Chapter 9: When Your Otter Date Is Also Your Debt Collector, Part One

10 Years Ago

The Snatcher was on the prowl. On the cold night of Tundratown, he observed his prey, cold paws hitting cold ground with extreme dexterity and stealth. There was no way they would see him come. They were definitely loaded mammals. He could smell their stacked wallets from there, the coins jangling in their pockets making protuberances in their pants. Maybe they had some food in their van, too. Anything he could eat would be great about now. He was so hungry he could eat a horse. Made of candy, though.

The Snatcher had no recollection of when he had last eaten a decent meal, being kept busy from the amount of snatching he did. He stole money, but he couldn't use it all on food. He was young, but he wasn't an idiot. He had to save as much money as he could to buy a house. The biggest in all of the district. Maybe he could buy even bigger things, like a rocket, or even better, a bigger rocket. But he was thinking too far ahead. For now, he had to focus on swiping those people's money. The smaller mammal with big ears was the easiest target. Without much thought to it (he had done this a gazillion times by now) he went in for the kill (the wallet). He definitely grabbed something and quickly moved away to a safe place away from the two. Once he definitely knew that they hadn't followed him, the Snatcher began to observe what he had hauled for himself. It was a wallet, that much was certain. But the contents were not at all what he expected. Inside there was no money, no credit cards, not even identification cards he could sell on the Inbetween. Instead, there was a small slip of paper taped to the inside. It read 'Nice Try, kid'

I've been got, the Snatcher thought, throwing the wallet away and running away before they could get it back. It was too late, however.

A silhouette stood at the end of the alley he had entered, and another, smaller one to the other side. The Snatcher had been cornered. "You got some good tricks, kit," the voice belonging to the bigger mammal said. "But it won't work on us."

Darn it, the Snatcher thought. There goes his chance of food for the night.

Present Day

"OPEN THE F*CKING DOOR NOW, RAVI," screamed a crazy fox wanting to get inside the doors of the Inbetween. He was pissed.

Ravi, the panther who had been living inside of the Inbetween for about twenty years, didn't know what to think. On one hand, he knew this fox very well, so it's not like he could get away from opening the door for him. On the other hand, he was actually a little bit scared, because he had never seen the fox angry at all. It was a fallacy, a paradox, something that shouldn't happen, ever, in the history of never. But it was happening, and he had to confront it. Slowly, he looked around through the peephole to make sure there weren't any other people he had called to beat him up, and when he saw that there wasn't (It was just the same fox, with a look that made his bones tremble), he slowly opened the door to let him in. Despite Ravi being at least two inches taller, he still felt like the tinier mammal there.

"Greeeeeeg, what a surprise to see you here."

"Shut it, you lousy mammal!" he entered, shutting the door with all his might. "Why did you say that to my uncle?!" He asked.

"I-I don't know what you mean, Greg."

"Stop acting like an idiot and answer me!" the fox pointed a finger, with its claw drawn directly into his chest. There was no way out of this one. Ravi had to tell the truth.

"Jeez, man. I was only joking with him. Did he take it that seriously?"

"Joking? Really? You told him that everyone in his life would leave him! Do you realize how messed up that is? That's really freaking evil, man! Even for you."

The finger stayed pointed at his chest. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, alright? I guess I had a bad day and was trying to take it out on him. Won't happen again, I swear."

"It better not, because you know as well as anyone that this place is another slip up away from being discovered. You know about the close calls you've had recently. A simple whistle can make it fall down instantly, and we don't want that, right?"

Ravi gulped audibly. Greg making threats? It was an alternate reality at that point."No, not at all," he tried to remain as calm as possible. "So what do you want from me, man?"

"We…are going to…" Ravi felt his arms falling out, unable to think properly. Greg grabbed him by the shirt and looked at him menacingly. Whatever it was, he was going to ask for something terrible, horrifying. He was gonna make him walk through a piranha river, try to cheat at a poker game, embezzle funds? He really couldn't be certain. He shut his eyes in anticipation. "..get another salmon for my uncle for free!" Greg said, smiling.

Huh?, Ravi thought.

