A kings Reward and The Wings Spread

[Kami-Gaz]

Once Annika had placed her butt down on the chair, she noticed Simon then jumped up to her feet with a smile and ran over to the man. He looked so good now his uniform fit just right, and his badges were placed just perfectly. You could barely tell it was patched up at all! The smile on her face melted when she looked at Miguel leaving the room in a huff. “I told him off for being mean to you.” She said before Alivia nodded with a chuckle.

“And you too, love, please make sure she holds her tongue at the station.” The mother said with such a pleasant grin that it mirrored what Annika could do when she was happy. Then she picked up a card and handed it Fonzie. “Make sure he has this, so he can come to the Spa whenever.” She said as Fonzie followed Simon and Annika out of the room.

“Will do Alivia!” The guard called with a salute as he left the room and then slipped it into Simon’s pocket as he himself ran up to the front to lead the way. “How’re you holding up big guy?” He asked in a quiet whisper to Miguel, knowing he was smarting inside and just wanted one dig at him as well.

Annika was walking not too far from them with Simon and returned to smiling. “You look so good now it fits properly!” She said with a hint of pride. “Once we are done at the station, I’m going to start training with Fonzie, but you can come by any time you want, and you can go to the Spa whenever.” She said excitedly. She was so close to getting her dream of being a real hero to make change… just like Pipsi man the character.

---

Post: 15

[/font]Claude: ce5a3d
Oleg: 00c2ff
Alivia: a55eff
Fonzie: d8b000[/ul][/div]

Matilda: ffd1f6

[Bobbie]

“I’ll try my best!” Simon called back to Alivia, knowing that keeping Annika’s mouth in check would be no easy task. The girl had a habit of giving her tongue too much freedom, which she had originally displayed even with him, but Simon’s immunity to slander and insult, coupled with a nice smile seemed to counter it quite well.

As Fonzie passed him, he glanced down to his pocket to see the card that he had just slipped into it sticking out ever so slightly. Smiling, he pushed it down to make sure it was safe, “Thank you.” He said, not quite sure if he’d be heard or not, but he felt he should say the words anyway.

Then his blue-haired companion reached him and spoke in such a proud tone that Simon couldn’t help laughing with a huge grin on the officer’s happy face. “It really does! Not too tight, not too loose.” he lightly tugged at the shirt, then flattened it down, “How did you know what size to get it to? There isn’t a single stitch that stands out either, it’s like it was bought this way.” He said in a perplexed tone as he sobered up, but was back in smiles only moments later. “You have a talent with fabrics. It feels pretty good and I love how you fixed up the nametag. The frayed edge were kind of ugly, now that I see it all patched up.” He said, having noticed all the little things that she did to it – but he didn’t really have the eye for fashion that she did. Had she not adjusted the fit, a difference that he could physicall feel, he probably wouldn’t have cared too much about the visual changes made.

“Oh, and thanks for telling Miguel off, but you really didn’t have to. He honestly doesn’t bother me as much as he thinks he does.” Simon’s over-caring nature easily got the better of him as he somehow managed to feel bad for Miguel, scumbag extraordinaire, gifted in the arts of and snide remarks and masking corruption in the darkness of the night – or of his coat pocket, which is usually where the extra payments tend to go.


Miguel shuddered and a shiver went down his spine as Folonzo whispered to him. He turned his head to look at him with an annoyed frown. “How am I holding up?” he asked, rhetorically, beyond irritated by the whole lot of them. What’s this now, kicking a man when he’s down? Not something a 'hero' should do, if you ask me. He glanced back in Simon’s direction, wondering if his colleague – no, his subordinate – put Fonzie up to this, but soon saw that the scrawny little grinner was busy in conversation with Annika, the other little devil. “Just fine.” He replied, followed by a sulky mutter, “Grand.” He began to walk faster, hoping to bring this terrible ordeal to an end sooner, and also hoping the intimidating Fonzie would take the hint and fall behind with the other two as Miguel was clearly not in the mood for talking.

