what's another night on mars? {Judy}

[Nick Wilde]

A fire extinguisher, that wasn't a bad idea. It couldn't really hurt. He didn't think a fire extinguisher had ever frozen anything, that wasn't really how those worked, was it? Wasn't it just...a lot of particles blasting at the fire all at once? At any rate, it definitely sounded better than his plan, which had involved actual fire. Judy apparently had something in mind that involved sunlight and the fire extinguisher, though, because she made a break for it, and Nick had to think fast to cause a diversion.

Keep it distracted, she said. Nick could be pretty distracting when he wanted to be, but he'd never really tried to distract a jello blob before. He jumped off of the table he'd been standing on, and ran around to the opposite side of the goo from where Judy had run off.

"Hey! Hey, blob thing!" What would a blob thing be distracted by? If it was heat, well, he needed to be warmer than Judy, right? He launched into a series of wildly exaggerated gestures, jumping jacks, arm-flailing, running back and forth in a hurry. "Come on, jiggles, let's do this, you and me, lemme have it. Nothing to see over there at all."

[Judy Hopps]

The beauty of this awkward plan of theirs was that it split attention. Nick went one way, making noise and gestures and going wild, while Judy went another, also making noise and gestures, but in a much more guided fashion. the creature actually stopped and seemed completely confused, likely struggling to process so much information at once after so long of not having any information sent to its core beyond the skittering of animals and the constant feeling of cold.

All of which meant Judy got to her goal without much work or incident. She grinned as she yanked the extinguisher. Magic had probably protected it too: it looked in decent condition despite its odd date. Judy shook it as she ran, feeling chemicals starting to interact. She all but hopped to the first window and lurched, slamming the extinguisher against the window.

The window broke, sunlight forming a spotty pattern across the ground, air sucking inward. One or the other had the creature recoiling, but that recoil also put it near the stranger.

"Get over here!" yelled Judy as she scampered toward the next window, already on route to smash it too.

[Nick Wilde]

For a minute there, they made some progress. It was confused, obviously confused by the way they were both suddenly moving around in opposite directions. To Nick's relief, that gave Judy the opportunity to get to the fire extinguisher and shatter a window, which also seemed to do some good. The blob obviously didn't like either the fresh air or the sunlight, and wobbled back in Nick's direction. Oh, that wasn't good.

Nick jumped back up onto the table, then from that table onto another, making his way back towards Judy as best as he could. "On my way, keep going!" He jumped off of the second table and grabbed a chair, using it to smash through another window along his way. Moving quickly, he kept going, until he and Judy were pretty much back to back there along the wall.

"Hey," he said, brandishing the chair, ready to bash out another window or throw it at the creature if he had to. "Look, I just gotta say, before..." A table collapsed off to one side, cutting him off, and Nick shook his head. "Later, it can wait. We gotta get out of here. We can probably scare it off with sunlight for now, if it doesn't like that, but the sun's not gonna stay up forever and I don't wanna be around here once it's dark."

[Judy Hopps]

Judy kept right on scrambling, again counting on the stranger to do precisely what he said he was going to do. She simply believed that he'd manage it, that he could accomplish what was necessary and that she didn't have to help him. Instead she simply slammed her makeshift weapon against another window, shattering it and letting in more spotted light, buying even more room around their edge.

The table made her jump too, and she looked to him, eyes flashing. "Right," she agreed with a confident nod, hefting her weapon again. "Because we're going to be getting out of this alive," she grinned and dashed, slamming it against another.

"Well, it'll buy us time to start getting other people. Plus, I'm gonna unplug this thing and hurl it at it as we're getting out," she explained as she made it to the next window. There weren't many left, and if the stranger moved in time, they'd be done in no time.

[Nick Wilde]

How was it possible for her to be so rabbit-like even when she looked nothing like the rabbit he knew? She didn't have the giant ears or the grey fur or any of it, but every single thing that made her Judy seemed to still be there. At the moment, that was massively reassuring to Nick, who still wasn't sure quite what to do with this body he was in, or why it had been chosen for him instead of his own fox-self.

"You're darn right we are," he said, smashing out another window with his chair. He and Judy had never let anything stop them so far, and as far as he was concerned, they weren't going to start stopping now. "It'll take more than a pile of jello to take us out." He was a lot more certain of that fact now than he had been a few minutes earlier when his foot was stuck in said jello.

He was trying to keep up with her, but even in her weird hairless-chimpanzee body she was still incredibly fast. Nick smashed out the last window in his area, then turned to see how she was faring, before looking back at the monster to determine what effect their actions were having on its progress. "That's all the windows I've got," he said, wondering if the other people she was referring to would be particularly pleased with them for vandalizing their food court. "This better work, because if it doesn't, this is gonna look real bad on my record."

