Hey Everyone!
Yay, back with another story-line chapter this time around! I certainly hope that you all enjoy it, of course! But first, I have some things to bring up for you!
For starters, I'd just like to quickly apologize for the rather lengthy amount of time that it took to bring this chapter to your waiting eyes: I've been quite busy as of late, and it's only gonna get worse, but thankfully, I'm working out a nice and well-structured update schedule, so soon enough, things will be nice and steady when it comes to story updates, I assure you!
That being said, I do have one last thing to get out of the way before I get out of your hair! :P
That's all for now my friends, so without further ado, I give to you chapter 60 (Huzzah!) of When Instinct Falls, Gambit!
Enjoy...
"Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless." - Morris Chang
A gambit from a skilled opponent...
That's what Grygorri Ratsputin had told to him.
The only reason that I haven't ruined you yet, is because I think that you may prove useful to me.
Nick knew that the rat must've been planning to use him for his own nefarious advantages, one way or another.
The fox refused to be a pawn: If Ratsputin wanted to play this game of his, then by all means, Nick was going to be the one to win.
1:10 P.M
Opening the door to the mayor's office, Nick pursed his lips and scowled as he locked eyes with Jack Savage, who was still hand-cuffed to door handle on the opposing side. Snorting slightly through his nostrils, the fox broke eye-contact with the male rabbit before trudging over to Judy, who was scribbling something down on her yellow-colored notepad.
Mayor Lyncoln was lounging in her chair, quietly talking with someone on her little mobile device. Nick didn't bother listening in on whatever she was saying, and instead focused his attention on Judy, whom he was hopeful had gathered enough information from the mayor herself to be able to continue with the likes of their internal investigation.
"Ahem..." Jack Savage coughed audibly from behind, causing Nick to glance back with a bored expression. "You are going to uncuff me from this door, aren't you, officer Wilde?"
The fox's emerald-colored eyes darted up and down the male rabbit's disgruntled form, and a delicate smile tugged at the corner of his muzzle.
"Nah, I think I like you right where you are... Hang in there..." He stated, topping it off with a quick and mocking salute before turning back around and eyeing Judy's notepad.
Scanning over his mate's somewhat messy handwriting, Nick came to the conclusion that she had been writing down choice bits of information, such as the fact that Ratsputin was applying pressure to the mayor, along with other points like how the city-hall archives apparently contain some sort of long-held state-secret from the conclusion of the Bellwether case all those years ago.
"Get anything interesting, carrots?" The fox asked just for clarification, to which the female bunny mumbled back in response; "Not much... Just more of the same stuff..."
"Such as?" Nick added, his curiosity piqued.
"Just more bits and pieces about this so called state-secret... According to Mayor Lyncoln, all of the evidence was actually looked over by chief Bogo before being hidden away..."
"Then I guess that's where we should look next, huh? Right back to where we started, ain't that right? Good work, whiskers."
Nick patted Judy firmly on her shoulder in a gesture of reassurance, pride, and affection. As he massaged and rubbed her collarbone, the mayor placed down her phone and cleared her throat audibly, earning the attention of all the mammal's in the room. The bobcat drummed her fingers against the smooth surface of her office desk as she spoke aloud;
"Officers, for as much as I enjoy your company, I'm afraid that I have to ask of you to leave this office for the moment: I have a private and important meeting scheduled with the esteemed PR spokesman for the Bugga-Burger corporation, who coincidentally, is here to discuss with me the financial losses that were instituted by Jack Savage's scamming."
Mayor Lyncoln briefly glanced at the male rabbit with a disapproving expression before resuming her previous statement.
"As I said before, you three are welcome to explore city-hall, but still must abide by the rules in place here, of course."
"Great! Thank you!" Judy exclaimed. "But... Is it possible that we can learn more about this secret evidence from the Bellwether case? Like taking it back to the ZPD, perhaps?"
The bobcat momentarily lowered her gaze to the red-carpet floor. "I'll consider it... You're playing a very dangerous game, officer Hopps." She grumbled broodingly.
"What can I say? Danger is my middle name!" Judy stated jovially, concluding with a nervous laugh as the mayor frowned, clearly unamused.
"Hm... Come back tomorrow, in case I have my mind made up by then. For starters, schedule the meeting for this time tomorrow afternoon, since every other slot I have is either occupied, or simply not possible at this point. From there, I'm sure that the four of us can work to some sort of agreement. Until then, speak with my secretary outside."
