The goat drew her hoof back above the counter, bearing aloft a pair of… watches? Nick squinted, subtly. Yes. Those were watches, or at least something made to look like such timing devices. One with a much larger face than the other, gleaming gently in the low, ambery light of the shop, with straps made of a dark, flexible looking material, judging by how they pooled on the keratin. Probably the same material Carrots’ uniform was fashioned from, or a near relative.
“Yes…” she drawled, smile unwavering. “I have a feeling you could make use of these smart-watches, Officer Wilde.” She tilted her hoof for the faces to stare at his own, showing off the numerous dials and segments on the larger of the pair. “Bespoke design of my own making, they are imbued with both a tracking device and an array of sensors.” Her eyes flickered to them for a heartbeat, her gaze softening into a fond, almost motherly dote. “I imagine they would make it very easy for you to track your progress and capacity to maintain your partner’s routine.”
Ha. It was internal. Capacity. Yes… he perhaps had more capacity to match a certain desk-jockey than his illustrious beat-mate, but he could appreciate the thought. He grinned. “Like a Fit-Bit™, Miss?”
Those soft eyes glowered for a moment. “Never heard of such a thing, officer.” He never flinched. His tits just bobbed like that under his blues—couldn’t be helped. “Although, if such a thing were to exist, I daresay these little beauties would have them out-matched.” Delicately, she lowered her hoof to the counter and deposited the pair a short distance apart, teasing the faces forwards with her wide digits under watchful eyes. “They are rather inextricably linked, you see.” Her stomach bulging over the surely-reinforced wood, her smile broadening in a manner most unbecoming of an ovine, she loomed over Nick and his remarkably straight back. “They only function as a pair, but by doing so they guarantees successful fitness management.” Two buck teeth winked at him from her rosied lips. “At least, for one party.”
Nick held his smile, but his ears hardened. Wait… all that babble about her ‘experimental’ wares and how he might be ‘sceptical’ of her methods—admittedly, his mind had been wandering the various expanses of his prodigious girth and wallowing in the adorable depths of a certain bunny’s response and therefore not giving it’s full attention—but… she believed all that?
Raising a finger, he quirked a brow. “Yes…” He made a show of flashing a wide, toothless grin. “I imagine that the power to transfer weight between mammals would be a little beyond most glorified GPS trackers.”
Stephanie huffed, eyes looping the ceiling while the counter groaned beneath her. “Of all mammals, Officer Wilde,” she groused, folding her arms together around the curve of her belly. “I would have assumed you might appreciate some subtlety and misdirection.”
Now he unleashed the teeth. Just the two—be gentle with the… old(er)(?) girl. “Well, I’ve found in most walks of my life, it pays to not be too predictable.” He settled back into an easier smile, allowing his own knotted paws to nestle softly, somewhere near his navel. Underneath it, his stomach boiled with the possibilities… and the rankle. This was true. This was apparently true? Some mystical mambo-jumbo-type peddler, ravishing as she was—part of the act, fox—had found a way to meddle with mammal physiology… digitally?
“Indeed,” Stephanie offered, lips quirking into half a smirk. “And, while that’s not all these devices can manage, yes, that was the intention for your… predicament.” Not all? “Although I am surprised that such an esteemed detective as yourself is taking this all quite so in-stride?”
Nick winked, tail swishing. “Well, I’m a mere beat patrol officer, ma’am.” He tilted his head, paw pressing delicately into his chest. “Don’t right have them smarts for detection’, not-yet, just ‘ere to keep things peaceable-like.” Pausing as she let out a titter, he raised his paw once more. “Plus, you see a mammal distil a pellet which mimics a primordial state of mind in anyone it touches for the sake of electoral success, you tend to appreciate that the bounds of possibility may be wider than expected.” Or at least they can be humoured. Oops. That may have been a bit deep. Her brow was rising, quick Wilde - drop of the shoulders, hopeful eyebrow rise, paws softly falling wide, gentle flicker of that fluffy pillar, it always drew the eye back! “If not for the same motivations.”
Saved it.
She huffed, smiling. “Works for me, officer.”
Finding no ire or fire despite the intensity of her stare, Nick drew his paws together, smile curling into a discerning grin. “Then how much do I owe you, ma’am?”
The goat chuckled as she shook her head, drawing a hoof up to her heaving chest. “Not a penny for the city’s finest, Officer Wilde?”
Nick fought to fix his smile. Free? Free was not good. One too many monkey’s paw style stories - heck, one too many of his own monkey’s paw hustles - swam in his mind’s eye to stay an avalanche of tingles down his spine. “Are you sure, ma’am?” he said, definitely, no jitters. Tail not billowing above his sweltering backside. “You did say they are bespoke?”
Her hoof swayed beside her warm, soft smile, free of even an iota of the intensity from moments before. “Just trying to do my best by a fox trying to do his own best in this city.” Bowing gently, Nick did his best to not watch her belly fold in or her chin pillow beneath itself. His best was not enough, judging by the sheet heat under his shirt. Was it time for another upgrade? Wait, would he even need one now? “But if you insist, Officer Wilde, then I will take no more than ten dollars the pair.”
Something settled in him. Somehow. Yes, he was parting with money, but… well, none of those old vulpine myths and legends his parents regaled him with involved charging for cursed goods. Not even anti-heroes were that cheap. “Deal.”
1) Nick is… convinced, and decides to try the watches out. Worst comes to it, he and a friend each have a unique fitness tracker, so win-win!
2) Nick is… sceptical, but decides to get a second opinion from someone before trying them out. After all, he’s a responsible law-mammal now, he can’t just go messing with others for his own fun?
3) Nick is… believing, but… if this stuff is real, then surely it can’t be limited to just one pair. Right? That would be irresponsible. Luckily, he knows a badger who is a whizz around tech… and out-there enough to not immediately blow his cover.
4) Nick is… rumbled. For his scepticism, Stephanie hypnotises him into having no memory of the watches functions while compelling him into handing the second to the mammal he was planning to anyway. She locks the functionality, too!
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