Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Mmkay Windfiar. I think we can just take care of ourselves. All we have to do is get to Glenville - we don't have to worry about Siber getting pissed at us 'cause we've been meaning to leave for the past few posts. xd ))

A small smile graced Alex's face. "Thanks for the hug."

Alex stared as Flora bit Lorenzo pretty hard. "That looks painful. Would you mind if I held her?" Alex had been waiting for the fiery fox to bite her at some point since their initial meeting, but Flora had done nothing to the recovering junkie. At all. Ever. I think she really does want to be friends with me. That's kinda nice. I think I'll extend an olive branch as well. "My arms might be a bit shaky, but I promise not to drop her."

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In the end, it was decided that Juno would ride with Willam. She didn't really mind and it seemed that no one put up a big fight. Everyone had said their goodbyes and soon enough they all rode out. It wouldn't be long till they were in Glenville...provided that they did not run into any trouble.

Actually, the drive home was a bit awkward. At the speed they were going, Juno had to wrap her arms around the teenage boy's waist. Naya's gonna pitch a fit when I get back. Oh yes she would. Her baby girl left on a mission only to return with a military guardian, a shady teenage boy, and looking like a complete mess. I'm not sure which she'd get more pissed about - the messiness or the boy.

Not to say that it would have been less awkward riding with Ramsden. It wasn't that she didn't like the guy...it was that she was going to be feeling awkward holding on to any guy. Paul, Ramsden, Willam, the Commander - they were all going to be treated with the same awkward hold. Oh grow up Juno. You're putting your life in their hands, you should be able to trust them with something as simple as touching. She was a complete touchophobe when it came to strangers...along with treating them with paranoia (and she would blame the mission for that). Yeaaaah. I'm gonna have to tone down the attitude change when I get back I think.

As the continued, she decided to ask them a question. It was better than being in her head anyway. "Hey dudes! Have either of you ever been to Glenville before?"

((I realize posting has been delayed repeatedly from this end, and I do apologize for that. An attempt to explain the inexcusable: being a senior in college, running two organizations, participating in three besides those, taking eighteen hours of classes, and tutoring, in addition to attempting to maintain an IRL social tie or two and my sanity mean posts will be unreliable and sporadic barring acts of God. I thank you all for your infinite patience *bows* and sincerely hope I can post more often at some point in the not-so-distant future.

My wallow-in-self-pity moment out of the way, I have a comment to make that you've basically resolved on your own, which was actually pretty cool to watch: at the beginning of this RP, it was hard to get player-characters to interact with one another; now you are all very eager to, but that introduces a new problem: over-reacting. Remember, you're playing out an invented reality. Realistically, no one is going to sit there and listen to you make a speech for five minutes, especially if some of it is auto-narrative. Also realistically, when someone makes a proposition, the rest of whatever party is not going to jump all over them unless it's something REALLY dumb or crazy. Just remember that you don't always need the spotlight; act like there isn't one. Unless, like, I make one, or something. Then you should pay attention. Metaphorically or "physically." Honestly, instruments of stage lighting should not be popping up on radiation-blasted earth. That would just be silly.

Awesome jobs, all around. AP updated shortly.))

Looking around, the four intrepid youth saw that the house they were in... well, was not actually that impressive. Beatrice Oak had been imprisoned for over a decade and, by all rights, was probably dead, her husband had passed away before the Calamity, the roses out front had withered and died, and the Oak children opted not to be reminded more of their mother than her from-beyond-the-hypothetical-grave sound bytes that haunted their hacking of her programs. In short, it had fallen into moldy disrepair. Cream-hued paint was chipping off the molding lining the front hallway; animals had torn the carpet of the stairway leading up and away from the unlit maw of the cavernous, two-story foyer; deep scratches, likely from the absol, rent the wooden floor that connected that foyer with a living room on the left, a study on the right (complete with scattered papers and books, most of them either illegible or covered with raw, half-processed data), and a kitchen twenty feet down the hall, with a plain wooden door on the right side of that hall.

Lexi's computer, as expected, showed a dimming of ether signatures in a sphere around the absol, with total blackness at its core. More than that, there was dull orange-red issuing from beneath the house, with a blurry amber concentrated somewhere beneath them.

Beyond that, there was no indication of direction or presence. The absol seemed to have made its peace with Alex, seeing in her a kindred spirit of sorts. There were no sounds of approach, except for a guard who gave the kids nothing more than a cursory glance and a raise of his eyebrow, being unable to see the absol from the street. A few street lights were coming on as evening approached, dotting the city with pools of luminous yellow. Trash blew through the streets in occasional breezes. All spoke of calm.

