A Little Hay Between a Queen and a Cop {Gwen}

[Guinevere]

A rabbit and a fox…police partners…she had still heard stranger things but this was still way up there in the heights of very strange. Still, she had the practiced expression of interest which she had learnt over the years as Queen and masked her confusion underneath it.

“To be honest I’m not sure there was law enforcement in the city beforehand, or if there was then they must have been undercover because I never saw them,” said Gwen, thinking about it, “although given how things ended it might be a good idea to have some. No doubt Trenale has some kind of law book, it’ll probably be somewhere in the school library. Merlin will know, I’ll take you to him after we’re done here and we can see if we can get you all trained up in human laws…I…I imagine they won’t be too different from your own.”

As she moved a little more of the hay she continued, “In fact, the Grayle Coproration might be able to assist you with that. Help you get new recruits, fund any resources you might need. If we are going to start encouraging people to come back here we’re going to have to make sure there is some peace for them to come back too.”

[Judy Hopps]

No law enforcement? Judy actually froze, staring at Gwen, her head cocked. Was the queen joking somehow? It didn't sound like it. Gwen did seem like the sort to joke, sure, but not joke about something like this. That was something quite serious. "Merlin does seem like the type to know stuff like that," agreed Judy. "I don't know if I want to add more to his plate just yet. Plus," she gestured back to the stables, "we've got some other things to worry about first."

Though she did log away the information for later. She'd figured she'd need a lot more study, but if the laws were similar enough. Actually, if this place hadn't had any law enforcement... how did that even work? Law kept people from killing each other. This place was good and all that, but... there had to be some rules, didn't there?

Judy went back to work, almost missing the other bits. "Oh, yeah, we're definitely going to need funding. It would help to get people with similar training and all too. I don't think I could handle quite everything, after all. And Nick's great, but he's only been official for a few months now. And I don't know for certain that's what he'd want to do here," she looked around. "There are lots of options, after all." She looked back to Gwen. "You said corporation, right? Do royals just sort of run corporations around here or something?" that made sense to Judy. She pulled another large load of hay out while she talked, walking it out. It was then that she noticed that the hay had all but organized itself into a neat pile, ready to be shifted to a wheelbarrow and taken away.

Yeah, the magic here was pretty nice.

[Guinevere]

“Oh yes, definitely, but Merlin is always very helpful and always finds the time for those in need,” said Gwen with a fond smile.

Really, she wouldn’t know what she would have done without him all these years. For one thing he was wonderful with Tristian, Arthur and her couldn’t be around all the time and she could be sure that in their absence Merlin or Lance would take time with Tristian, either teaching his lessons or teaching him to fight. That little boy was spoiled…she couldn’t bring herself to care though, in her eyes, he was perfect.

She continued to move the hay and listen to the young rabbit, nodding in agreement with the most of it and laughing when she asked if Royals around here owned corporations, “No, Grayle Corp was a recent, and involuntary for the most part, acquisition. However, I want to try and put it to good use as soon as possible. Setting up some kind of law enforcement sounds like a good use of it, however it should remain independent from the corporation. So whilst I’m happy to fund it, I don’t think we could really ‘run’ it. Perhaps, if you didn’t feel you wanted to run it just now, although I am certain that you could, you could provide me with a list of names of potential candidates. We could interview them and see if they were up to the task. And if we’re going to have law enforcement we’re going to need to make sure we get a decent Justice system as well. Again, that should definitely be run separately from the corporation. I’m happy to fund any of it though and help you set it up…or rather…consult with my Security Advisor and help you set it up. I imagine this is probably more in his wheelhouse.”

[Judy Hopps]

Judy kept working while Gwen outlined her plan and clearing up a few matters. Royals didn't necessarily run things, which was something of a relief to hear. Grayle Corp she'd heard of before, at least in passing, so it was nice to put a face to it. As for running... Judy had to frown at that. She did seem like the best choice of those available, didn't she? You picked the person with the most experience in law enforcement...

"We should see who all has experience," she said. "Put up a notice, see if there's someone who has more than me. There's gotta be someone," Judy paused to run a hand over her ear, nerves taking over. "I've only been doing this for a year. If I have to, I can lead it..." she trailed off for a moment, looking back to the stable. "My partner's here too, Nick Wilde. He can help. I helped clean the library with Della Miller, who said she wanted to work as a detective, so there's that too," Judy moved to grab more hay again, noticing that they'd already gotten at least a few stalls cleared out. Weird, but things seemed to be almost naturally falling into place there.

"But I could totally talk to your Security Advisor or whatever for more," she said, nodding. She paused, then laughed. "Look at us, talking business, getting stuff done. Just the sort of casual conversation you expect two gals to have while scooping hay," Judy paused, watching Gwen for a moment. "You're actually really good at that: you do a lot of hay bailing in your kingdom?"

[Guinevere]

Gwen nodded along as the young woman went through her plan of action for developing a police force. She knew the name Della and said, “Yes I think I remember her from when I was last here, intelligent young woman, I’m sure she wold be able to help, and definitely speak with Sir Lancelot, he’ll be able to give you a few pointers as well.”

Well as her personal Champion in the Summer Country and the new Security Advisor and Vice President of Grayle Corp he seemed liked the best person for the young woman to liaise with. He had spent the last ten years protecting her and Tristian, he was bound to have a few pointers he could pass on. She wanted to encourage Judy to take on the running of the force, goddess knew that having a woman in charge would certainly be beneficial, however she didn’t want to push her too hard too quickly, especially if she had only been doing it for a year so far. Still, maybe one day…

She laughed and said, “Well, I have a lot of horses and when I was younger I liked to take care of them myself. Never ask someone to do something that you are not prepared to do yourself, including mucking out the stables. What about you? What did you do before you became a police” rabbit? “woman.”

[Judy Hopps]

Sir Lancelot, there was a knightly name. Judy almost wanted to ask if there was a Lady Stabby or a Duke Knivesnot or something, but she figured that would be a little rude, and Gwen had been quite nice and everything. She'd just have to seek out this Lancelot sometime and hope that he was friendly and helpful and all that good stuff.

"Ah, so you took care of your own horses," said Judy, nodding. "Makes sense," she adjusted the hay, noting that so much had gotten done pretty well: Magic kicking into gear. "Officer works," said Judy, looking up and smiling at Gwen. "Or maybe Police Rabbit. Officer bunny if you're feeling kinda mean."

She stretched for a moment. She moved to get to work on cleaning a new section, organizing gear. "I worked on a carrot farm," she called over her shoulder. "My family owned one: pretty big one. I got out of there as soon as I pretty much could though, but some things stick," she adjusted the gear, looking around again. It felt like they were making a dent, but maybe that was just all in her head.