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 Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:26 am
After a nod of acknowledgement to Claire, a hurried breakfast, and a hurried fruitless search for Tortie it was a typical boring morning. At midday on the dot, Aulus locked up his cleaning supplies before running to shower, shave, and change into civvies in record time. He only cut his face a little bit, and by twelve twenty five it had stopped bleeding; he'd even cleaned the blood off his face and found Tortie lurking sulkily under one of the bunkbeds in the dorm room.
At about twelve thirty one, Aulus stepped into the garages clad in his favourite old combats, and the black shirt Claire had bought for him at thier first meeting. He had questioned the choice half way down the stairs, but decided that being on time mattered more than... than whatever the problem with wearing the shirt was. It was a decent shirt, he'd worn it a fair bit actually, but this would be the first time she saw him wear it again. She wouldn't think anything of it though, he was sure, and it was stupid of him to think anything of it. It was just a shirt.
"Almost on time," Aulus observed as he sauntered over to Claire, "maybe all this strict discipline is doing me good."
Behind him, Tortie gave a slight huff; her trainer had placated her with a promise of battling and a free run in the desert later on today, but she still wasn't too pleased. He was her's, and now they were going to spend the afternoon with the female who kept stealing his attention? He'd better find her a really enjoyable battle in return for putting up with this.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:54 am
"Maybe it is," she commented, noting how clean he looked - he probably just felt gross after his shift full of cleaning up whatever it is they wanted him to clean, nothing more - then added with a very slight smirk, "nice shirt." Not like she was one to talk, really - she was wearing the pants she'd bought the day she met him, as a simple tank top covered by a zip-up hoodie that was currently left unzipped, as well as a thin white muffler round her neck and a white belt around her waist. Unbeknownst to Aulus, that was where she kept her balisong. Just in case they ran into any unsavory company.
Or if Aulus tried anything.
Her eyes - now lavender once again - slid briefly to the obvious miffed Absol, and she couldn't help but feel that slight bit of smugness creep back up. Wait, no, she should feel bad for upsetting her. But.. but not really, because.. because she was just a pokemon. Yes, that was the reason.
She tapped on the side of the car she was standing next to, either to indicate this was indeed the car they were taking (she very well could have stood against one and then gotten into another, after all) or to signal them to get in, but whatever the reason she opened the driver's side door and got in, dropping her bag onto the floor directly in front of her seat. Surely Aulus would be able to get Tortie in himself, or simply put her in her pokeball. While waiting for her company to get in, she slipped the seatbelt over her and clicked it into position, then slid the key into the ignition. "So did you run into any of your lovely roommates?" She asked, pulling open her bag briefly to pull out a pair of nondescript black sunglasses. It was well known that the desert sun at noon was definitely not kind, even though they weren't out of the garage yet. "Did they believe that you weren't in the infirmary all night?"
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:05 am
Oh, she was driving hu? Well, no problem. He was sure she was perfectly competent... Still, he had to admit that he would have preferred to be in control of the car. Well, no matter. Fetching out Tortie's pokeball and returning the dark type, Aulus climbed into the passenger side. "Thanks," he commented with a derisive snort, deciding that making light of his shirt choice was probably better than huffing about her comment, "I thought seen as you bought it for me I should wear it. My grandfather always used to buy me silly jumpers, but I wore them whenever he was around; didn't want to hurt his feelings..." Damn. When was the last time he'd thought about the old man? He still missed him, and had to wonder what he would make of his favourite grandson's newest life choice... Not worth worrying about now though.
"Anyway," Aulus shook off the brief moment of melancholy and buckled his seatbelt, "I was working beside two of them; we didn't speak. They looked pretty smug though, even though they couldn't see the bruises." Oh blast, he should have given that excuse for wearing this shirt; unlike most of the rest of his casual wardrobe it had long sleeves. Too late now though, and he still felt that the joke worked fine anyway. "I guess they must have assumed that though," he went on, flipping down the sun visor (he didn't own any sunglasses), "but let them. I'll get them back one of these days; I can't see the worthless lumps getting promoted before I do, so when I outrank them I'll have ample opportunity to make their lives difficult."
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:19 am
Unfortunately Aulus would have to deal with her driving. She definitely didn't have any driver of the year awards, but she wouldn't kill them if that's what he was worried about. Briefly she had contemplated having him drive, but she figured it would be better if she drove because she was the one that had signed out the vehicle in the first place and he was technically her responsibility. Augh, that was sort of.. mildly awkward. Like watching over someone who was taller, bigger, and stronger than you. Oh well, whatever. Once they were in Camphoreon they could walk around and and.. walk around. And do stuff. Like get lunch, she was definitely looking forward to lunch. Her stomach was, too.
Once he was in the car and buckled up, she turned the key and the engine roared to life - sort of a dull, muffled roar, but still - and she maneuvered it out of the garage with little difficulty. "Well that's sweet of you," she commented, keeping her eyes on the 'road' - not like the desert really had a road, but she had no desire to run into any dunes or flatten any unsuspecting pokemon today - and left it up to his imagination to figure out whether she meant it about him wearing the shirt she bought for him, or about his grandfather. Playing such little games was one of her favorite past times. "You should've told them you were sleeping in the rec room or something." With her.
