Unhinged // Lego City Adventures

Chapter four: The Mayor's Ball

It was a pretty average day. Tippy was doing what he'd normally be doing which was doormaning his apartment. He heard tires screeching closer to him until a police car came to a skidding halt in front of the apartment. Tippy already knew who it was.

     "Good afternoon Duke, how are you?"

     Duke leaned out the window. "I'm good Tippy. The day's been pretty slow too. There hasn't been much crime since... well, I became Dirty Duke."

     Tippy was well aware of that whole fiasco. When news had come that Duke had gone bad, Tippy wasn't sure how to feel. Was Duke truly bad, or had the city misinterpreted his actions and motives, similar to Tippy's situation? Would the town finally forget Tippy's past with the betrayal of Duke fresh on their minds? Of course, later that day, the town realized Duke had been manipulated by Snake, and they had easily forgiven Duke. Even Snake was getting let off easy in the city's eyes, despite turning an officer against them. If only it could be that easy for Tippy to gain forgiveness. Jealousy aside, he was still concerned for Duke's well-being. "Well, how are you feeling now?"

     "My head is feeling much better, plus Snake did his time in jail so hopefully we won't have to worry too much about him."

     Tippy had never personally met Snake, but he heard a lot about him. It didn't take a lot of eavesdropping to figure out that he liked to use soda as a weapon. Personally, Tippy would be fine if he never met Snake. He would prefer to keep his clothes soda free.

     Tippy realized that Duke was conveniently visiting him, and there seemed to be no better time than now to ask him about the Mayor's Ball. "Well since you're here I would like to ask you a favor."

     "Uh, sure, Tippy."

     "I want you to ask me out."

     "What?" Duke blinked in shock. This was definitely the last thing he was expecting to hear from Tippy.

     "Tippy, we've talked about this. We are just friends."

     Tippy quickly responded to Duke. "I know. It's just a friend date. But I want to accompany you to the Mayor's Ball."

     "How do you know about that?"

     "I am a doorman." That response always seemed to work on Duke.

      Duke was still confused."Why do you want to go?"

     Tippy looked around at the nearby people on the sidewalk. "See, I apparently carry around a stigma that makes everyone think that I'm still the same. I want to show everyone that I've changed."

     "I mean you did save that toddler from falling off the balcony. I think that has shown you've changed."

     Tippy frowned. "Duke, have you not seen the news? Everyone is giving you credit for saving the toddler."

     "Seriously? But that's not what happened!" Duke said.

     Not too long ago, the news came out with a report titled "Officer Duke Detain saves a young girl from falling nine stories." The media had clearly tried covering up the fact that it was Tippy who saved the girl. They simply couldn't accept the fact that a "criminal" did a hero's work. It was like the whole town only saw people as either good or bad. It seemed like the second anyone ever stepped foot in a jail cell, they suddenly were seen as a criminal forever. He didn't even want to be praised. All he wanted was to clear his name, but that seemed just about impossible.

     "Plus, have you not seen people giving me weird looks?" Tippy said.

     Those random people stared at Tippy, and when he locked eyes with them, they quickly turned and acted like nothing had happened. This happened quite often. Random people would stare at Tippy as if he were going to rip all the doors from their hinges and steal them. He would never do that; each door has a purpose in their place, but the city didn't seem to think that.