Corporal Judy Hopps had a bubble of pensive concern surrounding her as she walked through the balmy evening air of Savannah Central's Watering Hole area. It was a feeling that she knew well. The bubble was almost a physical barrier as the mammals around Judy noticed her and made way quickly. Most of them knew exactly who she was and thought it wise to not bother the young doe. She seemed to be on a mission, by the look of things, as she was walking away from where Precinct-1 was located at the Plaza. All the while, Judy was paying them no mind whatsoever. The doe's ears were laid back and down, and she was vaguely looking at the concrete sidewalk a few paces ahead while her nose twitched in trepidation.

It had been nearly two-years, to the day, since Judy and Nick had closed the Nighthowler Case. Unfortunately for them both, it had not gone exactly as Nick had originally thought it would. There had been protocols implemented within Bellwether's organization regarding the handling of the pneumatic weaponry. What the two had not seen was Bellwether anticipating finding an empty chamber in the pistol. The ZPD surmised that she popped open the chambering mechanism and the blueberries were ejected from the internal tray. Promptly replaced with a dreaded eventuality while the blueberries rolled away on the floor.

Judy, prior to the detainment of the Nighthowler orchestrators, noticed that something was wrong as soon as Nick was hit. She had thought he had attempted to eek out several warnings but wasn't entirely clear until the tape was replayed much later. The sound of alarm was fueled by far more fear and pain than what had been expected. The yelling turned into pain-laced yowling and was soon accompanied by dreadful snarling. The sounds accented the muscle-rippling quakes, beneath Nick's russet fur, and was so violent that it looked like it would shatter his bones.

Once he had fully devolved, screeching overtook the pit as the savage fox realized that he was trapped. The ears were pinned back harshly, hackles raised on end as the back bowed, and Nick's tail churned with a growing fury. Judy had sworn that Nick could have knocked her over had if it had lashed out against her body. Judy still wasn't sure if it had been the involuntary callout, that she did remember making, or if it was her scent that made Nick's ear-tips flickering in her direction. The click of another presence nearby, in whatever consciousness could be said that Nick possessed at the time, immediately stifled every sound pouring out of his body as he had turned on Judy. The ears stayed back. It was the constricted pupils and slavering maw, filled with glistening ivory fangs, that had Judy's complete attention.

Nick could certainly put on the Mask. He could absolutely act. That, though… That was well beyond even the best of Zootopia's grandest actors and actresses.

The air around her was certainly muggy, but the mental imagery was so clear that it caused Judy's body to drain the warmth from the core out through her extremities all over again. Judy closed her eyes for a moment in anger as she recalled what the ewe had done to her and her best friend.

Fortunately, the ZPD response was quick and the crew was detained immediately. Judy had had no choice but to flee the savage fox despite her leg. Nick couldn't keep up with the ducking and dodging as easily as Judy could dish it out. Out of pure fear of the outcome. She didn't let him get close enough to harm her or force her to harm him in self-defense and ZPD officers quickly darted Nick. The torn muscles, which cost her three-months of paid medical leave, were nothing compared to having to sit through hours of wheelchair-bound worry. The repossessing of Nick's original mental state did not bear fruit as quickly as it had with Emmitt Otterton and some of the other original Missing Mammals.

A little over two-months went by before progress was made with Nick. The superficial wounds that Nick had inflicted upon himself, in pursuit of her, healed while the doctors kept him under. It was a very fitful sentencing, though. Judy had screamed and pounded on the viewing window as Nick, near the end of the sedation period, fought within his own mind and against the bonds that held him to the hospital bed. The agony had been so sharp that it woke the todd. The depth of the snarls and the heat behind the curses made the spectacle all the worse for Judy. Nick had seemed possessed by the demons of the darkest reaches of Hell, as if Nick were Ragnarök in mammalian form, and his original self was fighting back with nothing more than a sword in an entirely different possessed form. Not something born of the rabbit goddess, Serendipity, and seemingly far beyond what the fox goddess, Karma, would have called for in balances. Nick had to be quickly sedated.

The sedation protocol was lifted once Nick's body chemistry looked like it had returned to normal. He didn't awaken for another 48-hours after that. It wasn't agonizing to witness when he had woken the second time. Judy had eventually come to decide that it was worse. The Mask that Nick always wore was for two purposes: as she later came to realize through a deep mental rewind of their interactions. The first was, and most importantly, that it was a defensive measure. It was quite simply, but literally, a poker face. Don't let them read your cards through your eyes. The second was that it could be used somewhat offensively against the opposition in-question. Emotional disarmament. Mental brake-checking, if you will, and then distracting them with a remote-detonated firework display in the local park five-blocks away. Dissipate and divert the incoming emotion with brilliance and onto something or someone else entirely.