"Alright, sounds good to me." Nick claimed with a half-lidded smirk plastered across his russet-colored muzzle.
"I'm glad that it does..." Mayor Lyncoln started. "Considering the fact that I prefer my appointments and meetings to be scheduled and documented, rather than out of the blue."
"Heh... Right, sorry 'bout that... But it was necessary..." The fox added, to which the bobcat swiftly nodded a single in approval.
"Quite alright, I suppose. Just be sure to schedule tomorrow's meeting beforehand, and to arrive on time, of course: I have no patience for tardiness, officer Wilde."
"Can do... Can do... Alright carrots, whaddya say we give the mayor some space, shall we? Let's get going."
Nick gave one last gesture of farewell to the mayor before pacing over to Jack, who was still cuffed to the door handle, and had been rapidly thumping his right foot impatiently against the carpet floor beneath his feet as he awaited his release. Unlocking his side of the hand-cuffs, Nick then latched them onto his own wrist, connecting the male rabbit to himself, much to the resent of both mammals.
Meanwhile, Judy had walked on ahead and through the doors, exiting the office and reentering the rather spacious receptions lobby, where she strolled up to the semi-circular desk and knocked lightly on it's granite-coated surface, effectively earning the attention of vixen behind the counter, who glanced over with a bored expression on her face.
"Can I help you?" She asked simply.
"Yes, we'd actually like to schedule an appointment with the mayor for the twelve o' clock time slot, please!" Judy hummed cheerfully.
Nodding as she made a hmm sort of sound beneath her breath, Megan turned towards her computer monitor and begun speedily typing away at its key-board. Several seconds later, Judy's ears twitched at the detection of Jack's grumbling, which she was able to hear quite clearly as Nick, with Jack in tow, stepped out from the office and continued down the hall-way to the receptions desk, where the two of them reunited with Judy.
Soon enough, their future appointment had been scheduled, and the trio of mammals set out back to the main lobby of the building, where they intended to formulate the coming steps of their plan. After taking the elevator back down to the ground level floor, Nick, Jack, and Judy all made their way to a ring of unoccupied couches in the corner of the main lobby, where the three of them chose to take a brief break for lunch while they worked out the remainder of the internal-investigation.
As Nick and Jack awkwardly seated themselves on the same couch (Yet still as far away from each-other as possible), Judy excused herself to go and acquire some food for the three of them from the nearby cafe, which itself was situated on the far end of the very same lobby. Leaving the male rabbit and fox all alone and to themselves, Judy made sure to continually glance back at her comrades to ensure that they weren't getting themselves into any sort of trouble while she was away getting some food for them all.
Sniffing in roughly through his nose, Jack Savage looked directly at Nick, eye to eye, and smiled almost mockingly.
"Ya know Nick..." The male rabbit began coyly. "I just have to say; This has been a very memorable experience thus far!"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Jack..." Nick retorted lowly.
"Right, right... I'm just tryin' to be social, that's all... Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"It is if it's you."
"Okay, now you're just being mean!" Jack grumbled before crossing his legs and snorting audibly. "So, whatcha think of that vixen from the mayor's receptions lobby, huh?"
The fox scowled at Jack with a look of disapproval etched into his facial features.
"What, you mean Megan?" He inquired, to which the male rabbit nodded in confirmation and said aloud; "Yeah, that's right."
"There's nothing to be said, really... She helped us on our investigation, and that's what counts... Besides, I don't have to answer to you, rabbit..."
"I'm just asking... But yeah, she seemed nice enough, I suppose... If I'm right, I think that I actually noticed a bit of tension between her and our lovely bunny, Judith."
"Our?!"
The fox had snarled much louder than he had really meant to, which in turn earned himself a few glares from passing civilians. Nick's sharp teeth were bared and displayed for the whole world to see: A few nearby sheep had noticed the fox's expression, and he pretended not to notice as they fiddled around nervously and with fear laced in their eyes. Nick didn't care if anyone else saw him in this moment of frustration, because in reality, the only one that he was truly directing it to was sitting right next to him on the couch.
"Yes..." The male rabbit confirmed softly. "Ours."
Yet he noticed that Jack Savage held no look of fear in his eyes, and no timid expression growing upon his face: The male rabbit stared directly back at the fox, completely undeterred from his snarling, dominant, and predatory demeanor. If anything, Jack looked even more at ease than before, with his paws placed firmly behind the back of his head, and his facial features contorted into the likes of a smug and gloating expression.
Nick blinked a few times, and his face softened.
He heard nothing but his own breathing.
