Trisha took a mock bow.

"Well it didn't go exactly like that," Dr. Salt chuckled.

"He is right, at one point I have to break out nunchucks. Which was hard because there were no Chucks around."

Em put a paw to Trisha's face without looking at the doe and gave the bunny a little shove which caused them both to laugh.

Em sat back and listened to the two old friends catch up.

Apparently Dr. Salt was a professor at the university but also a bit of an inventor. Taking the odd contract here and there to create little tools or inventions.

Trisha had reached a point in her college career where she actually needed to either assist a professor in classes or take an internship. As luck would have it Dr. Salt had been in need of a lab assistant and it met the school's requirements.

Together the duo had worked on little inventions while Dr. Salt helped Trisha with school work as she focused on getting her Masters's in Quantum Mechanics of all things.

As the stories continued the bar began to empty from the party.

Trisha had to excuse herself to see her friends and family off and Em did her best to keep some of the tables around them clean but she had a feeling that there was more to this porcupine than just being another professor from Trisha's college past.

The way the two had greeted one another, the subtle pauses whenever the two talked about their experiments, how Trisha immediately changed subjects whenever Em asked about other projects.

Em had finally managed to clean up the tables around her and brought Dr. Salt another glass of an amber liquid which the porcupine was happy to take.

The otter glanced over at Trisha, her emerald eyes lingering on the doe who was giggling as she chatted with another bunny couple.

"So Doc, why would someone like Trisha not want to continue in that field? I mean don't get me wrong I love her and am so glad she decided to join our family at the 10-7 but…"

"It's because like the first time we met…she took the blame for something that was my fault..."

Em felt her blood go cold, not just at the words but the tone in which they were delivered.

They were filled with pain, sadness, and need. The need to get them out in the open and off the porcupine's chest.

"What happened?" The otter asked with the same softness she had used time and time again on the responders who frequented the bar in need of someone to just talk to.

"Science…science is what happened," Dr. Salt said with a sigh. "It is not her fault though. It was another experiment that had…sad results.."

"Sad results?" Em asked as she took a step closer and stood right beside the porcupine, carefully putting a paw on the mammal's arm. She had dealt with porcupines before and knew exactly how to handle them. Her grip was gentle but she wasn't scared of getting quilled.

"..For one of our volunteers.."

"Hank…" Came a sad voice directly behind Em and Dr. Salt.

The two turned to see Trisha standing behind the porcupine's seat.

Her eyes were filled with tears and her ears had fallen completely behind her back.

"His name was Hank and I ruined his life…"


Hey all!

Sorry it's been a bit, getting my own master's degree is hard, Trisha can attest to it. However, I am not having quite the same experiences she did that's for sure.

So I didn't actually know how I wanted to deliver Trisha's full past so decided to split it up a little bit. I am sure some of you are recognizing the familiar characters of Dr. Salt and Hank from my very first story We Just Call them Nighthowlers (If you haven't read that story...Please don't..). We are going to have a slight retelling in the next chapter of what happened to Hank and what led Trisha to this new path as the bartender you all have grown to tolerate.

I am so grateful to those of you who have been following this story and especially to those who have been wanting to see more of Trisha's past. I never got a chance to go so in-depth with her before because when she first appeared on the scene a lot of the fandom wanted the focus to be on Nick and Judy. While I love that crime-fighting duo Trisha has a special place in my heart so getting such positive feedback about her story means a lot!

This also means that there are still a few chapters left and then the 10-7 will be caught up to when the movie Zootopia started. So excited!

Till next time!

-Blue