Welcome to the Trivia! Where I will explain just how NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED this story is from the ground up! There are allusions and intricacies that spawned from this monumental idea because I needed to make every part of this as good as I could have made it. I needed to do justice to the genre since it's my first time writing a murder mystery and neither my brain nor my heart were willing to let me do this without giving it my all.

But even if you're not interested in the Trivia, please do check out the very last one because it's a matter that requires some attention from ALL our readers.

AND PLEASE BE ADVISED, these were all ideas drawn up when we began. They may not have been explored as well as we would have hoped with the final product, but if we actually explored every nook and cranny of this thing, it would have been a third or so longer than it already is with too many scenes that would feel like filler. (Also, sorry if any of this sounds pretentious. _ We just wanted to broach a wide set of ideas and topics that we might have even been over our heads).

And now some disclaimer:

As I will continually reference myself and my team, I will say "I" when referring to just me, or "we" when I mean my team had a hand in it one way or another. And just as well, there are a few parts where my beta will be the one talking. You don't really need to parse between us so it doesn't really matter. XD

Before we begin, I would like to firstly introduce the story's central theme: Desperation

It's in more than just the plot. It is the driving point behind every major decision, at the core of most of the characters' motivations.

It's even behind Nick and Judy's romance through the story (until the end when it's just want and a desire to be together) and even their every push to catch Carrion himself, like when Nick gets knocked out after chasing Carrion in an alleyway, and why they hastily went to the Hector residence when they find out that it was Marcus all along.

And there's more. It's behind Ross's coup and his attempt on Nick's life. It's why An asked Barns and Clem to go down to the basement and why Gizelle went along with it. It's why Sam went to the Broncs and why Bogo went after. It's why Marcus admitted to being both Carrions, and why Marshal let his inhibitions go to become Carrion.

Etc. etc... You get the point.

You'll manage to pick it out every once in a while when we explore the rest of the story a bit more here. Just keep it in mind. We did a lot of work making sure it's kind of bred into everybody.

~~~o0O0o~~~

Places

Bronc Town: The Ideal Setting

A fan fiction author has the unique position of working on something pre-established, be it a setting, a universe, a character, etc. And we considered using the same setting, and doing so in Zootopia would have been a piece of cake… were this not a murder mystery.

You see, Zootopia may be expansive and has lots of room for characters and what not, but what it did lack was malleable history, and Carrion, as you can see, has deep roots in Bronc Town. To have made the same antagonist in Zootopia would have made his ties to the setting less meaningful as a whole. Zootopia is massive and sprawling, a monument to the modern age, a shining beacon in the west… but Bronc Town? It's small, cozy. It's a home where everyone knows your name. That's what we wanted for the setting.

Cause the idea of corrupting that? To spawn distrust in an otherwise close-knit community? To unhinge a sense of prevalent stability that has lasted for generations? It felt like a powerful image we could use. It made the serial killer larger than life.

And small towns tend to turn things like that into urban legends, to make their fears tangible somehow, to give them form instead of remaining in a state of infinite and terrifying possibilities.

Marcus and Marshal, in the end, don't even need to live up to expectations to be scary. What they leave behind with that image alone immortalizes them in people's minds, branding them as avatars of unspeakable things.

The Graze Hotel and the Accommodation Standard

Title already bore you? Sorry, it's supposed to be like that. (But feel free to skip this one. It's kind of just technical).

Hotels are meant to house everybody for as long as you can afford the room. But how do you do that when you have tenants large enough to break a ceiling, and some small enough to fit in a cup? Well, you divide them.

Notice that Nick and Judy's room in the Graze Hotel is "314M". This means: floor 3, room 14, Moderate accommodation.

We began, first, with the idea that most mammals fall under the "Moderate" category because, unlike the other two categories, they do not require the extreme changes to rectify their common needs. A mouse and an elephant cannot use the same doors, drawers, roads, etc. However, everything from a regular rabbit up to, say… a lion, could relatively use the same things with some ingenuity. Bedding, staircases, and elevators are easy enough: just make them large enough to hold them all. Things like a toilet seat or a doorknob only need to be adjustable for height and size.

The Large or Small mammals don't need adjustable anything. Their furnishings are up to scale with their own accommodation range since they're mostly the same height anyway.

The next step was considering the weight distribution. Tall buildings need strong supports on the first floors and below, so it would make sense that after the lobby on the first floor, the second floor would contain the Large category of mammals, so we'd given it tall ceilings and thick walls.

Though we never get to reference the weird height of the first and second floor (cause the Lobby is SUPPOSED to be spacious and inviting for all mammals, and the second floor never gets a visit in the story) this is a design we'd conjured in the hopes that maybe we could use them again in the future.

The top floor would then contain the Small category, but it had caveats we needed to design around. Vibrations in the walls and such from their neighbors downstairs or on the roof required padding and reinforcing. And though it would house small mammals, the halls needed space for taller people to pass through the floor itself to receive visitors or at least get on the roof.

Hotels in the world of Zootopia need to abide by these (haphazardly strewn-together) rules to allow all mammals an inclusion. And should we ever need to actually reference them (though I'm sure we never will), these tenets are to be called the "Accomodation Standard".

We also have this concept for an "in-out" staircase that universally accommodates all mammal sizes, even giraffes, but it's, again, just more technical jargon.

Ross's Garden

A bit of a refresher: Ross was the puma who ousted the Sheriff. Eli was his deceased wife. They were both loved by the town… until Ross went crazy.

So you know how on Valentines Day people get each other flowers? Well, back when they used to live in the city of Orca, Ross was always working during the very holiday and could never send Eli flowers. On occasion he might but sometimes there's a problem or it doesn't arrive.

Eli didn't like that, but she shrugged it off. She was sweet like that, even if it hurt. And as the ever attentive husband and detective that was Rostetler Rundi, he noticed.

So when the day came that they would move to Bronc Town, Ross decided to make it up to her for missing out on all the missed bouquets.

He ensures that the Villa's poker area is remade into a garden plot where he plants the flowers himself. It's to be his flowers to her, everyday, forever.

It is meant to persist even after his own passing. And even after hers. It was for their children, and their children's children, and so on and so forth. A gift that would never die. One that would bloom each season like a tangible confession, thanks, and apology, as if the words never needed speaking ever again.

Such a shame that it didn't last.

Halberd

In the inner-west or Midwest, is Halberd, the European "capital". That's in quotation marks cause Zootopia, in our headcanon, is as much the American capital as Halberd. We've made the world broken up in multiple city states and they are more or less aligned with their own continent (Europe, America, Southeast Asian Islands, etc).

Zootopia is a city named after the people, but Halberd is named after the royal family. This reflects how the place makes its priorities but it is the bedrock of the cultural renaissance.

It is also winged by two prominent towns. Mordose, Bogo's home town, and Cordrose, which is Creed's.

...

So you know how the Horace Memorial in the center of town was dedicated to the last horse on earth dying in the Broncs?

Well… horses were made extinct in the story because I didn't know they were in the movie. I didn't see them. A second look at the movie with my beta showed me I was wrong. Sorry about that. _

…

Why was Javan's office large enough to become the forensics room?

Well that's because it used to belong to his old mentor, Taepur, who not only owned the damn building, but was also the resident detective. His personal office was meant to be a mini briefing room of sorts.

Javan, however, never got good enough to take his place so the position of resident detective remained open. Javan kept the office but mostly just kept it tidy. He never did make use of all the space as the room was largely untouched.

…

Since Bronc Town is large enough to be its own county whilst only harboring a single settlement in its entirety. That means that there's a lot of space that is unused and unexplored. This is why so many people have their own little spots for themselves.

Ross and Eli have their canal, Smith has his shack and his spot by the lake, Deputies Hamish and Lana have their beaten dirt path in the forest, Henry Avery has his friend's grave (more on this later), the Hectors have their clearing passed the swamp, not to mention all the scattered cottages in the forests.

This only vaguely sets up the scale of the place. I live in a pretty rural country and a vast multitude of farmers don't really live so close together at such a scale. But those that do tend to have easy camaraderie with each other, like extended family that actually becomes family when they start marrying into each other. This also ends up combining the land but you get the point.

This camaraderie is an interesting quality between farmers. I don't know what it's like in other countries, but if any of you are familiar, I'd love to hear your story.

…

A long time ago, the swamp in Bronc Town was overrun… by hunters. Since the war ended, people were riling themselves up shooting things that weren't necessarily enemies. So off they went to hunt gators to such a degree that the darn things nearly went extinct in the swamp!

But, you see, the hunting club was doing really, really well for keeping people happy and if the gators all disappeared, it'd be a hit on the town's morale.

This points to the connection between Creed, Smith and Bucky which was brought up when Smith was "kidnapped" in chapter 6. They'd been supplying gators and feeding them for the purpose of ensuring the Hunting Club's continued activities.

And now you know their secret too.