...why did her mind keep adamantly insisting that?! Freaking Arceus...
"Oh you'll have plenty of chances, though the extent of what a grunt can do to trainees is a bit limited. Agents have a lot more sway than grunts do, despite only having the difference of one rank level," she explained casually, remembering quite a bit of trainees who didn't hardly listen to anything some grunts said. "It's probably due to how quickly the training goes by and then they're all on the same level. Becoming an agent requires a lot more time and hard work. Luck too, I suppose." Luck that one of the higher ups would recognize someone's diligence and want to reward it with a promotion. It happened, of course, and she would damn well make sure it happened to her, too.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:34 am
"Hu, right," Aulus adjusted his seat a little to give himself more leg room; some short person had sat here last, "I'm just an adorable little sugar plum fairy, me. Bringing happiness to all around me is my entire purpose in life... And I can tell them that when I get back if you like," he said with a broad smirk. "I'll tell everyone I spent the night alone in the rec room with that pretty grunt with purple streaks in her hair. I can leave the rest up to their imaginations; I'm sure as a collection of sensible polite folk, every trainee on base will come to perfectly innocent conclusions."
It could be quite amusing to let people think he'd screwed her, and judging by his last conversation with Lucas the man wouldn't even care to hunt him down and kill him for it... Hang on, was that what was giving her trouble sleeping? Lucas? She'd said he was like a brother to her, and he had said that she was nothing to him. For a moment he wanted to walk up to the old man and punch him in the face, but a moment later he dismissed the urge; Claire had been decent to him, sure, but there was no call to go getting into fights on her behalf... He still kind of wanted to hit the man, but that would just be out of personal dislike.
"Hu, anyway, I don't believe all that much in luck," Aulus shook his head slightly, turning to gaze out at the endless, near trackless desert. "I mean, there's coincidence and stuff I guess but... Well you have to be smart enough to turn an opportunity that comes around to your advantage. Egh, whatever, it made sense in my head... I guess I just don't believe in waiting for stuff to fall into your lap, or waiting around hoping for your 'big break'... So... Yea. Hard work and time, and the sense to make the most of the chances that come along." That had been a complete mess of an opinion to give, she probably thought he was a total idiot, and he hated to think that she might think that. Oh he didn't care if she liked him, of course not, but it was important to him that people didn't laugh at him... She laughed at him all the time. Why didn't he get more pissed off about it?...
Oh s**t, had he called her pretty earlier?
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 1:02 pm
It was far easier than she'd thought it would be to resist the urge to hide at his mention of spreading rumors - coupled with the fact she had no where to hide, they were in the middle of the desert - because she could focus on concentrating on driving. She carefully maneuvered around a small group of Trapinch scurrying about in the sands, a small smirk on her face at the thought of him in a sugar plum fairy dress. Preferably bright pink with lots of lace and frills. And a hat. Also pink with lots of lace and frills. "I'm not a fan of rumors. And you could, but I'd just go back and dye my hair again, and then no one would know who you meant. Or they'd think you meant someone completely different." Maybe some ugly chick or something, and then he'd look like a fool.
"Oh, definitely," she agreed, noting behind her sunglasses that the outline of the city was starting to come into view. Why did it always look so far away when the terrain was relatively flat? It was so strange. It certainly didn't look like it from the air, which was her preferred method of travel. "People who simply sit around and wait for everything to just be dropped into their laps need to be slapped or something."
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 1:08 pm
"Well, I guess they get their just desserts," Aulus shrugged, turning to look ahead at the city, "spend their lives as grunts never really doing anything interesting. Hu, and I'm not going to start any rumours anyway, I was kidding." Much as it would be kind of fun to have people think they'd slept together, he didn't see the point in dragging Claire's name through the mud as it were, or in fact in implying there might be anything between them. Having people think they'd spent the night together was one thing, but having people think they were actually in a relationship or something was quite another.
"So... What kind of food do you like?" the red-eyed man asked after a short pause. "I guess I should try to take you somewhere where you'll like the food, even if it's not exactly a five star place." He did want her to enjoy lunch, because if she enjoyed it she might do him this favour again... Next time he had an afternoon off, which probably wouldn't be too soon. Oh well.
