Chapter Text
"Alright, I'll take one." Detective Brush Mulberry said as she buys a chocolate bar from a young looking eagle toon, "Now go sell your candy to everyone else, stupid."
Sprout Seedly, who was in the break room alongside Brusha and the eagle toon making coffee, overheard what the paint brush said.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't call a kid stupid, what if he's really stupid?" Sprout gently reprimands Brusha, going towards them with a mug of coffee on one hand.
"Sprout, this is Ethan, the guy I'm mentoring as part of the Big Brothers and Sisters program." Brusha introduces Ethan to Sprout, the eagle waves at him.
"I think it's funny when she calls me stupid." Ethan said.
"No one cares, stupid." Brusha said.
"Screw you, Brusha." Ethan replied back, fist-bumping each other and leaving Sprout confused.
"Ethan's selling candy to pay for his basketball uniforms, he's a forward, I taught him how to elbow." Brusha explained, a slight smirk indicating that she's proud of teaching the young eagle.
"... Cool?" Sprout said, unsure about Brusha mentoring someone.
"Now, go home and do all of your homework or I will end you." Brusha threatens the young eagle toon.
"Don't let Brusha fool you, she's not that scary... She used to do ballet." Sprout said with a soft smile, trying to help the kid be less intimidated by the paint brush detective.
"No way." Ethan said in disbelief.
"Which gave me the physical skills I need to strangle you with my feet, now scram." Brusha immediately threatened, definitely not feeling embarrassed by what Sprout said.
Ethan walked out of the break room, Brusha walked over to Sprout and sighs in content, before saying:
"I love being a mentor." Before walking out herself, leaving only Sprout alone in the break room.
After a couple of seconds, the strawberry sips his coffee and muttering to himself:
"She's a little aggressive, ok a lot aggressive, but she seems pretty good at this whole mentoring thing." Sprout said quietly to no one in particular.
"Good morning, sir." A police officer greeted Sprout at his desk, writing some paperwork regarding an arrest Brightney and Poppy made earlier in the day.
"Good morning to you too, Fritz." Sprout said with a smile to a fork for a head, his head was a bit flat but please don't comment on it, "Is there anything to report?"
"Yes, someone caught a young boy shoplifting a phone in a nearby mall, take a look." Fritz said as the precinct elevator opened up to reveal Ethan being escorted by another police officer.
"Ethan?!" Sprout stood up in shock, hands on his desk as Ethan looked at the strawberry for a moment before looking away in shame, sitting on a bench outside the holding cells.
"Oh, do you know this young man, sir?" Fritz asked.
"Yea, he's the one Brusha's been mentoring..." Sprout said with anxious in his voice, worried about how Brusha might react.
"Oh dear, should I inform her?" Fritz asked, nervous about the idea approaching her.
"Don't worry, I'll inform her, you contact his parents." The sergeant tells Fritz, the police officer nodded before walking away, Sprout walked to the printing room where Brusha was copying some papers.
"Mulberry... Your friend Ethan is here." Sprout said, gain the attention of the paint brush.
"Nice, that little bête finished his homework early." Brusha said proudly, unaware of what was behind her (literally, this conversation took place in the printing room with a window overlooking the precinct, I legit have no idea how Rosa missed Sam in the og scene), "Where is he?"
Sprout stepped forward to Brusha, trying to think of a way to not make Brusha angry before saying: "Before I answer, maybe we could brew a pot of nice, relaxing kava tea, and then-"
"Spit it out." Brusha bluntly said, not liking the way her sergeant was speaking.
"Ethan was brought in for shoplifting a phone." Sprout said with no hesitation, knowing there's no way Brusha will be chill from hearing the news.
As soon as the bomb was dropped, Brusha turned around and saw Ethan with a police officer holding a piece of paper.
Brusha stormed off with Sprout in tow, trying to get the paint brush detective to calm down.
"I also have chamomile! That might calm us down." Sprout said while following her.
"Heya Mister Seedly, Miss Mulberry." Goob said holding a mug, when he was ignored, his ears drooped down a little, "Awww :("
"Hey! What were you thinking?!" Brusha asked harshly, barely keeping her anger in check.
"I'm sorry, Brusha, the phone was just sitting there and I wasn't thinking right, I'm sorry..." Ethan apologised, but...
"Brusha was your friend from before you were a criminal, you are dealing with detective Mulberry now and she's going to make sure you rot in juvie for the rest of your life." Brusha threatens the young eagle, but without the usual playfulness from the paint brush, only harshness as she comes closer to Ethan while pointing a finger on his chest.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, can I talk to you for a minute?" Sprout said while grabbing Brusha's arm, leading (more like dragging) her to the interrogation room.
