Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zootopia.

It's a big city with big mammals, small mammals, carnivores, herbivores; it's said that 'here, you can be anything!'. 'Free' to do what you want. 'Free' to be what you want to be. 'Free' to have anything that your heart desires...

Sadly there are no bumper stickers or small newsprint ads that openly add the extra '-if you're not a predator' to the end there, since that's the truth nobody realises until you're already here:

Predators are hated.

Making up only ten percent or so of the population, predators have always gotten the short end of every stick since we animals started coexisting in this 'magical peace land' that is Zootopia. You'd expect the laws to be pretty dependable; there to protect the people, no matter who or what you are...

Not really. See, predators (preds for short) have quite a few more rules to work around, most of them unfair and a lot of them unjust.

Display your teeth to a herbivore? Pay a fine for signs of aggression.

Growl in public presence of a herbivore? Pay a fine or be charged for potential assault.

Display any unwarranted acts of aggression in the presence of a herbivore, e.g. punching, clawing, biting?  Pay a heavy charge and serve time on a reverse probation (monitored but not completely* arrested).  *(usually)

Physically endanger or harm a herbivore? Serve up to several years in jail as well as spend the rest of your life wearing a 'T.A.M.E. shock collar' that "stings" you into submission when displaying abnormal heart-rate speeds (i.e. when excited or aggressive).

Yeah, that last one's a whole 'nother can of beans... But essentially, the list is endless, and a repeating pattern you've surely seen by now is that each law ends with herbivores and only herbivores in mind. Sure, there are a few basic laws on violence, murder, etcetera that exist for the inclusion of predators, but honestly?

The law is made by prey to protect prey, and when the target-market makes up ninety percent of the population, there's not much a predator can do. So long as a herbivore isn't present, carnivores are pretty much free to tear each other apart however they like -it's not like it’ll affect them so “why should they care?”. If anything, they probably think that by letting us take our 'natural' anger and 'instinctive' aggression out on each other, we'll feel 'less inclined' to harm other herbivores that can't as easily defend themselves.

Moving on... Let's talk about the different sectors of Zootopia.

You have Tundratown, filled with polar bears, arctic hares, wolves, those kinds of animals. There's Sahara Square for the camels and the desert dwellers who like the heat. The Rainforest district is exactly what you'd expect: humid, with unpredictable weather and a lot of vegetation, and a little further out you have the Canal district for more amphibious Beastmen. Finally, the Meadowlands are where you'd find Bunny Burrows and lovers of the countryside...

Then, right in the centre of them all, lies Anima city*. A city built for us animal monsters to 'thrive', secluded as the capital of our continent.

Anima city is the only labelled ‘city’ in the world that isn’t populated by humans; and it just so happens that Anima city is where this story begins... Specifically; Cherryton Academy.

*Anima City is a little reference to BNA, which this story originally was going to include as a third crossover. Just picture 'Anima city' is sorta the downtown metropolis in Zootopia.  :3

Walking down a hallway in a loose white shirt and khaki trousers was a slim fox, about four feet tall. There was a dark indigo necktie with red-and-blue stripes hanging loosely around his neck (beneath the undone top button), and a large, smug grin was plastered on his face that, on any fox, could only seem sly and mischievous. As a part of the red fox species, this one had rusty reddish-orange fur, with a cream underbelly leading up to his muzzle, as well as dark auburn accents on his hands, feet, the tips of his ears and at the end of his tail. Above his partially-smug, tight-lipped grin were two large, viridian green eyes that rested half-lidded and brimming with confidence on top of a darker, subtly purplish black nose.

Flicking finger-guns and a wink as he passed others in the corridor, Nick seemingly flickered through several conversations in every moment, saying 'hey' with a nickname to some mammals, or giving cheery input or responses into random conversations he heard flittering about. After eventually making his way to the end of the hallway, however, he paused momentarily at the sight of a crowd facing one particular direction in the corridors.

Eyebrows pinching slightly, he sidled up behind some unsuspecting lambs whispering to each other at the back, picking apart the situation.

"-He was murdered?"

"-I can't believe someone would do this--!"

"-how awful! Oh god, what if it was one of us next? Poor Tem..."

"...I wonder how the drama team is gonna cope with the performance coming up two weeks from now?"

"-Tem was part of the lighting crew, wasn't he? The fact that he was in the drama club just makes this worse; I mean... isn't that the only place in school where prey and predators are split evenly?!-"

Frowning, Nick spotted one particular fennec fox he knew better than anyone else a little further ahead, so he slipped through all the various animals towards the front, before leaning down.

