Larry sat down next to Gary, placing a paw on the other wolf's shoulder. Ever since being tricked into a howl at Cliffside – by a bunny, no less – his partner had been struggling with a minor crisis of confidence.
"Gary, you need to shake this off. Don't let the rabbit get you down, right?"
Gary sighed. "I know. It's just...I feel so stupid."
"Hey, none of that nonsense." Larry placed a paw under Gary's muzzle, guiding the white wolf's gaze to meet his own. "Tell me, who's a good boy?"
Gary grumbled quietly. The darker wolf, undiscouraged, gently scratched his partner under the chin. "C'mon now, who's a good boy?"
"Me." Gary finally muttered, rolling his eyes slightly. "I'm a good boy."
Grinning, Larry threw an arm around his partner's shoulders. "Yeah you are."
"It's been six years, Larry. Can you please just let that go?"
Larry and Gary had been best friends since they were pups. They came from the same neighborhood, and despite coming from different packs – Grayhill and Deepwater, respectively - the pair had been inseparable from the day they could walk. They'd gone to the same school, had worked at the same Buga-Burger during the summer, and when they'd been old enough they'd joined the Zootopian Armed Forces together.
"I could, but I probably won't."
It was during training that Gary received a letter from his mother, encouraging him to stay positive and to reminding him that he'd 'always be her good little boy.' Somehow, Larry had gotten ahold of that letter and had been teasing his friend about it ever since.
"You're an asshole." Gary grumbled, trying not to smile. "You know that, right?"
He'd even started calling Gary 'Goodboy' over the radio during their first deployment, and naturally the nickname had stuck. For the rest of their time in the military, Gary was commonly referred to as 'Goodboy' Deepwater.
It was annoying and demeaning.
It made him sound like he was still a pup.
It absolutely should not be making him feel better right now.
"I'm aware of that, yes."
He'd screwed up in a big way, and he knew it. Although he could recite a list of excuses - that he'd been exhausted and wouldn't have howled otherwise, or that the rabbit's impression of a howl had been uncanny in its accuracy - they didn't change the fact that he still felt like an idiot. Not just for being fooled by the rabbit's deception, but for allowing himself to be put in a position where he could be fooled.
Lionheart had wanted full security details around the clock and had written the company a blank check to get it. That meant overtime – lots of it - and they'd been rolling into their twentieth straight hour by the time the bunny showed up. It had been a stupid thing to do, but the temptation of making two-and-a-half times their usual pay was had gotten the better of them. He thought he'd been imagining things when he caught the fox's scent, and had been so focused on it that when the howl had come he hadn't even considered the source before reacting. Larry had tried to stop him, but the other wolf was so exhausted that even he couldn't resist the howl for long.
"I don't suppose you have anything constructive to add?"
After that, everything had come apart pretty quickly. He and the rest of the security personnel hadn't been arrested, of course; their presence at Cliffside was entirely legal. Gary been certain that his mistake would cost him his job until the other wolves had covered for him; each of them flatly denied any knowledge of where the howl had started. His relief was short-lived, however, because the very next morning that same godforsaken rabbit had gone on television and 'explained' what was making predators go savage.
The rest, as they say, was history.
"Well, now that you're back to your usual snarky self, maybe we ought to find something to do for a living."
It wasn't long before the private security company they worked for had started 'down-sizing', and the number of predators working there had begun to dwindle. Gary told himself not to blame the company; more and more clients were requesting that their security personnel be made up of larger prey mammals rather than any size of predator. When fewer and fewer of his friends were at work each day, he told himself that it was a logical business decision. Even when he and Larry were told that they didn't need to come in to work anymore, he told himself that it wasn't personal.
"Right." Gary frowned. "Because there are just so many job opportunities for predators right now."
Larry shrugged. "We could go work at Snarlbucks?"
"Very funny."
"I'm kinda serious, dude." Larry winced. "I hate the idea as much as you do, but I gotta make rent somehow."
"What? I thought you have enough saved up for a few months, at least."
"I did, but that new high-risk damage deposit damn near drained me dry."
Gary snorted. "You mean the 'pred fee'?"
"That's the one."
"Why didn't you just find a new place?"
"Not too many mammals renting to preds right now. Not for any kind of reasonable amount."
Sighing again, Gary stood and grabbed his jacket from a hook on the wall. "Well, there's no way I'm dealing with this on an empty stomach. Let's go grab something from Casa Del Rizzo's."
"Dude, that's in the square."
"So?"
"Haven't you seen the news?" Larry asked slowly. "There's a huge protest going on there right now."
"So?" The white wolf repeated, a little sharply.
Larry peered at his friend for a moment. Grumbling, he stood and retrieved his own jacket. "Fuck it. I guess we're going to Casa Del Rizzo's."