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:58 pm
"Good, 'cuz you'd better not," she teased, a small smirk playing on her lips as she kept her shaded eyes on the sands ahead of them, "or else." ...why was she acting this way again? It made her feel ridiculous; she kept blurting things out without thinking, or smiling or laughing or chuckling or smirking more than she usually did, and feeling smug about making his pokemon jealous, and and --
-- and she really needed to stop it. What was wrong with her? Why was she behaving this way? What would it.. "Huh?" Oh, food. "Oh. Well that's so kind of you, taking me somewhere that I'll actually like the food instead of dragging me to someplace where I won't want anything. That'd be a cheap lunch, hm?" One of the cheapest dates ever. But going back to being serious, she did give the matter some thought. "I like Italian foods and pasta, or seafood.. Not a fan of burgers or things like that." She didn't like beef. No clue why, it just never really agreed with her. Seafood, heck yes. Beef or steak? No thanks.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:09 pm
"Italian I can do," Aulus nodded, silently glad that she hadn't wanted to go to a steakhouse, or somewhere else where it would be obvious that he was avoiding meat, "I know of one not too far from the mall. It's a little family type place; they've got good food, and good portion sizes." It was a little more expensive than he'd been envisaging - a place he'd gone when he'd first arrived and hadn't been thinking much about money - but now that his bed and food were free back at base, he supposed he could afford to spend a little more if it was that or some seafood place. Anyway, it would be nice to have a good meal; the stuff on base wasn't as awful as it could be, but mass produced food was never going to match the quality of a reasonably nice restaurant.
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:55 am
"Sounds lovely," she commented, not really sure what else to say. There wasn't really much to say anyway, so she opted for comfortable silence as the last few minutes ticked by, and finally they were entering the streets of Camphoreon. Alright now, the mall.. The mall... Crap, how did she get to the mall from here? She'd been so used to flying in on Odette and disregarding using the streets that she wasn't exactly sure how to get there. She knew its general location, however, so she supposed if she headed in that direction she'd get to it eventually.
"How far from the mall is it? Do you think we should park there or try to find a parking garage nearby?" He knew its location better than she did, anyway, so asking him about it seemed like the best option.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:13 am
"There's a car park closer to it than the mall, cheaper too," said Aulus, who had become very well accustomed to hunting down the cheapest places to park. "Head as you would to get to the mall, but take a left turn a block before it," he went on, "the car park will be on your right pretty soon after the turn; after that it's just a couple of minutes walk if I remember right." He hoped he did remember right. He was almost certain that he did, but the sudden fear of looking like an idiot in front of Claire made him question himself... Well, it was only natural, he hated looking stupid in front of anyone, and if she laughed at him he couldn't deal with her by knocking her senseless. That was all it was.
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:30 pm
"Alright," she replied slowly, trying to commit these directions to memory. It didn't really help that she'd only been to the mall a couple of times, and all of those had been by flying rather than driving. Might as well admit it now rather than just take a guess as to the exact street on which she should turn. "I'm more used to flying everywhere than driving," she explained as she continued to head towards the general direction of the mall, "so I'm not exactly sure where this left turn I need to make is." Either way they weren't too far from the mall at this point, a couple of blocks at most, so hopefully he'd be able to direct her to which street to turn on before she missed it. That would be annoying, if nothing else.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:03 pm
"Hu," Aulus shrugged his broad shoulders, "makes sense I guess. Take the next left but one, then it's straight on until the left turn to find the car park." He had to admit she was a decent driver; the only people he'd ever been driven around by before were his father, and of course his driving instructor. He still didn't like not being in control, but he was more relaxed now than he had been at the start of the trip. "Left here," he said as they approached the turning for the car park, "car park should be obvious. If it's not, you probably shouldn't have been driving in the first place."
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Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:43 pm
Next left but one...? What kind of phrase was that? While she pondered such a foreign phrase, thankfully he was at least paying attention, so when she arrived at the specified turn she spun the wheel gently in that direction, slowing her speed a bit to turn onto the street as smoothly as possible. It was hard to drive smoothly when you weren't even completely sure where you were going, or where you were turning.
"Whether or not I should be driving in the first place is irrelevant, considering I'm the one who signed out the car and the one supervising you," which was still an odd thing, to be sure, but whatever. If it got her free lunch and company to wander around with that could actually have a conversation in return, she didn't mind. As long as he didn't do anything stupid, of course.
It took another couple of minutes for her to maneuver around the parking lot, trying to find a place to park the damned thing that didn't just look unoccupied - stupid motorcycles, stupid smart cars, stupid -- aha! "Finally," she murmured as she found a spot that actually wasn't deceiving her about its state of occupation, and quickly pulled into it before anyone else could. "Alright, now where do we go from here?" She asked as she pulled out the keys and slid them into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder before stepping out of the car.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:51 pm
It was good to get out of the car and stretch; while he knew they had a lot of advantages over motorbikes he'd always felt kind of cramped inside them. It wasn't that he was that huge, or that he was actually claustrophobic, it was just... Well, he supposed he just preferred travelling by bike, or by pokemon of course. Rolling his powerful shoulders to loosen the muscles up, Aulus cast around with a slight frown on his face, trying to make a mental map from here to the restaurant.
"This way," he said after a couple of moments, setting off out of the car park and down the street. "Hey," he glanced around to make sure they were alone as a thought occurred to him, "you're Lucy out here, aren't you?" It felt odd to call her that now. He knew Claire wasn't really her name either but... Well, it felt like it was her name, but calling her Lucy just reminded him of being deceived. He knew she'd done it for a good reason but... but still. He didn't like being made a fool of, and he had felt very foolish indeed when he'd found out she'd been lying to him.
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