His friend in question had just as poignant a frown as he did, but still sipped loudly from a large cup of soda -almost as bigger than his head- through a straw, indicating the fennec was likely either upset for a different reason or already trying to move past this scene before depression could take a grip on him.

To fit a simple description, Finnick was a lithe, squat-bodied fennec fox with tan fur. He had a cream-colored face, paw pads and ears, from which sprouted feathery, white hairs. His outfit consisted of a a black, short-sleeved bowler’s shirt with a single vertical red stripe going up the front-right. Below that he had olive-green shorts, and dark sunglasses which were currently pocketed away.

The only reason Finnick was allowed to wear a black shirt in school was because he'd managed to convince the teachers that it made him 'a little more noticeable as one of the smallest mammals in the corridors', but that was just an act. Nick knows he just hates wearing white.

"Hey, Finnick. What's going on, did Tem really die? What happened?" he leant over to whisper in the tiny fox's ear, who didn't bat more than half an intensely sleep-deprived eye towards him. The fennec had brown eyes that were more often lidded and unimpressed than not, and his voice was extremely low voice in contrast to his tiny figure. In fact, Nick was pretty certain he had the deepest voice out of any mammal he'd ever heard, period, and it never got old hearing it come from such a small mammal, however that barely crossed Nick's mind in this situation as he was too focused on the pandemonium around them.

"Yeah. From what I heard, he got ambushed last night and torn to shreds, almost certainly by a pred."

"Shit, you're serious?" for the first time, Nick's barely composed face turned wide as he realised the actual gravity of the situation.

"As serious as it gets, and you know what that means for the rest of us, don't you?"

"..." Nick’s eyes narrowed as he stared ahead, now focussed on the blue double-doors at the end of the corridor that everyone was crowding around. There, right in the centre of them, was a crater so large in the wood that it looked like something or someone had slammed into it so hard that the painted wooden doors buckled under the force. There was police tape all across the doors, denying entry to the room past them, and beneath the splintered crater lay dozens of wreaths of varying flowers, as well as some clearly significant items such as a bottle of what one would presume is the alpaca's favourite drink, or a comic book of his favourite series.

Swallowing, eventually his eyes left the offerings to rest on the figure of a lone wolf who kneeled silently before the 'shrine' of sorts. He was a grey wolf with lanky limbs, and despite his slumped, hunchback posture, it was clear that he towered far above most other animals in the school -except only the giraffes of course, but there weren’t many of those at Cherryton since buildings needed to have specially designed doorways for them.

It was only then that Nick pieced together why everybody was so distanced from the memorial, stuck together like a clump in this crowd...

Glancing around, he kept his gaze subtle, counting that the amount of prey in the group far outweighed the predators, and even then, it quickly became more and more noticeable to him when he realised that herbivores all around were distancing themselves specifically from preds, regardless of their size or species.

In fact, glancing around himself briefly, Nick realised that he and Finnick had long since found themselves partitioned in the centre like a bubble separated from the rest, many of whom were glancing at Nick like he was going to eat them next.

Under the stares, Nick heard a quiet 'beep' emanate from around his neck beneath his collar, quiet enough to not be heard by anyone but loud enough to gain his attention and warrant worry within him. Subtly scratching at the eternal itch on his neck, he focussed back on their surroundings.

Looking back to the wolf, he realised that the reason he was kneeling there alone was simply because out of all the predators in the corridor, he was the biggest -and therefore, the scariest to the herbivores.

Suddenly, Nick's expression twitched anxiously when he saw a small lamb wearing red glassed and a sharp dress-suit slowly trotting up towards the wolf, noticeably still remaining at least half the distance between him and the rest of her 'herd' as she spoke up.

"Uhm, excuse me? Would you mind please leaving? You've had your moment to mourn your... friend." the way she said that ground on Nick's ears as he pinned them down with a sharp look, wondering how she could sound so poisonously polite. "In case you haven't noticed, everyone is a little on edge after what happened last night and I don't think it's exactly fair to us if you're inconsiderate enough to ignore the clear need for some space with this tension in the room..."

Snapping his head towards her, a startled, almost embarrassed expression filled the wolf's face as he stuttered to speak, "O-oh, I'm sorry! I just came here to pay my respects like everyone else, I... guess I'll just… be on my way..." pretty quickly, he stood up, still hunching his back as though thinking he was seeming 'less intimidating' to everyone by appearing a little less like a giant.

Before he could fully retreat, however, several voices in the back of the crowd brought attention to someone parting them like the Red-Sea.

"Look, it's Louis!"

"Louis! The star of Cherryton!"

"Adler's main actor!"

