View source for 2019-12-20 - Robbery at the Mall Foiled by Pink Ostrich

{{Logsummary|
Title    =Robbery at the Mall Foiled by Pink Ostrich
|Summary =Pola and Pinky head to the mall for food, end up stopping a jewelry store robbery instead, then Rayne arrives to call in backup for the actual arrest and ends up talking a bit with the girl and bird duo.
|Who     =[[Pola]], [[Rayne]]
|Date    =December 20, 2019.
|Where   =New Market Mall
|Log=

New Market Mall
 
The New Market Mall immediately fulfills numerous checks on the list of what you expect from a mall. There is a distinct smell; a mixture of multiple perfumes, shiny retail items, and a miasma of various fast food scents. There are waxed floors, wide long walkways, and a neutral color scheme of beiges, whites, and faintly sickly greens.
 
The ceiling itself provides a large portion of light, wide panes of glass making up the majority of its structure. Set back about 20 feet from the main entrance sits a charming fountain, with raised marble and stone walls. The interior jets cycle through a few different colors and designs, and the water inside shows multiple coins representing flicked wishes.
 
There are potted plants and sofas placed strategically throughout the hallways, providing spots to rest on your spree. There's weaponry, clothing, a taxidermy store, candle shops, a pharmacy, photographer, a florist, a dollar store... more or less anything you can imagine your heart might desire!

It's...  the mall!  One of two major locations to go if you want to shop(The other being S-Mart, of course).  And there, in the mall, amongst all the other people, is a rainbow haired woman wearing an outfit that wouldn't look out of place in a fantasy setting...  though normally someone with that outfit in such a setting would easily meld into the background.  It's just a leather cuirass over a green tunic with sturdy leather pants and sturdier boots.  "...Why is it so crowded today?" she mumbles as she attempts to make her way towards whatever her destination is.

Pola hasn't been in town long, but probably fits in fairly well. She's not exactly wearing the height of fashion, but her clothes are at least normal enough, orange and white jacket, tight jeans, white boots. What likely does draw attention is the large pink ostrich that's giving her a ride. Does the mall even allow animals? She didn't read the rules sign at the entrance, and no one has told her otherwise, but the, would you want to be the mall security guard that tries to kick out a girl and her rather imposing 'pet' bird who's kick is known to be able to kill a lion? She's making her way through the food court which is the busiest part of the mall usually, pondering getting some food for herself and Pinky, when suddenly she hears breaking glass and screaming from not far away, and with a pat to the ostrich's side, Pinky actually looks like she grins a little and begins running toward the sounds of trouble.

Rayne pauses mid-step at the sound of breaking glass and screaming.  There's that pause of a half-second to see if the screams are constant, or if this was just some accident that happens...   but from the sounds of things, no, there's something more ongoing about this trouble.  With a heavy sigh in contrast to the ostrich's grin, she starts making her way towards the kerfuffle, whatever it is.

Pola and Pinky come to the entrance of the store that is the source of the commotion just in time to hear a large man with a gun inside yell in a demanding tone. "Hurry up! Open the case with your best stuff and put it in this bag or I'll put a bullet in your face!" The shopkeep does as he's told, but as he sees Pinky and Pola his eyes widen with surprise at the very strange sight. The man with the gun follows his expression and turns around, staring in disbelief himself for a moment before finally aiming his gun and attempting to shoot at the pair, but his hesitation is enough for Pinky to leap into the store and send a flying kick toward the man's gut. His shot goes wild with the bullet going into the ceiling, and the man doubles over in pain. Pinky then bites his hand to get him to drop the gun before kicking it into the wall and pinning him to the ground with one of her feet. "That was great Pinky, he never had a chance!" Pola cheers and hops down, sticking her tongue out at the man who had attempted to rob the store. "I usually catch scum like you for money, but you're lucky, you got a freebie!" She says with a laugh, then wonders how long it'll be before the police get here to grab this goon. Now she was really getting hungry.

How long will it be, indeed?  "Armed Robbery in progress at the Mall.  Scratch that, bystander disabled the situation.  Just send someone to pick up the perp."  Apparently it will be very quickly indeed before the first cop strolls up.  Of course, she was off duty, but Rayne never is without a radio.  Ever.  She walks right up to the trio of girl, ostrich, and gunman and looks down at the man with a look of sheer annoyance at him.  "Unfortunately, I don't have any handcuffs on me.  So you're going to have to have a large bird standing on you until backup arrives."  Pola and Pinky, however, get a significantly less annoyed look.  "Good work.  Doesn't look like anyone's been injured."  She pauses, then looks down again.  "Well, maybe except him, but, well, he kinda asked for it, didn't he?"

Pola blinks as Rayne shows up and radios for backup like an officer, because she is one. Wow, that was fast. She grins though as the woman thanks her and Pinky, and mentions that the gunman is the only one who got hurt. "Well, I figure some bruises and maybe a cracked rib on him is better than a bullet in someone else. I'm Pola by the way, and this is Pinky." She offers in introduction, giving the large bird a gentle pat on the back. The shopkeep is finally recovering from the shock of all that just happened, and the fact that a pink ostrich is not only standing in his shop, but responsible for saving himself and his livelihood from a robber. "I can't believe what I'm seeing right now, but thank you both. You are welcome to have any single piece from my store as thanks." Offers the shopkeep, and suddenly Pinky's eyes light up at the offer and she starts looking around a bit. The bird did like her shiny things. "You're welcome. Was just around the corner and decided to lend a hand."

