Hey everyone, back for another chapter. I discovered a bit of a snag. I don't know how many followers are no longer getting notifications about this fic, and ZNN isn't announcing new fanfics or fanfic chapters for the time being. So if anyone out there gives me a shout-out (in their own fic, in comments on other fics, on social media; whatever suits them) and lets me know they did, I'm willing to return the favor with story feedback or shout-outs as I'm able. Fair notice: I reserve the right not to shout-out certain fics, especially NSFW ones. Don't even ask if it's NSFW.

On that note, on to the story!

"People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the flood came, and destroyed them all."

Jesus, Luke 17:27

Officer Catano did her best to look casual as she surveyed the party for any signs of trouble. The good news was that, at least so far, there were none to speak of. She'd spotted the usual odd concerns; mostly teens trying to sneak alcohol. She did turn her alert level up to amber when an elderly lion looked a little too involved with a gaggle of teenage females, but then the crowd shifted and she saw who the females – and the 'elderly' lion – were really watching so intently. Strange, but nothing to warrant more than a modicum of attention. Keeping an eye out for trouble wasn't the hard part. It was acting… normal. She had hoped Clawhauser would be some help with that, and that she could just parrot his behavior.

She might as well have tried blending in with a hip-hop dancer at an opera house.

"You should try these, Callie," he enthused between snacks, seeming determined to try a little of everything there. "They're fantastic!"

She surveyed his plate. "I'd like my dress to still fit me tomorrow," she remarked.

Ben's face took on a look like a kids' when someone breaks their favorite toy, then lowered his eyes shamefully to his plate. "I'm only taking small portions," he offered by way of a defense.

Catano eyed him, then felt her demeanor soften. "Look, I didn't… oh, I'm going to hate myself tomorrow," she uttered half under her breath. "Listen, good job on choosing small bites; really. I just feel like something's not right."

At this he pricked up his ears and looked around. "You think he's going to-?"

"Shh!" she hissed, putting a paw up to his mouth. "On't-day art-stay any anic-pay."

He regarded her, then caught the way she was looking around at the partygoers and nodded. "Got it," he mumbled through her paw.

She took it away. "I don't see any sign of trouble, but something's bothering me." Glancing down at herself, she added, "And I'm not sure if it's some troublemaker hiding in the crowd or me trying to look comfortable."

Oddly enough, seeing her insecurity somehow helped Ben get past his own doubts. "I… I don't know why you feel out of place," he offered, brightening a little. "I think you look great in the concert lights."

Catano's eyes glazed over. "Ben, we talked about…"

"No, no, not like that," he protested, setting his plate aside and raising his paws to halt her. "Just as a friend, you look great here. Really great. You totally blend in."

She angled her head to the side, not quite sure what to make of this faltering compliment. Granted, she seriously doubted whether Ben even knew good undercover work from bad. Officer Clawson would have been a better faux date if he wasn't married. Still, the compliment was heartfelt enough that it did put her a little more at ease.

"Alright," she conceded, plucking up a doughnut and studying it as if deciding where to bite first. "Maybe I should just try to relax a little."

She took a bite, and instantly regretted it.

Splort!

She froze with the doughnut compressed in her jaws, then slowly lowered the bulk of it to stare at Clawhauser. Her bite had forced a shot of the filling – a dark, purplish-blue jelly – straight out the other side and all over his face.

He stared up at her, then started to laugh. "Ha ha ha! You should see the look on… oh, that was so worth it!"

Hastily swallowing the bite of doughnut, she nearly choked while trying not to crack. "The look on my face?" she asked, caving to a case of the giggles herself. "Look what's all over yours."

"Oh, no problem," he chuckled, wiping off the blob and licking it from his paw. "Mm! Blueberry! Why don't they make those more? I love blueberry!"