As though feeling a migraine coming, Nick refrained from barfing in his mouth with a roll of the eyes as the most pretentious, stuck-up 'royal' in the school strode past. He wore a green jacket that made him stand out in the sea of white and grey, and in his hand was a bouquet of flowers that were clearly meant for Tem.

The only reason Nick hated him so much was because he couldn't tell if the deer actually meant his actions by showing up to mourn or if he was just keeping up his expected prestigiousness by making an appearance at something so significant. His expression was fiercely stoic, and the fact that he was one of the only mammals that Nick genuinely hated meant something pretty significant for a fox that makes every effort to have good connections throughout the entire school.

After all, that was what Nick -and Finnick- were known for. The 'Brokers' of Cherryton Academy. They knew all the connections, whether an animal wanted a little 'dope' to relieve some tension, or wanted tickets to an event outside of school -which were almost impossible to get ahold of as Cherryton was a boarding school and they were banned from both purchasing things online and leaving the school premises without permission. (The school tracked all internet access that ran through their system wifi and only Nick and Finnick had figured out backdoor ways to slip around it).

Knowing all that, why the pair hated the 'perfect' student that not only followed all rules, but lay out his own rules like they were god's own words, was pretty self explanatory.

Anyway, Nick frowned, to say the least, as he watched the 'future Beastar in the making' walk over towards the memorial before kneeling down and speaking up at the same time.

"I believe anyone has a right to mourn in this kind of situation, including a grey wolf." his words were directed to both the lamb, who if Nick recalled correctly was named 'Dawn Bellwether', and the wolf, who paused and blinkered like a traffic light, not quite sure if he was being commanded to sit back down or to leave by the both of them and therefore suspended mid-movement sheepishly.

"I don't disagree with that, however he's had his time to do so. We've all been waiting patiently, but we'd like to say our own regards too, and after all that's happened, I think it's only fair that us herbivores are given a little more space by predators. It's just being considerate-"

Raising his head from what seemed like a silent prayer, Louis retorted, "If there is any act that unifies all mammals in its commonality, I'd have assumed it would be the pain of loss and the need to mourn. Now, of all times, is when herbivores and carnivores should be knitting themselves together tighter than before. Not letting the threads fall loose, lest they eventually snap. Wouldn’t you agree?" his tone was sharp and authoritative, commanding respect over others, yet the crowd seemed to melt, hanging on his every word like they should kiss the very ground he walked on.

Once more, Nick refrained from puking in his mouth as the one mammal he despised 'defended his carnivorous honour' for him.

"I- I... Well, yes... But isn't that meaningless if we're all currently too shaken up to move on so quickly? It's too quick for us all to just immediately forget what happened here only a few hours ago..."

Sighing, the deer finally stood up, seemingly having had enough of the conversation. "You're speaking an awful lot for those around you." looking around, he seemed to connect with everybody's eyes as he continued, "Don't let someone else speak for your actions. If you are scared then so be it, but being brave in a difficult situation is the only way to move forward in life. I'm sure many of you all realise that this wolf before you is currently harmless; his posture is slouched and he is spending a moment in silence to grieve over the death of someone I'd presume he knew quite well since they were both in the Drama club, like me." Scathingly, his eyes pierced into any who seemed to scowl in response to his reasoning, cutting their breath short. "You'd have to be blind to believe that this wolf here is a threat currently, and masking spiteful hatred as 'fear' and 'insecurity' is only going to start a war between us all." Bellwether seemed to go rigid as he finally landed on her, staring ferociously.

"I..." realising she had lost all ground to stand on, the lamb bowed her head as 'courteously' as she could muster, before charging down the hallway, away from the memorial. Simply by doing that, it was made obvious that she had never really come to pay honest respects to Tem in the first place, only wanting to stir discord, and a few people around them seemed to realise this.

Nick bit his tongue before purposefully calming himself. 'If Louis hadn't shown up, no-one else would have resolved this all so I shouldn't get upset.'

He had hardly noticed that Legoshi, the wolf, had left alongside Louis when told he had a task that needed to be done in the drama club, and after all that, Nick sighed as he took off down the hallways alongside Finnick. -But not before briefly glancing towards the framed picture in the centre of the memorial, to which he silently payed his respects.

"So simply speaking, we're screwed. It doesn't matter if Louis or whoever manages to calm a crowd from turning into a riot, the entire school is on high alert and in the end, it's only gonna to be us predators that suffer the repercussions." Nick stated as he walked alongside Finnick, the other fox simply grunting. Nick was roughly four feet tall, which was a little shorter than most mammals but not anywhere as bad as squirrels, bunnies and the lot. Finnick, on the other hand, was only a foot and a half, if that, and his ears made up at least a third of his total height regardless. So despite strolling at what was a relatively peaceful pace for Nick, Finnick was pumping his legs several cycles faster -yet he looked so natural in doing so that it didn't bother him.

