Like the Wind

Challenges. His first challenge had been very firmly not physical, which was a bit of a shame. His second? Well, he wasn't planning to do that many (he wasn't off work for that much longer), but he still wanted to get some actual competition. It had been easy enough to find a few people at work who were participating, and easier still to set up a few challenges.

Garrick was fairly new on the force, but a familiar enough face, and Angelo met him not far from the station, at a track that got used a lot by cops.

"So, racing," he said, giving a small nod over to where Wind's Respite sat on a bench, observing quietly. "How far do you want to go? One lap? Two? Stamina or just straight up speed, basically? You can pick."

Angelo was, being realistic? Ready to go. He didn't often get to race, and he didn't often get to really compete with his fellow officers.

"So, what's with the eyes?" Angelo said, giving Garrick's Regalia a glance as he stretched out, going through the most basic of warmups.

"Just racing along the track, two laps?" Angelo did the math in his head, and then gave a nod. "Alright, I can do that. One of your regalia want to count us down?"

Angelo gave another quick stretch, popping his arms over his shoulders, and then moved over to the line on the track he assumed was supposed to be the starting line, getting into place. He wasn't sure how fast Garrick was, but he figured he was probably pretty fast. Guy was an owl, right?

Okay. Well. That was a thing. A regalia who generated eyes? Some of the powers he'd heard flying around through the competition were useful--Jude didn't need to sleep anymore, and Travis was supposedly lucky--but some were just weird. Someone had said something about soup, the kids had talked about dance magic, and now... eyes?

The moment the countdown was over, Angelo started to run, and it became immediately obvious to Angelo that the race wasn't going to be much of a race.

Because Angelo wasn't just bigger than Garrick. Angelo was faster than Garrick. He was faster by a lot. Angelo was insanely fast, and while he dialed it back almost immediately to avoid seeming like he was rubbing it in, anyone watching could more or less figure out who would be winning like that.

"Did you want to, uh, fly over the track?" Angelo called over his shoulder, opting to momentarily keep pace with Garrick rather than full out running. "Figure an owl's pretty fast."

Well, Angelo could appreciate his determination, even if the entire match was pretty much a done deal. There was no question who was going to win if they were just running, and Angelo opted for a middle ground. He didn't patronize Garrick by going at his pace, but he didn't go to full speed either. Just a solid forty miles an hour, which was still really fast, but nowhere near as fast as he could actually go.

The whole thing was pretty much over before it started, and by the time Angelo reached the finish line, he turned back around, slowing himself down (harder than it looked) and jogging back towards the finish line to wait for Garrick. He figured he was going to finish, after all. He was dedicated like that, and Angelo liked it.

Well, Angelo had to give him credit: Garrick had really tried. It was a losing battle, but he'd fought it anyway, and by the time he reached the finish line (looking exhausted and definitely out of breath), Wind's Respite had decided to clap politely, a demure sort of congratulations for the fact that he'd finished at all. She certainly couldn't have, but he'd worked hard, and win or lose, that was what she'd hoped for.

"You did pretty well," Angelo said, sticking his hand out for a shake. He'd definitely expected something supernatural, but... well, that taught him to double check someone's capabilities before getting into competitions with him. "It was a good race, for sure."