When Nick awoke, it was like a mental version of Mr. Big had taken Nick's Mask and iced it.

The jokes were still there. But they were drier than the dunes around Sandy Cove. There were occasional lulls in the behavior. A semblance of before the pit incident. Judy noticed that they were only seen when it was just the two of them. And, even then, it was restrained. There was an odd reversal about the todd, though. Emotions were restrained clearly enough. But things that Judy had assumed would be hard to pull from Nick flowed as easily as a creek ran through a forest. It's not to say that he no longer had emotion. It was just so much easier for him to hide it. It was the pinnacle of the mentality: "don't let 'em see that they get to you".

Nick was released from the hospital shortly thereafter; Judy was evaluated by Chief Bogo and a trauma counselor before she was placed on light duty with the Department in Records. Due to his assistance in the Missing Mammals and Nighthowler Cases, Nick's medical bills were covered by the city and a modest reward was paid out subsequently. The summing-up of it all was that Nick took Judy's third month to prepare for admittance to the Police Academy.

The new mental paradigm was set. It showed when Judy witnessed Nick's polygraph and psych evaluations, and then the night after his interview with Chief Bogo.

"Father?" The technician had asked Nick.

"Dead. Murdered trying to prevent a mugging after he had closed for the day." Nick replied simply. No flick of the tail or in the ears to indicate annoyance or sadness.

"Mother?"

Nick had squinted his facial features at that, looking off towards the door for a moment. In contemplation, not out of emotion. He was searching for the right word.

"Estranged." He said finally, reassessing the tech sitting before him.

"Siblings?"

"None."

"Significant others?"

Judy had seen a very slight upward tug at the corner of his lips. Nick's brain was processing several bits of comedic material, going through the rolodex of which to choose should he decide to play the wise-ass. For the first time since the coma, he decided to attempt humor with somebody other than Judy. In a manner that would be seen by multiple other mammals, no less. Judy would have expected it if Nick had known she was on the opposite side of the one-way glass, but Nick had not known until later.

Nick rolled his shoulders in a shrug, smiling a little more. "They tell me that I advanced myself, in the realm of physical intimacy with another, after attempting to devour Miss Hopps." He said with an air of dry humor.

The tech had gloriously balked at the response due to having gotten used to Nick's simple and monotone replies throughout the afternoon.

Judy could feel Chief Bogo look down at her despite not witnessing it. She merely sighed, closing her eyes as her paw came up to rub her temple in measured annoyance. There was no doubt that Judy's ears were heating up and reddening through her fur.

She wanted to kick his furry, red ass for insinuating that he had nearly made it to third-base. But, she thought deeply, this is certainly revealing. Nick can repair his relationship with his mother. No siblings is… odd… for foxes. I think. No girlfriend. Or mate. A virgin, no less. Maybe no girlfriend ever. It would fit the profile: considering his background history. The interrogation continued for a couple more hours before Bogo made it clear that Judy should leave before the todd came out.

Two nights later, Judy was sitting with Nick on his apartment balcony. He looked like a mammal drowning with no ocean in sight when she asked about his mother. It was a look of mourning, longing, and loss. A depth of pining unknown to most others. A bartender would've probably spotted Nick at least one drink and if there was ever a mammal who looked in dire need of a drink, it was Nick Wilde. He didn't accept one of the beers that Judy had brought over on a hunch. They get in the way of work and burn time hotter than white phosphorus; Nick had explained after talking about his mother. Tears had silently tracked through his fur and down his muzzle as he merely stared out at the sunset.

Judy did him the favor of letting the tension settle. Nick had not seemed to have caught on to the fact that she had witnessed the evaluations. Only once he had taken a sip of water, and calmed down considerable, did Judy spring the trap to raise his spirits.

"So, that was the furthest you've ever gone with a gal, huh?" Judy's ears had burned something fierce while she put on a country drawl and a cheeky grin, cocking an eyebrow high in challenge.

Judy had smashed through Nick's rebuilding of his composure. He blinked once in realization before promptly bursting out laughing, and subsequently fell out of his chair. It had made Judy's heart soar in her chest to see him smile and laugh with her.