"That's one way to put it." the fennec then growled beneath his breath. "Why the hell am I getting shit for this, most of the herbivores in the school are twice my damn size anyway -not that I couldn't beat the crap out of them or anyone anyway." Finnick always talked rough and blunt, usually littering his sentences with cusses which Nick was used to.

"Eeyup, your size is a real doozy. No-one ever expects a toddler to know Muay Thai!" Nick laughed and ducked as Finnick leapt up, slapping his head for calling him a toddler, not saying he just looked like a toddler.

"Yeah, and a brutal toddler at that!-" ducking again, he howled in pained laughs as his arm was twisted back and he was kicked into another hallway, but within seconds he was back besides Finnick as though nothing had happened, passive besides the smirk on his face.

Sighing, Finnick felt the corners of his mouth curl up a little, before he wiped it off. "You're an ass."

"That I am, tall and proud!"

Feeling silence envelope them, the next sentence was shrouded beneath his breath, "...Have you got the stuff yet?"

Dropping his own smile for a more business-like seriousness, Nick grunted. "Yes, tight and secure -right beneath my pillow for the tooth fairy to collect at midnight." he couldn't help cracking another joke, to which Finnick groaned and Nick's smirk returned, barely surpassing himself from breaking out into a fit of laughter.

"I hate you sometimes..."

"But you know you love me most times." Nick shrugged casually as the two faced off towards different corridors, ready to split ways to their different dorm rooms since they both only had lessons in the morning today. In an overly peppy voice, Nick taunted "See ya later, squirt!"

Watching him wink, the fennec burned in the face as his throat rumbled, barely containing himself from leaping up and clawing at the other in embarrassment.

"What, no kiss bye-bye for daddy...?"

"Come try so I can bite your face off!" pulling out his sunglasses which, as always, were large for the fox and appeared from seemingly nowhere, the pair nodded. "Ciao."

"Later-gator." with a wave Nick then headed off to his next lesson; psychology.

Nick was one of few animals to take four courses for A-level, of which he was in the beginning of the second and final year for. Three courses was bog-standard, but Finnick was far less interested in school, so he only attended two lessons and an extracurricular club (to make up for it in the school's eyes).

The pair of them shared lessons in psychology and business studies (of course in order to understand and maximise their effectiveness at reading people and making money), but Nick also took a paired course in economics (which was similar to business studies but detailing more large-scale influences on the economy than just a business you may be running), as well as law, just so he was adept and knowledgeable enough to avoid most potential court-cases for the rest of his life. He wasn't interested in becoming a cop -not anymore at least, but knowing how an opponent thinks and works is incredibly vital information and he took that lesson and its significance to heart.

After all, what's smarter than a con artist who not only knows how to con, but how to legally get away with it too?

Finnick would have liked to have traded psychology a year ago to join Nick in law after the first few weeks of hearing how useful it was, but the class was already full at that point so he never got the chance to switch before the course was already too far ahead for him to possibly catch up.

Finally, he reached his classroom, barely glancing at the clock before fiddling down into his seat and kicking his legs up. He'd already memorised the lessons they went through in class before they start since the sooner he had the knowledge, the more it would help him in life. He only attended class because having a good attendance at school would at the very least help just a little if he ever was desperate for an actual job wage.

The chance of it making much of a difference, though, was slim at best. Nick was a fox, and regardless of how smart he was, he'd discovered a long time ago that foxes, despite being smaller than many predators, are one of the most universally hated animals of all -even by many carnivores.

Shifty and sly. That's all they're seen as, and because of that, that's all he'll ever be. It's hard to amount to anything when the currents of life just keep sweeping you down the waterfall, and Nick learnt long ago that it was always best to simply stop fighting that; it only made your inevitable fall worse.

...

Tapping his pen on the desk below him, he could all but feel his eyes rolling back inside his head as the clock *...tick'ed, tock'ed, tick'ed, tock'ed...*

For some reason, today already just seemed like one of those 'oh no' day's where time seems to stretch to the farthest horizon out of reach and you just can't bare to suffer the boredom any longer...

"-ck Wilde, you'll be partnered with Judy Hopps.-"

"Huh?" blinking, the fox glanced up, unsure if he had heard his name or imagined it, but seconds later, a presence made themselves known besides him as they tapped on his thigh, causing him to look down startled and stare for a few moments. "Sorry, what's going on?"

The rabbit staring at him like he'd said something obviously stupid raised an eyebrow before pointing towards the chair besides Nick, on which laid his bag.