~~~o0O0o~~~

Characters

Nick and Judy: Character Progression and Romance

Try to put yourself in Nick and Judy's place. Hundreds of immediate lives are in danger in an unfamiliar town down south, and it's their job to fix problems like these. It's what they're famous for.

But then they find out that it has a major caveat. Their partnership is mirrored with that of another: Sam and Bogo, and as close-knit as those two were, they were torn apart by the very same case. With it resurging, somebody needs to take the reins and risk their own partnership. And it has to be them.

Nick and Judy, throughout the whole story, are working in fear of losing each other both metaphorically and literally (despite their hearty convictions and words of comfort).

Adding to that, they later on discovered that the tensions in town that were permeating off everyone, is starting to have an effect on them. Nick starts reaching for his gun and Judy can't help but flirt to calm herself down. (She makes an attempt with a sultry tone in chapter 2, and it works so well that she decided to do it again later)

So what am I trying to say with all this?

Nick is supposed to be witty, snarky, and sarcastic. Judy is supposed be excitable, gung-ho, and so outrageously friendly that she grabs you by the heartstrings.

But…! they're scared. Out of their minds.

They understand from day one that even they could end up being victims. And at the end ofday one, Nick gets attacked and Judy is afraid that he might not make it out of the hospital after she finds him unconscious in an alleyway.

All of this reinforces the idea that they can't be themselves for so much of the story. They have to be steely and actively trying to keep the town's curse from consuming them by forcing a smile and regularly seeking each other.

Judy even has bouts of cynicism in moments where she's being honest with Nick about her fears.

And it becomes such a habit to fall into each other's arms more than usual, that it actually becomes a problem later on when they start feeling codependent.

But there was no avoiding this. I needed to write it in. But I really wanted to write more quips and witty exchanges. And if you've at all read Fluff Pieces by RedPen, then you know exactly how good it feels to see them interact like that. Cause it's clever, they're clever, and it just feels good to be witness to that.

*Sigh*

That aside, one ought to remember that when people are faced with something harrowing or eye-opening… they change. Even if it's just a little, they have to change. Cause people are constantly molded by their world, their actions, and the actions of those around them.

We are products of the environment that is in constant flux. We do not remain static. We are not machines.

And if a character is to be believable, then neither must they.

That is why the story ends with them on a bittersweet note. They're a little sweeter – if a little more sexual with each other – but they're also much more grim. Cause they stared death in the eyes thrice, one after the other, and they fought for their convictions but considered doing things they never thought they'd ever do. The change that comes with that is permanent, a scar if you will.

You don't get to fully recover, that's not how life works. And some things never stop haunting you. Instead you just learn to deal with it, and you grow up by consequence. Your skin gets tougher and you feel yourself enduring a little more than you used to.

And if I ever make a sequel, I'll be hard pressed to showcase that kind of character development.

…

On a significantly lighter note, I'd like to talk about Nick and Judy's romance.

Neither of them really felt typical to me.

Judy leaves her home town in relative permanence, but none of her friends from her school are ever on the station. It's just her family. And I get that maybe schoolyard friends don't stay together for as long, but it's still just her family seeing her off. If she made other friends, they were close enough to be there.

My headcanon for this is that, with so many immediate relatives, perhaps she might have just been content with only them. And with family as your closest friends, she would then have very little to do with romance as a whole. Though she's dabbled with other burrows, surely, she doesn't have enough to say she understands them the way most people do. She's too busy working on her career and making a change in the world to really give it as much thought as everyone else.

Nick on the other hand… well, he clearly didn't allow himself to get very close to people. He'd let people do that in the past when he was naïve and young, but then he changed. He became snide and sly, he became everything people expected him to be.

And because he lived on the streets, trying to make a living with being the way he is, he needed to be cutthroat and quick on his feet. Everyday. All the time.

This didn't give him enough breathing room to make meaningful relationships. Everything was finite and fleeting. Every connection, every partner. It'll go soon enough and another will take its place.

Though his teens would certainly have made him curious, it wouldn't for long. Cause in the end he wasn't out to impress anybody. He was looking out for himself. Hormones took a backseat in the face of that.

And the way I see it, Nick's initial relationship with Judy showcases something interesting. He's clearly not as cruel or self-centered as he pretended to be. The young kit who wanted to be a boy scout was still there, hiding underneath.

Judy was an opportunity to look at himself in the mirror… and try to save her the way he wished someone saved him. (Reference: Nick's back talking with Bogo before the skytram scene)

The chance of redemption that followed gave way to another point in their relationship. They were more alike than they thought. Sure Nick could never unlearn being mildly obnoxious in his own way but it is part of his character and she didn't really seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to think that it was quite endearing.

This was all a bedrock for a great friendship. They saw themselves in each other, they've endured hardships together, they clearly got along, and it all doesn't necessitate romance…

…which is why it totally had to happen.

It might sound a little cliché but most working relationships take a while to kick off. Some might succeed getting to know each other during the relationship but this usually doesn't work.