A week later, Nick was off to the Police Academy and Judy was on light-duty.

Fourteen-weeks after her reinstatement, she watched Nick Wilde sit amongst the congregation and then as he stepped forward so that she could pin his badge on personally. Wearing an insufferably professional tone and his equally insufferable pair of Aviators. Again, and despite being able to call twice a week, Judy's heart soared as she watched the todd stride across the stage with an unconcealed smile.

Nick's assignment to Precinct-1 and as her charge was obvious. They were they only two small-frame mammals in all the Zootopia Police Department: excluding the extra-small class of mammals within the Little Rodentia Precinct. Over the next year, Judy was Nick's Field Training Officer or FTO for short. With no new small-frame mammals graduating to become line officers – over the three classes during that year – it left Nick and Judy as partners, post-probationary training period, for nearly five-months. While Nick had been at the Academy, Judy had ridden the Records and Evidence Locker desks through Review Board after Review Board. Fortunately, it had ended in a proper pat on the back with a promotion to Corporal. She had heard rumors of a new small-mammal task force being organized by the Brass above Chief Bogo, though she knew better than to believe that he wasn't involved. That could only mean she was on the fast-track to detective.

You don't need to have Westinghouse Early-Warning Radar installations attached to your noggin' to have figured that one out, Carrots, Nick had said admonishingly. Knowing you, though… You'll go straight to sergeant.

Judy blushed again as she thought back to how firmly she had boxed Nick's side at the comment. It was obvious who was going to lead the team, but that didn't mean that she believed it would happen after all that Nick had witnessed her go through during their first two cases together. Judy had to force herself to calm down before she had a heat-stroke.

In the present, Judy Hopps was honing her skills to become a detective by pursuing her partner after hours. The pair had a couple of decent cases while working together and while Nick had always affectionately referred to her as 'his dumb bunny', she was no idiot. Nick's appearance had been immaculate every single day, but nobody else knew him like Judy did. Even Chief Bogo had only caught a glimpse of Nick's mannerisms prior to the Nighthowler Case. Judy knew better though. She knew that the todd was tormented by that day and likely far worse than she was. His repeated deflections of the topic in the hospital had indicated to Judy that Nick had been a backseat passenger in his own mind. He had witnessed most, if not the entire event at the museum.

Nick spent nearly every waking moment of their shared weekends-off together with Judy. On occasion, a couple of midweek nights during longer cases, as well. Lately, he had not been available to do anything on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Not even the power of the adorable and burrow-renowned Hopps eyes worked on getting Nick to hang out with her on those nights. So, Judy started digging. It had taken weeks of grid-square searching and tracking, which she was relatively poor at doing due to being prey, because neither Finnick nor Flash would help her out. Flash simply didn't know much about Nick since that fateful evening, but Finnick flat-out and crudely told Judy to get stuffed like a Deerbrooke County burrow hole. The Fennec knew something, but it was clear that he wouldn't help her. No matter how far back from the brink she had originally pulled Nick.

Maps were stuck all over her new apartment walls. It was obvious that it didn't matter when Nick arrived at his destination because he always took the same amount of time to get cleaned up in the locker room at the end of those shifts. And, on top of that, he never took the same route to his destination. That cost Judy two-weeks just to get the direction that Nick was heading in nailed down: to the east of Precinct-1. After that, it was three more weeks of being ducked and dodged by Nick. One of the rules to his modus operandi was that he was always being followed. So, Judy plotted every night of Nick's pathfinding through Savana Central and into the Watering Hole subdistrict. Map after map was accrued around the doe's small apartment: and dozens of multicolored Sharpie lines were thrown like haphazard spaghetti against them.

Judy nearly blew the operation when Nick finally stepped into predator-oriented bar, Mimi's Stillhouse, and she had thought that odd. Nick did not drink and if he was estranged from his mother, then Judy didn't know how to describe how far shunned he was from his old hustler buddies. Thinking it was a feint and noticing that Nick had started disappearing on Wednesday's, Judy took the time to follow him the whole next week to make sure. Two days watching the rear of the stillhouse and two watching the front. Nick always invited her over for weekends on Friday evening, after all. Once Judy was certain that Mimi's was the final stop for the red fox, she dove in to investigate the situation further.