Presuming she wanted him to move it, he did, but abruptly found his previous question answered as the female bunny stared deadpan at him, long and hard.

"We've been assigned to each other for the mid-term project. Weren't you listening?" she voiced it both rhetorically and jestfully as she prodded his arm with a carrot shaped pen. As his look of utter bewilderment continued, so did she, "You know, the case study? We've all been assigned a fake court case file that we need to write a report on by next week. We're partners."

Finally, something seemed to click within the foxes mind from the bunny's perspective as his blank-yet-wide look slowly morphed into a casual grin. "Oh. So nothing to worry about then."

Lounging back, he stretched his elbows behind his head as the bunny exclaimed, "What do you mean 'nothing to worry about then'?! This is contributing to our final half-term grade so we need to get this done to a good standard-"

Hushing the over-excited bun, Nick simply smiled wider. "I meant, nothing to worry about since this'll be a piece of cake." he pretended to correct himself before leaning forward and thanking the professor for the sheet they had just handed him.

Meanwhile, the other was not having it, "Aren't you going to take this seriously?!-"

"I am taking this seriously. I'm sorry, did I ever seem like I'm not...?" his tone was sugar-coated with a polite and casual smile but it seemed like the rabbit didn't miss the slight condescending rhetorics as she sharply inhaled with a very deep frown.

"Okay then, Mr Smarty-pants, what're you planning to do? Leave this all until the last minute? Or perhaps just leave it to me to get all the work done so you can just take half the credit? Because neither of those things are gonna happen..."

Rolling his eyes, it seemed like nothing she said could get his unbothered smirk to leave his face. "Relax, Carrots. I said this looked easy because it does, I could have this done in less than an hour for the both of us- if you're willing to give up 25% of the credit...?" he leant forward, his extended, pointy muzzle coming close to touching tips with her more rounded button-like nose as they stared at each other with completely opposite expressions.

"Starting with 50/50, That would mean you get 75% of the credit, I'm not dumb!"

"Why I never said you were dumb..." he feigned a shocked expression, dramatically clutching his heart, '-he did." he pointed to the side of the room, catching her attention to which she scowled upon realising he had simply tricked her to look that way pointlessly.

Realising that she'd played herself as a fool did not go past her as she fumed with a dusting of pink on her cheeks. "-now you listen here, Buster! I don't know what your doing all this for, but I think we can both agree that the sooner we get this project done, the sooner we can escape each other's vicinity. So how about we just do that and leave out any more unnecessary pranks?"

"Aww, I'm sorry cottontail. I didn't mean to upset you... I just thought you'd appreciate a little comedy! You look a little grey... -pffft-HA-HA!" Judy scowled a whole new amount of death as she tried to suppress both the chuckles and the groans she felt within at the joke (he was referencing her fur, which was primarily grey with white.

Waiting impatiently for the fox to stop heaving his crumpled form at his own joke, her foot began to thump on the desk at an accelerating speed until she finally lost it, breaking into a guttural sigh as she surrendered.

"Fine. Fine. I tell you what, how about we both do this project alone. I hand in my version, you hand in yours and we'll both see who gets the higher grade by the end of it."

Finally wiping a tear from his eye, the fox grinned. "Now that sounds like a deal I can agree upon!" and without another word, he glanced up and behind the bunny with an emotive expression, getting her to look around briefly in confusion...

Only to turn back and realise that the fox had left with the only copy of the worksheets they needed for the case.

"UuuUUUGGH, that fox is so infuriating!!!" with frustratedly pursed lips and a restrained kick to the chair-leg, tucking it in, she got up to find the rascal so that she could get her own photocopied version.

Chapter Text

I don't wanna wake up....

*Drip.

-but was I even asleep?

*Drip.

Hhhh... I just wanna be a shell...

*Drip.

Then I don't have to wake up- or sleep. I can just stay here in silence and forget about the wor-

"Legoshi!"

"-gah- huh? Ugh-"

Bright rays of blinding sunlight emerged from behind the safety of his curtain, followed by a far too peppy-for-the-morning face that Legoshi should have recognised a little faster.

Maybe he would have if he'd actually gotten any sleep last night...

Collot, pinched his cheek with a grin. "Rise and shine! You can't just sleep the day away, Mr Scary-face!"

But now, the lost and confused wolf found himself staring up at the peach ceiling of his shared dormitories, having found himself pulled by the scruff of the neck out of his little cubby-hole by the sheepdog. The fringe on the other's face covered his eyes, yet he seemed just as perceptive as anyone else which was always confusing. How he could smile at such an ungodly hour like this was perhaps even more confusing.

"Unnngh..."