A few hours earlier

"What? Five in the afternoon already?" Finnick told himself, after catching up on the entire Fox For Your Troubles series so far. He had gotten hooked. Not only were the episodes filled with incredibly mysterious plots that were wittily solved by the titular fox character, but it also included an incredibly well-made relationship between the two main characters. It wasn't built on a Will they, won't they scenario where the audience is left to theorize whether they will get together, but rather a When will they? situation. It's clear that the two characters love each other, but they are both so clumsy around love that they tend to be bad at expressing such feelings. Finnick couldn't help but extremely relate to both characters when it came to that, so naturally, he was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

The van door received a knock, and the arctic fox made his entrance. He was empty-pawed, but his expression was that of joy. Oh, no, Finnick thought.

"Good news! Sam is willing to meet up with you again?"

Finnick nodded, putting the plate of bug burgers and fries back on the coffee table, and promptly putting his paws on the sides of his head. "What?!"

"You really should stop underestimating me, Uncle. You know I do what I set myself to do."

"Ugh, I should've known this would happen. H-How was she?"

"She seemed fine. She had an otter friend there who she had told about her foot injuries, and she thought I was the one who had done it. Hehe, it was pretty funny, she almost killed me."

"And that's funny, how?" Finnick deadpanned.

"Just the ridiculousness of it all. Anyway, she wants to meet up tomorrow at 12 PM at the Rainforest Riviera."

"Her restaurant?"

"Yup. She also has a long list of, um, requirements for you."

"What kind of requirements?" Finnick asked worryingly.

Greg gulped. "You know what? Why don't we buy her another salmon and then worry about the checklist, hmm? Last one was burned, after all."

"I'm not going back to the Inbetween, if that's where you're thinking of getting the salmon," Finnick said.

"I mean, I know the cold bothers you, Uncle, but I didn't think it would bother you that much. You've been to Tundratown a ton, including when you-"

"It's not about the cold, Greg. Stupid Ravi got on my case about Sam, insulting me to my face. I don't wanna see his stupid panther mug anymore."

"...he did? What did he say?" Greg's sight decreased as he furrowed his brows.

"I don't really wanna repeat it…" the fennec said, turning his back to Greg.

Greg put an arm on his shoulder. "Uncle, with or without you, I'm going to get you another salmon, so you better tell me what that good-for-nothing told you."

Finnick was surprised by the sudden aggressiveness coming from his nice arctic nephew. He couldn't deny it felt good that Greg was offended like that for someone like him. He couldn't say it out loud, but it warmed his heart to an impossible degree. Finnick told him everything, from the moment he came in to the moment he got out. After spilling the beans, Greg said nothing, and just left the van as quickly as he arrived, not knowing what he was going to do.

Greg didn't notice, but a slip of paper folded in half had fallen from his pocket and fell softly on one of Finnick's hind paws. Without much thought to it, he grabbed the piece of paper, and started reading the contents of it, which were slightly concerning to the fox. Just slightly.

"SHE WANTS ME TO WHAT?"

The Next Day, 9AM

"I don't know, you think this is too tacky?" Sam asked Lylla, the otter she had met at the Sky's Hoof only two days ago. She was trying on dresses from her wardrobe in preparation for her 'date'. She was cautious about calling it that, but there really was not another way to put it. They were going out to eat at a restaurant and were going to have to talk about everything that transpired. Since he was allegedly going to be honest, she figured she should also be honest about her own escapades, at least to have someone else to talk to about it.

She was trying out a red blouse combined with a dark blue skirt.

"Mmm, might be too sexy for a first date. You need to get a more subtle outfit. Still striking, obviously, but less loud, if you know what I mean."

"So, a bit more formal?"

"Yeah, sure. It's not like you want to impress him on this date, right? He's still on trial, from the way you talked about it yesterday."

"Yeah, true, but I also can't just go in dressed as whatever. It has to give some kind of message. It has to say I'm still kinda angry and want him to be very sorry about what he did but I also wanna move on and try to be friends. Ya know?"

"You're really counting on your clothes to say all of that?" Lylla asked, baffled.

"I wanna give that impression, yes."

"Whoo, that's a tricky message, but we'll figure it out."

The sound of the doorbell to Sam's apartment interrupted the girls' thoughts. Both became alarmed and made no sound for a couple of seconds. "Who could that be?" asked Sam.

