P is for Police

"Wait…you used to be a cop?"

The look on Blade's face was absolutely priceless as the information tried to sink in. Given the sheer amount of shock and incredulity painted across his expression, made it clear that the facts were doing a poor job of worming their way into his thick skull. I probably wasn't helping things by smirking at him while blowing bubbles in my chocolate milk, but chocolate milk was more fun when you blew bubbles into it using a straw so I couldn't help myself.

"Maru you're lying to me." The new helicopter on set glared at the mechanic assigned to get them prepped that afternoon's stunts.

"I am not." The little tug glared up at Blade. "Now hold still we're working on a deadline."

Blade took a moment to chew on his lip. Which really just showed how green he was. They had a moment of downtime in their filming schedule so he should be chewing food if he was chewing on anything. Eventually, the kid managed to spit out his thoughts. "Prove it."

Maru gave the biggest sigh, looked to the heavens, then pointed an exasperated tine in my direction. "Take a good look at him."

I of course had chosen this exact moment to try to sneak another donut off of the tray in front of me. It was just beyond comfortable reach, but that didn't stop me from trying to use my tongue to snag one, or several, of the tasty little morsels. I will fully admit this wasn't the most dignified position to be in, but we were in the make-up trailer, and no one isn't supposed to look dignified when you are halfway through the primping process.

"I really am not seeing what you are." Blade shot a glare in Maru's direction, which clearly indicated that Blade had a death wish because you should never antagonize a vehicle who could mess with your engine. It just wasn't a good idea.

Maru huffed and motioned with exasperation towards my tail. "Look at his tail number."

"His tail…" Blade started only to trail off when he realized that one of these things wasn't like the others.

"You see it now?" Maru grumbled as he started to pick up his tools again.

"Yes…" Blade started. His mouth moved silently for a few long moments as he sorted through his thoughts then finally spat out a word. "How?"

"Nick, can you stop stuffing your face for a moment and help?" The mechanic replied pointedly as he once again got to work prepping Blade for his next stunt.

"Fine." I mock glared at Maru, but I could feel a touch of a smile twitching at the corner of my mouth, so I am pretty sure that he didn't fully believe me which meant I was safe from the mechanic's curse. Beside him Blade tried to use his 'death glare' on me, which nearly made me giggle. The poor kid didn't know how cute he was when he was pouting. Luckily for both of them, this was a story I liked to tell so a swallowed both doughnuts I had managed to snag while the two of them had been arguing and started to weave my tale.

"Before I fledged we had a police helicopter come to my class. Man…" I closed my eyes remembering the moment, "Man, he was so rad. That was the moment that I knew that I wanted to be that awesome. And I actually made it happen. I got good grades and was able to get a placement in the police academy, then on the force."

"So…how did you get here?" Blade asked a bit slack-jawed.

"I quit." I replied cheekily as I stuck my tongue out at my partner. "Over the next decade, I realized that being a police helicopter meant being stuck in the office doing stacks of paperwork and waiting for something exciting to happen. I was too small to make a lateral into EMS, so I volunteered to help with every slagging project so I could just get out of that office. Eventually, I got tasked with helping with a bunch of PSA. Those led me to be on-screen and those on-screen credits got me the exposure I needed to get picked up by Hollywood."

"So…" Blade looked thoughtful as he chewed on his lip. "So, why aren't you playing the responsible cop?"

Maru actually burst out laughing at Blade's comment. "I am once again going to tell you to look at him."

Blade did. He studied me for a few long moments with a sober expression before looking me straight in the eyes. "Why? I know you can act and now I know that you are perfectly capable of keeping your tail in line. Why did you choose to play the rebel?"

"Because life is short, and it is a lot more fun when you have the freedom to flirt, fly, and frolic." I gave Blade a knowing wink. "I don't know if there is a place where I can truly be who I want to be, but this set is close enough and I intend to take advantage of every moment I have on it."

Term – Police – Police are classified as the enforcement arm of a local government. There are many roles that police play in a community, but police helicopters tend to be used in search and rescue, monitor traffic, disaster response, and to respond to mass causality incidents where an eye in the sky would be useful. Helicopters are very expensive to operate (in excess of $250 per hour for the smallest aircraft) so they are only used by large cities and/or when ground resources aren't capable of completing the task.