From across the room, another student of the six present was in the middle of getting out of his school pyjamas and chuckled sympathetically. "Something tells me that you didn't study for the maths test today either, huh Legoshi?" the room chuckled lightheartedly as the wolf groaned and slowly pulled himself up off the ground, hearing Collot say something about 'making sure he gets dressed- doesn't want to miss first period' but honestly, time was too fickle for the wolf this morning. What seemed like seconds, felt like hours yet passed in minutes, and before he knew it, he had been all but left alone in the dorm room, staring idly into the wall-length mirror with a blank look.

His reflection didn't seem to fit in with the bright, sunlit room. His presence was especially dark and gloomy this morning, and despite his neutral gaze, the look in his reflection contorted into one displaying vicious fangs and rabid eyes-

"Oh god-" without saying anything else, he shook his head, trying to dispel the memories of last night from his exhausted mind.

A sudden noise from beside him sent a shiver up his spine like a cat as he realised there was one person waiting for him in the room; his best friend, Jack.

Aside from being the complete opposite from Legoshi; loud, peppy, optimistic, confident in his own opinions (and very sociable), Jack had always made sure to be there for him when he needed it. The golden retriever was one of the only other mammals Legoshi felt confident enough to confide in with his troubles, however this morning, the look the other was giving him was one of severe confusion and suspicion.

"You alright, Legoshi? You look pretty bad this morning..." he tried to round it off with a light laugh but it didn't quite lift the mood in the room. That didn't seem to dissuade him though, as with all his effort, a smile remained on his face.

"I'm... fine. Thanks, Jack." Legoshi all but sighed in a baritone whisper before glancing back at the mirror.

"Do you want me to wait for you to finish getting dressed so we can walk together for a bit? I don't mind..."

Giving the retriever's offer serious contemplation, Legoshi told himself that what was currently on his mind was something he couldn't even talk to Jack about. "No, you go on ahead. I'll see you at break?"

"Yeah... Sure. See you at break!" as always, Jack forced a grin onto his short maw as he retreated out of the room, allowing the wolf to finally catch his breath.

Maybe if I somehow don't get arrested and go to prison, I can find a way to fix all this...

It had only been two days now, since Tem had been killed by a predator in the auditorium, yet already the amount of mammals that were crowding around his memorial to pay respects and mourn was thinning drastically. Legoshi felt he had a kind of need to come back and find comfort in the death of a relatively close friend of his, but clearly not all others did. He told himself that he'd come back just to silently speak with Tem for as long as the police tape was still up and wrapped around the auditorium's doors in the hallway, and so right now, he found himself steering towards it just like yesterday.

Kneeling for a minute, he tried to empty his mind in the presence of such a horrid event, however that seemed to only spark a larger, gasoline-fueled fire within his conflicted mind as memories of last night came back to torment him.

He had just been standing there, not much going on and a little on-edge that he might get caught out of bed after curfew hours, but he hadn't had much choice. Louis had asked -commanded- him to act as a lookout for himself and another actor so they could recite their lines, as the other actor would be replacing Tem for the performance coming up in two weeks.

All had been perfectly normal, until a sudden scent that lingered in the air caught his attention, and from there, everything seemed to somehow spiral out of control.

Something snapped within him. A mental barrier, maybe? Or perhaps some long-buried instinct from generations ago that emerged out of the blue... But Legoshi had smelled prey for what almost felt like the first time despite being in a boarding school full of them.

It drove him wild; insane, and before he knew what he was doing, he had pounced on a poor rabbit girl last night and had the most relentless internal conflict in his mind between eating her or not.

In the end, he knows that despite all his efforts, he would have made a grave mistake he'd come to regret for the rest of his life, had he not been distracted by the call of his name by the actor who had called for help with some accident Louis had had.

And now, here he sat, gut wrenching as he payed respects to a dead herbivore killed by someone else only one night prior, as though he had the right to be here...

Feeling sick to his stomach, Legoshi stood up on quaky legs, careful to remember to slouch his posture to (as always) try to remain as least intimidating as he possibly could to others... Until he bumped into another mammal that was as tall as his shin.

Glancing down, he immediately began to apologise profusely, however his breath caught on spicy air and his eyes widened like saucers as he recognised the animal he had crashed into.

Looking up at him with a confused expression and woeful, violet eyes, was a greyish white bunny with long ears and a fluffy tail.

His heart seemed to stop altogether, and there he stood, motionless as the two stared at each other. He entirely expected her to call him out on it. To say something about last night. Maybe to scream, or to run. Perhaps even yell for help and call him a monster in front of as many others as possible, however it never came.

She simply stared back, eyes filled with confusion, before finally speaking up. "I'm not a ghost, if you think that's what I am?"

