history lives on the books at home [Judy]

[Judy Hopps]

Different types of people. Judy was almost tempted to ask if that were quite literal, if there were literally different kinds of hoo-mans or the like as well. Most of the ones she'd met had been fairly similar. Sure, they were, well, different in personality and so forth. But she hadn't encountered any hoo-mans with scales or horns or wicked claws or anything that really made them stand out from one another. Maybe they used some other sort of marker to differentiate themselves?

More questions, but for now, Judy would focus on Della's comments and thoughts. "Yeah, and I'd like to think that the place reacts to all of us working together. Like, our goals are aligning or something," she let out a laugh, rubbing at her ears again ,"but that's probably just wishful thinking. Bunny optimism at its best."

She shrugged, moving to pull more vines. "We might have been? I was only a few feet tall, if you can believe it. My partner wasn't much bigger; he was a fox. I worked with lots of larger animals though: most of our police force was made up of the larger sorts. You know, lions and rhinos and so forth,' Judy grinned. "So, yeah, there were some major size differences. It seems like every hoo-man seems to range from only a few feet. Lots less variety here."

[Della Miller]

Della had to smile at Judy calling her idea about Tintagel almost approving of their teamwork as bunny optimism. So that's what she was...that was kind of an adorable mental image there. Like, she could easily see her as an anthropomorphic rabbit a la Chronicles of Narnia or something...oh wait, Narnia was probably real too. Funny how she never knew of anyone from there being around though... "Well hey, you never know. I'll admit, usually the whole 'mind of its own' thing seemed to lead to trouble, or at least challenges...honestly, rewarding us for cleaning it up would be the very least it could do." She was only half joking there, to be honest. Again, she loved this place, but after all the bloodshed and drama, it was hard to not want to give this place a piece of her mind, if that were possible.

So her idea that the animals ranged wildly in size was right...gods, she couldn't even imagine. How the hell did no one ever get crushed? Or did they? Was that the kind of tragedy that turned up in the news pretty much every day, like car crashes? Not new enough to truly horrify, but enough to get a little wince and a "oh that's a real shame" out of people? Gods, that sounded terrifying...you know, she always felt like the Cars universe had scary implications, but this Zootopia might've too, had it been fictional. She just hoped that these thoughts that popped into her head weren't true, that this place had its shit together a bit better than that.

"Yeah, just about. I don't think we get taller than seven feet, and those are really rare, those are our basketball players, basically...and compared to animals, yeah, I could see how someone from Zootopia would probably think we all kind of looked alike." And yet we still found a goddamn way, didn't we?

By this point, the pile of vines around them was getting big enough that Della could very easily see a bonfire coming from this. "...any idea of where we should move this stuff until we figure out what to do with it?"

[Judy Hopps]

"Seven feet," Judy repeated, trying to figure. That wasn't too much taller than her. Sure, some of the people seemed bigger than her width wise too, but that meant she wasn't incredibly tiny, not, like, say, bunny rabbit to rhino tiny. That made Judy grin: she'd handled herself just fine when the odds were much worse: she could totally handle this.

"I don't want to be racist though," she said. "I'm not stupid: I can tell that we all have different mane colors and the skin is sometimes different. It's just tricky figuring out the little things," she shrugged, then stopped clipping and sweeping to look at the vines. Judy bent down ,gathering a bunch of them.

"I've been piling them," she explained, walking toward a pile she'd set atop one of the otherwise clean desks. At a glance, one might just assume that it was another overgrown table, not something done on purpose. Closer inspection would show it to be what it was: a rubbish pile. "I figure I'll borrow a wheelbarrow and get it wheeled out eventually. Most of the tools around here are in great shape," she nodded confidently, remembering the office not too far away. Again: this place wanting to be used. As long as Judy didn't think about the fact that they were all trapped here from different worlds, unable to see their old friends or family again, she couldn't help but think this place pretty cool.

[Della Miller]

"Or actually I think the tallest one was over eight foot...can't quite remember...but yeah, probably not as wide a range as you're used to.