She was careful to use deodorizer and to keep back until most of the area was thoroughly surveyed. Judy didn't want Nick to spot her prematurely. Judy, on the other paw, spotted him easily enough. She carefully watched the distant fox as she made her way up to the far end of the bar. Nick Wilde was preoccupied on the music stage near the back of the stillhouse: calmly having a discussion with three mammals that were huddled around the drum-set at rear-center. There was a gray wolf, a bobcat and a northern river otter. There was a vague twinge of familiarity with the wolf that Judy couldn't place, but the other two were unknown.

The stillhouse was quite barren due to the earliness of the evening, so Judy made sure to keep her ears down and quietly indicated to the bartender that she would have a water for the evening. The gray fox, in question, eyed her with a measured level of suspicion, but spoke no words as he filled a glass. It would cost her nothing for the water, after all, but Judy had to hope that the gray fox did not recognize who she was.

"Who are they?" Judy finally mustered. The venue didn't seem pred-exclusive, but she hadn't seen many preys in the area during her time surveilling it. So, she tried a disarming tactic that she had picked up from Nick.

"Just some fellas sharpening their musical talents." The Gray replied simply, moving merchandise around in the cooler under the counter.

"You don't know them?" Judy asked, careful not to let any annoyance taint her tone.

"I have some rough assumptions, bunny." The Gray's movements stiffened as his suspicions of the prey mammal ramped up. "Mammals from different backgrounds, who have histories that you would never understand."

Judy nodded with a placating smile, opening her right paw as a gentle indication that she wanted to know more. The gray fox growled slightly in displeasure but relented as he refilled the doe's glass.

"I think it's a trauma relief group. The otter is John Dempsey, lead guitarist, and the victim of a pred-kitnapping crew when he was younger. The wolf is Dave Mingan and he runs their bass. He's the last remaining member of the Mingan Family after a rather bloody spat with the Meadowland prey groups thirty-years ago. Purged and the like. And, if that wasn't bad enough. He was one of the Missing Mammals that Lionheart had penned up."

Judy was stunned as the gray fox took a moment to slide a beer down to the opposite end of the bar. Hanging on every word as she watched the group tune their instruments; mostly watching to make sure that Nick was completely immersed in his work.

"The bobcat on the drums is Randy Phillips. He's one of the pred-rights and defense organizers that came up amidst the Missing Mammals protests. Word is that he took several beatings and might have been stabbed once or twice in Central over those months. And, if I didn't know any better… The Red is probably Nicholas Wilde. Lead vocals and on the rhythm. You oughta know his story, at least..." The Grey finalized for Judy, to which she gulped and nodded.

More than you know… she thought.

Judy's mind was off to the races as she tried to understand the purpose of the group that Nick was in. Piecing all the backgrounds together made it make sense. What worried Judy now was that Nick knew he could tell the doe anything under the sun. Judy now feared that his problems were not so simple anymore. Nick was always so cool during patrols and deskwork. Nothing seemed to startle him. A frown creased Judy's lips as her nose twitched urgently.

Is he able to repress the fears that easily now?

Is Nick so badly haunted by nightmares and memories during his waking hours?

"They don't have a name. They do this just to practice; having only covered a few songs since they began coming here." The Grey continued to answer questions that he knew he was likely in for. "They don't give a shit about how the crowd feels at the end. This is all for them. I've never seen them take tips and they've never asked to be compensated for their time. They just asked to play."

Judy was about to ask another question, but the Grey raised his paw and pointed at the stage. She whipped around to find that the crew was in position to begin. With her suddenly distracted state, the grey fox retreated to the opposite end of the bar to tend to a cougar and a snow leopard.

Gentle lead riffs came from John's guitar as the percussion sounded alongside it. Nick had just finished adjusting his microphone stand before jumping in with a soft but twanging sound over John's, to a degree. The beat picked up a moment later as Judy watched the crew balance out their stances and lose focus on the room before them; whether they had closed their eyes to absorb the beat or not. While Nick had been focused on keeping his upper torso loose against a rock-steady set of hips, Randy had thrown himself into hammering out the required percussion for the beat. The bobcat's eyes wide and manic while his lips were curled back against his toothy maw. Nick's voice came out shortly after.

"Oooooh! Run away, the past will bite again!" He sang easily into the microphone, letting his muzzle dip against his chest as he went through the motions on the guitar.