Determined not to look as angry as he felt, Gary made a point of smiling pleasantly at the mammals they passed on the street. Most would just look away, but some would go so far as to whimper or flinch. It stung a little every time, but least the prey mammals thought they had a reason to be afraid for their safety. The distrusting and resentful glares from the predators, on the other hand, were much worse. As much as recent events had turned prey against predator, it had also turned predators against each other. Many of them needed something or someone to be responsible for what was happening, and had chosen to label every predator they didn't know as a potential savage.
It didn't take long to reach the square that sat between city hall and the ZPD's Precinct One building, and even knowing what to expect Gary was surprised at the number of mammals gathered there. As aggressive as it looked, though. a lifetime spent among packs had given wolves a good sense for the ebb and flow of a crowd. For the time being, this protest was nothing but noise.
As they skirted the edge of the square toward their favorite pizza place, Gary happened to glance into the teeming mass of protestors and caught sight of someone painfully familiar; the grey and blue figure that'd been the start all of this misery. Halting in mid-step, he stared at the tiny little bunny amidst the mob, actually trying to calm down mammals several times her size. In another life, he might've been impressed with her determination. Now, all he could see was a thorn caught in the city's fur; a painful little irritant that had no business being where it was.
After a few minutes, she gave up trying to push an angrily yelling tiger away from an equally furious elk. Moving into a relatively calmer part of the crowd, she paused to catch her breath only about fifteen paces away.
For a fleeting second, Gary considered how easy it would be to just walk up behind her, sweep her legs out, and snap her spine with a well-placed kick. With the protest roaring around them, the other mammals surrounding them might not even notice. It'd just be a tragic accident; the sad but predictable result of a little bunny running between the feet of large angry mammals.
But that wasn't him. He was better than that. Better than the savage they said he was, at least. As angry as he was with her, she didn't deserve that. What she did deserve, however...
"Wait here. I gotta take care of something."
Confused, Larry followed the direction of his friend's glare and quickly spotted the small ZPD officer. "Dude, now is not the time to do something stupid."
"Don't worry, I won't. I just need to say my piece." Shouldering his way through the crowd, he shouted over the clamor of voices around them. "Hey, rabbit! You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?"
She spun toward the sound of his voice, purple eyes widening when she spotted him striding purposefully toward her. Her momentary shock faded quickly, replaced by a stern expression. "Sir, I'm going to need you to move along."
Ignoring her command, Gary continued forward until he was practically looming over her. "Just where the hell do you get off standing out here like some kind of peacemaker, huh? You started all of this, and now you think you can just come out here and tell everyone to play nice?!"
"Sir, I..." Pausing, she peered at him curiously. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"Yeah, actually. You do." They stood in silence as she waited for him to continue. He didn't.
"May I ask from where?"
"Knock yourself out."
He once again fell silent. She gave him an annoyed look when his meaning dawned on her, and continued impatiently. "Where do I know you from?"
"Fuck you." He snapped, startling her again. "I said you could ask, rabbit. Never said I'd tell you. Figure it out yourself."
"I..."
"Actually, I have a better one for you. Before these last couple of months, I dare you to name a single instance of a predator behaving even slightly savage in the last hundred years." He snorted when she failed to answer. "I didn't think so."
"Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean..."
"Shut it, rabbit. It's been thousands of years - literally thousands - since any mammalian species actively preyed on another. All of that ended before Zootopia was even an idea. Predators have done nothing to you, but every time you little tiny prey idiots get spooked you cower in the corner as if we're going to gobble you up." He leaned in a little closer. "Be honest, rabbit; between pred and prey, which side really sounds like they're a slave to their base instincts?"
"I...that's different."
"Said the cute little bunny."
"Don't call me cute."
"Really? You want to hear some of the things I've been called this week?"
"That's it." She snapped angrily. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't arrest you right now!"
"For what? Hurting your feelings?" Though he hadn't pulled any punches so far, even Gary was a little surprised when the last dig seemed to knock the wind right out of her. "What? No answer for that one?"
"I was trying to make the world a better place." She practically whispered, looking down at her paws. The words sounded strong, but the way she spoke them rang hollow. Like an old mantra she didn't really believe anymore.
"I honestly couldn't give a fuck what you were trying to do, hop-along." He growled, glaring down at her. "You may have wanted to make the world a better place, but all you've managed to do is break it. Do yourself a favor and think on that."
Not bothering to wait for her response, Gary turned and walked back to where Larry was waiting for him.
"Shit, man." Larry glanced over his friend's shoulder at the dejected-looking rabbit. "What was all that about?"
"Karma." Gary answered shortly. "C'mon. We're done here."
Next week will mark the one-year anniversary of Forty Glimpses, and it's also when I'll be posting one of the most anticipated/feared stories in this collection - Expert.
Enjoy. :)