"Maybe it's Greg?" Lylla asked excitedly. She really had become quite smitten with the fox.

"What would he be doing here so early?"

"Maybe to see me? I knew I made an impression!" Lylla ran to the door like a bat out of hell. Can she still say that? Anyway, she ran as well to stop her from doing something reckless.

"Wait, we don't know who it might actually be!" Sam whispered. "Let me just see who it is through the peephole."

Sam did just that, slowly walking towards the door and closing one eye as she got close to the hole that let her see to the outside. Her eyes widened when she saw the figure, and immediately opened the door.

"Judy! You're here!" The otter rushed toward the bunny and gave her a hug. Her forehead brushed against Judy's neck fur as she adjusted herself to amplify the hug. Judy returned it with the same warmth.

"It's great to see you, Sam," Judy said.

When she finally released Judy from her lutrine clutches, Sam saw that she wasn't wearing a police uniform.

"I-I'm sorry," Lylla said from behind the two. "Did I miss a chapter or something? You're f-f-friends with Judy freaking Hopps?!"

"The same one, reporting for duty," Judy said, making a military salute. "You must be…" Judy tried saying, but the otter was already in front of her, forcefully grabbing her paw for a shake.

"Lillardinna, but my friends call me Lylla," she said. "Please call me Lylla," she pleaded with a low voice as her paws still rapidly shook the bunny's. Judy laughed awkwardly and finally forced the pawshake to stop.

"Wait, Lylla, I thought I told you I was friends with them," Sam said.

"No, you said you were friends with a cop, not that you were friends with THE cop." Sam was still

"Oh, please, Lylla, you praise me too much. May I come in?" Judy asked.

"Yes, of course. My house is yours!" Sam said, leading her to the living room and sitting her down on the sofa while Sam sat on one of the high stools close to the kitchen counter. Lylla sat close to her on the sofa, still smiling at the fact she'd just met the cop who saved the world. "It's so good to see you, Judy," Sam told her. "You don't know half of the crazy things that have been happening to me."

"Well, I know some of the stuff, from what you've told us and what Nick and I have seen on the web"

"Gotta say, though, the worst thing was learning about Nick hustling me, but Greg told me he wanted to apologize, so I should at least hear him out. Definitely beats Max, ugh."

"Oh yes. Him," Judy's words came out like poison. Sam knew Judy was righteous enough to detest someone like Max, and she trusted her to be able to do something about it. Lylla was confused by the name. Sam had yet to tell her about the true culprit of her foot cuts. "But let's not talk about him right now. You have a date to prepare for. Nick told me to give you some pointers about how you should handle Finnick."

"Handle him?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. He told me to tell you to avoid anything spicy whenever you cook for him, he hates spice apparently. Also to make sure never to ask for his real name, and thirdly, to never mention his mom."

"Wow, he's very high maintenance," Lylla said.

"That's nothing, actually," Judy mentioned. "You should see the long list of dos and don'ts that Nick has. I'm slowly working on shortening the list of don'ts," she said with a mischievous smile. Lylla paid attention to that and smiled.

"But…he's not cautioning me about possibly being his friend?"

"Nope. Nick knows Finnick isn't a bad mammal, per se. He just isn't very trustful of people due to his current line of work."

"He's still not getting out of what he did to me scot free," Sam challenged.

"I'm not saying that at all, Sam. I agree with you that he deserves some kinda punishment, and however you want to handle that, I trust you to do it. Just make sure to keep it within the realms of legality."

"Don't worry, Judy. I won't do anything too severe to him," Sam grinned.

"Taking your word for it. Now, I apologize, but I think I overheard you two saying that you needed a different outfit for your date?"

"Yes, actually," Lylla confirmed. "Her clothes are gorgeous, but they don't really fit this date, apparently."

"Well, my day today is completely free, so we three are going shopping!"

"What?!" Lylla screamed. "Shopping with Officer Hopps? It's an honor!"

"Eheheh," Judy laughed awkwardly again. "Anyway, I'll let you change to something more presentable for the mall, Sam. Meet you outside?" She got up from the sofa and started opening the door.