At his house, Gerard found everything in order - his parents were, naturally, ecstatic to see him, and did all those things that concerned parents do: pamper and ask endless questions.

-----

On the road, Willam looked straight ahead, his gaze lost in the distance. He was not pleased with his position. He was not pleased that Ramsden had to come with them. He was not pleased that he had only picked up a single other knife on his way out of the city. He was not pleased that the girl at his back was being hounded by filthy dogs and that her only protection was him, a greasy street rat. He had nothing to say to Ramsden. His thoughts took a turn towards Paul. At least McCulloch was gone, thank God, and he could wreak his trigger-happy havoc somewhere that wanted it.

The question caught him off-guard, and the nearness of Juno's voice reminded him that all was not so bad in this mess; he did have a pretty blonde with him, who had decided to trust him after he had managed to make himself out as a person basically undeserving of any kind of trust. But that was out to change. "I went there once or twice as a kid, when my parents needed to hit up that mall," he said back. "Got lost trying to crack open the lock on a gumball machine." He snickered at the memory.

Somewhat surprisingly, there were no obstructions to their passage, this time. No Exterminant heads showed themselves; because it was dusk, precious few irritable creatures were out and about, and especially none wanted to interfere with these roaring motorcycles; and there was no sign of eclectic men dressed in black. Really, the only thing out of place was the elaborate stage set-up found about halfway down the road. It was a single platform, with two thirty-foot poles suspending a series of stage lights of different colors and what looked suspiciously like pyrotechnics equipment. The structure was a drab color of slate and appeared to have no power source. The only actual color came from the electric blue flying-vee guitar plugged into a single amplifier and the Gibson Les Paul bass plugged into its own.

Except for inexplicable oddities, the journey to Glenville, it seemed, would go unimpeded.

---

Vivian remembered shortly after speaking, of course, that she had been prepared to raid Glenville earlier that day; the name must have merely slipped her mind. She also recalled that where she was, Cliffshire was much closer. Gangs who had tried posting hideouts near Glenville had been all but eradicated. Cliffshire was not too terribly more welcoming, but at the very least it was less competent and less armored.

"Looks like I finally managed to exhaust that b*****d."

The voice, deep, and somehow reverberating, seemed to come from the edge of the cave. In the dim light, a humanoid, ghostly white figure could be seen. A tail stuck out behind it, and something resembling an extra spine connected its skull to its shoulders. At its digitigrade feet lay a limp body, with a sable hat a foot or so in front of it. "Cliffshire is growing restless, and is thus careless. If you need rations, it would make a good target. It also might behoove the planet to make them suck less at thinking things through. Lastly, if you wouldn't mind, take this sorry b*****d with you. Bury him if you want; I don't give a damn." The thing's eyes glowed a brilliant purple, and it vanished with a pop.

---

Paul received no argument from Commander Brighton. He was allowed the weaponry he required, although Brighton stopped him at the third Claymore. "McCulloch, not only do I still not think you're quite stable, but we need to defend this town, in case, things go sour with you and Cliffshire. Be a little reasonable." He winked good-naturedly, but something in his eyes said he still didn't like what he'd seen in McCulloch. There had been a change, and there was no telling yet what that change had done.

---

On the other end of Riverdale, Marcus Tryst wiped his bloody hands off on a rag and surveyed his work. Turned out young, stupid men in uniform really were no different from young, stupid men in other clothes, and now he had information on Mr. Paul McCulloch. Tryst pocketed a handgun, some cash, and an assortment of knives, adjusted his clothes, and walked back into town to make a few purchases.

---

((Isa-sama: -15 AP, second-stage high-quality pokémon capture, well-mediated.
Enradus and Shaula Al Nair: Socializing 131 +2 AP
Enradus: basic pokéball -1 AP))

Gerard watched in interest as Alex made peace with the angered absol. Impressive, certainly, but not unheard of. He was glad they could make it out without fighting.

He couldn't comprehend what the others were talking about. Don't sacrifice yourself for me? and Stop being an idiot, we can all go? What were they thinking? For one thing, Gerard would have to be an idiot to have left Alex behind; she could seize at any moment, and then both she and they would die. Lexi was unreliable in combat, bless her, and Lorenzo had yet to prove himself as anything but impulsive. What got Gerard the most, though, was how they thought he would die if he covered their escape. For one thing, the absol was injured and Gerard had three experienced pokemon to deal with it; for another, he was fairly sure of his ability to keep a pokemon busy and then withdraw. It wasn't likely that it would pursue him very much at all.

