This is real police work, people [Ace x Drum]

The bustling crowd in Junction gathers, as the festival draws near and the stalls fill both the streets and the famous Market Lane.

Within this mess, a group of three birds scatters, sliding across the floor, in-between footsteps and unbeknownst to most. But they are not just any birds. No, they're space birds, more specifically, Space Penguins, and they have a clear goal in mind-protecting the general public of dangers that lie where one least expects them.

Drum's job was to test out the food merchandise sold in this mess.
It was easy for cheap people to sneak cheap foodstuffs into the system like this and Drum had to make sure all that was sold was edible.

Ah, the mall area. Good 'ol place one simply had to visit from time to time to ensure a healthy life. Er, well unless one wanted to just scavenge instead, but as appealing as that could sound, buying normal food was less dangerous after all. It was quite a mess with so many people milling about though, and even worse since so many were doing extra shopping due to the festival coming up. Geez, maybe he should have been a sardine instead of a bird. Shaking his head at his own 'joke', Ace would proceed to trudge on through the food section, trying to decide what he wanted to stock up on this time...

...until he almost tripped on something thanks to his slight absentmindedness as he focused more on his own thoughts. ''Eh?'', he would blink in a hot moment of confusion before looking downwards just to stare at a small blue penguin figure. Huh. How peculiar. Sure he's seen countless odd species here in Junction, but this was a first for tiny birds like that. ''Whoops, sorry, wasn't looking.'', he would scratch the back of his head with an apology while he tried to figure out what it was that the penguin was doing there.

One does not simply bump into an authorized officer of the law. As much as the Triguin Detective Agency was a standalone group, they still had direct and trustworthy affiliations with the police. Drumball was more than frustrated at the birdman that had so rudely interrupted his work.

"Wasn't looking, my ass." The penguin's voice is deeper than what Ace would've probably expected. It sounds both commanding, strict and important enough, like the small bird thought highly of itself. Drum's expression doesn't change as he speaks, though, making the whole scene appear silly. He takes the bite off another cookie before returning it to its place, gulping it down after a short period of deliberation. "All right, not poison either, people." Nobody payed attention to the penguin as he announced this. Drum decided to ignore Ace afterwards. Maybe he would walk away and leave him to his work.

However now...Ace would be able to see the penguin take the food from a stall, bite into it, and return it back, the whole process happening without the knowledge of the vendor. "No poison again."

Oi. He apologized, didn't he? ''Heey, well I can't have eyes on the lower half of my body too, ya know?'' Okay, maybe some species did have that...but, that wasn't the point man. He couldn't look both up and down at the same time, as cool as that would be. Bah well, he didn't hurt anyone so no big deal, right? Regardless, this new penguin guy seemed to definitely be doing something strange. Guess most people didn't look down, eh? Either that, or the people selling stuff were slacking on the job. How else does no one notice their merchandise is being vandalized? Lower height is one thing, but a blue penguin isn't completely invisible either.

Speaking of odd...''Wouldn't people around here be sick if something was poisoned?'', he'd poke at the birdy guy out of curiosity as he walked after, seeing as he had been heading in that direction anyway.

"An incorrect assumption, although I suppose a sound one coming from an untrained third party with a lack of experience in this line of work." Drumball found himself answering before he could stop himself from doing so. The man seemed to be following him. Perchance he was interested in what he was doing? Or merely observing in order to gain an upper hand over the police in his own lackluster trading agency?

Drum contemplated this question as he bit into a cookie he'd picked up. "This is safe too." He nodded. "Either way, you might think people would be getting sick, but the truth lies in truly understanding each and every scenario that could play out. The most reasonable one being that who gets sick ultimately opts not to make their ails public, running off to the restroom, for an example. Some toxins or spoiled ingredients process only after a retention period in an organism, and it also depends on the organism. My honed eye and tongue can detect toxins so I can keep the public safe, putting mysel at minimal risk"

''Work...?'' Ace would mutter to himself, still a little confused at what exactly was supposedly happening here. To be honest, to anyone who saw this, it would just look like someone eating all the food for free without paying and somehow getting away with it due to the shopkeepers not paying enough attention.