When you know someone for long enough, you understand all their nuances and their quirks. And some of these qualities you might not like at length and some you might not like at all. So it's good to get these sorted out before you even consider the possibility of being an item.

And considering how analytical they'd become, of course that would have to come into account when they were thinking about each other.

Though you'll notice that they didn't even entertain the idea of being together until everyone starts really bringing it up. Sure people had pointed it out before but then they're thrust into a stressful situation and it's only natural that the regular comfort they'd grown accustomed to suddenly began sparking rather suggestive ideas.

They clung to each other when the case got tougher and tougher, up until the point where they entertained the idea of sleeping with each other, and then after that they considered actually doing it when An stole Judy's pills.

But they didn't go through with it.

Cause they knew that it might just end up being just sex and a friendship like that could be disastrous cause they weren't normally so promiscuous. The 'friends with benefits' thing wasn't their style so trying it right there and then without taking into account how they felt about each other might have turned for the worst come the morning – especially since neither of them had very many faculties that night anyway.

So what was the verdict they reached in the end?

At the time, the lust was clear. It was desperate and needful. They needed the comfort. And then there was love. Not because it was there all along (though it arguably might have) they eventually mutually decided that, yes, this is love.

So the verdict, in the end, was that it was both. Cause the two aren't actually mutually exclusive. (Which confuses people for some reason?)

To them, whether or not it was love was a choice, one they had to make with clear minds and all the certainty that kind of relationship deserved. They couldn't jump headlong into it, couldn't do it the disservice of opting for love with abandon.

Cause when you find somebody special, somebody you want to keep around for a long time, you gotta learn to wait for them, you gotta learn to deal with their shortcomings and their flaws, and you have to be able to see them through something tough. And they should be able to let you in and see you at your ugliest, and vice versa.

And there's so much you need to know before you consider something is worth taking the dive for. But the beautiful thing about a friendship like theirs is that you don't have to meticulously pick out these parts to see if it's worth it.

To a pair like them, it comes naturally. And had they not been in a stressful, desperate situation, they would have tried being an item somewhere down the road anyway.

….

The OTHER Protagonist

So we had an issue at the very beginning of development. We decided to have THREE protagonists: Nick, Judy, and the Broncs. Yes, the entire town.

When writing through Nick and Judy's perspective, they had an inescapable quality: they were outsiders. They don't feel the pains and struggles the way the rest of the town does, and that's important. Right off the bat, Sam and Bogo were asked to empathize with the town and that's the reason why they couldn't look Marcus in the eye and see if he was the serial killer. It doomed the case.

Nick and Judy were never asked to empathize with the town, they were just asked to save it. And that's why they caught Carrion. Their pains were their own, and not the town's. They felt sorry for them, yeah, but they never got attached like Sam and Bogo, didn't let themselves fall into the same depressions and biases.

Even Nick's desperate venture to save Judy was unrelated to the case and the town's torments. And his unease with owning a weapon is more of a personal issue than the growing dread of a serial killer.

They needed to be separate. They needed to fear different things. And they also needed to NOT feel the way the town does. They even actively try to stem the tide of the town's curse from consuming them. They bathe in the same room, they share a bed, they flirt when they normally didn't (at least not so often). Hell, they even entertain the idea of having sex as a last resort (which – you'll notice – they manage to reach).

The short and skinny of it: Nick and Judy couldn't afford to be part of the problem.

But the audience had to empathize with the town. You needed to know why it was so important to save it. It couldn't just be another town. Nick and Judy couldn't save them just because it was their job.

And that's why the Broncs as a whole is another character but… just one.

I know, it's confusing. But let me explain.

You'll notice that there are certain points to characters that we just sort of… let lie.

We never fully explore An or Calvary's relationship, we jump so far into Reese and Liz's that they're already banging when you least expect it, Creed's suspicions on who Carrion is never gets explored again, Calvary struggling with Kayla's death only gets glimpsed, Gizelle's transition from reporter to attorney is in the background, and Smith's friendship with Nick only gets traction on Nick's end. Cause we're viewing them as a whole, as one, as Bronc Town.

The whole of their story isn't what's important. These people are alive, and that's the part that gets the lens. You don't need to see the whole thing, you just need to know what will happen to them if Nick and Judy don't solve the case in time. What will be for naught and what pipedreams never make it out of the mind's eye.

They're more than just the supporting cast or the people in the background. They're the people that get hurt, the people Nick and Judy try not to be before it's too late, and the people they're trying to save.

…

The Hectors and the Birth of Carrion

The Hectors were inspired by acclaimed serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. Which is how we came up with "Hannibal Lecter" = "Hector".

(My beta also recommended "Burderer the Murderer" but that would've been too on the nose. lol)

Now, notice that Raeger and Karvina have distinctly non-conventional names. And yet Marcus and Marshal do have conventional names. This is because the Hector family name deigns them as the outsiders as it is the apparent norm to be of the Natural Order of Things.

Not to say that the Hectors have a family history of eating people. Don't worry about that. It's just how we designed the surname.

…

So Marcus's talents as a serial killer never get the lens as far as origins go. So I'll endeavor to reveal them here if you haven't already figured them out.

His tracking skills and natural prowess stem from years of personal training with gator hunting. He'd been doing it since he was a boy. But that's him physically, and it was likely the most obvious anyway. Even his tracking skills tie into this.

But the rest?

Marcus is intelligent, pigs are naturally quite smart, didn't you know. But he's also empathic. He understands people.

We'd have loved to give this part of him more focus but we didn't have the time. Could have fit it with some subtlety but we were a little pre-occupied with Ross.

But Marcus notices things in people. He watches their habits and scrutinizes details like a detective would. This even allows him to predict how people will react to something. (It's also a business sense).

Notice how he tracked Hamish and Lana to their hideout by glancing. Sure he did it for a few days but he didn't need to do anything overt. He'd just used his common sense to put everything together.

…

Remember Raeger's last desperate speech before dying? Notice how he suddenly stops screaming. That detail is important.

Something slowly sets into Marcus during this scene, his turn as Carrion, but with its kick off comes a rather depressing detail: Raeger's whole speech wasn't real.

Marcus imagined them all so he could remember his brother fondly even in his last, horrible moments.

…

Suther Hick's death grants Marshal the same kind of trauma as Marcus's with Raeger. But Marshal doesn't need to become like his father. He doesn't need to become a serial killer.

He freely admits that he'd just sent the cops after the cult. He doesn't seek retribution, he is just worried about his family. And this creates a distinct difference between the Old Carrion that Marcus was and the New Carrion that Marshal becomes.

Marshal is not fueled by actualization. He just wants to kill people, a desire bred into him ever since Marcus shared with him the path of philosophy of Carrion with his new diet.

But there's more to the difference than just the why.

In Chapter 7, Act 4, we see Marshal go through the processes of becoming Carrion. But notice how those moments at the end – where he's just killing – are there and gone, quicker than the last, all in a flash. This is because of how we're trying to portray how he feels about these scenarios.

He considers morals, wretches at his own atrocities, and yet, when he's actually doing the deed, it's almost effortless.