"Sure thing. It was great seeing you again, Judy," Sam said. It was really amazing that she was able to greet the bunny again after more than a year. She hoped to keep seeing her more regularly. She'll definitely ask for her phone number this time around.

"Likewise, Sam," Judy said, and then left to wait for her outside.

With a smile on her face, Sam started heading to her closet to find casual mall clothes she could wear.

"Hehe," Lylla said, heading in Sam's direction too. Her giggly face amused Sam a little.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked the otter as she began putting on flannel shorts and a green t-shirt.

She pointed at the front door with her right thumb. "She's boinking Officer Wilde, isn't she?"

"Lylla!" Sam screamed at the scandalously inappropriate comment.

"This is so stupid," Finnick said, being driven by Greg to the Rainforest Riviera, ready for the date.

"This is very much not stupid," Greg replied, driving oh so gleefully

"This is stupider than stupid, and I've done stupid shit in my life."

"Come on, Finnick," said Skye, on the back of the van. "At least you should feel a bit better that you're confronting your problems instead of avoiding them like usual."

"You're not here, Skye. As far as I'm concerned, this is just me and Greg on a daily scroll through the city."

Skye looked at the partner on her right with an aloof expression, wanting to aggravate the small fox a little more. "Right, and Himmel sniffing Greg's sunflowers like a 1980s vacuum is a thing that is totally not happening right now."

Himmel, embarrassed that her sister had called her out like that, took the flowers away from her snout and sniffed them from a safe distance. "I was not vacuum," she grumbled silently to herself.

"It's completely unbelievable so it might as well not be true," Finnick stated.

"Hey!" Greg exclaimed, offended.

"That's not all of it, Finn. You should see how she calls him now."

"Kee, stop!" said Himmel.

Finnick wanted nothing more than to forget what was about to happen, so engaging in other matters helped relieve some of his nerves. "Something dumb like Greggie or Regg?"

"Or something defined and sophisticated," added Skye, also having fun with the two. "Like Gregorius Maximus, or Greggory the White."

"Sister, I will stuff sunflower seeds in your fur and throw water at them if you don't stop talking about me or Eg-'' she instinctively hiccuped and put a paw on her snout to stop herself from talking any longer.

Finnick tried not to laugh as he looked at Greg's embarrassed face, still trying to look at the upcoming traffic of the Rainforest. Not long after, he put up a smile of his own.

"At least I'm not the one having dinner with an otter you hustled," that sentence was damaging enough. He could see Finnick's downtrodden face as his ego descended. But Greg could play dirty, and he wasn't going to sleep tonight if he didn't go for the killing blow. "...while wearing a baby Elephant suit."

"Boom! That was a burn straight out of hell!" Skye said. "You got him good, Greg. Got him real good."

"What is this, a diss sesh?" Finnick said, in an angry-proud-embarassed combo. Greg's comment was messed up, but it was the truth. He was in an elephant suit, and he was about to meet the otter that had been on his mind since the moment he'd hustled her, and the restaurant they were meeting in was in peak hour, which meant a multitude of mammals would see him try to engage in casual conversation while wearing an elephant suit. Her list also mentioned bringing friends, which is why Skye and Himmel were currently in the back of his van, enjoying the luxury of seeing him in a very vulnerable state in high definition 4K. Definitely a humiliation attempt courtesy of Sam. Did he get really angry and try to talk himself out of doing it? Yes. Did he blame Sam for wanting to do it? No. She had every right to do this and more, and no matter the terms, he still would've done it in a heartbeat. He genuinely wanted to see her again. Did he also mention he was in an elephant suit? "Get off your high ostriches and just let me try to have some fun before shit hits the fan."

"Or before the elephant hits the restaurant," Himmel said this time, evoking a literal spit take on her vixen sister. Finnick sighed. This was gonna be a long, humiliating day.

"It wasn't that funny, Skye," Finnick said grumpily.

"Comedy is subjective," Skye said, still catching her breath from her hearty laughs. "I guess mine involves seeing angry fennecs having a bad day."

"Well you should move in with me, cuz that's pretty much every day of my life."

"Okay, no more riffing, you guys. We're here," Greg said, parking to the left of the restaurant.