But oh well. He had missed his chance to prove them wrong The time had already passed. They were headed for his house, luckily; he had been wanting to make sure his parents and sisters were alive and well since they had arrived back. They entered his house and Gerard received the standard parental fallings-over and such with good grace, nodding and smiling. Only half of his act was out of courtesy - he was legitimately glad that his family was safe in his absence.

"Mom, Dad, this is Alex, Lexi, and Lorenzo," he said, pointing to each in proper order, then going on to introduce their pokemon. "My parents and sisters run the local shop," he said to his companions, "so if you need anything that's a good place to stock up."

Alex would have picked up Flora before leaving the house, but before she could, the absol headbutted her from behind. She fell over quite loudly. "Oww..." Before she could say anything to it, he'd already started getting out of the house. "...okay then?"

Every time she tried picking up Flora (which was only twice on the way to Gerard's), the absol would show displeasure. The first time it tripped her. The second time, it used the blade on its head to nick her jeans. "Hey now. Don't be cutting me. That's not very nice. But if you have to cut or bite me, don't do it to the sweater. I'm borrowing it and it wouldn't look nice if it had blood on it." The absol made a show of nodding. I don't think it's going to listen to me much.

Once the group stopped inside the house, Alex stayed near the back and closest to the door. She waved at the parents but did nothing else. Now that nothing was stopping her, she picked up Flora and gently held her. The absol watched very very carefully at the vulpix in Alex's arms. Once it became obvious that it wasn't going to bite Alex, it looked away as though it didn't care. "Aww, you don't have to pretend you don't care. Caring is good you know." The absol glared threateningly but did nothing. The fact that she seemed happy to be petting the tamed vulpix meant nothing to him.

Because really, it didn't care. It was just protecting its partner. It wasn't protecting the human because it had loyalty or love or saw "the light." It did so because it knew that his chosen partner understood and held hatred for humans. He knew that his human would get her revenge on the Exterminant, and he wanted to be there when she did (and possibly get some of his own). He was going to make sure she didn't die before they completed that goal. "So we've yet to name you right? What do you think about the name Cornelius Witherspoons III?" He twitched. "Hm, you're right. Maybe Foofoocuddlypoops?" He growled threateningly. "So that's a no?"

------------

Juno saw the electric guitar and bass on the platform and wondered what it was for. At the same time, she didn't want to know. She just wanted to go home, finish the damned mission, and see her family. Curiosity killed the cat. I don't need to be the cat this time.

As she waited for Ramsden to answer, she thought about what was going to happen. First off, she was angry that she went through all that trouble for nothing. The man she was supposed to find was already in Glenville. So what was the point in sending her out? What was the point of all this? Saving the world is good, but why her? How did Beatriz know her and why pick her? As far as she could remember, she'd never met the lady. Surely her sons would know and Juno would be asking them once she got back.

When they rolled out for Glenville, Juno had chosen to ride with Willam, something he really didn't find surprising seeing as she knew him better anyway. Traveling by bike again was exhilarating, as he hadn't gone faster than a run in so long, simply for the no-need-to. The bike was always good to have there, but he never honestly needed it for much, up until now. His last ride was probably somewhere around two to three months ago. It was nice to be back to this. He was excited about where he was. He was excited to be with new people that he may be able one day to call friend. He was excited about basically everything Willam ******** hated, save for the part about Juno getting ravaged constantly. His bike revved across the terrain with them quietly as he pondered his situation.

Well, I would suppose one could label this under "new". Save girl from evil people who for some reason really want her, even though she's only 15. You know, if this were a video game, there would be some crazy plot where she's destined to save the world because if she doesn't this omnipitent force will crush everything and as we push forward through our journey, we lose a party member and we're all sad, but the big bad guy is all, "Muah-ha-ha-ha, I killed her. Now what?" And we're all, "Arrgh. I'm very mad at you now, we must fight!" Then we all fight, and even though we completely came off undamaged in the fight due to the never ending amount of healing items we had, we'd be messed up in the cutscene but he'd be fine somehow, but then Juno would do a magic move from the power deep inside her and kill him, winning the game forever, and then we're all rich somehow. Yup, sounds about like I'm bored as ********, but when am I not? And why am I asking myself things all the time recently? Jesus I am going insane. Hopefully I don't go that style of insane wh-

"-ve either of you ever been to Glenville before?" Juno's voice called. Ramsden broke from his zone-out trip and snapped back to reality. He caught enough of what Juno asked to answer after Willam did.
"Surprisingly no!" He called, being a little farther from Juno and Willam's bike being a little louder than his. "Never been there myself! Well, maybe once or twice a while back, but not really long enough for me to ever count myself as 'being-there!' Didn't do much, just kinda went to check it out! You'll have to be the tour guide for us I suppose, seeing as neither of us really know the area!" He half-shouted this from his bike, loud enough so Juno could hear, but not obnoxiously loud. "How are you connected to Glenville if you don't mind me asking! And uhh, why exactly are we headed there?!" he figured there was no point in keeping this a totally quiet ride, and besides, maybe he could figure out something important, or even just the why what was happening was happening.