Callie had to laugh. "I think you love every flavor," she chuckled. Maybe this party thing wouldn't be so bad after all. She took another bite, being more careful this time, and chewed thoughtfully. It had been a while since she tasted a doughnut. Funny; she didn't recall the herbal, slightly bitter aftertaste being typical of pastries. Wondering who made it, she cast about on the table for a sign and found one. 'Refreshments from Gideon Grey's Real Good Baked Stuff,' she read. I guess they're more creative on recipes than naming.

Then she noticed the last part of the note. 'Proudly sponsored by Pwasson's Passion.' She snorted a little to herself. Figures she'd sneak in some advertising.

Nick and Judy, meanwhile, weren't having quite as good of a time. Nick had managed to attract a few offers of a dance from passing vixens and even a bobcat or two, but he didn't have the same gusto for it tonight. It definitely didn't help that he had the urge to scan each vixen for signs that she might be Vanya.

As for Judy, she had managed to pop a certain weasel trying to steal what he must have thought was her wallet, but that was about the only highlight of her evening so far. Passing him on as quickly as she could to a cop in uniform, she kept one eye on Nick and the other on the room.

No sign of trouble so yet, she thought to herself. In fact, mammals everywhere seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. She even found herself having a little fun as she swayed to the music, outwardly putting on an act of not having a care in the world like any other partygoer.

At least the music was good. She knew a fair number of the bands, and several others she made mental notes to look up later. It seemed the organizers had opened with less intensive styles of music like jazz and pop, then gradually transitioned to more intensive styles.

Nick, alas, was not doing quite as good of a job of having fun or pretending to relax because, whoopsie, he didn't go to parties unless he had some kind of angle involving them. And the run-in with Brucey the butler? Double whoopsie; he was starting to remember why the guy was so familiar and it was raising some distinct worries. And Whoopsie number threesie, he still had the oh-so-fun prospect of meeting with Taelia later. He tried to think what he could say to her; how he could even begin to satisfy her that as crooked as his past had been, he was not the total scum of the earth.

Maybe if he'd been paying more attention he could have avoided the collision.

"Oof!" they both grunted.

"Sorry; sorry," Nick offered, backing up. He was even sorrier when he saw that the mammal he'd run into – a wallaby roughly in his teen years – had just spilled his plateful of food and looked like he might be sick.

"You okay?" called a voice from overhead. Both Nick and the wallaby looked up to see a coyote looming over them. The larger canine took one look and started waving a paw overhead. "Snap. Uh, hey, can we get a cleanup over here?"

Nick was about to say good luck with that, but Poisson's cleaning staff were nothing if not efficient. Within seconds a deer had maneuvered through the crowd with a broom and dustpan and was sweeping up the spilled edibles.

"I can get you another plate," Nick offered helpfully, jerking a thumb towards the refreshment tables.

The wallaby shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. I'm actually feeling a little, uh…" he stopped, covered his mouth, and let a burp say the rest. "'Scuse me."

At this the coyote looked concerned. "You alright, Jerry?" he asked, reaching into his pocket for something that rattled. "I've got your medication if you need it."

The wallaby waved it off. "It's not allergies. I think I just ate too much."

Nick would have excused himself, but something kept him around. Maybe the fact that the two were both wearing VIXEN T-shirts made them feel more approachable, or maybe he was just that anxious to distract himself from his problem. "Uh, you two related?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. Brothers. Can you see the resemblance?" When Nick just smirked, the bigger dog deflated. "Fudge, that usually gets a better reaction. Nah, I'm just watching him for a bit while his parents go onstage."

Now it was the wallaby's turn to smirk. "Uncle Willy just wants to show off his daddy skills for his girlfriend," he stage-whispered, jerking a thumb towards his caretaker.

The coyote shrugged helplessly. "Well, a little fringe benefit never hurt. You know what I mean, right?"

Nick deflated, for once forgetting his usual carefree façade. "Actually, I wouldn't know just now," he admitted. "The last vixen I dated isn't exactly… you know."