Finnick thought he wouldn't see that black wooden door for a long time. It was common knowledge that after a hustle, being anywhere around the area was a big no no, so it was good to wait at least a few months to let the heat die down. Sam had gotten Finnick to come back within two weeks. Her power was impressive, and Finnick started thinking that he would never underestimate an otter ever again.

"Do we have to do this?" Asked Finnick, feeling his lungs constricted by the breath he was holding.

"Yeah, I'd say we do. Let's not keep her waiting, Uncle." Greg put the car in park and placed his right paw on Finnick's left to show support. Despite the jokes and the laughs, he let the fennec know that he still had his back, and that he wouldn't be alone through the whole ordeal.

Finnick's breath released, knowing it had to be this way. There was no hustling his way out of this one. If he wanted to be truly honest, this was his first step. "Okay. Let's go."

He unlocked the door, opened it, closed it, and made decisive steps toward the front of the restaurant. Looking to his right, he noticed Sam's famous scooter, as well as many more patrons starting to get through the door. Some had already noticed the weirdly dressed fox and started to either laugh or speak amongst each other out of confusion. He looked back, and the three arctic foxes were right by him, following his every move. Finally, he was at the door.

"Um, should I knock or…" Greg told Himmel. Finnick was taking his sweet time trying to open the door. It's not that he couldn't reach it. For that he had no excuse. It being an accessible door for mammals of every kind and size, there was a special smaller door that fit his size perfectly.

"Excuse me, sir, we want to get in," said a male kudu right behind the foxes. "We ain't got all day here."

"Leave them alone, Bucky, it's clear they can't reach the doorhold," said a male oryx. The two mammals knew each other somehow.

"You daft or something? They got a special little door, every animal has one."

"Oh yeah? I couldn't see it from here, you know I got bad eyesight."

"Then why aren't you wearing the glasses the doctor prescribed."

"They don't go well with this outfit."

"This isn't about style, it's about you being able to see!"

"Oh shut up."

"No, you shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"Oh for the love of Saint Reynard, both of you shut up!" Finnick said, having had enough of the obnoxious couple.

"Boy, the baby elephant's got a temper," the kudu said, having retreated a couple of steps back.

"I blame it on the parents, honestly," the oryx said.

Finnick sighed, adjusting the elephant hood and the trunk above his snout, just outright opening the door without a care in the world. His three companions also walked in, seeing the inside of the establishment for the first time. The Rainforest Riviera was as busy as it ever was on a Wednesday noon, filled with a multitude of mammals of different species, enjoying a varied selection of food. To any mammal, this truly was a food paradise.

"Himmel never seen so much good-smelling food before," she said, surprised.

"I've never seen so much food, period," Skye pointed out.

"I could eat here forever," Greg said, savoring his tongue at the sight of the delicious items in front of him. "Why did we never come here before, Uncle? Didn't Nick use to work here?"

"That's exactly why we couldn't come back. Nick didn't exactly leave on good terms," the fennec explained.

"Oh, my god, is that Greggy?" a voice in the distance screamed.

"Greggy?" Himmel asked, directing her sight to the mysterious voice. It was that of an otter, dangerously running towards the younger arctic fox.

"Oh, hey, Lylla!" Greg said, friendly as ever. Lylla, precariously so, launched herself at the fox and hugged him by the waist, confusing the other foxes. A sunflower-wielding muscular vixen couldn't help but instinctively growl.

"You…know this otter?" Finnick asked.

"Yeah, this is Sam's friend, the one who tried to kill me."

"What?" Himmel asked, now directing herself to the otter, needing an explanation.

"I-I just thought he was the ex Sam mentioned! I got angry 'cause she's cool and all that," Lylla said defensively.

"It's okay, Himmel, we're good friends now."

She was still apprehensive, but since it was Greg that said it, she calmed down. Just a little bit.

"The ex you're looking for is him," Skye pointed at Finnick.

"Whoa whoa, hey, I was never her ex. We were never together like that."

"I'm aware," Lylla said. "But you still did something bad to her." She looked at him with a cutting expression, crossing her arms in disappointment. "I got my eye on you."