Because, to him, it's being normal that takes effort, whilst being a serial killer takes nearly none at all.

…

I feel sick writing this, but yes, for anyone who thought Kayla was in the pie the Hectors gave to Calvary, she was. He didn't eat it though, didn't have the appetite. But it goes unmentioned. We wanted to point it out, but when the time came to do it… well, it felt forced.

But, to be fair, Marcus didn't know. Marshal baked her spare bits in the pie without his father's knowledge.

After Marshal awakens in his car, the next moment in the scene is supposed to exposition about that happening, but it didn't feel right. So I opted to oust it altogether. But in the story its canon.

There was also supposed to be mention of it by Marcus when he fights Calvary after his arrest, but again, we opted out of it. It would have been too morbid.

…

Marcus, at first, was written as completely sadistic.

He'd have been everything like Marshal and they were initially meant to do everything together, whilst Marcus stood as the stoic and cold mentor, with Marshal as the naïve yet brilliant protégé.

But this kind of evil was kind of… cartoony. It ignored their history and their personalities before becoming murderers. So we changed it in the end and opted for a more sympathetic and tortured Marcus.

Marshal on the other hand was more a tipping scale for both extremes. Cause on the one hand he was still innocent inside and couldn't stand the sight of himself, and on the other is all that sadism he'd come to embrace.

…

The Hectors both had their own passionate speeches about Carrion in chapter 3. They were both completely honest.

Marcus genuinely wanted to be punished for what he'd done. And since he watched his son kill Kayla, he also wanted to take all the blame for the murders.

Marshal's speech was a silent plea to kill the demon writhing inside of him, which you can see has been tormenting him up until his father gets arrested.

…

The Subvillain

Ross wasn't meant to be the subvillain at first, it was Sam.

Just as we were rounding off chapter 2, we came upon a peculiar detail. We'd written Sam as a hero in the past alongside Bogo, and to make her too stubborn to see Nick and Judy as just upstarts felt… wrong. She could at the start, that was what first impressions were like, but we couldn't keep it that way.

She was allowed to do it with Calvary cause she's a renowned detective and she's allowed to be suspicious. But it's a personal issue with Nick and Judy, so it had to be resolved. And by consequence, Judy in a shawl became a staple.

Though Ross was originally there as a maniac. He still thought Nick was his wife's killer but hallucinating Eli wasn't written in yet. Instead he'd turn to Sam who he'd deluded himself into thinking that she was like him. And the two of them were meant to plot against Nick and Judy when Ross came up with more and more evidence that it might actually be Nick who was Carrion.

Sam would later realize how crazy he was and then she'd join Nick and Judy with fending off Ross. Ross would escape but would later be caught by Marcus in either deepest reach of the canals or at an asylum. (The line: "I wonder what crazy tastes like" was used frequently whenever we went back to it).

This all fell away when we realized that Sam simply couldn't have been that stubborn or close-minded if she'd been a star officer and Ross being a generic mad man couldn't work out and would take up unnecessary screen time.

So Sam would quickly be redeemed and we opted for Ross to have much more depth. This all worked beautifully in tandem with the sane Ross who was meant to be a professional in his own right. We used this to our advantage to make the one theory that would lead Nick and Judy to the Hector doorstep.

Ross's Hallucinations

So now you know that when Ross was seeing his dead wife Eli, he'd actually been seeing Tali all along. But it's not always Tali he's overlaying in his head, cause the rest of the times it's really just a hallucination of Eli and nothing else.

My beta lovingly dubbed them as Teli (Tali-Eli) and Heli (Hallucination Eli) respectively.

I'm sure some of you might have already figured this out but I'm pointing it out anyway.

Any time it's purely a hallucination, Ross has no doubts. He doesn't ever touch her in those scenes either because he subconsciously knows it's just a figment of his imagination.

But when it's actually Tali…? He notices the distinct difference in her voice. His brain still mostly overrides it because he's lost his mind but he feels it nonetheless and he tries to reach for her in those scenes. And he manages to touch her, feeling Eli when it's actually Tali. And even though the sensation of her doesn't exactly line up, he still manages to delude himself.

So, if you like, you can look back and read those scenes where Ross is hallucinating his dead wife. If he doesn't touch her, or actively tries not to, it's just a hallucination. If he manages to touch her, then she's Tali underneath that. And notice the distinct dialogue between them during those times.

If you imagine Tali in Eli's place during those moments when it's her beneath the hallucination, you find that she is experiencing an entirely different conversation with him. One that is genuinely quite depressing when you realize where it ends.

…

You remember when Ross stood on the watch tower stared down at the morning practice, only for it all to turn into lush farmlands and the tower into a silo?

This is all an imagined future that he'd made cause Eli talked about wanting this kind of life when they were younger.

But it isn't his dream. It's hers. Only hers. Cause he wanted a white picket fence in town, not a quiet home out on the farmlands. This is an indication that he has abandoned his own wants and dreams. That it's all for her.

Cause at that point, the only thing he wanted to do for himself was end it all, but he couldn't. He needed to do right by her and catch her killer.

The rest didn't matter. Not even himself.

Here's some things ripped straight from our notes about characters!:

∟The modern kidnappings, in order are:

August 6, 2013 - Mr. Montgomery Kidd

August 7, 2013 - Trisha Mildew (a maid under one of the prominent families in town, she is a hippo)

August 8, 2013 - Elira Rundi (Ross's wife) and Mark Ferris (Elira's brother)

August 9, 2013 - Kayla Rivers (the beloved town darling)

August 10, 2013 - Sigurd Mason (deputy camel, one of the good ones)

August 11, 2013 - Goddard Smith (Buckshot employee, Bucky's best friend)

August 13, 2013 - Bill Macy, Trudy Adams, (deputies under Ross and Creed respectively) Darley Welks (security)

August 14, 2013 - Liz Waterdale (maybe?)

NAMES OF THINGS

∟Terence Kaenid – referencing the Canidae genus.

∟Sambaure Tarpanaurouch Javanarusa is the full name of the Buckshot gun shop owner. They just call him Bucky.

His name derives from the Sambar (Sambaure) deer, Tarpan an extinct forest horse and Auroch, forest ox. (Tarpanaurouch) And Javan Rusa, another way to say Sambar deer (Javanarusa).

∟Spruce Wamancht's surname is an anagram for "watchman".

∟An was made as a sort of contrast to Nick, a confidence that is snide and can get on other people's nerves. That's why her last name (Hunt) is also as vaguely interpretational to her as Nick's (Wilde). Parallel to that is Calvary, who is as much a paragon as Judy, whose surname (Pride) is just as direct as hers (Hopps).

∟The gunsmith who made Nick and Judy's guns is named Chekhov… heh.

∟Meridith Luvierre Mellivora, her surname is the exact name for her genus.