As soon as they entered, Sprout let go of Brusha's arm, the paint brush made a beeline to the closest wall and hit it with the bottom of her fist.
"It feels like you're being a little harsh." Sprout softly said, trying to talk some sense into Brusha.
"Thanks, good note, I was going for extremely harsh, I'll turn it up." Brusha unfortunately mistook what Sprout was trying to say.
"Mulberry, he's just a kid, can't you just let him off with a warning?" The strawberry asked Brusha, trying to lessen punishment for Ethan "Sometimes, being as tough as possible doesn't lead to the best outcome."
"This isn't Gourdy calling Toodles a poopy-head, I'm not just gonna give him a time out." Brusha retorted before storming off.
"A time out? Are you kidding? Poopy-head means no Doc McStuffins for a week!" Sprout yelled out from the doorway of the interrogation room.
Brusha was busy putting some photos up on a board in the briefing room when Sprout found her.
"Hey, I've been looking for you." Sprout said from the doorway, "Before you decide what to do with Ethan, there's someone I think you should talk to."
As on cue, Sprout backed up a little as a rose toon with glasses walked into the briefing room, a sweet smile on her wrinkled face as she holds a cup of tea.
"Miss Rosie..." Brusha said rather quietly, as to suppress something within her.
"Suprise! I tracked down your old ballet coach, I brought her in to remind you of the effect of a kind, nurturing presence can have on a young life." Sprout explained his reasoning for bringing Miss Rosie here, while the elderly rose lifts the tea up and down before taking a step forward.
"Hello, dear, have you continued to dance?" Miss Rosie asked her former student, her voice sweet and caring.
"No, Miss Rosie." Brusha bluntly said, her face slightly twitched in anger.
"Well, there's no surprise in that, you always were a lazy ox." Miss Rosie suddenly barbed.
"What's this now?" Sprout asked nervously, seriously not expecting that jab from a kind old lady like Miss Rosie.
"Look at your posture, you look as if you should be ringing the bells at Notre Dame." Miss Rosie berated before chuckling to herself.
"Miss Rosie was not nurturing... at all." Brusha said, remembering her time with Miss Rosie, making Sprout shocked.
"All right, ox, let's see what you've got." Miss Rosie said, ordering Brusha to show her ballet moves, which she replied with throwing the stack of paper she was holding and moving to the centre of the room.
"Five, six, seven, eight." Miss Rosie said as she observed Brusha's form, after a bit, she said: "Well, I guess it wasn't too bad."
"See, sarge? Tough love works." Brusha said to Sprout.
"Damn it, that wasn't the point I wanted to prove." Sprout said quietly, thinking he failed to convince Brusha for a softer approach.
After Miss Rosie and Sprout leave Brusha alone, she picks up the stacks of paper and continues to work the board.
But no matter how much focus she puts in, her mind keeps coming back to her time as a child, remembering how harsh Miss Rosie has to her all those years ago.
At first, she rationalized as Miss Rosie wanting her to be the best she can be, but now she's older, she wonders if this is the right thing to do with Ethan.
"What if... The reason he shoplifted was because I was too hard on him, if that's the case, I'll just have to be extra hard on him, but... Would that work in the long term?" After contemplating for a while, Brusha finally decided what to do...
Sprout was busy writing some paperwork when Brusha approached, since the strawberry was preoccupied, Brusha gained his attention by kicking the desk, making Sprout jump in his seat in shock.
"So I took care of Ethan..." Brusha said rather ominously.
"Uh-oh, that sounds ominous, like you went all "Miss Rosie" on him." Sprout said, worried about what happened to the young eagle.
"I let him off with a warning." Brusha said before taking a seat next to Sprout's desk.
"See, the thing about Miss Rosie is she made me a good dancer, but she ruined my childhood, she was constantly riding me about my posture and my technique and my pink hair." Brusha told Sprout about her childhood, but...
"Pink hair." Sprout was more focused about the fact that Brusha had pink hair, considering that she would consider it beneath her to dye such a colour.
"Never speak about that." Brusha immediately threatened, with Sprout muttering a quick "Copy" before she continued:
"She was the reason I quit ballet, and I sure don't want Ethan to quit the Big Brothers and Sisters program because of me, so I'll try to not be as harsh as her."
"... This is totally how I thought this whole Miss Rosie thing was gonna go, another flawless plan by me, Sprout Seedly." Sprout unconvincingly tries to claim that that was his plan all along, making Brusha smirk slightly.