Rayne nods to the two of them as Pola introduces herself and Pinky.  "Rayne Hurris.  Chief of the MCPD.  It's a pleasure to-"  She pauses, then looks at the shopkeep with a raised eyebrow.  "Really?  A pink landbound bird is the strangest you've seen here?"  Counter to the shopkeep, the rainbow haired woman(Chief of police?  She looks like she's barely out of her teens, if even that) has no look of surprise or shock whatsoever at Pinky's appearance.  She's seen stranger.
 
Rayne still misses Ren.
 
With a light shrug, Rayne looks back to...  well, just Pola now, as Pinky appears to be distracted with other things.  "I don't mind the help, that's for sure."

Pola also lets Pinky browse in peace, putting her own boot down on the gunman's back now while the shop keep does keep more of an eye on Pinky, but shakes his head at Rayne's question. "No, it's not that, it's...Nevermind." He decides not to elude to the fact that he would rather not have a large animal in his shop and how he's surprised Pinky was allowed into the Mall at all. Pola smiles at Rayne and nods. "Pleasure to meet you too! Chief of police huh? Pinky and I just might end up helping you some more sooner or later. We've been collecting on criminal scum like this thug since I was ten and a half."

With now only a child on top of the man, Rayne is not taking her eyes off of him.  She's also resting a hand on the pommel of one of her swords.  Totally not a threatening gesture, she's just...  resting it there.  Sure.  "'Collecting'?  Hurg.  Another bounty hunter type, I see."  For the briefest moment, she glances away.  "...Wish I could find more patrol officers."
Pola frowns a bit at Rayne's apparent disappointment, and looks back at Pinky for a moment, apparently just as the bird picks out something. "I'll take this one!" She says as she points her beak at a hummingbird brooch, much to the surprise of the shop keep. "Yes, of course..." He says as he takes the piece and bags it, letting Pinky take the bag in her beak. Pola looks back at Rayne, thinking about what she just said. "So there's a lot of bounty hunters around then? I never thought about joining the police, could be an interesting change at this point. Maybe you can tell me more about it over some lunch, after your backup gets here." Finally she takes the bag from Pinky and attaches the brooch to her collar. "Now you're the largest bird, wearing the smallest one. Hilarious." She says with a giggle.

Rayne raises an eyebrow at Pola's apparent interest in joining the force.  "...How old are you?" she asks carefully.  She's not employing a child.  She's attempting to run a /normal/ police force, thank you.  On the other hand...  Rayne knows quite well that people can be much older than they look.  "But, yeah.  We have a bounty board as well for situation where it's more difficult for a police officer to get into.  And for some side things that aren't quite police work but still dangerous enough that you want someone that can handle those kinds of situations."

Pola lets her foot off the man as other officers arrive and salute Rayne, then two take the man into custody, while another questions the shop keep about the incident and fills out the report. "Well...., I'm sixteen." Pola answers reluctantly, having a feeling it's probably not the number Rayne wants to hear. "I'm not sure how old Pinky is, she kindof escaped from her original owner that was not treating her very well at all." Pola explains while leaving out the part about how she helped Pinky not get recaptured since that basically is another way of saying she stole Pinky, though technically she still kinda did either way whether the owner sent hunters after her or not. In any case, she figures she may want to check out this bounty board later.

Rayne frowns for a moment, then shakes her head.  "Yeah, you've got another year on you before I can hire you proper.  Bounty board is open to you, though."  She glances over to Pinky again, then says, "Well, I don't know how to gauge your species for what ages means what, anyway."  Yes, speaking directly to Pinky now that she knows she can talk.  No, she didn't appear surprised by the revelation.  Rayne is just too jaded by everything by now to really be surprised by that much.  Though the plastic building toy lizard person managed to pull that off recently.  And if Pinky can talk...  Rayne considers her to be a full sentient being, and thus not someone that should have an 'owner'.  The thought does cause Rayne to look down at her right hand, however.

Pola frowns as well and kicks the floor a little. "Damn... Oh well at least it's only a year, not two or five." She says to herself in consolation as she looks up to Rayne talking to Pinky, at which the ostrich turns her head toward the rainbow haired woman and shakes her head a little. "I think I might be younger than Pola, but I didn't keep track, didn't seem important. Also I'm sure she didn't mean to imply by 'original owner' that she's my new one, we're more like partners, friends even." Says Pinky as she gently nudges Pola affectionately, and Pola wraps her arms around the bird and hugs her gently. "Best friends, wouldn't have it any other way. Don't even want to think about where we'd both be if we never met."

Rayne glances between the two of them hugging, then glances away.  "Yeah, well...  I may have to figure that out if you're going to want to be partners under my direct employ.  Anyways...  you've got a year on that, anyway.  Assuming you pass Kohaku's exit exams, of course."  Because yes.  There is school here.  "And you don't screw up like that blonde kid did."  Apparently there's a story behind that one that Rayne isn't in the mood to share.  "But, what I think I'm trying to say here is that even if you're temporally younger, differences in species may put you at an adult level already.  Different species have different growth rates, both physically and mentally, of course."

Pola frowns even more at the mention of school exit exams. "Alright, I'll be a good girl and go to school like a normal person." She says while feeling like saying it is the same as swallowing  a bitter pill. "As for Pinky, she's certainly fully grown, and from what I read on ostriches, likely won't live much past about forty-five, as horrible as it feels to even say that. I'm hoping that maybe some of the mucking with her genetics that the scientists that created her did, will let her live longer too. I know she can fly, clearly is very smart, and also has teeth, which I still find a little strange, though at least it doesn't creep me out as much as when we first met." Pinky laughs and flashes a toothy grin just for effect. "I'm a perfectly mature adult bird, all my childish tendencies are her fault." Pinky jokes though she's semi-serious about it.

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