When Judy said she didn't want to be racist, that kind of floored Della. She had found herself thinking about that sort of thing all throughout this conversation and Judy kind of beat her to the punch. She had to laugh. "Oh, sorry!" she immediately stopped herself, holding up her free hand. "It's just funny you say that, because...people who were born human have trouble with that, actually. Like, it's actually a major problem. Within our own species there are people who won't even try to not be racist, and yet here you are...gods, if I wrote that in a story, the publishers would say I'm being too on the nose about animals being better than humans." Even though I always suspected that and this conversation isn't exactly killing that, she mentally added, but this was a weird enough conversation without her saying that.

She supposed she should just stop being surprised that Judy had this all figured out by now. If she had KNOWN there was a wheelbarrow it would've come more naturally, but Della never really troubled herself to know what garden supplies were on campus before. "Well...okay, cool, that'll work."

[Judy Hopps]

The laughter had Judy cocking her head to the side. Really? Hoo-mans had problems with that? Then again, Judy supposed she shouldn't be all that surprised. There had been major issues with species and race back home, judging someone based on who they were and what sort of coat they wore and all that. Maybe that sort of thing was just built into people, or they built it in because they were stupid and wanted to think more of themselves.

"Well, fortunately there's enough of us from enough different places that I'm sure we'll figure it out," said Judy, nodding affirmingly. She moved back to organize the vines a little. "Yeah, I've sort of run around and checked everywhere. I kinda know some of the tools and stuff from just wandering. That's what I do when I get some spare time. It helps to kinda just walk and not do some work and thought."

Judy took a breath and looked around. "Is it just me, or is this place, like, helping?" she pointed toward the office. "I only cleared of some vines and took inventory in there, but that looks almost ready for a librarian to just take over."

[Della Miller]

It took all of Della's self control to not respond with 'oh you sweet summer child' when Judy suggested that it'd be easy to keep things conflict free, since everyone was from different places around here. For one thing, while that was very true, racism and xenophobia weren't usually the sources of conflict around here. Big personalities and way too much power usually were. And since some of those were from literal gods, she wasn't quite sure what they could really do to solve those problems...but Della didn't want to crush that refreshing combination of practicality and optimism, not right out the gate...perhaps she should check up on Judy once in a while. She knew the girl could take care of herself, was probably better at it than she, a thirty year old goddamn woman who had been a human her whole life, was...but that didn't necessarily mean she was ready for everything Tintagel could throw at you. Besides, she rather liked talking with her anyway.

Fortunately she could focus more on, again, the more practical aspects of this conversation. "Well hey, whatever works. And you're right. Usually taking a walk around the grounds does a world of good for me..." And then she followed Judy's finger, and sure enough, the office was ready. She half expected the librarian from back when school was in session to come out and say they'd take it from here, but no, that'd be insane.

She let out an incredulous chuckle and murmured, "Gods, I love magic..." This was precisely the sort of thing that had made her want to seek this place out again in the first place. That sense of wonder when something amazing happened, and the wonderful people, whether they were friends or future friends, she tended to meet. Yeah, a lot of people were assholes here too...but the friends made it worth it, and she needed to remember that.

[Judy Hopps]

"We'll have to take a walk together sometime: You can help me figure out where everything is. Some of the geography makes no sense,' Judy said, but she kept her attention focused on the office. She knew, knew to her bones, that her and Will had mostly just done inventory in there. They'd hacked the vines free and started getting in there to look around, but they'd definitely not done that.

Judy moved to set down her equipment, still studying it. She could just hear Della's comment, and she looked over at the other girl. "I dunno," she looked back, "last time we were here, Will and I had to fight off a magical creature of some kind too. Though this is kinda neat," she walked toward the office, looking around. "Is it awful that some part of me almost wants to test it? Start spilling ink and come back in a few hours, see how long it takes."

The office looked organized, as if someone with intelligence had come in and sorted everything for a new hire. Judy's gaze landed on a paper slicer, a completely intact machine that looked just worn enough to be useful. She pointed. "Yeah, I junked that last time. Needed the blade for a machete," yeah, this was starting to border on creepy.

