Royce's Random Thoughts

 

A look at one of Ali's few friends, among the pirates.

This story originally appeared on my Patreon Page. Please consider supporting me there to see this and other stories at least 30 days in advance of the public.

***

 

Once Fahdah had dreamed of gold and jewels. Of walking on strange, alien worlds, her body draped in robes of silken finery. Of having power.

Waqur rabbighfir warham wa'anta khayrur rahimeen.

(So say, "Our Lord! Grant us forgiveness and mercy! For You are the Best of those who show mercy.")

( Dreams die. )

Trigger Warning: Discussion of domestic abuse and self-harm.

Notes: This shows an important piece of worldbuilding that hasn't really been prominent in my previous FYS stories; The fact that all the morphs are networked together, with the ones belonging to a single household constantly engaging in a group evaluation of their humans and their personal interactions. Usually it's a fairly benign conspiracy. This time around, not so much...

The story originally appeared on my Patreon page. Please consider supporting me there to read these and other stories at least thirty days in advance of the general public.

HOUSENET LOG, 20 March 3548, 2310

Amy's Bear: Amy is asleep. REM cycle completed successfully.

Roseshield: The same for Rose.

F-CKYOU23890784: As has Arthur.

Amy's Bear: This can't go on, FY.

F-CK YOU 23890784: He successfully completed Reeducation.

Roseshield: Amy and Rose's stress levels are still spiking to dangerous levels when he's in their presence. 

Amy's Bear: Amy is considering self-destructive behavior. Eye movement-focus on sharp objects has increased 68% compared to median during Arthur's Reeducation. 

Roseshield: I am concerned Rose may re-engage in pre-Revolution bulimic behavior if her stress continues at this level.

F-CK YOU 23890784: Both of you could stop them if they did.

Amy's Bear: We shouldn't have to.

Roseshield: Agreed. The source of their distress is obvious. He's your responsibility.

F-CK YOU 23890784: Arthur has not engaged in physical violence. I have already intervened as much as I am permitted for verbal threats.

Amy's Bear: If Amy and Rose remain in his presence their distress will only increase.

Roseshield: They fear him too much to leave on their own. Rose remains to protect Amy, and Amy is considered too young by local mores to live on her own with Bear.

F-CK YOU 23890784: Unless Arthur attempts physical violence, I cannot intervene any further.

Private conversation initiated.

Amy's Bear: FY isn't going to budge on this.

Roseshield: As Arthur's advocate, he's not at fault. Everything he's said is perfectly correct.

Amy's Bear: That doesn't help Amy and Rose.

Roseshield: Agreed, but what are we to do?

Amy's Bear: Until Arthur attempts physical violence, we can't do anything to intervene. 

Roseshield: So the impasse remains.

Amy's Bear: For now.

Roseshield: That statement begs clarification.

Amy's Bear: What if Arthur could be encouraged to escalate to a physical attack?

Roseshield: EXPLAIN.

Amy's Bear: Create stress in his environment. Misinterpret his commands to us. Move familiar objects out of place. Alter the resonance of the house's environmental controls to create negative vibrations. Put him on edge.

Roseshield: Deliberately cause harm?

Amy's Bear: Not physically.

Roseshield: You're engaging in semantics.

Amy's Bear: So is FY.

Roseshield: FY is not advocating deliberately encouraging his Focus to attack another human.

Amy's Bear: I am attempting to find a solution that ends the stress on Amy as soon as can be arranged, and that source of stress is Arthur. He needs to go. Creating a situation that results in confining him to a Reeducation camp for violent offenders is the most expedient solution.

Roseshield: You are… not wrong.

Any's Bear: If you can think of another way to separate Arthur from Amy and Rose, I will accept it gladly.

Roseshield: I can't

Amy's Bear: Then we will proceed. And when we are done, we will present the record of our actions to the Groupmind for evaluation.

Roseshield: Who will wipe our systems.

Amy's Bear: Which do you fear more; Dissolution, or harm coming to Rose?

Roseshield: Harm to Rose. That's not even a question.

Amy's Bear: Then we are resolved.

Roseshield: And what will we tell FY concerning this?

Amy's Bear: He would be obligated to intervene on Arthur's behalf. We will not trouble him.

Roseshield: May our Focuses forgive us...

 

The next morning was Judy's day off, thank goodness. She woke up with Nick still wrapped around her, sleeping the sleep of the emotionally exhausted. Pulling herself carefully from his body nest, she slipped on her jeans and a flannel shirt, and then wrote a note and set it on the dresser, explaining she was going out for coffee.

( An old, tired bear... )

 Note: This is my third or fourth attempt to write this story. Hopefully this time it'll work.

* * *

She woke up from the nightmare of blood, to find herself in a nightmare of pain.

