The mammals who were gathering at the Manechester mansion were doing a few things as they waited for the time to continue their game. It was decide that the game would continue during the night after dinner. According to Chandler, it was to keep up the spirit of the incoming Halloween celebration, and the guests mostly went along with it. Of course, this meant that the guests had most of the day free to do what they wanted, including going outside for a stroll (although it was discouraged by the cops and by the two resident mages, once they were aware of the continuing danger).
They mostly stayed inside and searched for ways to occupy their time. They could spend the day looking at the works of art (but they had to be careful not to be caught staring very intently at any of them by Adrian). They could go to one of the two libraries and read some of the many books that the family had. They could spend days on their rooms watching satellite TV or some movie from a streaming service. They could have conversation with each other. They could even take a break and go to play some games in the recreation room, with its pool tables, or maybe allowing them to play poker or another card game.
They could do pretty much all that they wanted, as they were all receive in there as guests. They had all of those and more options that helped them pass their time without having to think hard at attacks and about evil plots.
However...
The sound of a scream filled the room, as the rabbit was approach by the snarling face of a predator full of teeth. The fangs dangerously close to her throat as she cried out in horror.
Right before he put her tongue out and started saying:
"Blood, blood, Bloooood! Aaaand death!"
Nick smiled at his friend as he moved back, and everyone in the room looked at the two.
"No way! You actually did that?" Melon asked, his voice muffled by the mask he was wearing, but not hiding the clear amusement on his voice.
"You can bet she did." Nick said, and Judy composed herself. The cops were back on their costumes, like everyone else, and she and Nick were telling to everyone the story of how they busted Bellwether. One of the guests asked more details about the story, and the two cops were glad to explain to them. Judy was even willing to give them a dramatization of what had transpired.
They had left a few things off, of course. Namely, anything that could put either she or Nick in a pinch, like the fact that Nick once associated with criminal elements, and the fact that they resorted to a dubious help from Mr. Big to get some information out of Weaselton. They thought it was better, once Yahya Manechester was right in there, sitting silently as he looked at the two, along with everyone else.
"Yeah, Nick even put his teeth around my neck to make it convincing." Judy said, and this surprised a few of the present.
"He put his teeth around your neck?" Charles asked, looking at the bunny cop. "For real?"
"Hey, I was pretending to be a savage." Nick said, shrugging. "Pretending to bite someone is part of the gist, it had it look convincing."
Charles looked at the fox, and he then turned at Judy.
"Did you actually let him put his teeth around your neck?" He asked, as if he had a lot of trouble to believe that, and Judy looked back at him.
"Yes, I did." She said, looking at him.
"Didn't you felt scared?" Charles asked, and Judy shook her head.
"No, I didn't." She spoke, "I knew that Nick was just pretending, and that he would never hurt me."
Charles looked at her, almost as if he was trying to see if she was lying.
"So, you guys fooled her with your little show." Marcy said, as she looked at the two. "What happened then?"
"Then she said that she could frame us for her plot just like she framed Lionheart." Nick said, "It was basically her word against ours. But that was when Carrots surprised her."
"I was using my carrot pen to record all that she said." Judy said, "Basically, we now had her entire confession on tape. So, it was her word against hers'."
"Wait, the carrot pen?" Gazelle asked, looking at the bunny. "The same one you gave to Wilde?"
"The very same." Nick said.
"So, you kept it?" Euphemia asked, looking at the fox. "You didn't tossed it in the trash?"
Nick looked at her, and she said:
"I mean, she basically called you and every single predator in the city a savage, and implied that all of you could become beasts at any given moment." Euphemia said.
Judy's smile disappeared completely at that, and she looked down. She still felt bad for the things that she had said, and the fact that people still remembered it was something that deeply troubled her.
Nick was quick to say:
"Yeah, to be honest, I thought about tossing it in the trash one moment or another." Nick revealed, and this caused Judy to look at him. However, the fox shrugged.
"But, I decided that I wanted to keep it with myself. It was a memory of the first time that a mammal really put their trust in me."
Judy looked at him. "And I still trusted you, Nick." She said, "I realized how stupid those things I said were, and that none of that was truth. I realized how bigoted my words were, and that I should never have said something like that."
She had that look in her face that Nick had already seen before, and he soon was petting her head.
"Hey, hey now, Carrots." He said, "No need to make that face again. You don't have to start crying now like you did back in the bridge."
"Nick." Judy said, pushing his paw away, but it was half-heartedly, and she hoped no one would notice the twitching of her nose and the blushing on the inside of her ears.
"Wait, what bridge?" Legoshi asked, and Nick and Judy looked back at him.
"When I realized what Night Howlers really were, I came back to Zootopia to look for Nick." She said, "I went to Finnick, and he told me that Nick liked to spend his afternoons relaxing near an old abandoned bridge."
"When I found him, I told him what I found out, and what I thought was happening." Judy continued, "But Nick was... distant."
"I was still a tad bit salty about what happened." Nick said. It was an attempt of humor, but he regretted it nearly immediately, when he saw the sad look that crossed Judy's face.
"Anyway, Judy then started to apologize to me." Nick continued, "And it was not only your everyday apologize, it was an all-out tear-jerking, ugly-crying apologizing. Seriously, she was tearing-up, sobbing, her voice got funny. She said how it was okay if I hated her after we were done, and even called herself a 'dumb bunny'!" Nick nudge her gently with his elbow. "And I got it all recorded on that very same carrot pen! Man, I wish we didn't had to erase it to record Smellwether's confession, I could have made that into a ringtone for my phone."
"Oh, Nick." Judy said, elbowing him back, but a little harder. Her nose was twitching more, and she was actually smiling a bit at Nick's antics.
"So... you two made up?" Legoshi asked, and the fox looked at the wolf.
"You can bet we did." He said, looking at the bigger canine. "We hugged, I teased her a little bit, she stepped on my tail, and then we were off the finish the case and putting everything back together."
"Wow." Tyson said, looking at the two. "That is quite some story."
