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Gerard endured the shaking with a straight face, rather used to being jostled by Naya and subsequently, her daughter. When released, he cleared his throat and smoothed his shirt with a small grin.

"Good to see you're still okay enough to shake me around," he said, hiding a chuckle, "but yeah, that's basically what's going on. It could have to do with what we discovered on the way back - long story, I'll tell you later," he said, waving a hand, "and maybe it's because we got back first. I'm willing to bet, however, that it's because you scare them shitless and they're a bit too high-strung to deal with it right now. I'll calm them down, though, and we'll see if we can't get you in to meet with them."

That done, he looked over and saw the vaporeon. His eyes were didn't register it for about to seconds before he looked surprised. "Juno! Is that Evie? Good for you!" He released Justice to allow the larvitar to meet Evie in its new form. The little pokemon had no problem going up to Evie and starting a very animated discussion about who-knew-what.

The growlithe put its paws over its ears at the noise, then at a word of command from its trainer, gathered its resolve and started to charge forward, leaping towards the magnemite and barking mid-air to release another fireball. Its ears were still pulled back from the piercing sound rattling its skull, but the fireball shot true and the growlithe's trajectory would land it directly beneath its target.

---

Jeremiah didn't see anything terribly interesting save for a polished organ manual with a conductor's baton on top of it. The road passed through a single ghost town as it shot towards Woodmount, the same one where Alex had first made her appearance. The place seemed to still be abandoned, but as Jeremiah passed the post office, he noticed a gleaming motorcycle parked outside the building.

((I'd post more, but it looks like you're all taking care of things on your own for now, and the only two other things I would post hinge on other folks' jazzery. Again, this is the time for AP expenditure, if you plan on it.))

Lorenzo had fallen asleep against Flora, and the Vulpix likewise, as everyone walked out to greet someone.The teenage boy mumbled incoherently about something as he dreamt.

"Nah, mama, I think maroon's a horrible color... No it's not red I refuse to believe-- NYEEOWW!!"

Flora had returned to her usual vigor, and, finding that she was clutched into Lorenzo's arms, bit into his his shirt as an "I'm back!" Lorenzo grumbled as the fox jumped down and glared at her.

"So wonderful to have you back to your appreciative self."

Flora growled in response and trotted out the door, turning her tail up at him.

"Aaa! Oh, no you didn'~"

Lorenzo followed Flora out, mocking her in his horrible impression of a black girl.

"Gir', you bes' be not messin' wi' me, 'cuz I wi' straigh' CUT CHUUuuuuuuu..."

He stopped as he noticed everyone outside conversing, having walked into the midst of them. He stopped and grinned stupidly.

"Heeeeey, everybody. I take it I fell asleep during the entrance of newer peeps...?"

Naya smiled and nodded. "Alrighty. We'll get going and have you deal with the munchkins." The two adults walked along easily when Ramsden asked about house rules. "Well Ramsden, there are several rules I've got. No giving my kids a gun regardless of being loaded or not. While I do keep a rifle in the house, they know better than to touch it or the ammo. They can only handle it once they turn 16. Numbah two: No smoking in the house. If you gotta smoke, then you can do it on the porch. Numbah three: no cussin' while the kids can hear."

Juno watched as Ramsden led Naya away. She was pretty glad because right now she wanted to beat up Gerard for his high-and-mighty act. "Oh Gerard...you're still the same p***k as before." Gerard calming the Oaks down her a**. Before the mission, she would have ignored that and pitied him for his huge ego. Not a word would have passed her mouth because it would have been rude to say anything. Now though..."Seriously dude, you gotta cut down on your self-importance act or people are gonna get pissed off at you." She was however pleased at his words towards Evie. "Isn't she adorable?! It was awesome to watch her transform." She was also happy to see Evie becoming friends with all the other pokemon.

The blond then turned to Lexi with a smile. "Is that so? See now, you're just going to have to tell me the trip you had getting here." Her smile grew at the invite to see the Oaks. "Do I even need to answer? I swear, if the Oaks run away again I'm going to tear down the door. They're brilliant but wimpy."

Then a fourth person came out Gerard's home chasing a vulpix. After hearing his bad impression of a black person, she immediately turned to see Naya's disappearing form. "Dude. You are SO lucky she was not around to hear that." Then again, Naya did have a sense of humor...but why tempt fate? "I don't think I've seen you here before. I'm Juno and the vaporeon is Evie. Who are you and where are you from?"