"Uhhh.... huh?" Legoshi seemed to finally blink as he slackened ever so slightly under the stress his heart had experienced. "S-sorry, what did you say?" he stuttered, trying to compose himself.

"I said I'm not a ghost. It looked like you'd seen the dead rise when you saw me..." the rabbit laughed a little before shaking her head. "What's got you so shaken up?"

"Uh oh, um... nothing. Sorry about that, I thought... I thought you were someone else..." he managed to squeeze out as the other only seemed giggle more.

"Well I figured that much out already..."

"S-sorry. Are you alright? I didn't... hurt you or anything?" Legoshi opted to avoid saying 'step on' as he knew that smaller mammals could be quite touchy about that subject.

"No, no. I'm alright.  So who did you take me for?"

"Oh... Just another bunny... Sorry for the confusion."

... Standing in silence, Legoshi suddenly seemed to snap to attention when he noticed the female had dropped her pen on the floor when they bumped. Picking it up, he practically bowed to give it to her, to which he noticed the pen was adorably shaped as a carrot. "H-here. You dropped this."

"Oh, thanks." she smiled, before her own eyes widened as if remembering something. "Oh, I almost forgot, I'm Judy Hopps, what's your name?"

"Oh, uh, Legoshi. Nice to meet you. You have a second name?"

"Yeah, I'm from Bunny Burrows. I just transferred here a few weeks ago in Autumn term to do a degree in law. I'm aiming to become a police officer." she grinned broadly and confidently, and her statement surprised Legoshi.

"That would make you the first rabbit officer in Zootopia... right?"

"Yup!"

"Wow. Well then, good luck..." he scratched sheepishly at the fur on his scruff with a smile.

"Thanks! I... guess I'll see you around, Legoshi?"

"Sure..."

"-OH, wait, I almost forgot! You haven't happened to see a red fox go by recently, have you?"

"Uh... I don't think so?"

"Okay no problem. Thanks anyway!"

before he could finish saying "Bye...", she had already raced off.

Blinking to himself, the wolf almost felt himself collapse right then and there, but he knew that the attention he'd gain by doing that wouldn't be good. Managing to reel back in his stray thoughts, he continued on towards his maths lesson. After that, there was break, and then after that he had a drama lesson. Legoshi was part of the backstage crew, primarily working on lighting effects for the stage but also helping in costume design and other side-errands. He knew he couldn't stomach the idea of being up on stage acting, but there weren't many other lessons the wolf had actually found interest in over the course of his life, so he decided to simply stick with what he's good at. He had joined drama club a year or two ago, back when he was still doing his GCSE's, but hadn't known what else to do for his A-levels starting this year so he decided to bring drama forward into more technical, advanced lessons. Maths, he'd simply chosen because he knew it would make his mother happy to do, and his third subject was literature as he had a slight interest in books.

As he continued down the path he had originally been following, Legoshi could only wish for one thing:

'Please let that be all the 'fun and excitement' I have to experience today...'

"BITE ME! USE YOUR GOD-DAMN FANGS YOU COWARD! I KNOW YOU WANT TO!"

That was not all the fun he'd get to experience today.

Looking down at the deer that gagged his own mouth, hand forcefully close between every incisor, Legoshi tried to melt into the wall he was pressed uncomfortably against. He wanted to state that that 'wasn't what he wanted at all', but his mouth simply wouldn't move as his years of experience in trying to de-escalate arguments and fights told him to keep his mouth shut.

Well... not physically right now, but you get the idea....

Releasing him, the wolf couldn't stop the taste from spreading through his mouth but he didn't react as Louis stared silently at him. Knowing it was less likely that he would be stopped again this time, he made it to the door and muttered 'just text me whatever your decision on the lighting is...' before releasing a heaving breath behind the closed door to the drama club office, (actually mostly known as Louis' own personal office).

Why are things being so difficult today?

Chapter Text

"Hi, is this seat free?"

"-Uhhh... no, sorry. This seat is reserved..."

"Hey, um, mind if I sit there?"

"-My friend is just coming back from the lavatories..."

"Would you mind if-"

"-Eww..."

Okay... that last one was a little unnecessary.

Haru huffed as she trudged between tables in the cafeteria. Her posture spoke of great confidence and certainty, but right now she felt anything but sure of herself as another animal refused her presence. Sighing beneath her breath, she came to a quick conclusion that today would simply be another one of those days again, where she sits on a ledge outside and eats whilst basking under the peaceful sunlight.

Doesn't matter where I sit. Delicious food is still delicious.