"It surely is." Marcy said, as she was sitting by the side of her two half-brothers. "It is adorable that you kept the pen, after all. It shows that you weren't so mad at her."
Nick shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess." The fox said, "To be honest, I actually missed her while she was gone."
He and Judy shared a look, neither of them saying a word, and both of them smiling. After a moment, someone coughed on the table, and the eyes turned to look at Adrian, who was looking at them, along with his wife. It seemed that only then Judy and Nick remembered that they were still on the dinner table, surrounded by other animals, many of which were staring at them both.
This immediately prompted the two cops to blush under their fur.
Melon chuckled at this, and he whispered to Legoshi, who was sitting by his side. "It seems we found someone who likes bunnies as much as you." This immediately caused Legoshi to blush like the two cops.
Soon, however, attention shifted from the cops to Chandler, who announced that they would be restarting the game as soon as the servants had finished getting everything ready for them on another room of the mansion. Everyone was okay with that, and most of them were actually looking forward to the next game.
"I'm glad you are all anxious for the next part." Chandler said to all of them.
With this, the dinner was officially over, and now everyone would have to wait just a little bit to talk among themselves and take care of a few things. Soon, most of the group was reuniting to talk, meanwhile, Josh excused himself from the table, and so did Judy, as she needed to use the restroom.
Judy sighed as she walked out of the bathroom.
Of course, she didn't expected a house for horses to be adapted for small mammals like herself, but she at least expected then to have some of the SizeRight products to make the smaller guests a little more comfortable. But, again, this meeting was a bit of a last minute thing, and they probably didn't had much of the time to prepare for her coming.
Using an oversized toilet was hard, but it was not the first time that she had to do it. She was happy that she was able to avoid falling into the toilet this time.
As she finished and washed her hands (on a sink that was just as oversized for her as the toilet), Judy gave Bogo a call, to let him know that everything was in order. The buffalo seemed satisfied to know that it was all running smoothly, and that they were going to remain only inside of the house. However, she also did told him about the graffiti of that morning, and that made the buffalo nervous through the phone. In this, Bogo told Judy of something that had happened on the ZPD.
Benjamin's ex-fiancé had come in there looking for him.
This surprised Judy, and Bogo gave her a warning to keep her eyes open for that mammal. Judy agreed nearly immediately, and... as it just her, or did Bogo seemed a bit... strange?
As she walked out of the restroom, she was thinking. Benjamin's ex-fiancé showing up on the same day that some writes 'I still love you Benji' on the side of the house where he was staying?
As she was in thinking, she crossed paths with Josh, who looked like he was just coming back from upstairs.
"Ohff!" Judy said as she bumped into his leg, startling the cheetah, who was quickly apologizing.
"Sorry there." Josh said, "Really didn't saw you."
Judy nodded at him, and told him that it was okay, it was also her fault for not paying attention to where she was going.
"It is really good if you remain attentive." A voice said, making both mammals to look at the owner of the voice, who was Yahya Manechester himself.
"After all, it would be really tragic if you ended up stepping at someone by accident. A smaller mammal could get hurt and you would have to deal with the guilt of having been responsible for such thing."
Josh looked back at him.
"Yeah, surely don't want that to happen." The cheetah said, and Yahya looked at him, nodding.
"Then be more careful from now on."
The way that Yahya said that was a bit harsh, as if Josh was the only one to blame for this having happened.
"This time it was a bunny, next time it could be a hamster or a mouse." He said, chastising the cheetah. "It something like that have happened, would you assume responsibility?"
The cheetah looked at the horse, seemingly unshaken by the hostility that the equine was showing. Judy was soon interjecting.
"It was my fault as well." Judy said, looking up at the horse. "I didn't saw where I was going. I was busy thinking about... something."
"Either way, Mr. Clawhauser also holds blame." Yahya said, "After all, a big mammal has the obligation to look out for the smaller ones, especially when living among them. This is something necessary to avoid accidents."
He still seemed to be focused his chastising on Josh, and the cheetah looked back at him with arms crossed.
"I'm sorry, do you have a problem with me?" Josh asked to the horse, who looked back at him with a serious, but serene, gaze.
"You know, one of the benefits of the Clawhauser mind-reading magecraft is that we can detect when someone is projecting a certain feeling towards us." The cheetah said, "For example, we can know if they are scared of us, if they like us, or if they have hostility towards us. And, I have to say, I am feeling certain hostility emanating from you. Not as much as from your son, his wife and from Charles, but it is there."
Yahya looked at him for a few moments.
"So, you have been reading our minds?" He asked, his expression unmoving, and Josh immediately said:
"No way, that would be impolite." He said, "But, I can't help but notice that you guys seem to have certainly hostility aimed at me and my siblings. Chandler and his sister are okay, but you guys seem not to like us. You, in particular, don't seem to have much of a problem with Ben and Marcy, but I am noticing that you seem to be pretty hostile towards me."
Yahya looked at him for a few moments, and then, he said:
"Well, there would be a few reasons for that." Yahya said, "Starting with your attitude."
"Care to elaborate?" Josh asked, a smirk on his face.
"You have been inconvenient." Yahya said, "You have been trying to flirt with nearly everyone in this house."
"Hey, not everyone." Josh said, "I kept clear from the ones who are married or are dating someone. I only flirted with the blackbuck and with the tiger, and with Gazelle. I mean, she is a popstar, who wouldn't try to get lucky with her?"
"I also heard you have been flirting with the employees." Yahya said to him, "According to what they told. Not to mention, that I noticed you being disrespectful with some of the inhabitants of this house."
"You mean, when I called your son on his lying?" Josh asked, "Or when I insulted that drunken mare after what she said to my brother last night?"
"To both." Yahya said, looking at him. "Yes, their behavior is reprehensible, but it does not justifies you to acting in such a way in our own house."
"Oh, so I must just sit back and watch as they mistreat my family and lie right into my face?" Josh asked, looking at the horse. "I should just take it and sit there with a dumb smile into my face? Is that what you are saying? I swear I would say something nasty to you if you were not so hot."
