PA Static and Sprinkles

Chapter 1

Now every tale is told in a season, in a moment in time, with a setting. While temperatures in each district of this sparkling metropolis were relegated to a certain climate, it seemed as though on this blustery Tuesday in the middle of November, even those with the thickest of fur coats found themselves with a pretty hefty jacket as their defence against the elements. Despite all this the busy officers of Zootopia Police Department: Precinct 1 braved all this as though it just another Thursday.

"ZPD Precinct 1, Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, how may I help you today? Oh, why hello ! Mmmhm. Yes, he's in his office... Of course I can transfer you!" A few clicks on the keypad and the chubby cheetah set down the receiver with a satisfying hum. "Wow, that's the third call in a row. Sure does make a receptionist hungry!" and with a small giggle, another sprinkled donut down the hatch, and a lick of the lips our fine officer reached for another delicious treat from the small pink box before the large glass front doors barged opened. Ushered in with the light howl of wind as well as a reasonable gust, another pair of familiar faces made their way to the front desk and the bubbly cheetah behind it.

"How's it goin, Sprinkles?" The resident sly of the force, Nick Wilde, called out resting his paws on the cold marble earning another giggle from the tubby Benjamin.

"Heya Nick and Judy! How're my fav crime fightin' duo?" After a well placed elbow to the ribs of a certain fox, the feisty rabbit smiled brightly, retelling the past hour of their patrols around the downtown with interjections and a few jovial remarks from her partner. As she was retelling how her counterpart had ended up tripping over a curb and then almost slipping comically on a banana peel the speakerphone from Clawhauser's desk crackled to life.

"Officer Clawhauser, where are Wilde and Hopps? I want them in my office asap!" with that the gruff voice of Chief Bogo clicked off.

"Gosh, Chief Buffalo Butt seems to be in a bad mood." Nick commented with a sardonic smile, turning towards the stairs on the far side of the open room before stopping at the sound of a light giggle from behind the counter.

"Oh no, I wouldn't worry about- wait what did you call him again? Buffalo Butt? Hah!" the cheetah paused trying and mainly failing to stifle a giggle "A-ahem. No, but seriously I wouldn't worry about Chief, working with him as long as I have you come to understand when he truly is upset and all the little inflections in between. Anyway, I'll see you too later! Oh!" quickly brandishing a donut in his sugar coated paw the officer offered the pair some donuts for the road before politely being turned down.

"Well, keep them phones running, bud!" Nick said with a wave as he walked off with Judy in tow towards the cape buffalos third story office. The cheetah only responded with a wide grin and a spin of his office chair as he shifted back to his laptop as he started to hum a happy little tune from one of his favorite Gazelle albums.

Email after email, file after file, case after case. Things never seemed to give the poor Chief of Precinct 1 a moment of peace. After meeting with his two favorite officers, Hopps and Wilde and giving them a new assignment, he dealt with the ever growing number of emails, at this point he felt as though inbox zero was something of a myth. Minutes blurred together and soon so did the words as the cape buffalo stopped to push his glasses up and rub the quickly tiring eyes behind them. Closing his eyes for a few moments he breathed a long sigh through his teeth and rested his head in his hooves. Another few minutes passed before he cracked one eye open and glanced down, eyeing the middle drawer of his desk. Sitting back and opening the drawer his eye had caught he pulled out the silver rectangle he'd been thinking of. Tapping on its screen, noticing that even after being used for only his daily runs, the music player had a fair amount of juice.

'Not that it matters anyway. I'm only doing this once, then it's back to work. Nothing more, Bogo.' He warned himself as he pulled out the small earbuds, plugging them in, soon after a few more taps the sweet upbeat melody of none other than the horned pop queen of Zootopia, Gazelle, met the ears of one very stressed police chief. Pretty soon the plucky attitude and message of the song wormed itself past all the stress, lifting the Chief's spirits and even going as far as causing his shoulders to shift and shimmy slightly along with the beat. Minutes began to fly once more, but without the sluggishness of just moments prior.

With a satisfying thud of a laptop lid closing, the broad shouldered Chief Bogo sat back with a short huff noting the job well done, and how it was within a reasonable amount of time unlike his usual camping out and working overtime. Having just sent his final email of the day, to his trusty glorified cheetah secretary containing all the general details of the day and what had to be done the next, the buffalo stood up and stretched his sore back, wincing as a few pops echoed through the small office. Grabbing all his personal items and slinging his uniform jacket over his shoulder he made his way out into the hall, nodding to the various night crew officers and employees as they were heading to their different posts where they'd be for well into the night and early morning. As the english buffalo neared the stairwell he glanced over the banister and into the main lobby of the station, noticing the reception desk still fully lit up unlike the usual desk light being the only illumination for the moose night receptionist.

"He can't still be here? Clawhauser is normally out of here by 6 pm. I'll have to remind him of the importance of not slacking and leaving his work to do at the last minute." Of course the irony of the buffaloes own thoughts were lost on him as he made his way down the remainder of the three flights of stairs.

"Officer Clawhauser?" His voice a tad louder than intended, caught the attention of the cat behind the desk who had his face buried in multiple case files scattered about his desk.

"Eep! C-chief!" Clearly scared by the sudden appearance of his boss the cheetah blushed slightly, somewhat embarrassed to have been caught playing catch up. "I-I was just uh, finishing up! A few case files had been placed on my desk…" his sad excuse for an excuse trailing off as he flicked his amber eyes to the analog clock sitting on his desk, clearly showing that it had been quite a while since everyone had gone home. "Oh...gosh. Sorry, Chief. I won't let it happen again." The cheetahs voice lowered slightly as did his ears and tail. Suddenly he felt something unexpected against his cheek, a hoof raising it up to meet another set of eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Take care of it" after a short pause the he continued, slightly softer this time, "and don't forget about yourself. I need my team working at a hundred percent" Bogo commented noticing the bags under the chubby cheetah's eyes. Then just as suddenly as it had happened, the taller of the two turned and started heading towards the front entrance putting on his jacket and raising a hand in goodbye. "Tomorrow bright and early, Clawhauser, bright and early."

And as the distance between the two increased and the night drew on only one tiny thought remained stuck in both their minds like a tiny sliver, "What just happened?"