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More from Ryusukanku
It had been a busy morning. So many people had been ignoring the snow ploughing signs set up in Tundratown that Briggs had actually ran out of paper in her ticket maker and doubled back to Precinct One in Sahara Square for more. Sure she could have gotten some from the precinct in Tundratown but it was hecka-cold there and she wanted a little time to warm up in the warmer district. She had dressed warmly in good, ZPD-supplied winter wear and she STILL felt like some of her whiskers snapped off from the cold. She wasn’t going back to Tundratown any sooner than she absolutely had to.
She shucked the parka and tossed it into her little traffic car and took a moment to bask in the warm sunlight before heading up to the main stairs when a voice came out of nowhere.
“Hey, Briggs.”
She stopped and looked around, puzzled by the lack of people in her immediate vicinity. Unable to locate the source she took a tentative step before the voice happened again.
“Briggs… Felicia…. Hey! Follow the sultry sound of my voice. Now look up… Waaaaay up. There you go.”
She craned her head back and peered up into the sky to where a big blue balloon lazily floated past… and dangling from the string was her friend Hamlin.
He was just hanging there.
By his tail.
With the world’s most unimpressed expression on his face.
“Hamlin? What in the world are you DOING up there?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He said in an almost flippant tone. “I have slipped the surly bonds of earth. Look at me go.”
“Fine. silly questions merit silly answers.” she grunted. “Let me ask a different question… WHY are you up there?”
“If you MUST know, it’s ‘bring your children to work’ day and one of the little squirts thought I looked... grumpy. So, to ‘cheer me up’ Higgins’ daughter tied her complementary ZPD balloon to my tail, not realizing that even pre-adolescent hippos have a great deal more body mass than your average rat.”
“Oh no.” She giggled, covering her mouth with her hat to hide her mirth. “No. no. no.”
“Oh yeah. It wasn’t bad at first, just a little embarrassing and to be honest I was doing fine until I discovered someone left one of the upper windows open. Fortunately there isn’t much of a breeze today and my ascent has been slow.”
“Sweet cheese and crackers… At least you’re taking things… a lot calmer than I would have given you credit for, Hammy.” Felicia said keeping pace with the balloon’s drift. “I mean by now I’d think you’d be livid. You might look like you had one Fig left to give and it’s now gone but you’re... surprisingly calm.”
“You have a point to how Figless my Fig tree is right now but I can’t really get mad about the whole thing.”
“Because the child just wanted to cheer you up and is probably upset enough as it is?”
“That too, but the main reason is… oh. Wait.” he said looking past her. “Here we go. Right on cue.”
Felicia became aware of multiple people around her all looking upwards at the sight of Hamlin floating past, their Smartphones elevated to capture the sight for eternity.
“See Briggs? What happens in Zootopia, stays on Zootube.”
“And the ZPD is no doubt grateful for you keeping things clean, Hammy.” she smirked before she took note of a zebra with a Television camera following a pig reporter that she had seen at press conferences before. “Uh oh. Here comes the press, Hammy. Better put on your best face.”
“Pardon me. Excuse me sir. Arthur Swinton from ZNN.” the Pig introduced himself to the floating rat. “Could you tell me what is happening here?”
“Well mister Swinton.” Hamlin started dryly. “I cannot speak with much certainty here but from my vantage point it appears there is a small congregation of people on the steps of ZPD headquarters intently watching something unusual in the sky, however I am unable to ascertain what it could be.”
The crowd chuckled and Swinton coughed before speaking again.
“Ah. Yes. I think they are fascinated at your current predicament. Might I ask why you… whom I might assume are an officer of the law, are hanging from a balloon?”
“Oh. That. The ZPD is currently implementing a new eye-in-the-sky program, we are however working through some budget issues at the moment.”
More laughter erupted from the onlookers and the pig was beginning to look uncomfortable.
“Officer… Am I going to get a straight answer at all?”