Lorenzo scratched the back of his head, a look of utter stupidity on his face.

"Heeeh... sorry again. Nice to meet you, though, Juno and Evie."

He looked around for the Vulpix, who had vanished from his view.

"I'm Lorenzo, Lorenzo Guiser. And... as soon as I can find her-- tch. There she is."

Flora had latched her jaw around his ankle once again, biting forcefully.

"That little jewel of a Vulpix is named Flora. As you can see, she seems to think that my body is made of Pokefood..."

He skritched her behind the ear, eliciting a soft whimper as her grip loosened, then regained her insanity to bite further.

"We both used to live in Glenwood, but we've been around since stuff went kablooey. And, uh... Gerard, right? I might forget your name from time to time... But anyway, by doors you mean the Oaks' place thing, right? I'm bad with the analogies, careful with those around me."

"So the kids cannot touch my guns? Alright, that rules out me teaching them a proper turnover, but your rules are your rules. I'll really only be carrying them when I take a watch tonight. Otherwise, the M9 will be locked up in my seabag and the M500... do you have a place I can store it? It's not gonna fit in my bags and there's no reason to carry it in the house. The smoking really won't be a problem, I just enjoy the occasional one from time to time and during times of relaxation. Anything I should know about the kids? Topics to avoid like, any deceased parents? Phobias? Bad nightmares? I'm just trying to avoid conflict with any of them. Oh and, they shouldn't mind using AM2 for me right? I prefer to keep younger people with that title." He said, ticking off every possible question he should know before meeting them. Naya nodded quietly.

"We got a closet that we can stow your stuff in. The kids won't be botherin' your things so no worries there. As for my kids? Eight have deceased parents, 1 is a runaway, two were given up on account of their parents not being able to take care of the poor children. The runaway is our dear Juno. Then again, I guess we should be sayin' nine of 'em have deceased parents." She paused to think about all of her orphans. "My youngest girl has nightmares but she's not a screamer so that should be fine. My youngest boy likes to ask all sorts of questions to the point of being embarrassing. My second oldest girl might ask you advice on boys. She's twelve. And I have no idea what you mean by AM2. Explain that please?"

"Alright so, generally, avoid parents all together like an IED... very bad bomb. Sorry I'm so used to military acronyms still. I'll probably end up calling your bathroom a head or the wall a bulkhead a lot. Just hit me when I do it to much," he joked. "Okay, so any ideas what the nightmares are about? I wouldn't want to stir anything. And the AM2? AM2 is a rating. AM stand for Aviation Structural Mechanic, so I fixed planes in the Navy. H-60R Seahawks is what I worked on which are anti-submarine and attack helicopters. The 2 means I'm a 2nd class petty officer, or E-5. If you're an AM3 you're a 3rd class petty officer and am AM, and AM1 is 1st class petty officer. AMC is a chief, and so on. Petty Officer 3rd class, 2nd class, 1st class, chief, senior chief, master chief, going from most junior to most senior enlisted rank. And once again, I have said far to much. Sorry, my explanations can get... lengthy." He apologized to her for most likely boring her with this long-winded mini-speech. Naya let out a loud laugh and patted Ramsden on the back.

"Oh believe me, after dealing with eleven children ranging from ages five to fifteen, I can deal with lengthy conversations. I do appreciate you explaining the AM2 thing. And no, they shouldn't mind using that term if that's what you want. I don't know what the nightmares are. I wish I knew..." Naya then snapped her fingers as though she remembered something. "Oh! Forgot to mention, one of the younger boys sleepwalks. So if you see a little boy walking around tonight, it's likely he doesn't even realize he's doing it. You best just walk him back to his room - I'll show you where he sleeps - and not worry about it."

"Oh okay, good to know. I actually slept-walked a lot on the ship. Anxiety about home. Didn't exactly help to much when I came back to my anxiety being true after my fourth deployment. Life on a ship though is ridiculously fun though so, distractions. Ah, but I digress. Yeah, the AM2 thing, it just puts me back into a military mindset for defense but also keeps me, for lack of a better term, happy-go-lucky as my few guys below me referred to me by that and when on a ship, I was one of the 'cooler' petty officers. Partying with Airmen and stuff, I always made sure the guys below me had a good time so I took a lot of the crap for them. It just kinda brings me back you know? That, and I feel it helps keep myself in a line of authority over those who are younger or should be listening. That's the main reason I don't have Juno call me that. I feel she's old enough to be my equal, mentally anyway. I didn't meet much of her, but she's a superb kid that one. We gettin' close?" Ramsden inquired, wondering how far away Naya's house was. The second Ramsden had finished asking his question, they'd turned the corner to see the house.

