With different eyes

When the punishment disappears

The morning dawns and the sun shines on the bed. I grumble and turn to the other side. Stupid sun, can't it annoy someone else?, I ask myself. "Morning" it also came on muttered by the fire fist. I grumble something to myself. Could be a good morning or a call for a fight. Ace grumbles back. Well, we had both been awake too long. You'd think with all the sleep we've gotten we'd have stocked up by now. But no such luck. I was just about to fall back asleep when there was a knock on the door. Ok who has a death wish? I don't answer and turn around. Damn, there is the stupid sun! Ace also grumbles and whines that he wants to sleep. I fully agree and turn my face into the pillow. I hear the door open and someone coming towards the bed. Hopefully he'll leave me alone when he sees I'm asleep. But guess what, he doesn't! "GET UP" already drones Marco's enchanting voice through the room. I raise my hand and show him the middle finger, then I let my hand fall back on the mattress. After this feat of strength, I have earned a break. Happy with myself and the world, I snuggle into the pillow. I'm still half asleep when I hear Marco's voice again: "I'll say it the last time get up. If you can party at night, you can work in the morning." As if by reflex, I grumble, "That statement is nonsense, because if you shag in the evening, you can't fly in the morning either." Ace grumbles in agreement and I'm about to sink back into a deep sleep when I'm kicked out of bed, mattress and all. Is he serious??? But since I don't want to admit defeat, I climb onto the mattress now lying on the floor and want to continue sleeping. "You've got to be kidding!" I hear Marco and then footsteps leaving the room. I grumble contentedly and fall asleep again. Unfortunately, not for long because I am awakened by ice-cold water. I jump up startled and see a grinning Marco. "Why?" I ask whining. You're not supposed to do that in the morning! "I wanted to spare you the morning shower." Comes the answer and already I am dragged out of the room. With the wet clothes on my body. I also hear Ace moaning. "I feel for you my friend" I say in my mind. Ace snorts "No wonder we share one body." I roll my eyes, trying to be friendly for once. I follow Marco zombie-like and am not really awake yet in my thoughts.

Suddenly I'm sitting at the table and don't really know how I got here. I look around and look at an episode of The Walking Dead, everywhere I see zombies groaning and moving uncoordinated. In other words, the completely overtired and hungover crew of Whitebeard. And speaking of which, I hate him right now. The old bastard sits queefied in his chair laughing at his kids. I let my head sink onto the table, I don't have a hangover but I could have easily slept another three hours. And then I smell it. The sweet black gold, in the hands of the evil blue dragon. Can you tell I'm not really sane? I fix my eyes on the cup in Marco's hand and don't let it out of my sight. He is about to raise it to his lips when I start to growl. If he's going to wake me up, he should get some coffee for me. He raises his eyebrows and wants to take a sip. I growl again and don't let the cup out of my sight for a second. Marco sighs and finally gives in. I hold the cup of coffee in my hands and slowly turn back into a human being. I have coffee, so for now I am satisfied with myself and the world. Marco, meanwhile, had poured himself another and looks at me. "The coffee was right there." Says Marco and points to the said place. "You wanted me to go there without having coffee" I ask him horrified. He frowns "Who said anything about going, all you had to do was hold out your arm." I nod and say "Exactly I would have had to expend the energy to overcome the earth's gravity, then make a forward movement and use additional weight to pull the arm back into place and ALL WITHOUT COFFEE!!!" "You made it to get here too" he remarks dryly. "Mistake, you kicked me out of bed, doused me with ice water and dragged me here" I chirp. Oh what a difference a cup of coffee can make. Marco frowns as there is more shouting and someone is fooling around. Right my idea, I grab Marco before he can go to the mess and drag him under strange looks from the galley.

Meanwhile, our very dearest phoenix chirps to himself in a huff, but reluctantly follows. "What is it?" he growls as we stand in front of the door, his eyes fixed on the door. I can see him eager to get back inside and stop the shenanigans, but I have better things to do. I grin and notice Ace getting restless. "You want to teach them a real lesson?" I ask him. He raises his eyebrows in interest and nods that I should continue. My grin widens. "Then let's give them a chance to miss you" I say and see him looking at me confused. I answer the unspoken question, "You take a vacation today and don't give a punishment or do any other work, let's see how the idiots get along without your instructions" Ace laughs and says "That's not a punishment." The idiot really has no foresight either. "Hey!" comes the indignant voice of said idiot. Ah Marco raises his eyebrows critically and says, "You want them to accidentally blow up the Moby Dick?" I snort: "The cause of large fires on the Moby is held in check by me and the rest will probably be intelligent enough not to burn down their ride in the middle of the sea" Marco looks at me critically "I think" I say uncertainly. The phoenix's eyebrows rise to dizzying heights. "I hope so" I admit with a sigh. He sighs in annoyance and asks, "What exactly is your plan now?" I grin again and explain, "The two of us are going to have a lazy day today, for all I care, you can write down who's fooling around and pull their ears later. But today the two of us will spend the day lazing around, reading or whatever and the people will have to clean up their messes themselves so they can see what you do every day." He looks doubtful and asks, "That's supposed to work?" I sigh and explain, "People don't appreciate everyday things until they're gone. It'll be the same here, they won't appreciate the order and work you've done until complete chaos breaks out here. And then hopefully take some ownership." "You don't believe that yourself. They'll be happy not to get any punishments!" says Ace laughing. "Wait and see!" I think with a grin. What's worse than waiting for a punishment but none comes? "We'll try, but if the Moby Dick burns down it's your fault!" he says.