That aside, he would scratch his cheek in thought as the long explanation came. ''Ya know, to be completely sure nothing is even remotely spoiled, you'd have to try each and every piece...but then there wouldn't even be anything left for people to buy. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be asking for permission first? I mean, to anyone who notices you, it just looks like you're stealing food from everywhere.'' Who was this guy anyway? Like, explanations this and that, but that could always just be an elaborate excuse to eat for free if there was no effort to do this officially in some way.

"If I were to alert the sellers of this, they could potentially offer me unspoiled produce whilst leaving the rest for the public to consume, which is a risk I and my agency are not willing to accept." Drum wasn't even looking at Ace as he said it in a matter of fact tone. He just assumed the man was listening since he was obviously following him and reacting. Also, Drum had work to do so he couldn't just cut excuses.

He had to turn at one point, though. Just as he dropped a bitten-into green muffin back on the tray. "My name is Drumball." He said as he pulled out a wallet from behind his back. He opened it to reveal a insignia of a penguin's head on a golden triangular medal or badge of sorts. "My colleagues and I are official officers of the law. The time of the festival poses risks in more ways than one, so our triangular coordination is well needed. I am testing out the food, as you can see. My sister and brother are taking custody of other types of illegally distributed merchandise as we speak."

''You better hope they don't start noticing half their food is eaten and going on a witch hunt for the culprit. That would create quite the chaos here, buddy.'', he would snort. Yeesh, the place was already fairly crowded. If this kinda thing started on top of it, the shopping district would just become hell on earth for a while.

Huh. ''Well, hi to you too. I'm Ace. So, you're a policeman then?'' Orrr, something like that, apparently. Assuming that badge was real. He wasn't sure whether they gave people badges with penguin heads on it. Either way, he wasn't interested in causing a riot here so whatever. If the guy was lying somehow, he'd get his ass handed to him once he was found out here after all. ''Illegal stuff? What, are people selling drugs here?'' Neh? He had never noticed something that was really off. Did Junction even have a policy on what was allowed to be sold and what wasn't?

"Drugs, dysfunctional appliances, clothes that eat you when you put them on, you'd be surprised to hear all I've seen in my days here." Drumball continued, trying to cross his flappy wings but they were too short to do that, so he just sort of tried to frown but also couldn't really. He let out a short sigh as he put away the badge. "The point is, there's a lot of things like that, especially during the Jumps. One can never be fully certain and, while our current operation is unauthorized by the police itself, our organization carries enough authority to perform what must be done."

He wasn't done with his talk. Ace was almost making fun of the work by acting so aloof and foreboding. If they were going to start a witch hunt for someone who only meant to keep them safe, then they were all going to be put into jail. "Whoever opposes our operation will be taken into custody. These vendors are lucky I have not brought the health inspection itself here." He nodded, or tried to. Being a small Space Penguin made one's movement range rather stiff and limited.

A sudden gruff voice would interject it self into the conversation from the dense crowd. Had the voice been a singular incident then it could be chocked up to just someone else in the busy market complaining about a price. However, this was not the case as soon a tall man clothed from head to toe in black combat gear sporing a rather stern frown stepped from the dense crowd and picked Drumball up with one hand, much like a claw machine would pick up a stuffed penguin doll.

The tall imposing man would let out a short sigh before turning to the winged demon. His frown only deepened as he pulled a badge from his chest and flashed it to the Avian "Alister Rem the 15th... JPD Chief... I heard some one was flashing a badge and taking food from the vendors on Market Lane, have you seen..." Alister paused for a moment as he shot a glance at the penguin in his hand "...Anyone... who might have done such a thing?..." The look in his eye was not hard to miss... It spoke of a weariness that could only be born from a deep, soul crushing regret.

