/ztg/ It had been ten years since the two first met

from /ZTG/ - Zootopia General: I've Never Played Disco Elysium
h ttps://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/52370106/#52383406
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>It had been ten years since the two first met. Somehow it didn't feel like that many to him.
>Not because it felt like fewer than that had actually gone by. That was a feeling as familiar to him in his growing maturity as the dull ache in his joints, and the little grey hairs poking out at the end of his muzzle. No-- what struck him the most as that date came into view was that it felt like --more-- years than ten had passed.
>It made sense as he thought it over. That was a fateful day, even if it didn't seem so at first. So much turned around on such short notice, it was almost dizzying in retrospect.
>And not just his career: his social circles, spending habits, plans for the future, his affects-- his general worldview. And it all hinged on one little chance encounter. Even ten years ago now seemed so foreign, like it had more in common with his kithood than the present.
>Ten years! That phrase kept rattling in his head. She was older now than he was when they met, and with a generous lead that was only growing wider. Somehow this made sense, too. She had changed a great deal with him.

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>He studied her motions from about 20 foxtrots off. It was in the Academy banquet hall, the reception after that year's graduation ceremony. He never did seem to get more fond of the receptions, but he always tolerated them.
>Regardless, he had made it a habit to take the first opportunity to slink away once he had shook enough paws and introduced himself to enough cadets with shiny golden braids and badges. He enjoyed a party most when he had a chance to be just an observer and not always a participant. A chance to take in the scents and read the room. Working the room was more her job.
>His focus was usually on her, though. Even after all these years, she was the center of his attention.
>She wasn't any less of a social butterfly as she was ten years ago, but as he looked back on that time he could sense she had changed. The image that stood out to him the most in his memory was just how perky she was then-- restless feet, straight posture, bright voice, head held up as high as those beautiful ears. Vigour of youth if he had ever seen it. But she always did seem to be holding some restless tension in her.
>She sure didn't seem --old--, now, just more settled in. It reminded him quite a bit of himself at that age. Now that zeal was turning over to stateliness. Now her steps seemed to have more weight and purpose in them, and her presence in that hall had grown, even if she was still the smallest officer to ever make Captain.
>All of her affects seemed so familiar, in a way that he couldn't quite put his claw on. It wasn't just because she --was-- so familiar. It somehow went beyond her. It was something in the rhythm of her steps, and maybe in the way that she cupped her paws behind her back--
>But then the pieces came together. She no longer carried herself so much like he knew a bunny does-- and he had gotten to know plenty in ten years. No-- hers stood out in how much like a vixen's they were.

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>After all these years she now had with her a little piece of those ineffable qualities that only another fox could truly pick up on. Like an imprint of himself.
>His gaze was now so fixed that he didn't even notice when his lips began to part, and his paw came up to touch his cheek.
>It seemed so strange for it to only come into focus now. Doubly when he considered that they had been married for almost six of those last ten years. How did he only see it now? Some changes he could see more clearly, but others, he supposed, were subtler and more gradual than that.
>He stood in thought for a moment longer, his head moving with her as she glided along to greet another group of mammals-- ones quite a bit larger than her, but who still bent down in respect of her stature.
>His thoughts turned in towards himself then. So he had given a piece of himself to her-- but what about herself to him? He searched a little more for his past self.
>He did feel a little more comfortable in his own hide. That was one thing. It seemed less and less like a necessity for him to need to always put up that wall, to always be so cool and disaffected. There was a time when he couldn't imagine even letting his guard down enough to tell a story over dinner.
>He had attended enough bunny parties and festivals-- and a wedding or two --that he did admit he had begun to grow a certain appreciation for them. That was another thing. The first trip out to Bunnyburrow for the Carrot Days festival was marked with dread every step of the way there, and then he found himself having the time of his life by the end and only dreading the fact that he'd have to leave it and go back to work. That, too, was hard to imagine once.
>He broke from this line of thought for a moment to pull back his sleeve and look at his watch. Only four minutes had passed.

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>Four minutes! This chance to break away from the crowd and be an observer had lasted all of four minutes. He remembered the second ceremony he attended and how he had stood out on the balcony for over an hour, his tail to the party, only going back in to join the crowd when a Sergeant from another precinct wanted to see him.
>Something like that had happened in every ceremony since, but it was only now that he made note that, in each successive one one, he had spent less time devoted to this ritual than the last. Each time he grew less conscious of the time passing and more deeply invested in conversation, more able to simply let that time pass. He had expected to dread even this social gathering, but now it was clear he had actually been enjoying it the whole way through, no matter what he expected or insisted to himself.
>That was it. That, more than anything else, is what Judy had given to him.
>At about this same time she started to move again, and their gazes met as she turned around. Nick smiled brightly, and in one motion he closed the gap between them to follow her lead to another group.

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