[[No problem, life is like that unfortunately...I'm just glad you aren't leaving all together. By the way, anyone else notice that we've made it past the thread's birthday?

EDIT: Forgot to put my request in red...]]

On the way out, Lexi’s eyes wandered over the run-down building that was once home to one of the world’s most brilliant. Like everything that had a life prior to the Calamity, it had seen its fair share of wear and tear. Pokemon and mundane animals seemed to have had the run of the place for years, so she doubted the place was ever really visited. Despite that, there was an energy here. It was less obvious than in the musical clearing, but to her computer it was plain that there was more going on than in most stretches of ground. Some sort of residual effect? Just naturally higher background? But there wasn’t much she could do with guessing. She didn’t want to leave, but she had already decided that the others had a point when it came to the relative safety of the house. Tomorrow we can come back, maybe…Dangit…all this cool stuff, just a few miles away my whole life and I’m just seeing it now! Stinking Calamity!

Lexi watched, amused, as the group walked through town and the new absol repeatedly attempted to prevent Alex from picking up Flora. “Wow, He’s been with us for only a few minutes and is already pushing you around…” Rex seeing that the absol was less than interested, and Alex was busy getting pushed around, fell back to walking alongside Lexi and yawned, bored. “Sorry, I thought things might get interesting, but.” She shrugged, and the dog pokemon ran around a bit before coming back with a small stick. “Lemme guess…Fetch, right?” There was no mistaking what the tail wagging meant.

The game of fetch lasted the walk to Gerard’s place, with Phoenix joining in with a twig she would snatch out of the air. When they arrived, Lexi would have shaken his parents’ hands after her introduction, but was forced to hold up a slobbery hand as an excuse. “Thank you so much for having us over.” Gerard looked happy to be home, and that much Lexi could understand well. Home was sounding awfully nice to her too, but she might as well be on the other side of the planet. At least one of them got to be home.

Lexi wasn’t surprised to hear that Gerard’s family ran a store, as she had been given an advertisement so she would know who Gerard was, but she was definitely happy to stock up. “I don’t suppose you have any potions do you?” So far she had been going through them as fast as she obtained them, and they were handy! “Not that I have much to trade but…Ask and I’ll see what I can do. Two would be good, but like I said, I’m not rich.” Probably the opposite of…she didn’t really enamor herself to her Woodmount bosses, so her spare change pile was tiny…

She looked over at Alex, who was trying to come up with a name for the big dark-type pokemon that had just joined the team, and walked over to sit on the floor nearby, Rex crawling into her lab for a belly rub. “I don’t know…I think you need something that doesn’t take as long to say…or was Rex a nickname?” She then turned to Lorenzo. “Earlier you said you got Flora in an event…Is it a story you’re willing to tell?” She really wanted to know because as far as she knew, both her and Gerard’s pokemon were a sort of genetic experiment of the late Professor Oak’s that was given to them, and that was why they had the extra type…electric for Phoenix and fire for Justice, if she wasn’t mistaken. She could have sworn Flora had sneezed spores at dinner, which would imply an extra grass type, but if he wasn’t given the pokemon…She wasn’t going to make him tell a story he wanted to forget, but she was curious…

Lorenzo shrugged.

"She never shows any real pattern in who or what she likes so I couldn't really say."

At Lexi's request, he thought about it.

"Well, it's not as if it's shameful or anything. It's actually kinda funny when I think about it in relation to what just happened earlier."

He sat back in his chair, leaning on the back legs.

"My famiy went on a camping trip back when I was... twelve? Yeah, twelve. Anyway, I wandered away from camp and I ended up all the way in the mountain nearby. Said mountain was a good mile or so from where we were actually camping. It got very dark and it was raining. I wandered into a cave and fell asleep there. When I woke up..."

He motioned at Flora.

"She was sleeping next to me. My parents had hired a Pokemon ranger to find us, but it took him several days. Those days were spent with Flora here going out with me and catching fish. She would set a bush on fire, throw the fish in, then jump in and get the fish when it was done."

Lorenzo smiled.

"She was practically my babysitter. She nipped me a little more gently back then. When the ranger finally made it to us, I asked my parents if we could keep her, and they allowed it since they didn't feel like being 'bad' parents for neglecting to watch their child. After that, the rest of it's just past memories. We grow up, she drives away my first girlfriend, she burns my room a couple'a times."