''You're rather serious about this man. I mean, people getting sick sucks, but I don't think anyone's going to die if an accident does happen.'' If someone really did kick the bucket due to the food, then that would surely raise a ruckus and get it all checked out formally anyway. Right? What were the chances of it being that bad though?

Well, maybe Ace would have said more on the subject, but they happened to suddenly get interrupted. Huh, it finally happened? He had been wondering for a while how long would it take for someone else to notice and try to do something about it. He would scratch the back of his head as the man introduced himself. More police. What a lucky day. ''Pleasure to meet you sir....'' As for the question...well, lying probably wouldn't be of much use here since the guy seemed to have the idea already...and Drumball himself had been so self-assured this was completely okay...soo, he had no reason to be suddenly secretive about it, right? ''...and, uh yeah your pal here was saying he's checking the food to make sure it's not poisoned. Something about protecting the public from catching  sicknesses.'' A wonder where was this headed...

Drumball recognized the voice. It was the chief. He quickly turned and held his wing up to salute when he was picked up and held in mid air by none other than the chief himself. "Chief, yes chief! Nobody is joking here. I am merely exacting justice as need be! I had Scumball check the numbers. Our statistics for gastrointestinal illness in this here ward rises in the time of the Jump and the festival! I felt it a need to investigate this further." He said it all in one going and with determination in his voice, preaching almost. He seemed to believe what he was doing was right. There was also no need for Drum to hide anything from Allister.

A droplet of sweat did pour from his forehead as he heard the mention of the badges. "S-sir yes sir. If need be I shall terminate our operation!" He flailed in his grab, saluting all the same. "Know that I'll forever be grateful to you, sir, for accepting us, even with my reputation! I shall not question your judgement!"

"I honestly wish I had time to deal with this crap..." Alister Let out a ragged sigh as he set Drumball down. The sheer amount of paperwork that would come from this was enough to start this week's head ache off with a bang... A rather loud bang... "I'm sorry sir but I'm going to need your name and citizen's ID number for the report along with an official statement." Alister turned his attention to Ace for a moment at took out his note pad to jot down the information as it came. Hopefully he would be able to handle this without bringing the poor guy down to the station in The Core... That would not only ruin the guy's day but put a damper on his own.

Once he had Ace's information he would take one of the half eaten sandwiches that Drumball had put back and look at it with a mild disgust before turning his attention back to the penguin at his feet."Drumball... I'm very disappointed in you... I have half a mind to kick you birds off here in Abara just to keep you from causing this city any more...hm?" Alister would stop mid sentence and look at the sandwich. Tentatively he would hold it up to his nose and take an inquisitive sniff before recoiling slightly.

"...Drumball... Alister's tone shifted completely, sounding more concerned then anything else "Exactly... How many of these did you eat..."

Guess this was turning out to be quite the pickle. Well, he was glad he wasn't in the penguin's shoes at least. It didn't seem like this superior officer of his was happy by this strange mission Drum decided to undertake. Kinda made sense though. It is sorta gross to just bite off of stuff and then leave it there. Were people supposed to buy that? That alone could cause people to catch something unpleasant, and they wouldn't even need a poisoned food item for it. ''It's alright, no big deal.'' As long as he wasn't getting arrested himself. With that, he would give the man any information necessary out of what he was aware of so far.

Once that was out of the way, he would stay silent for a while, simply watching the exchange between the duo, though he would pose a question out of curiosity eventually when the man seemed to be concerned about the half-eaten food. ''Is something wrong with them?''

Drumball made a squishing sound as he was placed back down on the floor. One noticeable change was that he was now visibly sweating waterfalls. "S-sir I promise please don't kick us out here Abara is great but my heart lies within this city as does my siblings and comrades as well!"

He was interrupted by Allister's interruption. Drum watched intently as the chief held the sandwich to his nose...was it something his nose missed that the chief picked up on? "A-around a couple dozen. Maybe more like...246 up to this point throughout the market..." He waited for the chief to announce what was wrong. But that was chief for you, certainly his nose was much more experienced and honed than any of Drum's senses, no doubt about that.