Welcome to Gaia! ::

A vague sense of hunger found Lucas approaching the kitchen almost on instinct. He wasn't even really sure why, when it came down to it. He wasn't anything of a chef, and he wasn't even familiar enough with the base's kitchens to know what he would find there. A piece of fruit, maybe. A forgotten tupperware container whose contents hadn't been abandoned for too terribly long. What he found instead was an almost comically small person, sitting at a counter - or as close to 'at a counter' as she could reach with her diminutive height - and calling out the name of those fruit-filled cookies he'd eat from time to time.

People didn't generally shout out random cookies, did they? No, Lucas had never met someone with such an odd habit, and Lucas had met a lot of people. He could only conclude that it was some kind of expletive with which he had yet to become acquainted.

"Everything all right in here?" he asked, his tone somewhere between worried and curious.

He was somewhat surprised by the appearance of the heavily-bandaged leg. Lucas was neither a master chef nor a brain surgeon, but he was at least familiar with the difference between a kitchen and an infirmary. It seemed obvious that this girl - woman? - was misplaced, yet her explanatory comment disproved the assumption. Cookies after all. Lucas could only hope they really were the little flat, fruit-filled ones.

"Don't you think that maybe you should wait on that?" he suggested, stepping forward a bit to help if the need presented itself. "That doesn't look like a good state to be cooking in," he rubbed at the back of his neck, "not that I know anything about cooking..."

The shuddering pokeball did not go unnoticed, though Lucas spared it only a passing thought, mildly curious what sort of creature was inside but not so much that he would bring it up. It looked like it was only a matter of time before whatever was inside emerged of its own volition anyway.

"Whoa!" Lucas made a grab for the refrigerator door. "Okay, so you need to bake. Got it. At least let me help then, yeah? What would you do if you hurt yourself? I mean, again." He couldn't bake himself, but he sure could follow instructions. And he could carry stuff pretty well, too, what with having two arms and two legs. He was pretty confident in his carrying skills, if nothing else.

He turned to the pokemon as it cried out triumphantly and made a break for the fridge, flailing about the jam it had obtained. A lively thing, that Drifblim. "Hey, pal. You, uh... You need a hand too?" Lucas held out his hand palm-up in a nonverbal offer to remove the lid for the ghost-type.

Lucas chuckled at the Drifblim's gesture and unscrewed the lid with a deft twist of the wrist, handing the open jar back and turning to the fridge to retrieve the requested egg. "Ehh, just tell me what to do and I'll see about getting done," he said with a laugh, placing the chilled shell on the counter where the other had resided. All he needed was steps; as long as she didn't say something like 'make the cookies,' he figured he'd be set.

A brief salute and Lucas began assembling the named items, toying with explanations on why sugar and brown sugar had to be two separate entities. The color was a given, of course, but there was also the flavor and texture. Brown sugar was infinitely preferable, he though, so why should granulated sugar exist at all? And then there was powdered sugar which was just altogether different... Lucas snapped back to attention when he realized the frivolity of his thoughts, abashedly thankful that mind reading was a talent reserved for select pokemon. His momentarily vacant expression, though, was likely enough to hint at his wonders.

Ah, so Newton was the blimp. He couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed, but at least there would be some kind of cookie yielded from the process. Lucas stifled a laugh at the Drifblim's fervent effort. He could admire that kind of energy. He was distracted by the sight from his company's words.

"Ah, yeah. Name's Lucas. Sorry, guess I should have said that first," he smiled, throwing in a courteous bow for effect. "I'm pretty much new here," a thought crossed his mind, "or maybe I was a ninja, and this is the first time I've revealed myself to anyone? You would never know." His chuckle was cut short by his own realization that that was a pretty stupid joke.

Lucas detected the pride in her voice when Nyx announced her specialization. He was glad to see someone who enjoyed what they did, and this young woman seemed to have that both in her workplace and in her choice of recreation, judging from how insistent she was in this need to bake. He'd seen more than his share of gloomy folks who hated their job and took it out on their coworkers. Such people did not create a happy and healthy working environment.

He leaned forward against the counter as he watched Newton's antics, smirking. Merry could use a little loosening up, he decided.

"Hah! I wish I were in the ninja department!" What an icebreaker that would be at all the company Christmas parties. "Nah, I don't have the skills for it. I uh... used to work in a branch in another region. I did, um... recon, or something... Some kind of special division or another. I dunno. I don't think I liked it a whole lot, though. Thought I'd try and find a new place to belong this time around."

"Hmm... A non-ninja, maybe? Too my deepest chagrin, of course." Lucas watched as the Drifblim created a little floating seat for his trainer. That was a pretty impressive technique. Or, at least, not a technique he would have thought of in Nyx's situation. A testament to her skill as a scientist, perhaps?

"If I had to give you a name for it right now, I'd say I'm a weapons guy. Or I'm thinking I might be a weapons guy. I haven't had a look at what kinds of departments are around here yet. Is there something you'd like me to do while you, uhh..." What was the word? Lucas made an imitative hand gesture instead.