[Judy Hopps]

Judy nodded and bashed another window. Bits of glass fell around her, but thankfully the vines caught the worst of it. Breathing hard, Judy took a step back, enjoying the light while it lasted. She looked back, and, sure enough, the creature stayed far away from the beams of light. That made her grin. "Oh, it looks like it's working,"

She leaned against the fire extinguisher, which wasn't that hard to do. She might be decidedly larger than she'd been as a bunny, but she wasn't that tall. "I just need a sec to catch my breath. Then we should figure out how to get this thing to spray," she nodded toward the creature, "then I say we toss it and just make a break for it. We can come back with more people and stuff later."

She looked over to the stranger, then leaned over to lightly punch him on the arm. "You're going to have a win on your record there, buddy. What's a few broken windows if we trap a monster, right? Like eggs and omelettes,' she nodded, taking a few more breaths, swearing that he'd be able to hear her heart thudding a mile a minute.

[Nick Wilde]

Nick wondered briefly if he ought to at least offer to carry the fire extinguisher for her, but despite the fact that it seemed to be at least half as big as she was, he had a feeling that wouldn't go over well. Judy never had been one to let anybody else do anything she could do perfectly well herself, in his experience anyway, and he wasn't sure he wasn't still in the proverbial doghouse from suggesting they light the building on fire.

He caught himself looking over at Judy again; it wasn't that he was trying to be weird or creepy, it was just that she was so different from her rabbit self, and he kept coming back to how she could be so different and so much the same all at once. "Take your time," he said, waving a hand towards the blob. "I think we slowed it down for now."

And then she reached over and punched his arm and Nick felt a strange wave of relief wash over him. They were going to be fine, the two of them, they were here and they were together and whatever this place was, they could figure it out. They'd solved mysteries before, they could solve one more.

"Eggs and omelettes," he said, shaking his head and grinning, "You do have such a way with words. You be sure to tell them that thing about omelettes when I'm in jail with this guy over here as my cellmate, eh Carrots?"

[Judy Hopps]

Judy nodded, taking a few more breaths. She was feeling that adrenaline rush that she so often felt, and she almost wanted to start shaking herself off or do another lap or something. That's how it always seemed to work with Judy: she kept right on running full steam until she was completely dead, when she'd collapse into a mess.

"Please, we're not gonna end up in a cell,' said Judy, rolling her eyes. "They don't even have cells ready for people," she hefted the extinguisher again. And yes, she seemed to have not noticed that she'd been called by her old nickname at all. Just took it in stride, like she did everything else.

"Right, I'm gonna," she started shifting the extinguisher, "get this thing going..." another shift, 'somehow?" she frowned, tapping it. This should be easy, right? Just point and shoot? Judy shifted it to try and get a look. Her thumb caught the latch, spewing foam, but that wasn't staying. Great, another puzzle, just what she wanted right now.

[Nick Wilde]

No cells, well, that was...a situation. Where were they supposed to put people who really were trying to cause trouble and weren't just bashing windows out to battle a monster? What kind of law enforcement did they even have around here, anyway? Any at all? When she'd said there were people, he had hoped there was some organization, but maybe they hadn't gotten to that. That wasn't very reassuring; what were the odds that they'd be able to organize a party to come back here and contain a jello monster?

He watched as she struggled with the fire extinguisher. He was pretty sure he could tell what she was trying to do, but the thing wouldn't seem to stay on. He had a flash of inspiration, digging into his pocket. "C'mon," he muttered, "be there, be there...yes."

Pulling his hand out of his pocket, he held out the lanyard on which he kept his various keys, sans keys, of course. "Can you tie this around it? See if you can hold the...trigger thing down?"

[Judy Hopps]

"Oh yeah," agreed Judy, flashing a quick smile. She grabbed the offered lanyard, wrapping it quickly around the nozzle of the extinguisher. She stuck her tongue out as she did it, focusing so entirely on it that the motion felt almost unconsciously necessary. Judy stuck a finger in between the full trigger on the handle though, just barely keeping it from erupting while still in her hands.

"Right," she got fully to her feet, taking an almost shot-putter position. Her eyes locked onto the target, and she frowned, before realizing something: "Okay, yeah," she looked back to Nick, "it makes a lot more sense if you do the throwing. You're bigger than me," she handed it toward Nick, making sure to keep her finger in between the pressure and the trigger so it owuldn't jump off in the handoff.

"Just give me the heads up, and we'll make a mad dash for the door. Get out of here with a story to tell,' she said, nodding confidently, holding their makeshift weapon up to the stranger.

[Nick Wilde]

Nick took the fire extinguisher; she was right, his human body was substantially bigger than hers and could undoubtedly chuck things farther. He just...had to figure out where the most distracting place to throw it would be. He held the thing gingerly, making sure to keep it from going off before he was ready, and took a deep breath. There, right there, that was the perfect spot, just in that opening between those two tables where it could have plenty of room to spin around and cause a ruckus. "Ready," he said, nodding. "On three."