“All right.” Hamlin said with a sigh. “Long story short, there was an accident involving a well-meaning child who just wanted to share the happiness of a balloon. It’s kind of a non-story where you get down to it because the child feels bad enough as it is. Also my coworkers in the ZPD as we speak, are mobilizing to help me down from here. In short it’s a crisis of about five minutes of annoyance.”
“Oh.” Swinton mumbled. “So… nothing good, huh?”
“Define ‘Good’, and choose your words carefully, Mister Swinton.” Briggs whispered to the pig.
“Um…" Swinton uttered as he quickly rethought his question "That is to say, you mean to tell me that nothing worth a segment on the 5 o'clock news is happening?”
“Well…” Hamlin remarked “If it helps I COULD channel the powers of the Fifth Dimension for you?”
“The fifth... Wait… what?”
“Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to glide in my beautiful balloon?”
Briggs could only grin broadly at the sight of Hamlin singing the lyrics to “Up, Up and Away” to the crowd. They even joined in at the end, as Francine finally showed up with a pool skimmer and gently brought Hamlin back to earth. having enjoyed the show and resolution the audience applauded and dispersed, and without a real story to follow, Swinton just gave a half-hearted signoff to his cameraman and also wandered off leaving Hamlin the task of untying the balloon and handing it to Briggs.
“Here. I give you the solemn task of being the great keeper of my Blue Butt-Balloon.”
“I accept the burden, at least until we find a paperweight or something.” She chuckled before giving him a smirk. “You know, you might not exactly be a nightingale, you got a nice set of pipes there, Hammy.”
“Uh… thanks. I just… I think I was channeling my inner Nick Wilde to deal with the press and then somehow got Robert Goulet.”
“Not a bad tradeoff. Besides, only Nick can really be Nick.” She then began to giggle. “You know… you may become a Zootube celebrity from that stunt.”
“Oh… joy…” he said sarcastically. “Mom and dad will be pleased.”
“Hey, better famous for making the best of a bad situation instead for cussing a blue streak.”
“Yeah. Although I’m certain I’ll have to be more careful about accepting gifts from strange children from now on.”
Artwork by Dutch https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dutch/
She shucked the parka and tossed it into her little traffic car and took a moment to bask in the warm sunlight before heading up to the main stairs when a voice came out of nowhere.
“Hey, Briggs.”
She stopped and looked around, puzzled by the lack of people in her immediate vicinity. Unable to locate the source she took a tentative step before the voice happened again.
“Briggs… Felicia…. Hey! Follow the sultry sound of my voice. Now look up… Waaaaay up. There you go.”
She craned her head back and peered up into the sky to where a big blue balloon lazily floated past… and dangling from the string was her friend Hamlin.
He was just hanging there.
By his tail.
With the world’s most unimpressed expression on his face.
“Hamlin? What in the world are you DOING up there?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” He said in an almost flippant tone. “I have slipped the surly bonds of earth. Look at me go.”
“Fine. silly questions merit silly answers.” she grunted. “Let me ask a different question… WHY are you up there?”
“If you MUST know, it’s ‘bring your children to work’ day and one of the little squirts thought I looked... grumpy. So, to ‘cheer me up’ Higgins’ daughter tied her complementary ZPD balloon to my tail, not realizing that even pre-adolescent hippos have a great deal more body mass than your average rat.”
“Oh no.” She giggled, covering her mouth with her hat to hide her mirth. “No. no. no.”
“Oh yeah. It wasn’t bad at first, just a little embarrassing and to be honest I was doing fine until I discovered someone left one of the upper windows open. Fortunately there isn’t much of a breeze today and my ascent has been slow.”
“Sweet cheese and crackers… At least you’re taking things… a lot calmer than I would have given you credit for, Hammy.” Felicia said keeping pace with the balloon’s drift. “I mean by now I’d think you’d be livid. You might look like you had one Fig left to give and it’s now gone but you’re... surprisingly calm.”