Once they reached the dock, he raised his hat just enough to lift the visor and get a better view of the transportation vehicles available to them. “Of course. All the bulls are occupied, why not? Sure, go ahead, why not? Make Miguel’s day even worse.” He grumbled to himself, before he promptly power-walked over to a young couple who were in the process of boarding one. “Excuse me, we’re going to need to borrow this on official police business.” He showed the couple and the owner his badge. “It’s of utmost importance that this scary-looking man right here is taken to the station at once, before anything bad happens.” He tried to be convincing. Folonzo didn’t have to do anything at all. His size alone was convincing enough for him to play the role of any big mean villain.

The couple gasped and quickly stepped aside for them to take the bull. The owner wasn’t happy, but the badge and the feigned urgency of the situation was enough to remove any obligation of payment.

He turned to Folonzo, took a deep breath, and in the most authoritative voice that he could muster, gave a single command. “Get on.”

---

Simon: #d2ce2f

Miguel: #ffdfb2

[Kami-Gaz]

The complements that her friend was giving her made Annika feel a flutter of butterflies in her stomach, he was so genuine and nice about everything how did this man not have a family of his own yet? “Really, it’s fine. Being good at sewing came with practice… when I was really young, I wanted to make pretty clothes for people.” The heiress explained as they stopped behind Fonzie and Miguel. “But then I saw how bad people have it. How awful people can be to each other and when I first Saw Pipsiman I fell in love with being a hero like him.” She added, very happy to explain her life motivations to the man.

Fonzie looked down to the officer and shook his head and sighed. “Ignore the officer, I will sort us transportation.” He then looked to Miguel and frowned. “Seriously mate, if you asked before we left we could have used some of the Stratonovski Bulls.” He said before looking to Annika who was gently swaying,

“And it’s no problem, Simon, I wanted to make sure he knew his place and what people thought of a bully like them.” She whispered as her eyes caught Fonzie’s.

“Mind giving us your whistle?” He asked, a sly grin and a nod to the girl to signal what he meant as his gaze went to the canals of Water 7. He as a man was a tall wall of muscle and imposing threat… the fact he relied on such a small girl was a testament to how much he respected her ability to get the following done.

Annika flashed a smile to Fonzie. “Cover your ears, Simon.” The girl warned before pulling a hand to her mouth and placing her thumb and forefinger just in her lips. With a sharp inhale she blew a whistle that was earsplittingly loud up close. “TAXI!” She bellowed after her whistle silenced the area and got all sorts of looks.

A second later a large gondola pulled by a pair of big strong looking bulls pulled up right by the group. “Where too Miss?” The man asked, making Fonzie grin to Miguel before climbing in and sliding to the back most seat. “No need to be an arse to people when you can use your own resources.” He explained to Simon, a lesson from his old life as a pirate.

“To the police station please.” Annika said as she sat behind the driver and leaving a space for Simon.

---

Post: 16

[/font]Claude: ce5a3d
Oleg: 00c2ff
Alivia: a55eff
Fonzie: d8b000[/ul][/div]

Matilda: ffd1f6

[Bobbie]

Simon could see the girl was almost glowing with the compliments that he was giving her, and it gave him a warm and fuzzy feeling to see her so happy. None of it was untrue and she had earned every single kind word that he uttered. As she explained the origins of her dream, he nodded. “Yeah, I get that. Nice to have a role model and that is quite a worthy cause.” He replied, thinking about his own decision to become a traffic warden some time ago, and then being given this promotion that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The commotion being stirred up by Miguel and Folonzo pulled his attention away from Annika for a moment to see what was going on, but as Annika spoke again, he turned back to her with a big smile and a laugh. “Well, somebody’s got to do it.” He joked, although that was true – and it sure wasn’t going to be him.

Following Annika’s instruction, Simon reached up to cover both of his ears as she made such a shrill sound, her whistle cutting through the air like a knife. Miguel clearly suffered the effects as his shoulders became tense while he was in the middle of gesturing for the people to return to the bull that he had attempted to make use of. He turned with an annoyed frown and glared at the girl for a moment, then shook his head.

Simon stared at the gondola that seemed to come out of nowhere, “No way, that’s amazing! Really powerful whistle, and you have your own gondola?” he asked, having also taken note of the polite tone that the driver spoke to her in. With a big grin, he was happy to climb on board and sit next to her, being very careful of the gap between the ledge and the vehicle.

Miguel was less pleased by the situation and merely rolled his eyes at Fonzie’s comment, taking the seat beside him for the trip.