Yahya's ear twitched.
"Yes, that is another thing." Yahya said, "You have been behaving in a way that has been particularly unpleasant for me. And I'm not only talking about commentaries about me being 'hot' or 'a tasty dish' like you keep saying. I'm also talking about the provocative looks you have been giving me and to what I can only consider shameless flirting on the times I crossed paths with you."
Yahya looked at the cheetah, who was smirking at him. "That could easily be considered sexual harassment." Yahya said, and Josh looked at him.
"Did it angered you?" The cheetah asked.
"Well, it certainly did." Yahya said, "It is most unpleasant."
Josh smirk widened.
"Good." He said, and this caused Yahya to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You know, I grew up in a pretty liberal house." Josh said, "Mostly because of my mother. I learned to be true to myself and to encourage others to be like that as well. You see, because of my upbringing, I don't like conservative and uptight people. They want everyone to behave like prudes all the time and talk down on whoever doesn't 'act proper' around them. I do like to show those guys that I don't give a fudge about their morals. I mean, what is the problem with being honest if you are not really hurting anyone?"
"So, when I heard from the guys in the town how much of prudes you guys were, I knew that I would tease you guys as much as I could during my stay. I even started with my costume". Josh said; opening his arms and letting Yahya admire his "leather daddy" costume.
"Just the kind of thing that is correct enough for an adult party and bold enough to piss off prudes like you."
Silence followed those words, and Yahya soon was asking:
"So, are you saying that you have chosen this costume, and are acting the way you are now, with the specific purpose of vexing us?"
Josh had a toothy smirk as he looked back at the horse.
"And you blame me for showing hostility towards you?" Yahya said.
"Hey, only because I'm teasing you on purpose, doesn't mean that I deserve to be mistreated, right?" Josh said.
"Besides, it is not like I do this only to vex you guys." He said, as he shrugged. "Have you ever felt crude leather against your fur? It is an amazing feeling! Especially when you are sharing it with someone else."
The cheetah raised his eyebrows suggestively as he looked at the horse, who looked at him with a less-than-amused expression.
Judy was feeling the tension rising, and she was quick to try and diverge the attention from the matter.
"So, Mr. Manechester!" Judy said, causing the horse to look at her. "I was surprised when I saw you coming back for dinner. Chandler said that normally you eat and sleep in your office in Downtown."
"Yes, I have come back to eat and sleep at home. Some of my employees suggested that this would make me some good to have decent meals and a proper bed to sleep." The horse said, "But, I don't really see the need, and I came here mostly to check on everything. I'll be returning to work as soon as possible. I need to go back to investigating the events of New Den Plaza."
Judy nodded as she looked at him. She had heard that the Beastar Corps were investigating the events of the mall on their own. Chandler also mentioned that the company had been very busy in recent events, with a great surge of mammals coming to them to investigate supposedly paranormal events and things that would supposedly involve mages.
"It is hard for them, because they don't really have anyone who knows magecraft among them." Chandler confided to the bunny. "They are basically trying to investigate things they don't understand, but of course that wouldn't stop Grandpa from trying."
Judy looked at the horse, who looked incredibly young and healthy for his age, and who showed a stamina that matched the age he appeared to have. She could respect him for being so determined and diligent on his work.
"I have to say, Officer Hopps, I was quite admired by your story." The horse said, looking at the bunny. "I heard it from some sources, but it was different to hear it straight from your lips. Sounds like quite an adventure."
Judy looked at him, and she nodded, thanking him for that.
"However, I'd like to give you an advice." The horse said, and the bunny looked at him. "In the future, you don't need to lie about having felt afraid when Officer Wilde put his teeth around your neck. I know you want to be brave, but there is no shame in admitting that you were scared."
Judy blinked, looking at him.
"What? No, I was not scared."
"There is really no need to lie." Yahya said, "At least not to me. I know how scary the experience must have been to you."
"I was not scared." Judy insisted, looking at the horse. "I said that on the table. I had no reason to be scared. I knew that Nick was pretending, and that he would never hurt."
"Knowing that he was pretending would not erase your fear." The horse said, and Judy looked at him, her expression getting slightly annoyed.
"I am not saying that you are not brave." The horse quickly said, "You wouldn't have made half of what you did if you weren't. I am just saying that the fear was most likely in there, even if you must have buried it as deep as you could."
"Nick was not going to hurt me." Judy insisted, still looking at the bigger mammal. "I knew that he was not going to hurt me. I fully trust him."
"I am not saying that you don't." Yahya said, "I am just saying that, even with all of the trust of the world, it would not erase that small spark of fear that would surely be in there."
He looked at the bunny. "It is in your instincts, after all."
Judy looked at him.
"What, my bunny instincts to run from danger?" Judy asked, not quite liking what she thought that the horse was insinuating. However, the horse was soon clarifying.
"Your survival instincts." The dark horse said, "The instincts that every single animal has, including bunnies, and that causes them to be on high alert and to feel this inherent fear when something of threatening is happening. In the case of herbivores, this is frequently the fear of being devoured."
Judy looked at him for a few moments.
"Well, I didn't thought that I was going to be devoured." Judy said, standing in front of the horse with her paws on her hips.
"But you didn't had this feeling of fear when you felt his jaws wrapping around your neck?" Yahya asked. "The feeling of your heart jumping? Of your body suddenly breaking a sweat? Of that sudden spark of primal for making your fur stand on end as a shiver ran all over your skin?"
Judy didn't answered, she only continued to stare at the horse, who took her silence as answer.
Truth was, she did felt something similar to what the horse had described. When Nick had his jaws around her neck, she felt her heart jumping, her fur standing and a shiver run over her skin.
However, it was not fear. Not in the slightest.
It was more of a... kind of excitement.
However, she would not be comfortable with talking with this with the horse. Her blushing would give her away.