Judy had always known that Nick was music-oriented mammal ever since he had first allowed her over to his apartment. The todd had a few guitars hanging around the apartment and had an extensive record collection. Had Judy not chosen to pursue Nick's disappearing acts she probably would have never known that he was playing music. He had never brought one of his own instruments and nothing had been missing during the early weekends of her private investigation. That said, she easily recognized the James Clawfield song through the riffs.

"Sharpened claws touched the liquid flame!
Deepened seed soaks anger's reign!
Arching back, shape-shifting, deranged!
Oh, how she watched me change!"

Nick continued, bouncing a little on his left hind-paw, as his ears pinned back against his head.

"Am I savage?!
Scratching at the door!
Am I SAVAGE?!
I don't recognize me anymore!"

The doe was startled by the lyrics. She hadn't been familiar with this particular track and certainly was not expecting to hear Nick belting and growling out such phrases… All things considered. There was no outward emotion on his russet features. Nick was completely in the zone. Whereas Randy looked somewhat angry as he slammed through the drumbeat and Dave's features were racked in calm and collection. John was the only one openly smirking for whatever reason.

Judy couldn't help but grind her teeth in frustration that she couldn't move closer to get a decent view of her partner as he worked. The annoyance dissipated as she caught movement from the corner of her eye. The bartender was approaching her to check on everything.

"You're going to need these for the next one, rabbit." The Gray said, offering her some noise cancelling earbuds. "They'll sometimes rotate on the instruments to practice, but if Red stays on the electric you'll need them. I think they're just burning some stress tonight. If they play the song that I think they'll play next, Red's a little more heavily-pawed with the whammy bar than with this one. You can keep them, as well."

The gray fox promptly refilled Judy's cup and left her to fit the earbuds properly in her ear canals. The difference was already night and day, and it made the doe grateful that she would be able to properly experience the music without the tones piercing her eardrums at painful levels. Judy promptly decided to do some research on her phone for the song so that she could review the lyrics.

Judy was well and truly startled. The most apt way to describe the Metalliclaw album was sheer brutalism. A stark white background was incorporated with multi-hued and twisted partials of snarling, multi-mawed predators – imposed into a sole wolf figure. It almost looked like a mugshot pose to the doe. The black fur, from the neck to the upper shoulders, had intricate white patterns and was tinted with a sickly-dead cerulean. The slitted eyes, snarling lips, and barred fangs held the image together. And, at the bottom, the phrase: Hardwired… To Self-Destruct.

It made the rabbit doe's heart clench harder; throwing her back in time to the damaging conference that nearly cost Judy and Nick their friendship. It might not have been so bad had it not been for the fact that the album was only a six-months old. She didn't dare look into the background of why the album was written. Judy feared that she knew. The band was, after all, and had always been entirely predator. If the Missing Mammals and Nighthowler cases were the reasons, with her disastrous conference speech on top of it, then the album was a political statement.

Judy read through the lyrics of the first song to further grasp the depth before looking back up. Am I Savage ended with a deft paw. A second later, Randy began tapping a quick rhythm on the hi-hat to designate the song. John picked a moment to jump in with long, belting strokes of the guitar strings. With a steady thrumming against the tom-toms, Nick and Dave jumped in seamlessly. The stage lights had come up quickly, aimed right at the upper torsos of the males on stage. They were no doubt blinded, but even at the distance Judy was sitting at, she could see even further into the emotions of the mammals playing.

As Nick began to sing the song against the music, Judy's paw had been hovering to type out the first few lines, and get ahead of the curve of the song. Dream No More was the name of the song. The poor doe was torn between reading the lyrics line-for-line mere moments before they were belted out and being enthralled in Nick's performance onstage.

Judy scrunched her muzzle a little as she watched Nick's. The lights had to be killing him, but only when he was hitting the high-notes did he look away from whatever point ahead that he had designated to stare at. The todd had changed a bit since leaving the hospital. Gone were the bright and loud Pawaiian shirts that he had worn during his time as a civilian. Instead, a loose and simple dark-blue, button-down shirt was worn with equally shaded jeans. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and a blood-red tie contrasted the dark background of his shirt. The refined look accentuated his russet fur even more than usual. His muzzle contorted in sharply, but in a controlled fashion as he recited the lines. And, that's when Judy noticed it. Nick's pupils were constricted tightly: as they had been in the museum pit. Quickly, and ignoring the phone, she looked at the others. Dave Mingan was the only other of the four to have the same look in his eyes. There was no "hunter's glint" to it, but that did not make it any less alarming.