---

Simon: #d2ce2f

Miguel: #ffdfb2

[Kami-Gaz]

With the world around the group slowly returning to normal after the ear-splitting whistle from Annika the world around the taxi that had pulled up. With a raised brow she looked to Simon and shrugged. “I do, and a few bulls. But we left in such a hurry captain speedy pants stopped us being able to get them out.” She spoke as a matter of factly, the driver having already nodded to the group before getting started and rushing them through the many canals.

“And yeah, I’ve had to train my whistle to be really loud since I was young and walking on to active shipyards as a child… Whenever there was trouble, I had to whistle for some help.” She explained simply as a proud Folonzo nodded behind them both. The drive was quick, seeing as traffic had recovered in the hour since Miguel’s mad dash had ruined the morning flow.

In mere minutes the group arrived out front of the station and Annika produced a wallet from her pocket and started to count money. “Thanks for the quick journey.” The young heiress spoke as she left a rather handsome tip to the grizzled old man of a driver. She then turned to Simon. “Right, time to be professional. I will sit in the waiting room with Fonzie and you can go with Mr Grumpy Pants.” She spoke coldly teasing Miguel.

Fonzie chuckled as he slid up beside Annika and was ready to follow the officers into he station. He was puffing himself up for an added intimidation factor… not that it was needed. “Lead the way officers, my charge does not have all day for standing around. We have to schedule a personal training routine.” He spoke making the cold frown on Annika’s face crack into a soft smile for a moment… he knew what the girl was after. She was in a rush to be a hero after all.

ANNIKA FIN

---

Post: 17

[/font]Claude: ce5a3d
Oleg: 00c2ff
Alivia: a55eff
Fonzie: d8b000[/ul][/div]

Matilda: ffd1f6

[Bobbie]

“Yeeeaaaah, he really was in a hurry, I wonder what that was all about. Maybe it's because you grilled him.” Simon replied, before letting out a chuckle. “Captain speedy pants. He’s just always in such a hurry, he’s so wound up all the time. Also always in a bad mood.” He sighed, shaking his head.

“I can hear you, will you shut up?” Miguel suddenly turned in his seat to look at Simon with a death glare. “The reason I’m always so wound up is because of-“ he started, but quickly bit his tongue and stopped himself from saying more while Simon’s mighty protector was seated right there beside the man, and her protector was right beside Miguel. “Ugh, never mind.” He turned round again to face forward, beyond frustrated as steam metaphorically burst out through his ears. The next few grumbles were made beneath his breath and were not addressed to anyone.

Once they arrived in front of the station, Miguel was the first to step out, eager to get off the bull and away from the Stratonovski brat. “Come on, hurry up.” He snapped at Simon, only reinforcing their previous commentary on Captain Speedy Pants’ mood.

Simon got off the bull and touched land very carefully – he didn’t want another accident to happen that could ruin his wonderful new uniform that Annika had made for him personally, which he clearly loved very much. As his companion was promoted to Mr Grumpy Pants, Simon laughed, causing Miguel to glare at him again, a subtle spark in his eye and a little huff escaping him that revealed his darkest inner thoughts: he wanted to murder this scrawny squirrel that called itself an officer of the law. “Are you done?” he asked, impatiently, only glancing at Annika and not daring to look Folonzo’s way.

“Almost.” Simon replied, nonchalantly, seeming to completely miss how genuinely upset Miguel actually was, and he took his time to straighten his uniform against his chest, highlighting the pretty nametag. “I’m done.” He smiled.

The twitch in Miguel’s right eye was uncontrollable at this point and his tight fist was the only thing preventing him from smacking Simon on the back of his head. “Let’s go then. At your leisure.” He said through his teeth, before pushing past them to the front, but grabbed Simon’s arm and yanked him to walk by his side rather than behind him. Once they left Fonzie and Annika in the waiting room, Miguel began his instructions, “Listen to me. Whatever shady deals you made with the Stratonovskis? You don’t mention any of that when being asked questions, do you understand? None of it! No spa, no fancy uniform, no payments of any kind!” he hissed at Simon in the best inside-voice that he could manage. “I don’t need you getting flagged for accepting bribes or associating with criminals while under my watch!”

Simon stared at Miguel as he was pulled, his perfectly neat uniform getting creased again as his smile disappeared.

“What criminals?”

---

Simon: #d2ce2f
Miguel: #ffdfb2