Name: ??? Known Aliases: The Sign Holder Species: Kiwi (Brown) Age: 9 Height: 25” (43” with sign) Weight: Likes: Games/Movies, Mafioso Stuff, Helping the Boss Dislikes: Social Workers, Schoolwork, Bossy Minions Known Fears: Sewer Rats Occupation: The Boss' Sign Holder Distinguishing Character Traits: Clever, Devoted, Loyal, Protective of the Boss

        Ivan's devoted sign holder is a highly perceptive, quick-thinking young kiwi who is easily Ivan's most dedicated and loyal follower. Quiet and unassuming, he'll spring into action the moment the Boss is threatened, and his street smarts and unusually high level of responsibility make him a valuable minion.

        Before he wandered into Ivan's care, this young orphan was a poor, homeless child of the streets. He has no memories of his parents, of an orphanage, of his name – indeed, of anything but the streets. He would occasionally get captured by truant officers, but always managed to escape them or school by the end of the day. Like most street urchins, by the time he was six, he had mastered an admirable variety of skills – from street fighting to begging to pick-pocketing to lock-picking to places-adults-can't-fit-in and more. He could sprint faster and farther than all but the fastest adults, and he knew the twisting labyrinth of alleys like no one else. He couldn't reach the pedals, but he could unlock your car if you locked your keys in it, and he could hot-wire it for you if you had 'forgotten' your keys completely. He could spot, identify, and defeat most anti-theft devices and store alarms, and was such a smooth pick-pocket that, when he ran up to you proclaiming that the kid that just ran into you had stolen your wallet and he had rescued it, you actually believed and rewarded him, never even realizing that it was he who had taken your wallet, and that no one had bumped you at all. Heck, he was so good, he could steal from other thieves. And he never got caught.

        Well, almost never. Who'd've thought the business-kiwi in the expensive suit had such fast reflexes? And how'd he know the counter to every escape move the little thief tried? The young street urchin knew very little about rank and society – only that the better they were dressed, the more money they were carrying – and no knowledge of organized crime. He didn't have time to watch the fancy televisions that sat in shop windows, and he couldn't read the newspapers he used as bedding. How was he supposed to know his target was the top dog of the city's underworld?

        Well, the beefy gorilla-birds walking with him might have been a clue. But lots of rich people had dumb ol' bodyguards, right? But then again, most bodyguards didn't have guns, and they called the rich guy “Mr. So-and-So,” not “Boss.”

        Oops.

        But the “Boss” saw his potential as a future thief of some kind, and decided to keep him around, rather than drag him to the police again. He was brought to Ivan's headquarters, and after a few escape attempts – foiled by perimeter guards, Mafioso associates, local thieves , and even shopkeepers that knew of the grey kiwi's occupation and respected his power – the small kiwi settled down a bit. All attempts to undermine his captors ceased upon the youngster's realization of just exactly what it was the 'Boss' did for a living. Despite being saddled with tutors who insisted he learn to read, strategize, and do math, he began following the Boss around constantly, and after it occurred to the small kiwi that people needed to know the Boss was around so they could give him the right amount of respect, he started carrying a sign announcing the Boss's presence. As soon as the Boss realized most people would gullible to mistake whomever the kid pointed the sign at for him, he dropped his objections to it and simply allowed the small kiwi to follow him around.

        Currently the youngest and most devoted soul in Ivan's organization, the sign holder seldom carries his sign for anything but opportunistic subterfuge now, and tends to wield it as a weapon when provoked. His world consists of the Boss, and will go to great lengths and measures to protect him should Ivan be threatened – a thing some kiwis are learning the hard way.