That was the moment the music died, and a sharp intake of breath could be heard from Nick through the microphone. The group jumped back in for the lead guitar solo. The percussion crashed and Dave wailed it out with closed eyes and a jumping paw, lips curled back ever so slightly in the focus on the pickups as his head bounced back and forth. Randy was happily losing it over the drumset; lip-syncing the sounds he was making, tongue hanging out in a rather lewd fashion as his teeth flash to the left and right with the beat. The bobcat's backwards ballcap stayed on his head regardless of his erratic motions.

Judy couldn't argue that the emotion conveyed wasn't pure. She couldn't exactly place the perspective of the song at paw, though. That did annoy her somewhat.

"You turn… to stone,
Can't look away!
You turn… to stone,
Madness, they say!

Sanity taken,
Seething damnation,
Cthulhu, awaken!

Wake!"

Frustration was the most accurate way to describe the decision-making process for Judy. Nick had been going to consoling ever since graduation, so as not to incur the wrath of Chief Bogo, and he had always said that he was alright with that. Now, Judy wasn't so sure. Which meant there was a move that needed to be made. But she didn't know what to do, how to broach the subject… She was lost.

The group on-stage had stopped playing and began to quietly put all the loaned gear away as carefully as possible. A wolf stood up from the near-stage seating and jumped up to meet Dave happily. A female, by the looking of the clothing, and a mate by the eager show of physical affection being conveyed. Nick and John had gone over to Randy, smiling with eager but quiet voices as they all conversed about the set.

Judy was happy that Nick found something that might have been helping him. She carefully took out the hearing protection that she was given and stowed them in her purse. There was a tad bit of jealousy, though, and that bothered the doe further. She didn't know if it was because Nick hadn't found it with her or if it was because he seemed to be doing better than her. The fact was that Judy substituted proper remedies for her own issues with an exhausting work ethic.

Don't let them see that it gets to you… Not even Nick, apparently, Judy thought. It was a harsh upbraiding. Of course, Nick was just as inquisitive of her situation as Judy was of his. The answer was the same, but Nick wasn't the one not seeking assistance.

With that, Judy placed down some money on the counter for the earbuds and water before hopping off the barstool, and quietly exiting out into the nighttime air. Unfortunately, it was still balmy out.

What do I do?

There was a storm flowing within the young doe and it had her extremely distracted. Judy paid enough attention to the pedestrian indicators while crossing through the intersections. She crossed the third one before feeling a presence fall in-line with her.

"Corporal Carrots, this is the Control Tower. Your wheels aren't chocked, and you are not permitted to takeoff. I need you to power down and disembark from your aircraft immediately." A chuckling growl next to her caused Judy to jump into the air, spinning around.

"Nick!" Judy said loudly, her heartrate skyrocketing at having been caught. Her ears shot straight up into the air in her alarm.

The todd had an endearing smile plastered to his dumb mug. It told her that he was apologetic to have startled her, but he could not have resisted the humorous jab at his dear friend.

"If your nose twitches any faster, Fluff, you'll take flight." He continued, ushering her forward with a paw gently resting between her shoulder blades.

Carrot sticks!

Judy felt like a kit all over again, immediately looking down to hide the blistering blush that was piercing her muzzle, as if she had been raiding the carrot cookies from her mother's pantry. Her long ears relaxed in a saddened fashion against the back of her skull. There was no way that she was far enough away from the stillhouse to brush the meeting off as a coincidence.

"Judy," Nick spoke up. "I need you to at least not apologize."

She rolled her eyes towards him, tilting her head a little to side-eye him cautiously.

"You knew." She commented smally.

"The equation of Judy Hopps isn't quite as elaborate as, say, the Drake Equation. It's easily figured out by someone with my level of skills." Nick laughed softly, raising his paw to ruffle her ears with a pleasant gentleness. "You are far too inquisitive for your own good sometimes. And, if ol' Nicholas Wilde starts disappearing after his shifts, it stands within reason that the fastest-track-to-detective is going to hunt his red-furred backside down and assess his situation. As long as you aren't endangering others with that dynamic, Judy, then it's quite alright."

The flustered doe's cheeks puffed out adorably. The only response that she could manage was to back-paw his side gently out of frustration at having been caught so easily.

"It works better to use your skills on mammals who don't know you, Carrots." Nick said finally, rubbing his side absentmindedly. It hadn't hurt in the slightest. "You want to talk about it?"