"It really can't be avoided." Yahya said, looking at her. "After all, instincts will always be in there, no matter how much we try to fight them or to deny them. They will always be part of who we are. Be it the instinctual fear herbivores feel with the presence of a carnivore, or the instinctual urge of a carnivore to chase something that is running away from them, instincts are always there."
He looked at Judy.
"That speech you made on the City Hall over two years ago." Yahya said, and Judy visibly flinched. "Of course, it was bigoted and full of preformed opinions. However, it was not completely wrong."
"Now what is that supposed to mean?" Josh said, looking at the horse, and so was Judy. Soon, Yahya continued.
"I'm not saying that your thoughtless words about carnivores' instincts to maul and kill were correct." Yahya said, sounding like he was justifying himself. "However, I believe I can understand the kind of thought that would have made you say such things."
"Yeah." Judy said, "The bigoted and small-minded kind."
Now it sounded like Judy was chastising herself. The two mammals looked at her, before Yahya spoke:
"This kind of thought is based on instinct."
Judy raised her head to look at the horse, who continued.
"Prejudice and bigotry are actually remains of our old instincts, the kind that we once had in the beginning of times, before we evolved into sentience." Yahya explained, "They came from the instinct that we should protect ourselves from mammals that don't belong to the same species as our own, for they could mean danger. In the case of herbivores, this prejudice is accentuated when it comes to the carnivores, once we had to escape and fight them for survival in the ancient times."
Judy heard it and, even though it seemed that the horse was trying to make her feel better, it actually seemed to her that he was offering some kind of excuse. The kind that a speciest would say to justify his own bigotry.
"As for the carnivores, well, they do have to struggle with their own instincts." Yahya said, "Of course, it would be stupid and irresponsible to label all carnivores as savages, but it is truth that their old hunting instincts are still there, and that they will always be."
Judy looked at the horse, nearly glaring at him.
"Mr. Manechester, this kind of talk can lead others to think that you don't like predators." She said, and the horse looked back at her.
"It does?" Yahya said, "Well, maybe I am just not expressing myself properly."
"Yeah, maybe." Josh said, looking at him. "It even seems that some pred did something mean to you when you were a kid. What, did a bear scared you, to something?"
Yahya looked at the cheetah and, for a moment, it seemed that there was a very hostile glare to the feline. However, it vanished quickly.
"I am just saying what I have observed." The horse said, "Statistically speaking, carnivores are more inclined to violent crimes than herbivores. Now, there can be lengthy discussions if that is a result of their instincts or of society, but these are facts, and they are there for you to see if you want to."
The cheetah and bunny shared a look, and Judy now glared at the horse.
"However, the fact is that mammals, like all animals, are beings of instinct." He turned to Judy. "Instincts have helped us survive during our evolution, and they still help us to this very day. Of course, a mammal in the modern world cannot be guided solely by their instincts, but to think that instincts don't play a part in our lives, or influence or behavior, is downright ridiculous."
Judy wanted to protest. She wanted to say something to the horse that would prove that all that he said was nothing more than speciest crap. However, she found herself unable to.
If his words were just non-sense, Judy would gladly have called in that. However, the fact was that there was a point (or at least seemed to have) in his words, when he spoke of how instincts influenced mammals behaviors. You could see it all around, on how sheep herded together, on how wolves many times had problems to resist to the urge to howl. When you thought it like that, it seemed that the horse actually had a point.
What was it that Big said to her two years ago?
"My child, we may be evolved, but deep down, we are still animals."
But that doesn't mean that our instincts define who we are. Judy thought. Just being a predator does not makes you inclined to violence. It's the same as saying that it is in your DNA! This is speciesism, pure and simple! I'm going to say that to this old horse right now!
However, before she could voice her opinion, Yahya was once more speaking.
"No need to be so salty about it." The horse said, having noticed the expression of the horse. "I am just saying that we have to accept that our instincts will always be part of our lives, no matter how much we fight against them. Besides, it is not like all instincts are bad. After all, their main purpose has always been to ensure the species survival. As an example, I can mention foxes."
Judy's ears perked, and she was looking very intently at the horse, her expression was nearly as if she was daring him to speak ill of Nick.
"Foxes have a reputation of being shifty and untrustworthy." Yahya said, "However, in truth foxes can be one of the most loyal mammals around, if you can earn their loyalty."
Judy relaxed as he spoke that, but not much.
"This is particularly truth when it come to their mates." Yahya said, "Foxes mate for life, this is another fact that is often overlooked. Many studies were made on the subject, and they all paint foxes as loyal husbands and spouses. The idea of having affairs or of leaving their current spouses will hardly even cross their minds."
"You can look all you want; it will be extremely hard to find a fox who has knowingly and willingly unfaithful to a still living spouse." Yahya said, looking at the bunny as he spoke that. "Also, another less known fact about foxes: they are all very dedicated parents."
"Parental instincts are something that all species have, mammal or not." Yahya said, "And foxes are proven to have one of the most powerful parental instincts. They do all they can to ensure that their young are safe and being taken care of. They relentlessly work on feeding their young and on keeping them safe from any and all dangers. Truly amazing parents."
Yahya spoke it without a hint of irony; however, there was no admiration on his voice either. It seemed that he was merely reporting facts.
"Their parental instincts are so strong that they show even when the young are not their own. They make excellent foster and adoptive parents, and they sometimes even show their parental impulses even with random young and with those who look like young." Yahya said, "Like you have experienced yourself with your partner."
Judy blinked, looking at him.
"I'm sorry?"
"The bridge." Yahya said, "How Officer Wilde agreed to help you after you were tearing up while asking for his help in the case."
Judy looked at him.
"What this has to do with parental instincts?" Judy asked, looking at the horse and wanting to know where he was going with this.
"Studies prove that carnivores in general think that bunnies have faces that remember then of their own young." Yahya said, "It is one of the reasons why bunnies are universally considered as being... adorable, to avoid the use of the C word."
Judy continued to look at him, and the horse explained.