"We're actually already here. By the way, good luck." A group of kids of various heights and ages started coming out the front door and all came to hug Naya. Then all of their heads turned to stare at the stranger with wide eyes.

God help Ramsden.

"Where's Juno? Why do we have a stranger here? Who is the stranger?" It wasn't easily distinguished who asked what question, but those were the ones he heard the most.

"Uhh... Juno's not here right now she's going to see the Oaks. I'm here because I'm one of Juno's protectors to make sure she stays safe in any situation. Who am I? Uhh, just call me AM2. I'll be staying with you guys for the night or maybe longer. I don't really know the time frame I'll be here but I'm used to being in new places. So uhh... who are all of you?" he asked trying to get to everyone. All of the kids rattled off their names and ages.

"So your name is Ay-em-two? Why is that your name? Did you parents not like you?" This was the boy that asked embarrassing questions no doubt.

"No no my parents liked me fine. That's not my actual name it's just what I prefer to go by. It's my job in the Navy. See, AM means I fix aircraft, or helicopters in my case, and the 2 is my rank. I was E-5 back when the Navy still existed. So, not exactly high authority, but people still answered to me. My actual name is Ryan E. Ramsden, but Naya and Juno call me by that. For ya'll, it'd be AM2." Ramsden explained trying to make sure everything he said made sense. The last thing he needed was for the kids to take something out of context and have Naya throw him next. The kids murmured amongst themselves before asking several other questions.

"Do you know what happened to Juno? Did she like, fight some bad guys and win some awesome stuff? And what did you do while you were with her?"

"Well I'm here now to settle in and she's with Gerad right now. This place is safe so there's no need for me to tail her, and I figured I should meet you all seeing as I'd be staying with you. When is she coming back? If she can't get a straight answer from the Oaks right now, probably soon. Otherwise sometime later tonight I would assume. Speaking of which, where's my rack at Naya? Same room as the kids or somewhere else?" At that question, the boys started swarming Naya wondering if he'd sleep with them or not.

"Oh no boys. He's gonna be getting his own guest room. Why don't you go show him where it is?" The boys nodded and then dragged Ramsden around the house showing him everything from bathrooms, to attic, to girls' rooms, to boys' rooms till they finally showed him his room.

"Huh. This is a nice place. Naya takes really good care of you all." Ramsden said, looking around the room. He dropped his seabag off on the ground, unlocked it and put his M9 along with the rounds away, re-locking it. "So uhh... what do you guys usually do to kill time? Erin stop they're fine." Erin was rather tense around not only all the people but that they were new. She seemed to stand somewhere between battle ready and relaxed. "Sorry she gets nervous around new people. She's a rescue. Really abused when she was younger." Ramsden explained to he boys that showed him where he'd be. Poor Erin. She had at least one of the five year olds attached to her leg or at least in constant contact with her.

"We usually have Juno make things fun! She reads us stories or makes them up. When it's just us, we just play with each other. If Naya's in a bad mood, then we do homework and say it's fun and then Naya stops being in a bad mood. We don't know why that helps...do you know?"

"Well I would assume it's because you say you have fun learning, so she's happy you'll all grow-up with a fair education. If you have fun learning, you'll want to do it more and end up as smart as the Oaks eventually. She's probably proud of you for taking the initiative to do it as well. Uhh... as for stories, well I do have a fair share of sea stories but I figured I'd tell those later tonight if you guys were interested. Erin's pretty playful when she gets calm," Erin shot a death glare his way. Obviously having ten children on her was not her idea of playing. Ramsden pretended not to notice, enraging her only further. "But I'd give her a bit to warm up to the area. I got her after my last deployment so she's not that used to moving around yet and isn't to trusting of brand new people, but she usually does better around children. I think so much has happened to her today is all. She's really good at tag though if you guys do that." She perked up a little at the mention of the game. The boys (and girls who followed after Erin) grew excited at the thought of playing tag with her. Erin had always enjoyed the game and it gave her a great excuse to stretch out. The kids ran around the yard chasing after her while she flew after them, keeping the game fair by never abusing her command over speed. She'd let them all catch her after a while and would never make another child "it" until she felt it had been long enough. The game lasted a good hour, implementing new rules like freeze tag and other variations. After their massive tag-fest, they all headed inside to get cleaned up as Naya prepared the meal for that night. After dinner, they all headed into the main room so they could listen to a few of Ramsden's stories. He kept them all far away from the sexual ones or the one's from Thailand, but told two or three that night.

