Even in her winter police uniform, Judy felt a little chilly while walking down the streets of Savanna Central with her partner. It was early evening, and the temperature was plummeting along with the sun as it vanished from the skyline.
"Brr," she rubbed her paws together briskly. "Wish we hadn't gone and got the cruiser dinged up. It's cold out here."
"Riiight," Nick drawled with his trademark smirk, "'we' dinged the cruiser up. As I recall, only one of us was driving."
"Oh, hush," Judy snapped, her brow falling.
"Betcha ol' Ozzie doesn't get it fixed for quite awhile," Nick chuckled, "it being the holidays and all. Shame too, since that's the only cruiser fixed for us to drive."
"Well, it's either patrol on foot, or desk work," the bunny cop replied, "and between the two, I'd gladly be cold."
"Same," Nick nodded.
In the distance, Judy saw what appeared to be a young adult sheep affixing a poster to a storefront's window. Judy made her way forward.
"S'cuse me, sir?" Judy approached him skeptically, and as soon as the hooded sheep saw her, a look of mild panic crossed his face and he ran for an alley. "Hey! Hey, wait!"
Judy and Nick wasted little time in giving chase, but when they rounded the corner, he was gone.
"Where'd he go?" Judy said to herself. "Wonder what that was about." She and Nick returned to the storefront, where Judy looked upon the poster. It was a poster of a great deal of mice all standing in rows together. They all wore business suits and festive hats, and the text on the poster read "TIS THE SEASON FOR INDUSTRY". Judy's face spoke puzzlement as she looked over the poster. "What's this about? Some sort of... anti-mice sentiment?"
"No, not quite," Nick folded his arms, then got out his phone and took a couple of pictures. "Looks to me like we have a bitter little sheep who thinks we've forgotten the reason for the season."
"I'm not sure I get it," the bunny wagged her head. "I mean, Shepherd's Day has nothing to do with mice."
"That's not just any mouse, it's Industry," Nick pointed at the gaggle of very similar-looking mice. "Look at the shine of the eyes, how its like a cog? That's supposed to be Industry, the Celestial."
After a short while of contemplating it, Judy bobbed her head.
"Oh, I think I get it now. How Shepherd's Day has supposedly become all about selling stuff and commercialism."
"Exactly," the fox nodded. "We should probably take this down and get it to the station, see if any other of these have been reported popping up around the city."
Judy nodded her agreement, and her partner carefully took the poster down.
"It's kind of not really fair to Industry, is it?" Judy wrinkled her nose. "I mean, infrastructure and business is a good thing."
"You have all kinds of holiday cynics, Carrots," Nick replied, rolling the poster up and gripping it loosely. "It's easy to deflect onto something you don't appreciate as much. Now." Nick artfully swept the poster in the direction of the ZPD. "Shall we go, partner?"
Judy nodded, and silence reigned for a whole minute before she cast a curious glance to her taller partner.
"Are you one of those cynics, Nick?"
"I mean, I guess you could say I am," Nick shrugged his free hand and shoulder. "Especially when I was barely scraping by on my own, the holiday season just gave me more reasons to be bitter."
"Why, though?" Judy looked genuinely concerned, her brow raising. "I thought the holiday spirit was about helping mammals in need, y'know, all that. Peace to your fellow mammal."
"Right, the holiday spirit," Nick replied. His voice carried just the slightest hint of sarcasm, but otherwise sounded casual. "That's just the thing. To me it seems ridiculous that there's a time for that kind of behavior. Like, there was this one capybara I knew. Real nice guy, but kind of off in the head. Couldn't really hold down a job, no family to speak of, so he was on the streets. Now, he'd have the easiest time in the holiday season. He got handouts from a bunch of mammals, and he was grateful, but he didn't really understand why people were suddenly being so nice to him."
"Because it was- I dunno, it was in the spirit of-" Judy fumbled with her words as they came to rest within a crosswalk.
"Exactly, Carrots," Nick nodded. "He was being helped by some mammals that would just as soon walk faster when he asked for something at other times of the year. I just think... hm. It's kind of rotten to designate a time to be nice to people. To designate a day when you're 'supposed' to go give gifts to people."
"Is that your way of telling me you didn't get me anything for Shepherd's Day?" Judy tossed him a sly look.
"Heh," Nick gave her a nervous eye dart, then concentrated on walking. "I guess I can kind of see the point of that holiday purist, is all I'm saying. Who even thinks about the Shepherd anymore on his own day?" He casually gestured to Judy. "Do you even know the history and legends behind the holiday?"
"Sure, doesn't everyone?" The bunny kept pace with her partner, noticing she was looking at him more than he returned her glances. "The Shepherd was the sheep who helped broker peace between predators and prey, way back in ancient times. Apparently his original name is considered so holy now that it was actually taken out of the Book of the Lamb at some point, so no one really knows how to pronounce it anymore."