"Doesn't everyone?" Finnick asked, having already been told that a thousand times before. "Anyway, where's-"

"Sam? Right behind you, Toot-Toot," said a voice behind him. He recognized it immediately. It was her. He turned around, and the world turned into slow motion. Everything turned to stone except for his movements. When he saw her, his eyes grew wide.

She was wearing the exact same outfit of three days ago, a white jacket, a light blue blouse, and a dark blue denim skirt. The surprise of that moment didn't give him any time or need to appreciate how it looked on her, but now it was very evidently gorgeous. The skirt hugged her legs tightly, and her jacket accentuated the way the blouse sat on her belly and chest. The way her tail swayed from behind her teased him greatly. Stop looking and say something, stop looking and say something! He couldn't slap himself out of it, that would make him look even more insane. He had to say something. Anything!

"Toot!"

…

…

…

Absolute disaster. Did he just do that? He can't believe he just did that. Instead of speaking normally like he should have, he activated the small trunk trumpet, making the iconic Toot sound. Himmel's mouth hung open, Greg facepalmed, Lylla looked at it incredulously, and Skye was trying very hard not to laugh her heart out. Finnick wanted to hide.

"Pfft-" a spittle came out of Sam's mouth as soon as she heard his toot. She shut her mouth with both paws before she could start fully laughing, but the way her right leg thumped the ground and the way her eyes watered and her cheeks went up and down didn't exactly make it a secret.

At least she's not screaming at me, Finnick thought, half-smiling despite still being kind of embarrassed. Anything other than a bad look was a win in the fox's book.

What the hell, Sam? You should be screaming at him, get mad!, Sam thought, but she just couldn't get herself to do it. Something she didn't keep in mind while giving Greg her rules was that, while people would find his costume hilarious, she would find it funny as well. Trying to be mad at someone wearing a cute elephant costume was an affront to the higher beings. She needed a change of plans.

"Could you…just take off the mask? Leave the suit on, but I really can't-pffhaha- I c-can't look at you seriously with that!"

Hearing that was like music to Finnick's ears. He could talk normally without having to hide his face anymore! This date had started well. Slowly, he took off the annoying hood, and pulled the trunk aside, revealing his full face. Sam's face improved negatively, to Finnick's displeasement.

Sam gasped. It had only been three days! Why did Finnick have bandages on? A messed up eye? A slash across his face? It was like a gang had entered his van and messed up his everything! She looked at Greg for some sort of explanation, but he tried not to look at her, instead focusing on the new aroma of freshly-placed shrimp sticks a few tables to the right.

"Wh-what happened to-" Sam tried to say before Finnick cut her off.

"Why don't we save all the conversation for when we actually sit down? There's… quite a lot."

"I…can see that," she replied.

"Anyway, introductions out of the way first. Sam, you know Greg already, but meet Skye and Himmel. They're good friends of mine."

The aforementioned vixens came from behind him and both went and shook her paw.

"Nice to meet you, Sam," Skye stated, but then got closer to her ear and said something else "Good luck on this knucklehead, seriously."

"Hehe, thanks, Skye. I set up two tables, one for you two and another for Greg and Lylla, I hope that isn't to your discomfort."

"Speaking like a true server, Sam," noted Skye. "Relax, you're not supposed to be working right now. We're comfortable with whatever. Let's go, Him."

"Uh, sure," said Himmel, still suspiciously observing the otter that would be sitting with Greg but following her sister regardless.

"Our table's here, Finnick," Sam called out, walking towards the table numbered six. She had gone ahead and ordered a high chair be placed on his spot instead of a normal seat, possibly to continue his punishment. "Go ahead, Mr. Toot Toot. Take a seat."

"Sure thing, Whisk-uhh I mean, Samantha." Finnick cleared his throat and was thankful he didn't say the whole nickname, even if Sam already heard him.

Two mammals, an otter and a fox, joined together by a hustle, would now decide whether their friendship is worth being pursued, or whether it should flop and sink to the depths of the sea. Sam and Finnick, two souls in need of healing, but too afraid/stubborn to take the chance. The two took their seats, and looked at the other with nervous eyes, a perilous and indecisive future awaiting them, and with many questions left to be answered. The date begins, but their life only gets crazier from there.

And Greg? Well, he's Greg. Nobody knows what the hell is gonna happen to that kid.

TO BE CONTINUED.