In that moment of mental realization, the fox at last registered the fact that this was exactly what Jack Savage wanted: To see Nick unravel in public, to embarrass himself and to make him angry. To make him lose his composure, and above all else, to see that something had actually managed to get to him. Just the mere thought of it made Nick's heart rate increase in anger, but he took to calming himself, and cooling down in an effort to appear more appealing and even friendly to those around him, save for one male rabbit.
Nick was so sick and tired of it all: For far too long he had been subject to abuse at the hands of others. Kicked around as if he were nothing more than the dirt beneath his very own feet. His own father had deemed his relationship with Judy as an abhorring and unnatural abomination against nature itself. He was assaulted and left wounded from a battle in the burrows, his opponents fueled by racism and prejudice. His marriage had almost been completely destroyed at the talons of Vladzotz, who had left scars so terrible that they would never heal. Grygorri Ratsputin saw him as an expendable pawn in a game of higher power; Calling him unimportant and useless, and humiliating him greatly.
But of all the challenges that life had thrown at him throughout his life thus far, none stuck out more than Jack Savage himself.
That rabbit was the very definition of wretched, in Nick's eyes, and was seemingly incapable of amounting to anything less than spite or ignorance. Ever since the fox first met him, he'd been suspicious of his hospitality and morals. In the end, he had been right, since Jack had proven Nick's suspicions, and revealed his true colors and intentions. Nick despised Jack more than anyone else that he knew in the entire world, even Vladzotz, but for as much as he did so, it was only now that he realized just how low he had truly sunken.
Over all this time, Nick had been through so much: His entire life thus far may have been just one disaster after another, but each and every one of them was behind him. He'd made peace with his father, and shown him the true meaning of compassion and acceptance. He'd locked away those violent thugs for their crimes, and he had also repaired his rather fragile relationship with Judy countless times. Nick had overcame the fury of Vladzotz and the flames of the past that the bat lord had reignited into his life, and alongside all that he had overcame before, Nick had no intentions of losing this figurative chess game between him and Grygorri Ratsputin.
Compared to everything else, Jack Savage was nothing to him...
If Nick was going to have anyone get to him over anything, it certainly wasn't going to be over this pathetic excuse of a mammal.
The fox tugged harshly on the chain of the handcuffs that connected him to Jack, causing the male rabbit to be pulled forward and into an uncomfortable position. Nick gripped the wrinkled collar of Jack's white button-up in his left paw, and pulled the rabbit's face closer to his until he was just inches away from his snarling muzzle. The fox's free hand was pointing directly at Savage's heart, and he could feel the rabbit's pulse beneath the tip of his clawed finger, which pressed lightly into Jack's chest.
"Listen here you disgusting, and pathetic excuse of a mammal..." Nick began lowly. "Judy Hopps does not belong to you, or anyone else, even me..."
His tone may have been deadly and piercing, but the fox's facial expression was free from any form of emotion, including anger or frustration. He simply continued to speak;
"From here on out, rabbit, if I hear a single word come out of your filthy little mouth that has anything to do with her, I will make those scars on your back look like nothing..."
The two mammals locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity: Nick stared harshly into Jack's reflective blue eyes, which were wide with realization, and even fear itself. Jack's right eye twitched in it's socket, and Nick's paw gripped even tighter against the rabbit's collar, so much so that Nick could feel his claws piercing the fabric within his clenched fist. There was no verbal communication between either of them, but both of their expressions told entire stories.
"Hey guys! I got some coffee!" Judy's voiced called out from out of sight. "Made it just the way you like it, Nick!"
Nick snorted in Jack's face before releasing his hold on the rabbit's shirt and pushing him away to the other side of the sofa. A few short seconds later, Judy reappeared from behind and set down a bag full of food and other beverages onto the tiny coffee in the middle of the couch rotunda. The fox couldn't help but notice that Jack was rubbing tenderly at his throat and the back of his neck, lightly caressing the white and black fur that sprouted from his nape.
The male rabbit's current facial expression was that of pure guilt, embarrassment, and submission. Nick made a short and steadfast hm sort of sound from between his lips, immensely pleased with himself over the result and outcome of his previous outburst, even if it earned a little bit of unwanted attention from passing civilians and other mammals: It was a sacrifice that Nick was very much willing to make, especially for a situation such as this one.