"Hm, even that's more than most people know," Nick nodded. "Go on?"
"Um..." Judy searched the night sky, sparse with stars because of the ambient colorful light of the Gleaming City. "So, he was poisoned on the day of his birth, right? Soon after the treaties were signed?"
"That's what they say, anyway," the fox nodded diagonally.
"He lingered for a few days, then died on what we now call the New Year," Judy tapped her cheek thoughtfully.
"My mother still believes in that," Nick said, "even the parts in the Book of the Lamb where he supposedly ascended and became a new Celestial, Surrender. Y'know, how the holiday is supposed to be about peace and acceptance of your fellow mammal and all that. Thought it was weird that she put so much stock in a prey tale like that."
"So it's not just that it's not exactly religious anymore that you're disenfranchised from the holidays?" Judy wondered, concern again lighting her eyes. "It's that, I dunno, you feel like it's- it's what, hypocritical to be nice just for an appointed time?"
"A little," Nick sighed. "So what did your family do for the holidays? God, I can only imagine how many presents you all needed to buy."
"Well, we usually only got one each, but I'm not gonna do this," Judy waved her hand, smirking. "You want me to follow your cynical holiday humbuggery with tales from a country family? Like I'm some naive kit that still believes Serendipity magically pops presents into existence beneath the holiday trees with her glittery sparkles?"
Nick barked out a loud laugh. "Wow, is that what bunnies believe? Gosh, she must be really fast to visit every bunny household in one night!"
"Nick," Judy rolled her eyes, "no, it's my sister Violet that normally organizes who gets what, according to what they want and such. I dunno, I guess it's just convenient for a large family to have a sort of time for getting people gifts when we might not have enough extra money to do that at random other times in the year." She shook her head firmly. "But to bunnies, the season is less about Serendipity, and more about Fertility."
"Whoa, really?" Nick's eyes widened. "Winter's like that for you bunnies too, huh?" He smirked devilishly.
"Wha- no!" Judy sneered. "Where's your head at, Wilde!?" She flicked her arms out. "I'm talking about how Fertility's spirit is supposed to be about love of all kinds. Familial love especially. Around this time Dad will offer some nice family prayers to her with all of us gathered around, y'know, being grateful for what we have as a family together."
Nick didn't respond, but nodded with a sort of distracted look.
"Sounds hokey, right?" Judy drawled a rough approximation of Nick's voice, making him chuckle. She frowned slightly. "Do you believe in anything at all, Nick?"
"Didn't used to, actually," Nick sighed, looking up at the sky briefly. The ZPD started to come into view, and his pace slowed. "Just Karma, really."
"Oh, the canid Celestial!" Judy smiled with a nod. "That makes sense."
"I wouldn't say I believe in her as a... I dunno, a 'personage'," he held up a paw in caution. "Just like a force. A state of mind. You do something good, it comes back to you. You do something bad, likewise."
"Ah, you believe that, do you?" Judy folded her arms and leaned in his direction. "So when's your comeuppance for all of your hustling days?"
"Hey, I think my slate is clean, bunny," Nick chuckled, flicking his free paw and swiping the poster casually. "I never pulled a mean hustle on someone that didn't deserve it. Heck, I might have been an instrument of Karma myself!" He daintily placed a paw on his chest, wiggling his head proudly.
"Sure, right..." Judy rolled her eyes, and then laughed.
Nick took the first step towards the entrance of the ZPD, then retracted it and looked at Judy.
"While we're on the subject of being nice... here," Nick reached in his pocket, retrieved a small black box, and flicked it at Judy.
"Wh- whoa!?" Judy fumbled with the box before steadying it in her paws and curiously opening it. Inside appeared to be a little silver necklace, adorned with a color-shifting gemstone that sparkled in blue and purple. "Whoa...! What's- this is beautiful! Is this alexandrite?"
"Not natural alexandrite, to be honest," Nick chuckled.
"Nick, you can't..." the bunny seemed to struggle with her words, stamping a foot. "You can't give this to me yet! It's still a few days till Shepherd's Day!"
"Well," Nick wiggled his eyebrows, "one of the perks of being liberated from the schedule of the holiday is I can give a gift whenever the heck I want to."
Judy cast a clearly skeptical look into the fox's "innocent" eyes. "Right. It's definitely not because you just wanted to get me a nice, thoughtful gift before I got you yours."
"Last minute shopper, Carrots?" Nick's face read sarcastic surprise, and he sucked at his teeth. "Tsk tsk tsk, for shame."
"Jerk," Judy half-smiled with a tiny bit of bashfulness.
"Now, shall we get this to Skips and see if she has any insight on this poster menace?" Nick opened the door to the ZPD with his free hand and motioned inside with the rolled up poster.
"Yeah, yeah," Judy grinned at him on the way in. She paused in the doorway and her smile grew warmer. "Thank you, Nick."
Nick returned her smile proudly. "Merry Whatever, Carrots."