"One," he said, drawing the extinguisher back and winding up, "two," he took one step forward, poised to get a running start, "three!" He threw the extinguisher with all his strength right into his intended target zone, then turned towards the door as the phshhhhhhhhh sound echoed through the room.

"Go, go, go!" He darted towards the door without looking back to see what effect their makeshift smoke grenade was having on the creature. Whatever was happening, he couldn't do much about it now, and his main concern was that he and Judy would get out of here safely. "I'm right behind you, let's blow this popsicle stand."

[Judy Hopps]

Judy nodded as the stranger took the extinguisher, agreeing with logic. She turned, bracing, tensing. One had her all but dropped into a runner's posture. Two had her legs moving, a foot just lifting off the ground. Three had her sprinting, going off and showing off that bunny burst of speed. She even zigzagged against the various debris on the ground, bouncing and almost using it to propel her.

Soon she was skidding into the door, shouldering it. It banged as Judy got it open, though the impact winded her. Panting, she turned to look at the stranger, and at their work.

Did the thing even hit? The creature would be away, thanks to the windows, but Judy hadn't quite seen the initial shot. Did it even really matter so long as they got the heck outta there?

[Nick Wilde]

Holy sheep, she was so fast. Nick took off about as fast as he could, but he was still a good fifteen feet or so behind her by the time she got to the door, and it was only due to the time it took her to slam the door open that he managed to keep up, bursting out through the door a second or two after she did. Nick pushed the door shut behind them and leaned against it, sliding down to the ground, back pressed against the door behind him as they finally found themselves marginally out of danger for the first time in what felt like four days. It had probably been more like a half an hour, tops, but it felt like an absolute eternity since Nick had gone poking into this cafeteria and come across way more than he had bargained for.

"Nice work," he breathed, scrambling to his feet after a moment of catching his breath. "Jello monster better think twice before it messes with us again, huh?" Now that they were out of danger, more or less, Nick felt the certainty of adrenaline fading fast, leaving him with all his unanswered questions and things he'd been meaning to say this whole encounter. Where was he even supposed to start? Hey Judy, it's me Nick, good job on the slime thing?

"Where around here does a guy get a cup of coffee?" he asked. It wasn't what he'd meant to say, or any of the things he should be saying, but it was what came out, and he definitely did want coffee. "I have it on pretty good authority the mess hall is out of commission."

[Judy Hopps]

They were outside. Outside, safe again. If anything, the outside almost looked safer than it had before they'd run the ooze monster gauntlet back there. Judy kept braced against the door, twisting to look back. Yep, jello monster still stuck behind the light. Plus, it seemed like Nick's throw had landed. The creature was back to moving sluggish. Maybe it had been irritated by their heat? Well, not Judy's job to think about that.

She let out a breath of relief, slumping down to sit in front of the door, which just made their height difference all the bigger. "I would kill for some coffee," she admitted, running her hands over her face. "I still haven't figured out where to get any. Or where to get a phone charger, for that matter. I haven't been using mine since shortly after I got here for fear of it running out," she reached down, checking her belt again. There was her walkie again, which she must have turned on out of habit.

Judy lifted it up, flicking the switch to turn it off and on again. She'd wanted to hear that little staticy noise, a familiar sound. To her slight surprise, she heard it twice. frowning, she turned to look almost at eye level at the stranger's waist. She twisted the radio, and sure enough: "Why is your belt barking when I turn my radio?" she asked, looking back up at him, trying to look more curious than suspicious.

[Nick Wilde]

The adrenaline of the last short while was fading, and Nick felt exhaustion seeping into his body. He hadn't gotten much rest since he'd gotten here; there was that whole fiasco with the fox-deer-bird spirit, and then he'd slept for a little while in the grass, then it had been back to exploring, which had led him to this place. Coffee sounded like the best thing he could possibly think of at the moment, but if she didn't know where to find any, he sure didn't. And now that she mentioned her phone charger, he realized that he had left his own phone in his car before he'd even gone through the portal, so that was another thing he was here without.

He did, however, have his radio, a fact he was reminded of as she reached down to her own and flipped it on and off. His radio echoed a response, and he reached down for it instinctively. Oh. Maybe he wasn't going to have to figure out how to initiate this weird conversation after all, maybe he was just going to be thrust into it with no say in the matter. Maybe that was for the best. If it had been left entirely up to him, he probably would have stalled on that front for the next ten years; he and Judy could have grown old here fighting gelatin monsters and he still wouldn't have gotten around to it. This, though...he could work with, no matter how tired he was.

He lifted his radio up to his face, a tired grin still plastered across his features. "Officer Wilde, Zootopia PD," he said, using his most official police voice, which still sounded different and weird coming out of this body. "Thought you might be able to use a little backup." He lowered the radio, but didn't look away. "Gotta be careful, Carrots, I hear there's deranged desserts on the loose around here."