"Oh." The coyote looked pained. "Uh, you wanna talk about it? We're not really busy for another band or so."

"Nah, not really," Nick demurred, trying to wave it off.

The wallaby shrugged. "You might as well tell him. It's gonna bug him all night if he doesn't at least try to help."

Not bothering to question how a coyote was uncle to a wallaby, Nick glanced around and realized he'd lost track of Judy. Well, if his usual confidant wasn't there, he might as well soothe this guy's sympathy pains. "Well, if you must know, I wasn't totally honest with her about some history of mine. Now she thinks I'm a lowlife, and it's only because a friend talked to her for me that she's even willing to meet me here tonight to try to patch things up."

Willy nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, that's tough," he admitted. "But hey, a little advice from one dog to another? If she's the right girl for you, you'd be amazed how much she'll be able to forgive. Take it from me. I had a pretty bad argument with my girl just last week, and I almost thought we were over. But the next day I called her and she was just like, 'Hey, it's not worth stressing about. You forgot something, I was tired, it happens.' Half an hour later you'd have thought we never had a fight in our lives."

Jerry winked. "And he's planning to keep it that way after tonight."

"Hey," Willy protested, propping his fists on his hips. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that."

"What, you think he's gonna just bump into her later?" asked Jerry.

The interjection offered a convenient break for Nick, who decided it was time to excuse himself before things got any more touchy-feely. "Well, thanks for the good word, Willy," he offered with a level of sincerity that surprised him just a little. "Hate to chat and run, but uh, I've got a friend I should track down, you know?"

Willy waved a paw. "No problem. Glad I could help."

As Nick stepped away, Jerry burped again and put a paw to his stomach with an uncomfortable grimace. "Man, I've got to watch my appetite at these things," he groaned.

Nick slipped into the crowd, trying to find Judy. To his surprise, the little pep talk was actually starting to make him feel just a tad better. Not good yet, but improving. Nice guy. Feels like I just talked to Fred Ramgers, he thought. It occurred to him that since he'd met Judy, he was finding nicer mammals – or, maybe, just taking them more seriously as something other than customers to exploit.

His thoughts were interrupted as a passing hippo jostled a donkey.

"Watch where you're going!" snapped the hippo.

"You watch where you're going!" snapped the donkey, shoving back and nearly trampling Nick's tail in the process.

"Hey!" Nick called up, whisking the part in question out of harm's way. "How about you both watch it?"

"Who asked you, fox?" they both shouted down to him before continuing their argument.

Nick shook his head. Why was it that even at an event dedicated to helping the hurting, some mammals just had to be toxic?

Thinks the guy on the lookout for a terrorist attack? he thought to himself.

How he would shudder in years to come when he looked back and linked it all together.

And, another chapter done. This one was actually going to cover more of the length and focus mainly on Judy (including her being the one to bump into Willy and Jerry, who will be important later), but I realized there were some matters better covered over the length of two chapters. So, while you digest this chapter and try to figure out the clues hidden therein, let's see the Easter Egg answers from last chapter.

Scott Lionheart's mini anxiety attack echoes a sort-of catchphrase from the Jackie Chan Adventures cartoon series.

The song title is actually kind of a my bad, but if you linked Xavier's line about "no such thing as impossible" to a Building 429 song simply called "Impossible," you're right.

Taelia's line that "it's not about what he deserves. It's about what I believe" is a direct reference to a similar line from Wonder Woman (2017).

I'll wait to answer the Technicolor Teens one because that hasn't really been fully developed. Same for the Classical Theater one, for much the same reason. Also, I forgot to mention that the mention of a band of zebras is a nod to the Jazzy Zs briefly mentioned in The Official Zootopia Handbook.

Coming up next time: a return to the Lionhearts' incognito antics, a stunning performance from the band we've heard so much about, and the shocking revelation of Obearon's true identity as all the threads come together towards a truly bestial conclusion! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Yeah, I had to do that. You guys know what to do, so thanks for reading!