A/N: The song for this one is Gods Made Heavy Metal by Manowar

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The first day of her new deputy officially accepting his duties and executing them went in a flurry of surprises for Judy. The bunny didn't count to get a fox, and an Alistaja at that, as her first deputy, but this didn't even start to compare to the unexpected experience and expertise of the tod in different spheres of a law enforcers life. From her working laptop's security, to the overall image and finances of the Bunnyburrow's Sheriff Office. The level of knowledge and understanding shown by the fox left Judy feeling incompetent, despite the fact that her new deputy was not showing any judgment on her lack of knowledge of certain things. On the contrary, Nick seemed delighted when he stumbled on something that could be improved or built from scratch, and he always seeked to align his own stance with her. After such a long time of being considered just a "political appointment" it was refreshing to be treated as a "real deal".

Though, throughout the day, Judy saw some signs that she recognized from her own experience. Despite his externally calm and collected demeanor, his eyes told a slightly different story. A story of a lonely creature seeking approval of another. Suffering for years through rejections, Judy knew how painful it was and couldn't put through such an experience a fellow mammal. Especially someone she was in charge of. She would never be like chief Bogo.

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When the day ended came the question of Nick's lodgings. The fox has confessed the fact he was broke, but the system would not allow for him to have an advance payment, so he wished to borrow a bit, since he didn't need much to live. Judy refused, and told the tod that everything was prepared. It was her turn to surprise him.

First, with her driving that he told her was worse than his acquaintance from Zootopia. When questioned on whether this was a good or bad thing, she was answered with a cryptic smile and refusal to be goaded into divulging any more information.

Next was their destination. Nicholas knew the map of Bunnyburrow like his five fingers (thanks to his implants) and when they turned (at sixty miles per hour on a ground road) towards Hopps Family Farm, the tod threw his tenth joke of the day (Judy counted them starting from the moment he began his five minute sections with Mrs. Lovebrood and Mr. Snapper).

- Am I to be sacrificed on one of your local bunnies' traditional family dinners? - The hard braking has nearly sent the fox muzzle first into the SUV's torpedo. Luckily, his seatbelt has prevented this scenario. A little less luckily, he now sported a stylish pawshaped icicle eyepatch.

- Despite you looking like a giant carrot, I doubt you would taste just as good. I heard there are way too many chemicals in you city slickers. And we prefer our food natural and organic. - Once more the SUV has gained speed as its smug driver pushed the pedal to the metal once more. The fox was left to his grumbling as he tried to pull out the offending confection without damaging his delicate face fur too much.

Finally, they reached the farms entrance. It was interesting how the actual farm had concrete driveways between the many different buildings for varying purposes of an agricultural household. Or more like for a medium sized business, if one were to go by the tax legislation.

Judy expected some sort of trepidation or reluctance from the fox when she told him the place for him to live would be one of the guest quarters at her family's house, which is why the doe delayed divulging this piece information until they were actually in front of it. A square unassuming building two floors high with mammals larger than bunnies in mind. But the tod didn't seem to be even slightly fazed, oozing his usual (from what the bunny experienced so far) confidence and nonchalance from the ever present smirk of his. But the question the fox asked her first, after being showed his room, was not the one she was immediately prepared to answer.

- Say, Carrots, what's the bandwidth of your internet connection, is it limited and how do I access it? - Sitting on a rather large for him wolfsized bed, still in uniform (his personal belongings still in a plastic bag in the SUV ) and with both boltguns visible at his sides, it was easy to overlook the fact the tod was from Zootopia and not from some backwater town where they still used the gossip mill to acquire all the necessary information about life around them. And of course the first thing he would ask about would be not where the bathroom or kitchen was, but "how can I get access to your internet"… Sighing, the doe took out her smartphone and dialed the number.

- Hey Gareth. Remember the bet? Yes, I owe you twenty. Now get your sorry tail to the guest-hub, room 1-3. - The bunny wore an expression of mild irritation as she ended the call. Judy hated when she was wrong, especially if someone else could gloat about it, like her family members. Or the fox that was just about to open his big yapper.

- Zip. It. - To the bunny's relief, Nick seemed to understand she wasn't joking and did exactly that. With a flourish of a drama theater actor in front of an audience numbered in thousands, rather than just one aggravated doe, he made a show of slowly zipping his maw, locking it and throwing away the key. After which the tod simply went to look around the room.

When her brother, a greyfurred buck of a slightly lighter shade than Judy's wearing one of his favourite band's "official merch shirt", came, she prepared to give an explanation on why there was a fox in their guest quarters, but never actually got to that point. For the instance her sibling made it through the door, a loud shriek made both bunnies cover their ears. When the shrieking stopped both Hopps found an extremely lively fox gripping his ears in what seemed to be a rather painful hold, even though they wouldn't fold under the pressure of his paws.

- They were on Helfest?! Last month?! Kraken's bones, I missed it! Friend, as a fellow Manowarrior you have to tell me everything! What did they play?! Are they still in good shape? Is Eric's voice fine? Do they really seem to plan to retire this time? Though scratch that, I don't believe it anyways. More importantly. Will there be live videos of the event? Was there any info on the next album?! - Gareth seemed stupefied as the tod stood in front of him on his knees, the predator's elongated muzzle in his face, soft-padded paws on the buck's shoulders, shaking him, those green eyes filled with desperation…

And just like that, Judy was forgotten. The two males became so engrossed in their discussion of their favourite band, they never heard her trying to stir the topic back to the question of accommodating their guest. Later the fox was taken by Gareth to be introduced to other metalheads of the family. Trying to stay positive, as there was not a little part of her screaming at Gareth to give her fox back or face consequences, Judy watched the strange duo disappear with a thought that she now had at least a third of the burrow to support her decision to allow the fox stay.

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A/N: Old Coyote: Well, I actually banked in the fact that Finnick is at least half as tall as Nick, along with being angry and a damn good actor (in the movie, not this story, he would probably bite my face off). So I thought about assigning him to the XXth and giving him a… I think I'll not spoil all the fun on the XXs for those who don't know about them yet.