…

∟Suther is a first name that was intentionally built to not only be non-dictionary, but also to be needlessly complicated

When we set out to build the world the story would be in whilst taking Zootopia as a base (which is so much easier than creating one from scratch, I tell you), we knew that we needed the characters in it to have a life behind them, to breathe life into the world by making these people appear as real as they could be. Every individual needed a backstory that makes them who they are, and we had to accept that a lot of them would never be explicitly mentioned.

One of the ways I did this was creating the name "Suther" which is laced with Swedish and American histories. The name comes from a combination of the Swedish name "Sture" which means to be contrary (a nod to the antithetical nature of Suther Reese to his partner Terence, and Suther Hicks to… the cult), and the English word "Southern."

It is a name crafted by immigrating families from Sweden to America who wanted to live their lives anew, so that's why Suther Hicks has that name. Hicks also isn't actually his original surname. At first it was Ström but when they moved to the south and were mistaken for country "hicks" given their farming attire and initial lifestyle when they arrived, they changed it to suit their new surroundings.

As for Suther Reese, his first name was adopted by his parents when they heard it somewhere and thought it would be a nice name for him.

∟Fengmeyer brothers wasn't planned

I read somewhere about Fengmeyer being a wolf but then I found out he was a tiger… so I just ran with it and made the wolf adopted. End of story, really. It was a quick fix and it fit into the dynamic world rather nicely in my opinion. (I also later found out Fengmeyer was a girl…? I just gave up at that point.)

∟So what's Terence's big secret that Gizelle and An kept whispering about?

Well, he's gay.

He does, however, still wonder about women, he feels more inclined to men but he isn't actively looking for someone right now.

There are hints to this though. The mention of anal during his talk with An is by no means a huge hint but it is there. When Nick first compliments him on his good work, he's more than a little pleased but mostly because he respects Nick, and only in part that he finds him attractive. This doesn't mean that Terence has feelings for him, mind you, but Terence can't help but admire the beauty of another animal even if it is of the same sex.

It's also not really a secret, An and Gizelle just treat it like one. He personally doesn't really care.

Footnote: For anyone who's thinking of making a character off a trope: remember that a trait or a characteristic cannot be their entirety. Real people have depth and are never so one dimensional.

∟Bogo has long suspected Creed to be Carrion

In the beginning of chapter 2, Bogo says to Sam, "You're the only one I really trust to do it," which means that he doesn't fully trust Creed who has been one of his oldest friends (quite literally, even). But why hasn't he spoken about it to her? Because he knows Sam loves Creed like a father figure, and Bogo would never willing throw the old bear under the bus unless he was absolutely sure of his theory. Luckily he never finds enough evidence so he keeps it to himself.

However, it was torturous because Bogo was so sure of his own theory that it nearly drove him nuts when he couldn't find anything and couldn't even hint at it with the one person he usually bounced ideas off of: Sam.

It is only barely mentioned once again when they pull up the map they suspect Creed is linked to. All he does is huff because he's trying to be discreet.

Footnote: Bogo is also the person who hired Spruce Wamancht to come to the Broncs in the first place.

∟Creed cherishes every memory of his past but mostly because they don't involve Carrion

Now this is something that may have gone over certain people's heads so I apologize if it wasn't clear. But to be fair, it wasn't intended to be absolutely clear either.

Chapter 4 has Creed turning up the AC to both help preserve a severed arm and to remind him of winters in Cordrose. And Terence later expositions that Creed likes the cold. But why does Sam respond to the AC thing by saying "I'll knit you a damn sweater"?

Well it isn't about the temperature. It's, again, about memory. Nick in Chapter 3 reveals that form-fitting black sweaters are a staple uniform for the Bigs and Sam knows this. So the sweater she wants to offer is one for reminisce, not warmth.

Oh, and if it wasn't clear… Yes, Sam legitimately knows how to knit. And on a more important note, it should be clear that she knows about his past.

∟So what happened to Ross's dad?

Well he went to war. This is why the Rundis are connected to the Avery's.

Because the grave Henry Avery sets up in the forest is actually for Roman Rundi, Ross's dad. This is how he found the canal, because Henry showed him the grave and he stuck around a lot there and eventually found the canal.

∟Tali is impotent

One scene in Ghosts of Yesteryear has Tali confessing that she got pregnant… then this never gets brought up again. Confusing, no? Well it's because there was no significant place to put the aftermath of that without feeling like filler. Tali goes to the doctor to find out that the test was a false positive, but furthermore, she can't actually EVER have children of her own. But she keeps this to herself, and eventually she comes to accept this…

That is until she meets Sigurd Mason, who is spritely and young, an enthusiastic youth just like her. And she wonders if she can maybe make him a surrogate son, even if only in her mind. But they do talk about it and he tells her that he thinks of her like an aunt, and she accepts that for what it is.

We were meant to mention this when the line "the son she never had" was originally "the son she could never bare". But my beta thought it was too many depressing things all at once and I agreed.

Footnote: Some drugs cause false positives in pregnancy tests

∟In our headcanon, the art of tracking is actually a lost art amongst wolves. Though many of them still hold some vestige of the art, like sniffing their favorite meal from a distance or the scent of their beloved and their perfume, true tracking like the way Liandra does is hard to come by, and she can only really track Kayla cause she'd prepped for it.

Footnote: In our headcanon, wolves will sniff for suspicious scents but chasing them through a city or a forest is beyond them by now. At least not normally. It'll take training to master.

∟So where did Nick's lead even come from?

Well, Creed told a friend of his in the mafia about it. And Nick heard it through that grapevine.

∟Why WAS there a raven in the aviary?

Marshal left it there as a child. He found it injured in the forest and took it to the aviary.

He doesn't remember. It was so long ago and so much has already happened. But the raven pays attention and often comes down to him, even if he doesn't notice the bird half the time.

Footnote: This is one of the many scenes that never made it into the final product. The story itself is actually the LITE version of what was originally planned and it's already longer than it should be.

