One of the upsides of the Zootopia prison system was its rehabilitation program. If you behaved well enough your first few months, they'd give you an apartment in a monitored area of the neighborhood and make you attend therapy sessions. Some of the criminals locked up in the maximum security joint thought it was for wimps. Only snitches and rats aimed for rehabilitation.

But Pawbert had seen it as an opportunity. All he had to do with play nice with his big brothers and father in their shared cell for a few months and then he'd be practically free from them forever. He'd already grown up tolerating their shit, so what was a few more weeks? He was the only Lynxley who'd even be considered "fixable" after he'd pleaded severe mental health problems in court. And that wasn't even entirely a lie!

His tail had been thumping excitedly as he watched the corrections officer sign his papers. He was in apartment 14G and they'd set him up to work at a bookstore. That was... actually perfect. A new, quiet life away from the trauma of the Lynxley family and all they did to him. Gary De'Snake actually wrote his voucher letter saying he could be rehabilitated, which only brought back the nauseating guilt of betraying him.

But at the time, it had felt like the safest option. He would've rather gained his family's love than risk what they'd do to him if they caught him working with the pit viper.

Pawbert was snapped out of his daydreams by the prison transport reaching an abrupt stop. He was walked out by two officers in handcuffs, a muzzle strapped around his face. As they slowly started removing all the gear, the apartment door opened.

And there you were. His new roommate and fellow rehabilitated criminal.