"So this Gunner's Mate, or GM, is just really bored one day. He's got nothin' to do, all the work is done, and we're basically on liberty which is our own free time to spend doing whatever. So he's down on the main deck outside the ship, and he finally figures out how he can kill his boredom."

"How AM2?" One of the younger kids asked.

"Simple. Kill somethin' else. He got an RPG, think of bazooka but skinnier and more portable, and he fires that thing."

"What did he shoot?"

"A fricken water buffalo." Ramsden said in a what-the-hell tone.

"What?!" The kids asked as they laughed.

"Yeah." He said, laughing with them. "You see some weird people doing some weird things on ships. Oh, that reminds me, so there was this other time on the flight deck of my only carrier I was on, the USS Nimitz,..." Ramsden continued on his stories until a reasonable bedtime passed around. The kids all scooted off to their rooms to sleep for the night, as Ramsden walked in with the males. "Alright, so I'll be in my room probably around five in the morning, so if you need anything until then, just come bug me on the porch."

"Five in the morning?" A voice popped up.

"Yeah, I'll be standing watch tonight. I'll explain more tomorrow, you all sleep for now."

"K. Good night AM2!" They rang out.

"Night." He closed the door for the most part, leaving it just slightly ajar for the younger ones and headed over to the females side. Knocking on the door without opening it, he called into the room, "You all decent? Safe for me to come in?"

"Yeah you can come in AM2." One of the older girls called. Opening the door, Ramsden leaned into their room without fully entering it and told them the same thing he told the boys. "So at any point in the night, I'll be down there. See you all in the morning. Night girls."

"Good night AM2!" They copied the males.

"Well, that settles all that." Ramsden said to himself heading back to his room. He opened his door and picked up his shotgun and twenty shells, along with retrieving his sewing kit, NWU pants, pack of cigarettes and one of the books he had brought with him. Taking up the shotgun, he did a combat load for the first round and pumped the shotgun forward, creating an audible noise of a stereotypical shotgun pump going in one direction. Loading in five shells after that in the bottom load port, he slung the gun over his back ensuring the safety was on and headed to the porch. "C'mon Erin, let's go." Erin looked over at him from his bed. She had been resting from the tag earlier knowing she'd be standing watch with him later. They headed down and out to the porch, flicking the light on before heading outside. He took the gun off his back and sat down in the chair out front. Erin sat down next to him, tapping the tips of her blades together to kill time. "I guess now we just wait for Juno and chill out here for a while." Erin nodded and continued tapping her blades. It made a nice, somewhat relaxing pitched metallic cling. Ramsden pulled his NWU pants up and started sewing up the rip while lighting up a cigarette. "Now's as good as any I suppose." he said to himself, fixing his pants. He inhaled and blew out the smoke leaving it in his mouth the whole time. "Damn I love the smell of these." He said, the aroma slowly becoming more and more noticeable. "Don't smell a thing like cigarettes. How does Djarum do it?" He asked himself. I've got to stop killing time by asking myself questions. He sat on the porch reading after his pants were fixed, looking up every now and again to watch for Juno, a new cigarette in his mouth every hour and a half or so.

As things settled down around the Oaks' labs, Ulysses decided to migrate back to the group of lounge seats from which he'd come. He ushered young Thomas Rikes with him. As they walked, he resumed some of their prior discussion. "I suppose it is getting on in the evening. You ought to get yourself to bed, and bring the little guy with you." The ether specialist gave an open-handed gesture toward the sandshrew at this. "Don't put him away, let him take to the floor or the foot of your bed. And try to think of a name for him, if you would."

With the fireball headed quickly for his eye Roger did the only thing any reasonable magnemite and/or starship captain would do, he reversed the polarity; on his levitation. His magnets stopped hard and started spinning the other direction in less than a split second, the electric buzz waivered strangely and he began to rocket at the ground. Despite his speed the fireball skimmed over his metal head-sort-of-body-thing, still, he avoided the brunt of it. Through the second and a half all this took place, Roger didn't have the time to notice that he was now rapidly flinging himself down upon the growlithe, luckily growlithe are made out of flesh and bone and pseudoscience and Roger was made out of steel and much greater quantities of pseudoscience. Roger would be fine.