∟The band Fyfly actually earned its name because one of the members couldn't pronounce the word "firefly" as a kid. Watching a video of him attempting to say it made them laugh so much that they kept it as his nickname. Eventually it grew into the name of the band as Suther "Fyfly" Hicks was the lead singer.

~~~o0O0o~~~

Concepts

Relationship Parallels

Just about every relationship featured in the story mirrors a part or aspect of Nick and Judy's.

∟Let's start with the easiest: Calvary and An, whose long standing friendship buds into something more, but a harrowing case and its abundant tragedies coalesce at a breaking point, spurning the pair to find comfort in each other in a burst of desperate passion, just like Nick and Judy. They also parallel in what brings them to that night in bed: a begrudged acceptance of personal circumstance. Cal and An slowly come to accept their hard loss of Kayla, whilst Nick and Judy come to accept the darker facets of their occupation. These very revelations spark drastic changes in their characters, as a pair and as individuals. Whilst An and Calvary become much less cheerful and much more furious, taking the protection of the town to heights much more serious, Nick and Judy become stoic and hard, taking the same kind of serious resolve that would toughen them over future cases. Nick and An become much more determined to protect their respective partners, whilst Judy and Calvary seek to better guard themselves and becoming stronger emotional soundboards for their partners.

But what about the breakup, you ask? Well that's what would have happened if Nick and Judy decided to get together during the case like Calvary and An did. There's too much stress and too much work to figure out a working relationship.

∟Sam and Bogo are a little less clean-cut but nonetheless parallel. Their synergy and upstanding performance on the job have long since established them as a formidable pair but there are distinct differences between them. Creed contrast them by stating "it's clear that on an emotional level, they're teetering off the edge of their friendship to something more. Whilst you haven't spoken to him in years," because their relationship by comparison is much the same… just so much more messy. Sam and Bogo are actually quite normal as far as people go, but Nick and Judy's lackluster backgrounds for friendship and general social aptitude and acceptance have made them so very niche that the torments of uncovering their feelings for one another is so much less haunting for them because they just aren't those kinds of people. The town is what's haunting them, and their own relationship doesn't become anywhere near as complicated as Sam and Bogo's.

∟The relationship between Suther Reese and Liz Waterdale is a representation of Nick and Judy's initial friendship. Though there is no initial confirmation of their romance, the two share a bond that is strictly platonic for the time being. They aren't even partners when the story starts. Instead, with their combined inquisitive prowess, they're thrust together to help solve the case.

Liz's relationship and eventual breakup with her boyfriend Reeder, however, is a portrayal of Judy's abandonment of social norms. (Meaning that Reeder represents these social norms. In the story he's more an idea rather than a character, which is why you never see him speak).

Her and Reeder's relationship is an expected norm from her family and the deputies around her, because they're paired only because they're both otters. Judy's idea of society, I've felt, was a construct of what society tells her, how she is expected to do certain things because other people tell her that is the norm, and inside she's always wanted to surpass expectations by reaching for things she's always wanted, which is against the norm. This is paralleled in Liz's relationship with Reeder because society expects them to be together.

Judy abandons the norms of her kind the same way Liz leaves the expectations of hers.

∟Ross and Eli's relationship on the other hand? Well of course Judy doesn't die so what then? Well, I want you to really think about what of them is parallel. It isn't about their relationship on the job because Eli was never a cop. It isn't their relationship in the past because they were childhood friends. So all that remains is what Ross and Eli wanted.

Nick and Judy, now that they're together, dream of the same kind of future Ross and Eli did… the future they were never given. What the two wanted out of their lives together will never reach fruition, but our favorite buddy cop duo will. It kind of hurts to draw this parallel, cause I physically hated making Ross so sad a character, but we needed a subvillain. They share the same dream, but only one pair is getting it. Ross is only really showing what happens when such a thing is ripped away from him.

…

Urban Legends

The abductions spooked the place, flooded it with ghost stories about a creature in the dark, drowning out what little truth they knew in the forgettable mysticism of an urban legend. At first I scoffed at it, cause to me they were just that: urban legends… But I will never forget how close those stories actually came to the truth.

~Nicholas Wilde

So how close were these urban legends? Well, Nick and Judy finally get the full story off Marcus and his encounter with the cult and he even gets to explain how Marshal spun a tale that got the whole town talking about horse-skull crow…

∟Dead Horse and the Red Eyes

"The older folk say that it's a ten foot walkin' crow, with feathered claws where the wings oughta' be, and a horse's skull for a head, red eyes glowin' in its sockets. And its stomach is a furnace, cinders bellowin' in its demon gut, and embers tricklin' out of its every breath."

"They say that if ya find yerself alone at night, or if ya been plenty naughty, he'd find ya, red eyes blinkin' till he got close. Then he'd steal ya away, swallow ya whole like a python. Then it'd cook ya in its stomach, burnin' ya in the furnace in its gut. Then its body would smoke from its skin and skull, plantin' yer ashes in its feathers and turning its head black as the night as ta' slip away in the shadows."

Almost on the nose, this one, right? Well it's cause it came from Marshal. Since the murders began in Autumn, the latter part of it would, of course, be October.

And what's in October? Halloween!

So Marshal gathered with his friends one night during that very holiday and people were just starting to calm down after the killings. But Carrion's presence still loomed overhead and folks were still scared. But the children only felt a twinge of the dread, enough to spook them but not enough to silence them. So they opted to share scary stories on it.

They were all spinning tales about Carrion and what kind of monster they thought he was. And it was easy to come up with stories since everyone was jumpy, what with all the lights out. So when it came to be Marshal's turn, he spun his own story about the furnace and the long inescapable grasp of the Dead Horse.

It became so popular that it spread through town. Even the teenagers were talking about it, many of them claiming the story as their own. Marshal's penning of the story was never redrawn, and soon it took on such a life of its own that when he heard the story again, he'd thought it was the first time he'd heard it!

But the story did some revisions and refining.

Liz, Reese, and Nick make mention of the Red Eyes from the legend, and they're right about their suspicions of its origin. A drunkard who stumbled out into the street did precisely see his friend being kidnapped and taken away by a pair of shimmering red eyes. (But from the backside of Marcus's van).

His drunken tale was melded with Marshal's, completing the modern Dead Horse legend.

∟Carrion Cult

The legend goes that a cult hell-bent on sacrificing people to a demonic crow god has been doing all the kidnappings.

The rumor of the Carrion cult from this actually stems from the Fyfly band who were later murdered by them.

The three bandmates were still learning to use instruments, so they got lessons from the band at their local church and even played with them a few times. But during one of their sessions with the local band, they came across a group of "pilgrims" who not only walked into the church in formation but were also constantly giving the stink eye to anyone who was even remotely "sinful".

A skirt that wasn't at thigh length, a leather jacket, a kid who wasn't paying attention to the sermon, or any boy and girl so much as touching, were all things that riled them up and made them snarl and scowl. The boys noticed this and spread a rumor about them being scary cultists.

The rumor recirculated when Carrion turned up, citing it as a popular theory at the time. And with the cult's actual arrest looming over the news later on, it almost solidified it.

…

Not the Whole Picture

Aside from hours upon hours of police procedural work, correcting mistakes that you see on TV that err from reality and taking liberties on things that are unrealistic but important in pushing the story forward, there is something else about investigations I wanted to emphasize.

Notice how our protagonists never get the story right down to every detail. They only get it right ENOUGH to get them to solve the case and fill in the blanks in a reasonable manner. You see, this is how a lot of this stuff actually works. Real investigations normally don't go the way of CSI that explains it all right down to every detail.

This is why Sherlock is such a fascinating series because he uses logic and doesn't rely on machines that make the job easier, cause he figures it out from the ground up by deduction to help him get the story straight. Sherlock is famous for being clever and picking out every meticulous detail to a tee. Which raises another point of note…

I didn't want Nick and Judy to be all-knowing and whatnot. They're intelligent, yes, but to make them SHERLOCK would have been too much. They're in their first year as officers and as clever as they are, they aren't the world's greatest detectives just yet.

I'll admit though, it got kinda complicated when we were trying to craft reasonable explanations for them to come close to getting everything right. But we had fun in the end. We think it turned out well.

Footnote: On top of this, forensics is also depressingly inaccurate, and the near magical way it's done in media is for entertainment purposes rather than accuracy. So if you ever end up in the jury, try not to consider forensic evidence as an absolute tell-all. Take all information with a grain of salt, yeah?

…

Interspecies Relationships are Normal

I don't subscribe to the idea that interspecies relationships are a taboo. In my opinion, animals and their ancient history of incest, cannibalism, and all that nasty stuff is not only prevalent in the animal kingdom, but it's also by and large almost universal (from what I understand).

I mean, sure, humans have done it historically as well but not in the scale these animals have. There are a vast amount of human tribes who have never turned to cannibalism. In fact, I've only ever heard of very few. (But this is based off my research and what I've heard from the indigenous tribes I've had some experience with). On the other spectrum, animals still routinely eat their own kind for one reason or another, and it's normal to them.

The way I see it, once the Zootopians evolved, they were more worried about not being eaten instead of maybe mating with another species, especially when it's comparatively genetic harmlessness in the face of the once equally prevalent incest.