All the while, Judy had opened the plastic bag that she had brought with her and begun to pile the food and drink from within onto the hard-marble surface of the coffee table, including the coffee itself. Nick noticed that Judy had even gotten one cup for Jack Savage, making a total of three different beverages, not even counting the food that she had obtained, which included two small house salads for Judy and Jack, and one cricket-crisp burrito for Nick to enjoy.
"Glad to see that you two didn't kill each-other while I was gone." The female bunny teased, almost jovially.
The sight of Judy's ever-cheery demeanor made Nick smile warmly in a subconscious effect to her joy.
"Right... That would only mean more paper-work for chief Bogo..." Nick replied, enticing a responsive snicker from Judy, who then took a sip from her Styrofoam coffee cup.
Meanwhile, Nick noticed that Jack had leaned back into the sofa, and was staring off broodingly into the distance, gazing out through the window in front of him and taking in the sight of a busy Savannah-Central at noon-time, which was choked full of many different mammals ranging from massive rhinos and hippos to teeny-tiny ermines and otters.
"Are you not gonna eat, Jack?" Judy questioned her male counterpart, who suddenly blinked a single time and broke free from his trance.
"Eat?" He repeated simply, his ears raised high and at attention, but his eyes still glazed over and unfocused, as if he were having trouble seeing clearly.
"Yeah, eat." The female bunny confirmed. "I got you a house-salad and some coffee... I didn't know what you like, really, so I just ordered a regular... I hope you can drink it..."
Jack Savage made a sort of uh sound with a slightly agape mouth. The male rabbit relaxed, closing his eyes and exhaling steadily through his nostrils. Seconds later, he slowly reopened his turquoise eyes, which were accompanied by a single, small, and simple smile across his lips.
"Thank you, officer Hopps... I appreciate it..." He concluded, reaching out for the drink and salad with his free paw.
Nick couldn't help but notice the way that Jack had referred to Judy: He had addressed her by her maiden last name, and as an officer of the law. His tone had been relaxed and at ease, and his expression was nothing short of calm and peaceful.
Jack Savage actually looked humble...
The fox almost had a shred of disbelief: Disbelief that Jack had actually been put in his place for good. Though of course, Nick would take the male rabbit's sudden change in actions with a substantial grain of salt, since after all, he was no stranger to flat-out lies, trickery, and all around deceitful behavior. But still, Nick was truly pleased with him...
"So, what's the plan, cotton-tail?" Nick asked through a mouthful of burrito. "What's next on our agenda, huh?"
Judy swallowed a bite of leafy greens and looked her mate in the eye while pulling out her yellow-colored notepad.
"Well, according to Mayor Lyncoln, chief Bogo himself has actually seen these mysterious documents-" She emphasized with finger quotes. "-That everyone has been talking about."
The female bunny flipped open her notepad and took to scanning through the many pages of scribbled bits of information and evidence. After a few short seconds, she spoke out;
"The mayor isn't budging about these so-called state-secrets, and if we're going to be handling them to protect them from Ratsputin, then I think that we should at least know just what exactly we're dealing with here. If chief Bogo knows what these documents are, we need to question him and find out everything that we can about them."
In that moment, something clicked sharply in Nick's head.
Chief Bogo was the one that had sent them to city-hall... Apparently, for the sole purpose of investigating Grygorri Ratsputin, and protecting the mayor from his corrupting power and influences. The water-buffalo himself had easily and straight-forwardly claimed that he knew next to nothing of just what exactly Grygorri Ratsputin was looking for down at city-hall in the first place, yet the apparent fact that chief Bogo knew what and where the documents themselves were suggested otherwise.
The whole scene stunk with suspicion, but Nick decided not to dwell on it for any longer than he had to, especially since Judy was now continuing her fervid explanation.
"After we report back to the ZPD Head-Quarters and fill chief Bogo in on everything that we've learned so far, we'll decide what we want to do from there. Mayor Lyncoln told us not to come back until tomorrow afternoon, so we still have plenty of time on our paws to work out the loose ends until we meet back up with her and get the documents that she told us about."
"Hopefully, get the documents that she told us about..." Nick piped out quickly in correction. "We still don't know if she'll actually hand them over when the time comes, do we?"
Judy frowned glumly, pursing her lips and looking to the marble-tiled floor beneath her feet.
"You're right, we don't... Though, maybe we could have chief Bogo convince her to give them to the ZPD! I mean, why wouldn't she? They'd be safe from Ratsputin with us!"
"True, but the Mayor seems pretty against moving the documents anywhere other than wherever they are now. That's a problem for us." The fox added.