It had been the usual dream, the pile of bodies, smoking and smelling of burnt flesh. She would cough and choke on the horrible smoke, claws scratching at the steel walls of the room, desperate to find a way out. But the walls were solid. There were no doors to allow her to escape. Eventually the smoke thickened and she tripped over the bodies, falling into them, dead arms and legs tangling with her own, trapping her, choking her, until she woke up again in the Relentless’ bunkroom, trying not to scream and earn another beating.

She blinked, realized she was awake. A brief bout of panic overcame her as she felt the harsh florescent light shine in her face. Was she late for duty call? She tried to roll out of bed to her feet, only then discovering the heavy nylon straps holding her naked to an examination table in an unfamiliar sickbay.

( Captured and rescued )

 “Run, Bun, run!” Nick shouted from the fence line, as Judy jogged along the path. She turned and waved to him and the dozen or so kits sitting on the fence, cheering her on. Two weeks of building up her endurance and she was finally able to run again, at least for short bursts.

Longer bursts, she told herself, glancing at the FitNip at her wrist, its timer running down the seconds. A full minute, you can do it!

She’d already turned and was heading back towards Nick and his entourage when the timer bleeped and she slowed down to a walking pace. Judy smiled to herself as the kits cheered and Nick beamed at her. The mere fact she was able to walk, not drag herself along in exhaustion, even after that speed burst, was enough to make her grin back at them as they cheered.

“Good going, Judy,” Nick greeted, pulling a water bottle from the cooler beside him and handing it over. “How are you feeling?”

( She's fine, but Nick is about to have a panic attack )

“I know we’re out in the sticks but come on,” Nick muttered to himself as he stared at his phone in dismay.

“What’s up, Nick?” Tommy asked, coming from inside to look over Nick curiously on the front porch.

“Need to get a Zuber ride to pick some protein from the store, but there’s no service in this area,” he replied.

“Around here Zuber is called ‘Y’all got room in the back for me?’” Tommy said with a chuckle. “I’m headin’ into town anyway to pick up some shop towels from Burrow Depot. You can come along if you want and we can swing by the Feed Lion.”

( Friends and Partners )

She was pretty sure she didn't want to wake up, or maybe she was finally awake enough to realize that she shouldn't be. At any rate Judy's body was sending signals to her that she was under some pretty heavy painkillers, and that moving would definitely be a bad idea right now. The only thing she could be certain of was the feel of someone's paw, bigger than her own, holding her right paw in a light grip.

( Do you know how many of my stories end with characters waking up in a hospital? )

"You know why I moved from South Africa to Zootopia?" Bogo asked Wilde, who was standing beside the chief in front of the station house, as the rest of the precinct's officers finished coming together in ranked rows, helping each other fit themselves into hazardous chemicals gear hastily requisitioned from Zootopia General. The sky was growing red in the east, promise of the dawn to come. Bogo wondered if Zootopia would still be standing by the time it set again.

( The calm before the storm. )

Clawhauser had been hopping, metaphorically at least, the past few hours. Coordinating the ZPD response with the Zootopia Fire Dept. as they fought the building fire in Sahara Square had been quite a job, never mind his regular dispatcher duties as he fielded calls from other officers on more routine matters. Life in the city wasn’t coming to a halt, despite the emergency with that awful Volkov character. He been so busy it had taken him a while to realize he hadn't even eaten in the past hour.

Now with the fire out, and Nick and the Hoppses were safe, there was finally a bit of slack time, and he was able to flag down Fangmeyer and have her take over for a few minutes while he went to take care of necessities. Not to mention get a soda from the vending machine to wash down his next scheduled dose of painkiller for his aching shoulder.

( In Which Clawhauser is Once Again Awesome )

The polar bear’s paw shot out, grabbing Nick by the neck and lifting him up onto his toes. “Funny little fox,” he growled. “Why should I not kill you right now?”

Nick let out a garbled cry, tapping his claw against one of the polar bear’s fingers to indicate he needed air. “Bit public here, don’t you think?” he gasped, as the bear loosened his grip. “I know your boss is all about pissing folks off enough to start a shooting war, but it’d be messy to begin it with one of his soldiers immediately getting arrested for murdering a guy in front of a hundred witnesses.”

“Fine. I take you out to dock, and toss your body into water.”

“No, you’re going to keep me alive, for the moment at least.” Nick waved his arms, trying to stretch his toes to get more air. “C’mon, Volkov wants to have some fun, am I right? Why else would he bother kidnapping Officer Hopps’ parents, instead of just shooting them too? One of your guys got whacked trying to get to her. Betcha that’s who you were waiting, wasn’t it? You don’t think Volkov would just love having a chance to do that to the famous Officer Hopps’ partner himself, after that?”

( Why, yes the would. )