"That's supposed to be my line…" Judy squeaked out sadly.

"Well, I know your motive. I have no questions to that end. But, you clearly have a lot of questions."

Judy had to brush one of her wayward ears down her back again. Nick Wilde was akin to a singularity. There was a wealth of knowledge and history within Nick that he could keep hidden from everyone now. It was so frustrating that Judy was essentially a very intricate textbook that could be read so easily by those close to her.

"Judy." Nick said, tugging gently at her sleeve as he stopped. It slipped from his paw as she walked on glumly. "Sweetheart…"

That brought Judy up short. She had not heard that term-of-endearment from Nick in a long time. It made her heart jump and swell in her chest despite the sadness perforating her outer appearance as she looked back at the todd.

"This has helped me considerably. I have been withdrawn from discussing it." Nick said, kneeling before her. "That's over. Let's go have a seat so we can talk."

Judy nodded numbly, looking around as Nick indicated over to the bench at the edge of a park that they had come up on. She had not even noticed where they were until that moment. After a moment, they reached the park bench, it faced west and into the park. The sun had just made it down below the trees across the park. It was a rather beautiful sight to behold. Nick allowed her to sit and get situated before sitting next to her, throwing his arms across the top of the seatback of the bench.

"I… I don't know how…" Judy said quietly, stopping short.

"You say it. You ask it. Plainly." Nick said with a smile, side-eyeing her in her discomfort.

"I want to help you. But I don't know what to do." She admitted.

Nick jerked his snout up suddenly. He was indicating that Judy should look out beyond the grassy plain and pond at the view.

"You're doing one of the right things. Watching this with you means a lot. I could never verbally convey the sentiment that I have right now or the thankfulness that I feel. Inevitably, you would have figured something out and committed to it, so I wouldn't be all that worried about it." Nick replied seriously. "But how are you doing? Really."

Judy shrugged a little as she contemplated what that entailed.

"I think that I've been overworking myself to deflect from the issue personally." Judy reasoned.

She looked over to find Nick leaned forward, staring at his paws while nodding sadly. He was smiling a little, likely due to the fact of her work ethic, but they both knew that it wasn't a good thing with the present issues looming overhead. He didn't say anything, so that Judy could work it out verbally if she wanted to.

"How did you start this, Nick?"

"How did I start playing music? Or, how did I get involved with the crew?" Nick asked, looking over at the petite doe.

"With them specifically." Judy refined her inquiry.

"Well, during the Nighthowler Protests, Randy ran into John. They worked together in protest defense after Randy's was assaulted that last time. I had seen Dave around the Ward, but never gotten to meet him personally at that time. Later, after the post-serum quarantine and assessment, Randy had noticed the familiarity of the Mingan name, and decided to approach Dave about an outreach group for abused or traumatized preds. It was a nice idea considering how much PTSD floats around due to combat, internal and external abuse, and now a handful of formerly savage mammals and some third-party victims. I was the hardest for them to find and the only other one from the Nighthowler victims to join up. The rest want to forget about it in their own ways, I guess…" Nick explained kindly.

"Conflict? You mean, wars?" Judy asked, her head turning to look up at him in distress.

Nick, again, smiled sadly. "The richest and most political of mammals in Zootopia are the shot-callers and the poorest of the citizens are proud to serve or don't have any other financial options. The demographics for the Self-Defense Force are historically pred-dominated, Carrots." He continued. "If you believe the conspiracy theorists, it's said that the propensity for armed conflict indicates an eager and legal means to purge the pred populations from the nation more quickly."

"Do you believe that?" Judy asked, her mind whirring into action again.

"No. And, after the Nighthowler case? I'm more worried about more forward attempts at 'reigning-in the pred threat'." Nick chuckled with a shake of his head. "Anyway, there are a lot of vets who participate in other activities that Randy and John organize."

Judy nodded in understanding of the situation. "How did you know I was there tonight though?" She asked finally.

"Well, Dave thought he smelled a cute little bunny in the building this evening…" Nick said, laughing as she elbowed him firmly. "I knew you'd eventually suss things out and show up, so there was only one lapin member of our society who would be there."

Nick thought it adorable that Judy attempted to hide behind her ears even though he could see her flushing regardless, muttering about stupid, sly foxes and the like as she did so.