"Like she said earlier, I'm sure that we'll be able to work to some sort of fair agreement in the end." Judy exclaimed quickly.
"I certainly hope so..." Nick grumbled. "It would stink if we went through all of this for nothing..."
"No kidding... The last thing I want is for this investigation to fall flat on its face, and for Ratsputin to get away squeaky clean, just like all of those other times..."
"We'll get 'em, carrots, I'm sure of it..." The fox reassured. "It may be risky to go after that rat, but in the end, this whole mission is really nothing more than one, big gambit."
"Gambit?" Judy questioned simply.
"Yeah, gambit... A strategic risk... We put ourselves at risk simply by challenging Ratsputin... We made the first move by coming here, and now it's time to make another..."
The fox pursed his lips and frowned, his emerald-colored eyes glazing over in deep reminiscence as he thought back to the scene that had unfolded back in the bathroom.
You deserve a gambit from a skilled opponent, The rat had told him, his bitter words still etched fresh and clean into the fox's mind.
Nick had made the first move by entering the playing field; Coming to city-hall and daring to challenge Ratsputin, who himself had retaliated with a second warning, his first move. The fox was still suspicious as to precisely why the rat had spared him so easily in the first place, but he took the whole entire scene with a considerable grain of salt, as he did with nearly everything else in his life. Ratsputin had made his move, and now it was Nick's turn once again: To put forth a gambit worthy of a skilled opponent...
A gambit worthy of Grygorri Ratsputin himself.
"Hey carrots... Do we really want to head straight to the ZPD HQ after all this?" Nick asked after swallowing a bite of his burrito. "I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that."
"What do you mean?" The bunny questioned, her curiosity clearly piqued. Jack Savage also leaned forward a bit more upon hearing the fox's previous statement
"Well, I was just thinking, but what if instead of heading straight to Bogo, we took a little detour first?" Nick continued.
"What are you getting at?" Jack interjected, his hearty voice filling the emptiness of Nick's silence. "Are you suggesting that we don't tell Bogo about what we learned here today?"
"No, it's not that! We'll still report back to him, but just not right now... Instead, let's take the time we have to learn just a little bit more about what we're dealing with..."
"You mean Ratsputin, don't you?" Judy added, her voice impossibly soft so as not to arouse suspicion from anyone that might have been eaves-dropping.
"Yeah... I think I have an idea that might help us out, to an extent..." Nick hesitated, and thought back to a choice piece of wording that Ratsputin had mentioned before;
Do not meddle again in my affairs, or those of my children... You have been warned, and I will not repeat myself if it happens again...
"I hope you two are satisfied with your meals..." The fox started with a coyish smile. "Let's head back to the cruiser... I got some coordinates that I need to put in for us..."
1:40 P.M
"So mind telling us what this ingenious plan of yours is, officer Wilde?" Jack questioned as he opened the door to the black-white cruiser, following Nick into the passenger seat.
Meanwhile, Judy had jumped up into the driver's seat, and after buckling her seat-belt, promptly flicked on the ZPD-issued computer monitor, which was fashioned securely against the dash-board, allowing for easy access and usage.
"Oh, you'll see soon enough, rabbit... You'll see soon enough..." Nick mused before turning his full attention toward the screen in front of him.
Sliding up closer to the key-board, which was quite large as it was, especially in comparison to the three mammals that were packed into the car, Nick typed away at the keys and eventually found himself logging in to the ZPD data-base, which held access to nearly every single one of the city's residence and civilians, police officers included.
The fox entered Ratsputin's name into the search bar, and after a few brief seconds of loading, the rat's own personal page came up onto the screen.
The most noticeable section of the whole page was its centerpiece; One portrait of the rat himself, whose metallic black eyes stared harshly directly into the lens of the camera. His blue-ish black hair was as unruly as ever before, and his attire consisted of his usual clothes, including a sturdy black court-suit positioned under a billowing cape of the same shade. The fox took note of the rat's full name, and stifled a slight snicker.
"Grygorri Yefimovich Ratsputin... Quite a mouthful, if you ask me!" Nick stated aloud to the car with half-lidded eyes and a sly smirk plastered across his russet-colored muzzle.
Nick continued to look over all of the information that he could gather. Hovering his mouse clicker over the Known Enemies file, the fox snorted humorously through his nostrils when a massive page suddenly appeared, with hundreds, if not thousands of different names listed down in thick, multiple rows for the entire length and width of the page.
"Sweet cheese and crackers... This guy has half of Zootopia on his tail!" Judy exclaimed in surprise. "I guess he isn't one for acts of courtesy, now is he?"