[Della Miller]

"Oh definitely. Helping out any future students feels like the least I can do," Della agreed. "And yeah, I'm almost positive this place rearranges itself every once in a while, I just haven't been able to prove it." The sad part was she was only half joking. For all she knew that was exactly what it did, and no one had quite noticed in the midst of everything else going on.

When Judy mentioned having to fight a monster, she winced a little. "I should probably mention that one minute I'll be saying I love magic, and the next I'll be saying I hate it. I'm always a little conflicted about it for that exact reason. I'll have to tell you about how much Halloween was ruined for me because of that sort of crap..."

She followed Judy into the office and glanced around. No librarian thankfully, but it really just needed that and the library would be open for business, probably. She arched an eyebrow when Judy mentioned that she had needed the blade for a machete. "For the monster, I'm guessing...nice to know that the machinery around here is healing itself now, I guess. Creepy, but convenient..." She turned back around...you know, she had to wonder if this place needed a librarian. Sure, Della wasn't hurting for money like she used to, but...she spent enough time around here as a kid. It'd make some sense...and if Alyss was going to be teaching, she was probably going to need some help when the shit inevitably hit the fan, especially with Tori in the picture now...no way was this place going to make an orphan out of her goddaughter.

[Judy Hopps]

The place rearranged itself? Judy almost sighed at that. She already felt like she was running just to catch up with this place, but if you added magic to the mix. Well, Judy rose almost immediately, she guessed she'd just have to figure out how the magic worked and how to see through it or whatever it took. There had to be rules to it, even if it did apparently inspire conflicted feelings.

"Well, at least it's gotta be fun around the holidays...' Judy said, pausing to consider. Yeah, had to be. She nodded and kept going into the office, looking around again. "For the vines," Judy explained, clarifying the use of the machete. She pointed back toward where they'd begun piling them. Strangely, the school hadn't started moving those just yet.

"Could go with magical, maybe,' agreed Judy, kneeling down and looking around again. The place was definitely clean: there weren't even fingerprints. "It would make it very hard to track down someone or find evidence though. Unless the place accounts for--" sh turned back, seeing Della looking around. Judy grinned. "You could probably work here, if you wanted. I don't think anyone would object to you wanting to stick around and help out. We're gonna need everyone we can get, after all."

[Della Miller]

"Fun is one way of putting it...I'm dead serious, if you are going to go to any of the parties, tread lightly. I've seen two friends temporarily die at two separate parties, and that's not even the weirdest thing that happened there..." And then Judy mentioned that the machete had been for the vines...well...she couldn't deny it was effective but damn. Judy really was hardcore, it was kind of awesome. Whatever was left of her teenage self was probably flat out fangirling at this point.

When Judy seemed to read her like one of the books on the shelves, she turned back, snapping out of her images of the Hearts and back to reality. "...true...I was honestly going to stay away from the school but...who am I kidding? I don't think I could even if I tried...especially since it looks like most of my friends will be working here now. Someone's gotta help keep them out of trouble, right?" She chuckled to herself...but then got more seriously.

"And...really, thanks again. I think I speak for everyone who has any sense in their head that we really appreciate your help."

[Judy Hopps]

"Gotcha, be careful of parties," agreed Judy. She said it with some levity, but the weight Della gave the statement made her think twice about it. She looked at the magically clean and restored library, remembering the whole monster that had come out, remembering how it seemed like every other person here had this constant nervous state thing going on. Judy would have to try and figure out how this magic thing worked, at least in theory. That one guy, Merlin, he probably knew some information, at least enough for Judy to start figuring things out.

"Sounds like you're a protector too," said Judy, nodding. 'We'll have to work together, since I don't want to see anyone around here hurt," she gave Della a reassuring smile, "and really, you don't need to thank me for doing what anyone would do. Plus," Judy shrugged, moving to shoulder her clippers again, "it's my job."

She looked around again. "We really should focus on the more dangerous books first," she said, chewing her lip. "Just to make sure that someone like Will doesn't end up getting into them. We're both careful enough, right?" she looked to Della, half hoping for confirmation, and half hoping that Della had a much better idea in mind.