~~~o0O0o~~~

THANK YOU'S

Nope, we're not at the end part thing yet. Before we get there, I wanted to thank everyone who has supported us throughout this journey. And instead of making one big message for everyone, I wanted to do it collectively from some and personally for particular individuals. But we'd like to emphasize that we are grateful for everyone who showed up to help and keep us going. Even finding out we were interesting enough to Follow was nice enough.

Also, I swear, some of you had different names last time I checked. XD

(Disclaimer: Forgive me if I misspell. I'm writing the names down, not copying. _)

Reddit

To lostzilla1992, SilentStriker 84, JustNibblin, CyberReaver, twocentnuisance and Blackaerin…

Thank you for your support off the sites! We were glad to get outside endorsements. I didn't even know we were getting traction out there but my beta has ensured that I got to see. XD I was legitimately shocked, and very, very grateful.

(Though I apologize if I missed anyone. I only ever saw what was shown to me. Please message me on Reddit if I missed your support. I'd love to add you to the list here.)

Fanfiction

To Mari Cherie, CHA1 T3A, DtheQuiet, rtadfgbvsfgh/Namicle, Fishcake-Chan, ErsatzNomenclature, Blackwillow55, eventyraren, Bobo, Smi1e Like You Mean It, and all the guests…

We began on FFnet and it was gratifying to get our first set of supporters there. People gawking at the tension was so incredibly gratifying cause we'd been gunning for that very thing and hoped we'd get it right on our first attempt. Even the simple pleas for updating soon got us riled up to keep going. And as the first spot we'd dug our heels in, we're glad to have found a place to start. Thanks again for the warm welcome. :)

Archive of Our Own

To Alan Almeida de Andrade, jasper ford, 626, zoero, Amanda Lasagna, SummerSnow888, Picasso Pickle, purplemoonwaves, dethwulf Zero, KohGeek, WorldofHeroes, Just A Fan (whomever you are XD), Daniel Kim Hansen, twocentnuisance, binaryPsynapse, Skippet, Combat Engineer (\[T]/), J.D. Fowlerton, AsekaSilver, ARainDragon, Rusty/ElijahRust, gonekrazy3000, VenusWillow, DrummerMax64, xAndurielx and all the guests…

We almost didn't go for Ao3. My friend used to post in it and we were apprehensive about going there ourselves after her, but we're glad we did. The speculative theories about who was the killer, the energy and emotion we'd get from readers, all that support and all in all it was an absolute pleasure being there. Being there has also given us enough ideas about how well we've put together our mystery, cause every little hint, it seemed, managed to catch someone's eye. You're such a clever lot. We're glad to be a part of this site now, and we're glad you've all stuck by us.

Critical Critique

To JustNibblin, J.D Fowlerton, CHA1 T3A, DtheQuiet, MariCherie, DrummerMax64, twocentnuissance, KohGeek, dethwulf Zero and the Omnibus…

Thank you for being honest with us. I began this entire project just to improve my writing. I've come to realize that I still have a ways to go and I'll have to keep experimenting to find my style and to fix my persisting writing issues. In light of that, I have learned far more from you than I have with most of my schooling. This ultimately means that I get to walk away from this experience a smarter person, and I have you to thank. :)

Favorites, Follows, Kudos (this took forever to put together… XD)

To Blackwillow55, BlazeBlue32, Dabarq, Dark dragon slayer unlimited, DefusE, DrummerMax64, Fanaxdu, Fishcake-Chan, Koare-san, Maxxie666, RabidWolfZ, Readerfever, Silvox, Tanahamondo, TheMortalMan, Unbroken Sage, aaameidas, alexicia the light of destiny, cabbaj, cor955, crouchingbastard, crypto496, kevinsaid, naruto789987, xXLgTXx, Armasyll, AugustRaes, BagpipeHeadache, Bondo sheetmetal, BrambleStar14, Coelurosaur, Dakota Lesmercy, DraizeWilde, Dystropolis, ErsatzNomenclature, FenrirFenrisSonOfLoki, Floppster, Go to bed, Gunbladeprimal, Imsmart2001, ItzAMindfreak, JustNibblin, KazenoShun, Kijarran, LS505956, Maxxie666, MousseTrap567, Nova Bucker, Novanto, SilentStriker84, Taigon Shikkin, Thatdude18, TheFlazhy, UnveiledXibalba, Xynovitch, annea101, bobolesinge, crystal-shinobi, dragzxx, eventyraren, gonzo22, ilovemew12, keiwaiyin, larkey116, oddjobswitcher, teamincentive, wolfdwnyourbook, zoero, AnimeFan51, AugustRaes, BagpipeHeadache, BlackimusPrime1, CardinalRules, Dakota Lesmercy, Darman Skirata, DtheQuiet, Featherborne, Gunbladeprimal, ItzAMindfreak, Iuly7, JacobMySpace, LastoftheSeven, Lord Curly, Marshlander, Maxxie666, Novanto, PhoenixKezia, RabidWolfZ, Ranintoruin, Readerfever, RetroTech, Shdwolf, Shymmer, Siaan5, Smi1e Like You Mean It, Sndps, Sub2, T0mmen, Thiendrah, UnbaisedRage, Verus Amicus, Wolvenarch, Xynovitch, Zeeeemark, alliesvsaxis1945, barkain, digger2549, g33k3db34r, ilovemew12, keiwaiyin, larkey116, rtadfgbvsfgh/Namicle, shadow9692, sidraTheater, supernatec3, teamincentive, titen anwolf, wolfdwnyourbook, Adam95F, Far313, Fox in the hen house, Horizon-Dawn, Mr. Hohos, Theoretically Mars, bagnome, taintedahab, rrNextUsername, HollowSoul, Talsette7, Whit_Leigh, Fairlane302, CombatEngineer, Meridian_Prime, xAndurielx, gonekrazy3000, valenros, Notcanonyet, Aquarion_V, ElijahRust, DragoLord19D, LightInside, KohGeek, zstorm619, ChaoticImp, jypzrose, purplemoonwaves, AsekaSilver, honeymoth, SaberGatomon, rrNextUsername, AgaetisByrjun, MrDestroyer005, dethwulf_Zero, Skippet, ThatIrishFox (slipknotmaggot33), twocentnuisance, Turjas, shina, Tony18, ThEpicjellyfish, Aquarion V, Sairae, DJ83, der kaizer, Every1s Beta, SummerSnow888, DragoLord19D, KohGeek, WorldofHeroes, ChaoticImp, Blaer, jasper ford, 626, Moonlight Wanderer and all 83 guests…