“You have a point to how Figless my Fig tree is right now but I can’t really get mad about the whole thing.”
“Because the child just wanted to cheer you up and is probably upset enough as it is?”
“That too, but the main reason is… oh. Wait.” he said looking past her. “Here we go. Right on cue.”
Felicia became aware of multiple people around her all looking upwards at the sight of Hamlin floating past, their Smartphones elevated to capture the sight for eternity.
“See Briggs? What happens in Zootopia, stays on Zootube.”
“And the ZPD is no doubt grateful for you keeping things clean, Hammy.” she smirked before she took note of a zebra with a Television camera following a pig reporter that she had seen at press conferences before. “Uh oh. Here comes the press, Hammy. Better put on your best face.”
“Pardon me. Excuse me sir. Arthur Swinton from ZNN.” the Pig introduced himself to the floating rat. “Could you tell me what is happening here?”
“Well mister Swinton.” Hamlin started dryly. “I cannot speak with much certainty here but from my vantage point it appears there is a small congregation of people on the steps of ZPD headquarters intently watching something unusual in the sky, however I am unable to ascertain what it could be.”
The crowd chuckled and Swinton coughed before speaking again.
“Ah. Yes. I think they are fascinated at your current predicament. Might I ask why you… whom I might assume are an officer of the law, are hanging from a balloon?”
“Oh. That. The ZPD is currently implementing a new eye-in-the-sky program, we are however working through some budget issues at the moment.”
More laughter erupted from the onlookers and the pig was beginning to look uncomfortable.
“Officer… Am I going to get a straight answer at all?”
“All right.” Hamlin said with a sigh. “Long story short, there was an accident involving a well-meaning child who just wanted to share the happiness of a balloon. It’s kind of a non-story where you get down to it because the child feels bad enough as it is. Also my coworkers in the ZPD as we speak, are mobilizing to help me down from here. In short it’s a crisis of about five minutes of annoyance.”
“Oh.” Swinton mumbled. “So… nothing good, huh?”
“Define ‘Good’, and choose your words carefully, Mister Swinton.” Briggs whispered to the pig.
“Um…" Swinton uttered as he quickly rethought his question "That is to say, you mean to tell me that nothing worth a segment on the 5 o'clock news is happening?”
“Well…” Hamlin remarked “If it helps I COULD channel the powers of the Fifth Dimension for you?”
“The fifth... Wait… what?”
“Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to glide in my beautiful balloon?”
Briggs could only grin broadly at the sight of Hamlin singing the lyrics to “Up, Up and Away” to the crowd. They even joined in at the end, as Francine finally showed up with a pool skimmer and gently brought Hamlin back to earth. having enjoyed the show and resolution the audience applauded and dispersed, and without a real story to follow, Swinton just gave a half-hearted signoff to his cameraman and also wandered off leaving Hamlin the task of untying the balloon and handing it to Briggs.
“Here. I give you the solemn task of being the great keeper of my Blue Butt-Balloon.”
“I accept the burden, at least until we find a paperweight or something.” She chuckled before giving him a smirk. “You know, you might not exactly be a nightingale, you got a nice set of pipes there, Hammy.”
“Uh… thanks. I just… I think I was channeling my inner Nick Wilde to deal with the press and then somehow got Robert Goulet.”
“Not a bad tradeoff. Besides, only Nick can really be Nick.” She then began to giggle. “You know… you may become a Zootube celebrity from that stunt.”
“Oh… joy…” he said sarcastically. “Mom and dad will be pleased.”
“Hey, better famous for making the best of a bad situation instead for cussing a blue streak.”
“Yeah. Although I’m certain I’ll have to be more careful about accepting gifts from strange children from now on.”
Artwork by Dutch https://www.furaffinity.net/user/dutch/
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fanart
Species Rat
Size 754 x 1280px
File Size 79 kB
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