"So, you have a face which is round and with wide eyes, like a fox cub. You are both younger and smaller than him. On top of all of that, you were crying." The horse said, "From Wilde's perspective, you must have looked and sounded just like a distressed child. It would be no surprise if that had set off his parental instincts and induced him to want to make you feel better. To care for you. To help you."
Silence followed as the horse finished, and Judy looked at him.
"So... to you, Nick only helped me because of his instincts?" Judy said, looking at the horse. "It was not because he was a good mammal? Or because he cared about me?"
"I didn't said that." Yahya said, looking at her. "I am just saying that his instincts may have influenced his decision to help you. I do believe that Officer Wilde is a good mammal, since he made it to the ZPD, however, he is still subject to his instincts, just like every single one of us."
Yahya and Judy locked eyes for a moment.
"It is a fact, Officer Hopps."
Judy looked at that horse in the eye. She wanted to tell him what she thought about what he just said. However, she remembered how Chief Bogo told her not to make things harder, and how Nick himself told her to be careful around those horses. Still, she felt like she had to say something.
However, it seemed that Josh beat him to it.
"Wow... That is some harsh opinion, ain't it?" Josh asked, and the horse looked at him. "You think about that for all mammals, or just the predators?"
Yahya looked at him before answering.
"Instincts are not limited to a single group of mammals. All mammals have them, both carnivore and herbivore. Of course, in some species, the instincts can be more, let's say, proactive than in others."
"Like in the predators, who have the instinct to chase and devour their prey?" Josh asked, and he looked intently at the horse. "And maybe a way to prevent it would be to lock them up? Or to force them to go through some special education? Oh, maybe you might think that predators should have their fangs and claws removed so they wouldn't hurt anyone if the hunting instincts spoke too loud!"
There was a certain malice as he spoke that. However, it did seemed that he was teasing the horse, maybe even seeing if he agreed with what he said.
The horse merely looked at him for a few moments.
"Be honest, do you have a problem with my brother and your grandson being friends?" Josh asked, "Because your father certainly seem to have. What, do you guys think that prey and predator shouldn't be friends? That it's too dangerous for everyone involved?"
Yahya looked at him for a few moments, and it now seemed that both the cheetah and the horse were evaluating each other. Then, Yahya said:
"Trying to read my mind, Clawhauser?"
"That would be rude of me." Josh said, looking at the horse. "My mother raised me better than that. Still, I have to say that I am tempted right now. I'd like to see if you are some bigoted jerk, or just a regular jerk."
Josh was smiling at the horse.
"And, you haven't answered my question."
"What, if I have problems with your brother and Chandler being friends?" Yahya asked, looking intently at the muscular cheetah.
"Or would it be mostly about your previous questions?" Yahya looked at him dead in the eye. "The ones that imply that I am in favor of segregation, or perhaps in favor of things like HappyTown, or maybe even the T.A.M.E Project?"
Josh and Yahya continued to look at each other, almost as if they were having a staring contest. Yahya was serious, while Josh continued to look at him with a playful smile, which was actually quite similar to Nick's own.
Judy looked at them, and she could not help but say:
"I'm sorry. 'Tame project'?"
This caused Yahya to break eye contact with Josh, and look at the bunny. He saw the curious look in her face, and soon, he was clarifying.
"It was before you were born, Officer Hopps. During the sixties." The dark horse explained. "A group of mammals had an idea to increase public safety. A project that was aimed mainly at the carnivore population."
"You see, during that time, there was a certain feeling of civil unrest on the city." Yahya explained, looking at the bunny. "There were a lot of hate crimes occurring and, even though most of it were against predators, the ones that really appeared on the media were the ones of predators against prey. Some say that it was because the main news lines of the time were all run prey supremacists. Due to this, the "attacks of savages against innocent herbivores" were on the news constantly. They made it seem that there were two or three attacks every week, when in truth there was only one a month, at most, and that if it was a really agitated month. I know that because I was accompanying the cases. The Beastar Corps was still starting back at the time, and I wanted to be sure of knowing what was happening."
"Needless to say, the herbivore population was scared and felt unsafe, in a way not too different from the time of the Night Howler conspiracy period." He said, "I am sure that you remember how most of the herbivore population was during that time."
Judy said nothing, as she remembered very well how things were after that disastrous press conference. The protests, the hate mobs, the constant fear and hostility against the predator population. Yes, Judy remembered all of that too well.
"Well, during that time there was a certain mammal who had just been elected for mayor. One who had a promise of 'new laws that would increase security and safety on the city'." Yahya continued, "These promises, coupled with the great charisma that he had, were the reason why he was able to win by landslide."
"Just a few weeks after winning the elections, the new mayor revealed to the population his new plan to make the city safer: the T.A.M.E. project."
Both bunny and cheetah looked at the horse, and Josh asked:
"And this 'tame' thing was?"
"Temperament Adjustment Mandatory Equipment." Yahya said to him, "Basically, it was a collar."
"A collar?" Judy asked, looking at the horse, who now looked at her.
"Yes. A collar with an electronic equipment attached to it." Yahya explained, "It had a sensor that read the pulsation of the predator through the veins of the neck, and could detect a change in heartbeat coming from anger and aggression. It could read the humor of the predator. While the heartbeat, and the humor, were on what was consider normal, the collar would have a green light. If there was a significant change, namely, the one caused when anger was building, the light would change to yellow and the collar would emit a loud beeping, that was a warning for the carnivore to calm down."
"Finally, if the heartbeat of the carnivore reached a level that was recognized as 'aggressive state', the collar would change to red." Yahya said, and made a pause before saying:
"And it would release an electric discharge at the carnivore."
Judy's eyes widened at that.
"A shock collar!? That was the new mayor's plan!?"
"The idea was that every time a carnivore would get aggressive enough to the point of attacking someone, the collar would give a shock at them as a 'reminder' to act in a civilized way." Yahya said, "Basically, in the long run, the carnivores would have been 'reminded' enough to know not to attack. In a way similar to how beasts are trained to be domesticated."