Simply knowing I'd gotten someone's attention enough to think that I might actually have a decent, non-trash story to tell was enough motivation to make the push even when I was sick or when my beta was having trouble. It has meant the world to us that you've all taken your time to see our story through and that you like it enough to let us know in your own small way. Thank you all for your support, silent or otherwise. :)

To Alan Almeida de Andrade

We were initially quite worried about walking into Ao3, but when you showed up, we were all but relieved. We hope you've still managed to come by to see this. You helped us pick up our feet on the site and we're glad you joined us on this ride from day one. :)

To PicassoPickle

"…like poetry," those two words got to me when I began writing this. I'd been trying to capture a friend's phenomenal style and then I find your comment and I cannot tell you how satisfying it was to hear it. I held my head high that day, and I rest easy even now when I think back on it. Thank you very much :)

To DrummerMax64

I still have no idea how you've managed to get all over the place. XD But that aside, I'm very glad to have had your continued and vocal support. My beta has even constantly found himself agreeing on your points as he tries to place himself as a reader rather than my editor. You've been active catharsis when you started jumping back in and you've been energy we've managed to draw from to keep pushing despite our hectic schedules. It should be no secret that you kept us going at the final stretch there with your critique. Thank you for existing you wonderful animal. XD

To twocentnuissance

:')

Firstly, on behalf of my beta, he'd like to thank you for posting your wall of text. It had been the exact kind of comment he'd been hoping for. Which I know I've already said, but I wanted to point it out again. Secondly, you've been wonderful. Utterly fantastic. My beta tried very hard to look at the story through a reader's perspective but anything we'd have doubts on, you'd be there to provide something and that made our job easier. But more than that, you were insightful and clever, even if you didn't know you were, and it felt like we'd had a discussion rather than a commentary (which was cathartic). You've been a delight to have. Honestly and truly.

I sincerely hope none of you feel alienated with my messages to certain people. _ I know all of you have had your opinions you'd have liked to share and not all of us have the words to articulate how we feel about something or other. But know that we're still glad you've all taken your time to be with us. Whether you've been with us since the beginning or are just joining us now, thank you for coming. You've made this experience worthwhile.

~Draes

~~~o0O0o~~~

HI! WELCOME! WE NEED YOUR HELP

So, we're finally here, the thing I've been hoping people will check in on! If you're reading this, thank you for making it this far. If you skipped ahead to this part, thank you for taking your time to read this at all. XD

We've made mention of a lot of details in our world that never get explored, but there's some that aren't connected to Bronc Town and that's with good reason. We've noted that Gazelle is hosting a show called Idol, we remarked briefly about the capture of the infamous Doug Ramses, there's mention of Mayor Swinton and her rise to power, and there's talk of the Harriers and their big all-around company. And when Judy went to visit the Harrier estate, we'd gotten to see a glimpse of the characters there and the kind of people they are, and we even got to see the rough friendship between Nick and Lupin. But why did we do that?

Cause we're planning a SEQUEL… but there doesn't actually need to be.

You see, the story can just end here. A sequel isn't pertinent. Nick and Judy have gone through enough and the rest can be left to your imagination. The additional details can just be tidbits of world building we'd sprinkled in, we don't really need to build upon it.

Unless you think we should or just want us to.

But you have to keep in mind a few things:

1 – We've already planned it out but it isn't ready yet. So you'll have to wait a while.

It's been called "The Clockwork Heart" and interchangeably "Heart of Clockwork" as tentative titles during our discussions. Our Ao3 readers might know that it's all part of the "Cradle of Intrigue" series we'd put it in. But the story isn't fully fleshed out yet and still has a lot of kinks to work out before we do any kind of writing prep.

2 – It's not going to be the same kind of story. Bronc Town is a murder mystery with a crime drama mixed in cause 'inspiration' and I wanted to test the waters there. But what is Clockwork Heart? It's a drama too, but it's an action story with some philosophical and political drama. It's a very different animal.

It might even be a little jarring to you readers cause it might feel like a different universe from Bronc Town. Because… you know how Nick and Judy have all these gripes about killing people? That's no longer an issue with the three year time skip it provides.

They're getting better at shooting and fending people off in hand to hand. Nick regularly uses his claws and is learning how to track people's scents with An's help. Judy is training to track people via sound and is trained to be a proper sniper.

Their romance has also normalized and they aren't clinging to each other all the time anymore. They peck cheeks, hold hands on dates, nudge each other as they walk, but they've outgrown all the overt stuff (not that they've stopped acting like a couple altogether, they're just not going at each other's pants at every opportunity).

They're a grounded couple and established officers with a monumental track record and a few bitter kills under their belt in the name of the people. A far cry from the silently cowering pair they were before. In fact, you could even call the story a standalone.

3 – It's going to tackle some uncomfortable themes. Cannibalism, suicide, madness, and ritualistic murder in Bronc Town all made sure that we couldn't have it set up in ZNN. And it's no different here. Cause Heart of Clockwork will deal with terrorism, implied incest, and a lot of dead people to the point of simulated genocide (which can be incredibly distasteful, I know). It's no holes barred.

(There will also be some gore but it'll be on already dead people. None of that slow torture stuff. It's even likely going to have no torture at all unless we find need of it.)

Remember, this story doesn't need to exist.

4 – I'm here to experiment. This is why the genre is different, cause I tried the crime drama/murder mystery stuff. And now the action/philosophical bit comes next on my testing. I only really know that I like writing tension and drama, but after that I've no idea where I settle in as far as major genres go or what extremes I'm comfortable with.

But Zootopia doesn't have to be where I take this next step. I can still experiment with all the AUs we've been coming up with for Zootopia (an upcoming short: Neon Noir, is coming), but we can always take my action story to a different fandom. RWBY and maybe MLP come to mind.

The question is where I go to take this next step and it doesn't need to be here.

Let us know in the comments/reviews, PM me, or hit me up on Reddit (same name) and let us know what you think. :) Be as honest as you can be, we'd love to hear you out.

SEE YOU ALL ON THE EPILOGUE!

[P.S.] Regarding the Epilogue…

We might actually end up delaying it. Because if our readers decide that the sequel doesn't need to happen, we will expand the epilogue itself to really drive home the ending in its finality. We'll have to wait and hear from you fine folks. XD