"And the album you were covering from…?" She asked in embarrassment. She didn't want to sound like a speciest in that line-of-questioning. "It's so…"

"Yes, it was specifically tailored for what happened. Metalliclaw catches a lot of shit from both preds and prey alike on that one. But it helps some of us and I believe that adapting it, to our situation, is akin to jabbing a nice sharp stick in the eyes of Bellwether and any similar-minded cohorts of hers." Nick admitted carefully, not being able to help a laugh at the next bit. "I would certainly love to hear that Bellwether caught wind of our renditions and have that nice little 'fuck-you' send her into a mewling fit of rage behind bars. After what she put us through, I'd pay to see that…"

Judy sighed deeply. She had always felt like it was partially her fault after the press conference. Nick leaned over and grasped her quietly. He was hugging her close to his larger vulpine frame with all the endearment that could be conveyed. Nick wasn't a hugger; foxes just weren't that way for whatever reason. It certainly surprised Judy.

"Don't apologize. Don't think about that." He said firmly as Judy returned the hug with a ferocity. "I want to thank you for all that you have done for me. Protecting me in that pit despite that being's determination to see you slain. And, Carrots, I will do anything to help you if the trauma ever crops up. Night or day. Rain or shine… You come find me, beat on my door if necessary, wake me up in the dead of night. I'll do anything for you. No matter the hour."

Judy's heart was racing as she quietly drew his scent in small huffs. Looking up through the ruffles of his shirt, she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Nick," She whispered. "How bad is it for you?"

"Uhhh…" Nick grumbled, trying not to laugh at his situation. "Promise you won't freak out?"

"Nick!" Judy's eyes shot open wide, tears starting to stream down the short fur on her cheeks.

"If my mind doesn't calm down when I sleep, I'm probably going to get evicted…" Nick said, chuckling sheepishly despite himself.

Before Judy could even respond, Nick used his thumb-pads to wipe the tears away. It didn't halt the look of fear that had overtaken her like the rapture itself. He decided to throw her off by smushing Judy's cheeks together and rub them gently. It prompted annoyed squeaks and a surprised tittering from the doe. The sun was gone, and the last rays of light were dimming out in the distance.

"I've been making plans for the likelihood, so don't worry about it." He spoke softly before sliding off the bench. "C'mon, Carrots. It's getting late. Let's get you back to the casa."

With a content feeling sitting in her chest, Judy was happy that Nick had chosen to escort her back to her new apartment complex. His actions weren't something new in this regard. Once Nick had gotten to know her properly, and wasn't under threat from strong-arm tactics, he was a rather perfect gentle-mammal. Neither of them made light of the todd's actions as he walked the street-side of the walk, kept a proper distance, and kept his head on a swivel for potential threats. Nick walked her all the way up to her door, since the elevator to the complex was out-of-service, and he smiled down at the doe. Judy opened the door and stopped, looking back at the red fox standing resolutely in the hallway.

"Home, sweet home, Fluff."

Judy carefully reached up to grasp the red tie that Nick had on. She pulled him down to her level and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her nose in his shirt again.

"Thank you, Slick."

Judy never saw the sly grin that Nick plastered on his mug moments before he pulled back enough to place his lips on the top of the doe's head. She felt her fur ruffle as Nick breathed in deeply. He carefully regained control of his new tie as he took his breath…

And that was when Nicholas Wilde executed his plot: blowing a loud, wet raspberry into her fur before walking himself backwards, down the hall, so that he could watch the surprised twitching her nose made. As her features grew redder and redder in frustration and embarrassment. He had purposefully slobbered on her a bit. In his previously life, he never would have embarrassed himself in such a manner. However, Nick knew that he could make Judy smile.

"I'm going to get you, you sly fox!" Judy shouted, not able to help the grin spreading over her muzzle.

Oh, she's mad… Nick thought to himself. But, she's smiling.

He raised a paw up to wave dismissively, knowing he looked like a condescending douchebag, and laughing a bit as he noticed that Judy was trying so hard not to flip him off. Something that the doe had learned from the todd after a rather frustrating traffic stop a couple of months back. Nick had felt so bad about that: with Judy, it was like teaching a kit.

"Goodnight, Judy. Sweet dreams." He said politely. There was no hustle behind his grin, but Nick knew he was going to pay for that at some point.

He rounded the corner deftly and was out of Judy's sight. The doe couldn't help but try to wipe the drool off her head as she entered her apartment and closed the door. Before Judy could even commit to her normal bedtime routine, a grin split her muzzle deeply and she broke out in happy laughter at her friend's antics.