Judy was baffled.
Put shock collars on all predators!? That was absurd!
"Saying that it was a polemic proposal would be an understatement." Yahya said, "The carnivore population didn't liked it. Even among herbivores, with the attacks and the feeling of general fear, there was a significant amount of mammals that considered such a move to be unnecessary, most of them fierce defenders of mammals' rights."
"Of course, apparently the mayor was ready for this reaction. He had an experiment prepared, to prove the efficiency of the tame collars. An experiment that involved twenty carnivores, all of different species and ages, to wear the collar for six months, as a way of proving its efficiency on 'correcting the aggressive impulses of the savage population'."
Judy continued to hear, and she was getting increasingly more nervous as she heard, and she had the impression that it would get worse.
"So, these mammals were select, made to wear the prototypes and to live their lives while under close observation by a team of medics and other professionals." Yahya said, "That was when the problems of the collar started to show."
"You see, the collar was made with the purpose of fighting back aggressive actions. But while it could identify changes in the heartbeat of the carnivores, it could not identify the cause of the changes." Yahya explained, "It could not separate anger from other emotions. So, basically, everything that caused a change in the heartbeat was interpreted as aggression, and would eventually trigger an electric shock."
"If the carnivore felt too excited, they would be shocked. If they felt fear, they would receive a discharge. If they were under stress, the collar would activate. They could receive a shock even if they exercised, for the collar couldn't distinguish when an increase on heartbeat came from physical activity."
"That's awful!" Judy said, and Yahya looked at him.
"Yes, the carnivores who were the collars thought the same." Yahya said, "They basically had to learn to regulate their emotions constantly, and they could not run, jump, or do anything, in fear that it would trigger a shock. After a few weeks, they started to show signs of emotional exertion and even of apathy. Their physical state also started to deteriorate, because of the inability to exercise properly coupled with the constant state of stress. Their mental states were also deteriorating, according to the periodic psychiatric evaluations, as they were becoming more and more unhappy, showing signs of deep emotional insensibility, depression, even of self-loathing."
The horse then said, "During the course of the testing, there were three fatalities among the volunteers."
Judy was beyond horrified.
"Predators died because of the collars?" She asked, her voice denoting her horror.
Yahya looked at the bunny, and he said:
"The first one was a jaguar who worked as a window cleaner. He was cleaning the windows of a seven-story building. He was just cleaning the windows of the top floor, when someone from the inside of the building started provoking him." Yahya said, "They were insulting and mocking him, and this caused the feline to become more and more nervous. His collar was already beeping and at yellow, and the mammals on the inside, all of them herbivores, continued to mock him. One of them even threw something at him, an empty can of beer. This, of course, made him furious, and thus activated the collar. It delivered an electric discharge that surprised him, making him lose balance and fall. The official cause of death was 'accident'."
"The second fatality was an otter who worked with deep fishing. He worked with collecting clams and oysters to sell them to restaurants." The horse continued, "He was doing his job, deep diving."
"With the shock collar?" Judy said, and Yahya nodded.
"The collars were to be used at all times. They were even made waterproof, so they didn't needed to be removed during bath. In fact, there was a lock on the collars, and they could only be removed with the help of a special key." Yahya said, and he continued, "Anyway, when the otter was diving, he stayed in the water for longer than usual. As it is common in such cases, this caused his heart to beat faster, and put the collar on yellow. He was just about to return to surface when he was surprise by a fish. The startle caused his heartbeat to shot up, and this immediately activated the collar. The sudden shock caused him to gasp, and he immediately started to drown. However, it was not the drowning that killed him, but rather the electrocution, caused for receiving an electric discharge while underwater."
Judy was tensing. It really did got worse the more she heard, and she had the feeling that the worse was yet to come.
"The final fatality was a wolf." Yahya said, he made a pause, and then continued, "This wolf had a clinical history of arrhythmia and chronic panic attacks. He was on his house when he suddenly started having a crisis. The panic attack caused his heartbeat to increase, what, in turn, caused the collar to activate. The purpose of the shocks was to maintain carnivores docile; however, with that wolf, it had the opposite effect. The shock aggravated his panic attack. Because of his continued increased heartrate, the collar continued to deliver electric shocks, which continued to increase the wolf's stress. Like I said, the collars could only be unlocked with a special key, which the wolf didn't possess, so he could not remove the collar. The shocks would only stop ten minutes later, when the wolf was dead. The official cause of death was 'stress-induced heart attack'."
"My gods..." Judy said, and Yahya looked at her.
"So, they ended the project after that?" Josh asked, causing Yahya to look at him. "I mean, the guys must not have been happy when the deaths because of the collars came to the news."
"They didn't made it to the news." Yahya said.
"What?" Judy said, "How?"
"The deaths were covered up." Yahya said, "The mayor had bet all that he had in the T.A.M.E. project, and he could not have it fail, for whatever reason was."
"So, he covered up the deaths." Josh concluded, and Yahya nodded.
"All of the deaths were presented as accidents, all of them having no relation to the collars at all." Yahya said, "And that was not the only cover up that the mayor and his team used. There was evidence that the prologue use of the collar was having a negative effect on the bodies and minds of the predators, but that was cover as well. They falsified medical reports, making it seem that the carnivores were the collars were not only healthy, but also happier than they were before. In fact, the mayor even made an announcement saying that the results of the test were so positive that they would immediately be starting mass production of the collars, to be used by all carnivores of age five forward."
Judy gasped.
They were going to put those collars in children!?
"But they didn't, right?" Josh asked, and Yahya looked at him.
"If they had, your brother would be wearing one of them today. Just like you and your sister, for as long as you remained in Zootopia." Yahya said, looking at the cheetah, who looked back at him.
"It really seemed that the tame collars were going to become a part of the life in Zootopia, and it would probably have happened." The horse continued, "If the real information about the collars had not reached public."