Or at least it would have been, had an offending foot not tripped her up in the centre of the large cafeteria. Soup came splashing to the ground like a Picasso artwork with her drenched in the middle; her white sundress now stained a murky brown just like her fur.

"Oops. My bad, I guess I didn't see you there, Haru."

Suddenly, I think I've lost my appetite...

"Was that necessary, Mizuchi?" the rabbit supported herself with one arm, assessing the damage done to her clothes.

Well... Nothing a little stain remover and a lot of elbow-grease won't remove...

The harlequin rabbit that loomed over her smirked, backed up by her two literal cronies, "Accidents happen," she seemed to shrug nonchalantly. "I am impressed though... I mean, the entire school just rejected you and yet here you lie, so confident and brave." her tone was condescending and poisonous, like cyanide-laced candy-apples.

Knowing full-well that the whole school was watching, Haru did her best to rise without shaming herself any further, aiming to simply ignore whatever else the other had to say and go clean up in the lavatories, but just as the harlequin rabbit started spouting something about 'endangered species couples' and 'how disgraceful it was to tear them apart', a third presence decided to join in from the silent onlookers, stepping forward with a deep scowl.

"I'm sorry, do we have a problem here?"

Shocked by the voice behind her, Mizuchu turned around, coming face-to-face with another rabbit. Mizuchi had always been tall; after all, she was a hare, so when standing besides Haru, she'd dwarf the rabbit by at least a foot or more.

This newcomer though was double that, frankly. That wasn't to say her proportions didn't compliment her figure, just that her figure didn't impose. At all.

Tilting her head with renewed mirth, Mizuchi leant mockingly over the grey and white bunny, who was tapping their foot quite rapidly in frustration as she glared back at her with her arms crossed and one hip jutting out.

"Oh? And who might you be? One of Haru's friends? Or perhaps just another fling of hers..."

"It would be greatly appreciated if you would stop with all the dramatic flair and insults. What did she ever do to you?" her expression narrowed when the hare snorted.

"Ha! What did she do to me? Why, this little minx got in the way of an endangered species couple-!"

"-Actually," speaking up and brushing down her dress, Haru finally spoke up calmly, "He was the one who kissed me first. And besides, a guy who gets that excited by a little kiss...? -tells you something, doesn't it?"

Face turning lilac, the harlequin suppressed the urge to scream as she stormed towards the bunny and harshly whisper in her ear, "Now you listen here, slut. I don't care what you have to say for yourself because it has now become my primary mission to drag your name through fertiliser and bury your reputation in the ground. Got it?"

Mizuchi blinked when she felt a tap on her shoulder and with a face full of fury she turned towards whoever felt so suicidal to join in- only to immediately step back and shrink in on herself by a foot, for right there, looming above her at easily double her height, stood a slouched grey wolf with his face far too close for comfort.

"Can you please stop fighting? It's kind of making some others tense..." the wolf both spoke and scratched at his neck sheepishly, which seemed so unnatural for what he was, however his pure size and stature alone was enough to half-terrify the hare who retreated rigidly from him, step by step.

But in the face of fear, Mizuchi seemed to only get cockier. "Oh yeah? What're you gonna do, Mr Big, Bad Wolf? Show us your teeth and claws? Leave the herbivores to their own business, thank you." she huffed before turning away, a little surprised herself when the wolf didn't do anything more than hang his head and turn away.

"Hey, Legoshi, right? Thank you for standing up for us! That was really nice of you!" Judy called out with a smile, catching is attention and causing him to fluster under the gaze of all three bunnies and most of the school once again.

"Uhh... no... no problem?" he gave the best smile he could which briefly showed glinting fangs, but he seemed to notice his mistake when he sharply covered up his mouth and forcibly ducked his head which made Judy pause and for a very brief moment, frown.

Jeez, I can't tell if he's trying to be passive around others because of his size or he's actually that nervous... Maybe he just needs to come out of his shell more?

Judy padded up to him before hopping to reach his arm and pull him down (not to hurt him though). "Hey, you wouldn't mind helping me taking Haru here to go get cleaned up, would you?"

"Uh- I- I really... Um-" he seemed to be trying to backpedal away from the situation but Judy wouldn't let him. With a firm grip on his arm, he seemingly didn't dare to tug away. To be honest, Judy didn't need his help carrying the poor, soup-drenched girl at all. She just wanted to get a read on this strange wolf; why he was acting the way he was, what was he going to do next- that sort of thing.

I mean, I'm aiming to join the ZPD police academy, then the force itself, and something in me is telling me this wolf is possibly hiding something...

-What if he's the one who's behind the murder from a couple days ago?! No... I can't just suspect someone of a crime I'm not sure they committed. I'll just have to wait and see...