"No kidding." Nick grumbled lowly, almost beneath his breath.
Scrolling down the rat's personal page, the fox took note of his police-issued bio, which claimed that Ratsputin himself was a widowed father of three, whose spouse had died of cancer roughly a decade ago. Unfortunate, but not exactly what Nick was searching for in particular. Soon enough, he came across the links that led to Ratsputin's three adult children; Two sons, Dmitri and Rytsar, and one daughter named Anna. They all looked very much like their father, with the exception being that Dmitri had a wavy handle-bar mustache, and Anna appeared more feminine and gentle-looking than either of her siblings or even father, according to the pictures present on their ZPD data-base profile pages.
Quickly scanning over the information presented on the page, Nick eventually found exactly what he was looking for.
"Look here!" The fox pointed out to the two bunnies, who leaned in closer for a better look. "Ratsputin's two sons, Dmitri and Rytsar: They manage one of his printing presses!"
"So?" Jack inquired with raised eye-brows, to which Nick groaned irritably in response before continuing.
"Think about it! What's one of the first things that the ZPD does whenever there's a crime?"
"Contact the families of those involved, including the perpetrator!" Judy cried out excitedly.
"Exactly! We can't really talk to Grygorri Ratsputin himself very effectively for rather obvious reasons, but we could easily question his kids! We could ask them anything that we need to in order to help our investigation, including the idea of them perhaps even working alongside their daddy rat to execute his extortion and blackmailing schemes."
"Ooo, sounds like a plan!" Judy squealed excitedly. "So where can we find them?"
"Well, the profile pages say that Dmitri and Rytsar run one of their father's printing presses, but it doesn't say which one! There's all kinds throughout the city!" Nick grumbled.
"As a matter of fact, I actually know which press Ratsputin's two sons manage, and where it is, even." Jack Savage claimed out of the blue. "I can show you on the GPS!"
Nick shifted his weight uncomfortably and allowed the male rabbit to lean over and access the controls of the system. Nick was about to point out that he should be the one to input the data, but before he could even formulate the words in his own conscious, Jack backed away from the computer monitor, which now shined with the precise coordinates of the aforementioned printing shop.
"Next time, let me do it please..." The fox grumbled as he zoomed out on the monitor, displaying the route to their destination. "Three point four miles away, Savannah-Central."
"Not too far away, it looks like." The male rabbit mumbled aloud.
"Yup, you got that right, Savage... Buckle up you two..." Judy stated confidently. "We've got some rats to trap!"
Nick coughed audibly into his balled-up fist. "That was a terrible one-liner, whiskers." He claimed.
"I have to agree with the fox on this one." Jack added.
"Oh can it you two!" The female bunny interjected.
Twisting the keys into the ignition slot, Judy felt her hair stand on end as the cruiser's engine roared to life, and before they even knew it, the trio was off to their next journey.
Hey Everyone!
I certainly hope that you all enjoyed what this latest chapter of ours had to bring to the table!
I would very much appreciate knowing all of your thoughts on it! Do feel free to leave a nice review, of course: They are all highly appreciated!
I'd also like to apologize for the rather considerable amount of time that it took to get this chapter out to the public, as a point of fact. I'm working on making my update schedule more friendly and compatible on all sides, so soon enough, I assure you that updates will be a little less few and far between. :)
Alongside the usual news, I have something very special for you all to take heed of today! A friend of mine who goes by LambFauxPas has just presented me with a pair of wonderful and illustrious art-pieces in honor of this story of ours, When Instinct Falls! The first one is very conceptual, and contains some simply-done sketches of Jack Savage, alongside some other, random rabbit.
The second art-piece is my personal favorite, and is a full-color drawing of the Nocturnal-District itself, as described in this very story! I personally see the drawing as very beautiful, and near-perfect when it comes to capturing how I envision the dark district in all of its back-water glory! If you want to check out either of the drawings, then you can find them on my personal Tumblr account, which is labeled identically to this one here on fanfiction: upplet
I strongly recommend checking out the drawings, since they are all simply amazing as they are! A big, proud thanks to you, LambFauxPas! Thank you! :D
Regardless, that's all that I have for you lot as of now, really... Thanks for reading, and as always, do stay tuned for chapter 61, comin' your way soon!
'Till next time...
Peace!
PS: The 61st chapter will be quite an interesting one! So many questions will get resolved, atop some new mysterious to consider! Do stay tuned for it! :)