"Just one week before the start of the collaring, documents with the true results of the tests came to public. The real effects that the collars had on the morale and health of the carnivores, the true extent of the psychological effects on them, and the truth of how the three deaths of the volunteers having been directly linked to their collars."
"Not only that, but there was also evidence that the mayor and his team covered all of that up, and pushed the production of the tame collars in despite of all the evidence that the collars would have a deeply negative effect on the carnivore population."
"No one really knows how all of those documents and proof leaked, but it only took a single day for them to be all over Zootopia, and to produce reactions from the public."
"All over Zootopia, there were protests of carnivores and herbivores alike against the collaring." Yahya said, "The families of the deceased were demanding the collars to be destroyed. Important public figures from in and out of Zootopia were stepping up and demanding the project to be cancelled."
"In the end, the sheer pressure of the public was what put an end to the T.A.M.E. project." Yahya concluded. "The collars were all destroyed, save for the twenty original prototypes, which were stored along with the original files of the project, and no politician ever spoke about it publicly again. The mayor was made to renounce soon after, and he, along with everyone of his team, became ostracized in Zootopian society."
Silence followed those words. Josh was not smiling now, and Judy was lost in thought, wondering how such a cruel project could have even existed in the first place.
"I am no surprise that you never heard of the project, Officer Hopps." Yahya said, "It is not the kind of thing that Zootopia is proud to remember. Today, the fact that this project nearly became a reality is a stain in the city's history. Of course, not everyone looks at it in shame, as you can observe from Dawn Bellwether."
Judy perked, and she looked at the horse.
"Bellwether intended to resurrect the T.A.M.E. project." Yahya said, "I know it because she mentioned it when she came in her two years ago to ask for our support. She claimed that it would be a necessary step to keep herbivores safe in the case carnivores continued to go savage. To restart production of the tame collars and to have one made for every carnivore of the age five and on."
Yahya made a pause, and then he said:
"I had the pleasure of slamming the door on her face that afternoon." He seemed to really have some satisfaction in it. "That good girl act of her didn't convinced me for a single second. I knew that there was something off about her, even though I had no idea that she was the one behind the savage attacks."
After a while, he looked at Judy. "If you and Wilde hadn't exposed her, I would probably have investigated her myself at some point."
"So, you didn't liked what she said?" Josh asked, and the horse looked at him.
"Many of what she said didn't sit well with me." Yahya said, "From her suggestions for the reactivation of HappyTown as a carnivore-only district to the suggestion to collar all of the carnivores. That coupled with the fact that she didn't really seemed as worried about all of the herbivores who were getting hurt in the attacks as she should."
Yahya looked at him.
"I can understand the instinctual fear." Yahya said, "I can understand the feeling that makes one feel unsafe around a carnivore, and in some cases this feeling can be justified. But I cannot support certain things."
"Like the tame collars?" Josh asked.
"That was something I never supported." Yahya said, "To encourage more docile behavior on carnivores is one thing, but electro-shocking them into emotional apathy? That's barbaric."
"I am also not in favor of segregation." Yahya added, "Such things only encourage separation, which in turn only causes an increase in fear and resentment, which will ultimately only generate more conflict. It might be seen as ensuring safety in the short term, but on the long run, it will only cause everyone to lose. Yeah, I cannot support such things."
Yahya seemed sincere. That much both the bunny and the cheetah could tell.
"We need to learn to coexist." Yahya concluded, "We need to learn to turn our backs on our instincts as much as possible, so we can live together without fear or hatred. Learning not to fear our differences, but to accept them, with each one of us making our part to improve the world we live in."
He looked at Judy.
"To make it a better place." He concluded, locking eyes with the bunny. "If we want a better world, a better society, then cooperation and coexistence truly are our best bet."
He then turned to Josh.
"So, answering your question, Mr. Clawhauser, no. I don't have any particular problem with your brother and my grandson being friends. There is absolutely nothing wrong with carnivores and herbivores forming close personal relationships." He said, and after a few seconds of silence, he added:
"As long as there is a limit."
With that said, Yahya looked at the two mammals, and excused himself, saying that he had to get ready to return to work.
As he left, Josh looked at the tail that swung over the horse's butt. The pants he wore hugged his tush nice.
Kind of a jerk, but still a tasty dish. Josh thought, as he licked his lips.
"Mr. Clawhauser, I appreciate if you don't lick your lips while looking at me." Yahya said aloud, without turning around, as he continued to move. This startled Josh, as it seemed that the horse knew what he was doing despite having his back turned to him.
Soon, both Josh and Judy were returning to the room where the rest of the mammals were. All the while, Judy was in deep thought at what she had heard.
She imagined what life would be like in Zootopia today if the real information of the T.A.M.E. project had not come to public.
How it would be for all of the innocent predators on the city. How it would be for Nick.
She couldn't imagine. She didn't wanted to imagine.
Soon, however, she was pull out of these thoughts by Chandler's voice, who welcomed them and told them that the next game would be ready very soon, and that they could engage in a little conversation while they all waited.
The horse noticed the looks that Judy had, he asked what was wrong, and Josh was the one who answered.
"We just had a little word with you grandpa." The cheetah said, and comprehension filled the face of the horse, as well as a certain worry.
"Oh... did he made some commentaries about instincts and stuff?"
"Sounds like what he would say." Another voice said, and the eyes all turned to look at Nick. "According to a few people who I've talked on the street."
Josh was the one who answered.
"Yeah, he mentioned a few things about instinct." Josh said, looking at the two. "He mentioned that Hopps certainly felt scared when you had your teeth around her neck, mentioned something about predators being more inclined to violent crimes than prey, and mentioned something about you only having helped her because she looked like a crying child and your parental instincts kicked in."
"Yeah, that sounds like what the old horse Manechester would say." Nick said, and he then looked at Chandler. "Not wanting to insult your grandfather, but on the street they say that he is pretty hard on predators."
"Hey, he is not that bad." Chandler said, "I mean, he sure has some hard views, but he is a nice guy. I mean, he is a bit harsh, but he is decent."
