Author
I have chosen to remain anonymous, writing under the pen name Pawthorne on AO3, FanFiction.net, and Wattpad.
Background
The last time I wrote a fanfiction was for American Dragon back in 2007. These days, I do the boring kind of writing: papers and policies trying to make the world a better place.
I've worked in emergency management and counterterrorism. I've handled crisis policy and governance, and volunteered in social services. In my past role I handled counterterrorism and local security for visiting heads of state, including the President of the United States. There's quite a lot of real-world influence in how the crisis sequences play out, particularly in Season 5.
I hope I didn't War Thunder anything.
The Writing Process
This series was originally created for my own consumption. I skipped work (then took a sabbatical) to write it, discussed it at meetups, pulled all-nighters. This got on my boyfriend's nerves very quickly, and to him, I apologize.
The original work was 121 episodes long, rewritten from scratch into the 104 episodes before you. Some parts may feel rushed as a result.
Yes, I use Notepad++ and Git for writing. I'm too lazy to use Fountain especially since it won't give me a format that will be friendly with the places I'm uploading to, and I'm not going to buy Final Draft because Disney used up all my money.
Part of this series was written while I was physically in Zootopia, sitting in the streets of Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland, sporting my lanyard with a Better Zoogether pin from Disney's Animal Kingdom, eating a pawpsicle and taking photos with Nick and Judy. Can't get more immersive than this.
A Personal Note
"Radio Silence" has roots in my own lived experiences. Some time after leaving emergency management, I met my current partner, who then entered the field and went through training.
I knew academy training is safe, having gone through it myself. But for weeks I couldn't let go of the dread of what if things went wrong, especially on days where it was radio silence. It was a dark time for me, and what helped were the many friends who noticed something was wrong, to the point that there was an active roster of babysitters (literally) looking after me.
On AI
The worldbuilding, plot, characters, and development were all made by me. However, AI assisted in the writing of this story, particularly with research (especially on legal matters), proofing, expanding, or reducing sections of the work.
I understand that AI is a dirty term to those especially in the creative industry who do this kind of story writing professionally, and I don't want it to seem like AI can replace these people, especially as I look up to them.
I will not engage on this matter further. My hope is that by reading, you'll realize this is not a story AI could come up with.
Post-Series Content
After the main series wrapped, I kept writing. What started as breaks between rewrites became two companion series.
The P-series is the explicit stuff. Very explicit. Post-wedding episodes exploring the pack's intimate lives with zero restraint, published as a separate work. The W-series is a collection of semi-canon slice-of-life episodes: cozy, emotional, filling in gaps I didn't have room for in the main timeline. If you loved Season 4, this is more of that energy: the pack at peace, living their lives. Neither series requires the other, and both assume you've finished the main series.
Beyond those, I have an entire unpublished meta series called CUT that I made to bridge myself off the headspace of being in the series. It takes place in a Zootopiafied version of our world, where I play a director trying to bring forward the narrative of Zootopia by bridging several TV series together, working politically to get rival networks to cooperate.
It culminates in the shooting of the siege in Reptile Ravine from "Final Position". Fictitious versions of Iger, Cavanagh, Langley, and Cramer (representing Disney, Universal, Amazon, and many other showrunners) come together to make my director dreams come true. They shoot a TWDC production at Universal's Falls Lake, with Reptile Ravine as a fully built practical set, complete with cameos all over the place.
Contact
I don't know why you'd ever need to contact me, but if you do...