"Yeah, I guess I can agree with that." Josh said, "If he said the truth about not approving the tame collar thing."
Chandler looked at the cheetah in surprise, and Nick's smile vanished nearly immediately.
"He told you guys about that?" Chandler asked in surprise. Judy looked at him, and then at Nick.
"He mentioned it when talking to Josh, and I asked." Judy said, looking at them. "Now I kind of wish I hadn't."
"Yeah, I'll say." Nick said, looking at her. "I did felt the same thing when I first heard about this. I am glad that someone leaked the information and made the whole thing go down the flush. They never found out how the information got out, the mayor of the time was controlling everything so no one knew."
"I just can't believe something like that could even come close to happening!" Judy said, looking at her partner.
"I mean, they intended to force five-year-olds to wear collars that would shock them if they felt or did anything other than sitting quiet! This is monstrous!"
"There are mammals like that, Carrots. Believe it or not." Nick said to his partner, while the two bigger mammals looked at them.
"There were a lot of guys who were in favor of the collaring, and really wanted it to happen, that's why they didn't immediately shot down the guy's proposal. I can tell of a lot of guys who still want this kind of thing to happen." Nick said.
"Like Bellwether." Judy said, and Nick nodded.
"Oh, yeah. I bet that your favorite psychotic ewe would have loved to see that happen." Nick said, and Chandler soon was chiming in.
"She actually mentioned something like that." He said, causing all of the eyes to turn to him. "According to Dad, two years ago she mentioned it as a project when she came to ask for their support, along with a project to reopen HappyTown."
Nick's face soured even more as he heard that.
"Grandpa shot her ideas down immediately." Chandler said, "He wanted no part in any of that."
He looked in between the three other mammals, as he spoke:
"Look, I know that Grandpa is not the kindest or funniest guy to be around. I know that he is old-fashioned and uptight about many things, and that sometimes is hard to understand what goes on his head. I even know of some of the rumors that go around about him. But he is not a bad mammal."
"I mean, there are a lot of predators working on the Beastar Corps, and none of them ever suffered discrimination or was mistreated by Grandpa. At least none of them ever said anything about it." Chandler continued, "Grandpa might be harsh with others, but he is reasonable. And he is always fair. He never truly blamed Benjamin for..."
There was a pause, and the three mammals looked at the horse.
"For...?" Josh asked, but Chandler soon was changing subject.
"Look, my point is that Grandpa is not an unreasonable jerk. Okay, maybe some of the things that he says sound like speciesism, but that is because he is old school." Chandler said, "Back then, saying and thinking these kinds of things was seen as normal. When someone is in danger, prey or predator, he is always ready to help and to make sure everyone gets justice. He is a good guy."
The three mammals looked at the horse, who seemed like he truly believed what he was saying. It was clear that he really didn't saw his grandfather as a bad person, in spite of his flaws.
Josh soon was shrugging.
"Well, he certainly is a good eye-candy." The cheetah said, "Speaking of eyes, would he have an extra one somewhere on the back of his head?"
Chandler looked at the cheetah.
"Oh, Grandpa did the 'eyes on the back of the head' thing on you?" The horse asked, and the cheetah answered:
"Well, he seemed to know what I was doing while he had his back turned to me."
"Yeah, he does that." Chandler said. "Everyone thinks that he has eyes on the back of his head. But he only has them on the side."
"The side?" Judy asked, looking up at the horse.
"Yeah, it's a recessive quality." Chandler said, looking at the bunny. "I mean, you know how most horses have these..." He showed his hooves, which were basically hands with three hoof-like fingers, "while some of them have hooves without fingers?"
"Yeah, I noticed that." Judy said, and Chandler continued.
"That is because of a recessive gene." The horse explained, "It happens to all species from time to time. They have a certain gene that sometimes manifests and causes them to have qualities that are closer to their less-evolved ancestors. Normally, for horses, that means having no fingers, but in Grandpa's cases, it is in his eyes."
"You see, in the old days, prey animals had eyes positioned on the sides of their heads. It gave them a 360-degree vision. It let them see if there was danger approaching so they could escape." Chandler said, "Nowadays, prey have forward-facing eyes, just like predators, as they don't really need to worry with danger coming from every side like in the stone ages. Grandpa has a recessive quality that is just that. You can't notice just by looking at his face, but his eyes are positioned more to the sides of his head than in the front. He has a wider range of vision because of that."
"So, your grandfather has 360-degree vision?" Judy asked, sounding admired by this.
"More like 350." Chandler said, "There is a spot where his vision doesn't reaches. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see if our next games are ready." Chandler said, and he soon went to talk with one of the butlers, leaving the three mammals to turn to the other guests.
Josh was soon going back to talk with his brother and sister, while Judy and Nick were talking to each other.
Judy took in consideration what she heard from Chandler. She was willing to believe that Yahya Manechester probably wasn't that bad of a mammal, if Chandler was so willing to defend him. Still, she still thought that those views of him were quite harsh, even bigoted.
Much like the kinds of opinions of her own grandfather back in BunnyBurrow, who said that foxes were red because they were made by the Devil.
Soon, however, her mind was taken out of the subject when Nick talked to Judy about their mission of keeping an eye for everyone. At this moment, Judy immediately let Nick know that she had already informed what happened to Bogo, and what Bogo had revealed to her on the phone.
Nick was surprised for hearing about Ben's ex having come to look for him. And right on the same day that a love letter for Ben was spray-painted on the wall of the mansion...
However, the two cops didn't dwelt in it for too long, for Chandler had returned, happily announcing to everyone that the challenges were ready, and that they would resume their game now.
"So, if all of you could follow me." Chandler said, and soon he was guiding everyone through the house. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind getting a little wet."
Hope you have enjoyed this chapter. Tame collars were part of Zootopia's original plot, and I appropriated them for this story.
What do you think of Yahya? Is he speciest or just old-fashioned?
Please, Read & Review, no flaming, but constructive criticism always welcome.