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 Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 3:04 pm
In Camphoreon City he was just another anonymous, forgettable man walking down the street. Of course, back on base he was just another anonymous forgettable grunt. The main difference in fact was that he was currently wearing a casual grey suit rather than Team Rocket grunt blacks, and that he was looking for an ice-cream shop rather than engaging in nefarious criminal plotting and so on.
The glaceon that walked along beside him was slightly less forgettable than he, but only slightly; the city was jam-packed with pokemon both of rare kind and of rare colouration. A glaceon that was merely a very very slight deviation from shiny would only attract looks from serious fans of the kind, or perhaps tourists whose minds were boggled by absolutely everything they were seeing...
Now then.
He had looked at maps back on the base, and according to them there was an ice-cream shop around half way down the street he had just stepped onto... Ah, yes, there was a shop sign some three hundred yards or so to his left that was shaped like an ice-cream cone. A bit of a giveaway.
"Come on then," Frost twitched a tiny smile down at his companion, "let's find you a treat."
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:16 pm
As Frost stepped around the corner, a slightly less forgettable young woman had just exited a store, following after a equally slightly-less-forgettable shiny-looking Pikachu - her for the odd colored streaks in her hair and the manner in which she carried herself, and the Pikachu for his short yet chubby form and slightly shiny variant coloring. This was all well and good for the woman with purple streaks in her hair - she had no desire to really stick out in a crowd, as that would be detrimental and potentially fatal, if she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
All that aside, she wouldn't have noticed Frost if Zeus hadn't suddenly veered to one side to greet the man and his Glaceon. Claire blinked and looked up, and a wave of recognition passed over her face. "Oh, hello," she said politely with a nod, not wanting to say his name in public for numerous reasons. "I didn't hardly recognize you wearing a suit - I've never seen you in one before." Why was he wearing a suit, anyway..?
Zeus plopped down near Skiron, ignoring both trainers, and offered a polite "chu" of greeting. He wasn't good at starting conversations that weren't about food, so he left that up to the other pokemon if he wanted to start a discussion on something.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:33 am
He supposed running into people from the base in the outside world was inevitable, but even knowing that odds favoured such an occurrence happening in the end he found himself a little surprised to see the young woman. Had she not approached him it would probably have taken him a while to recognise her too, and even when he had, he probably wouldn't have approached her. Still, he was glad that she had approached him; he still needed to organise a battle with her at some point, and of course there was the never-ending struggle to be somebody she was prepared to work with should the need arise.
"Claire," Frost acknowledged the other grunt with a nod, "it is surprising how familiar people can seem unfamiliar in attire and settings you do not associate them with... What brings you to the city today?" Humm. Perhaps he should have asked after her health first. Nevermind, he could do that in a moment if it still seemed relevant.
Sitting back on his haunches, Skiron nodded his head and gave a greeting chirrup of his own. He didn't really have anything to say to the pikachu, and didn't see the need to scrabble around from something to talk about. They were both here, it was a nice day, and his relaxed manner made it clear enough that he was pleased to see the electric type. They weren't like humans who felt they needed to fill every second with chatter, but then given how dim humans could be about the most obvious things in life he supposed they needed to explicitly state just about everything.
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:28 am
She had run into people from the base in Camphoreon before - as well as gone with Lucas to breakfast once - so running into people didn't surprise her. His suit did - that wasn't exactly what she'd expect him to wear when not at the base. Well, actually... What did she expect him to wear? Not a single idea came to mind, so she dropped the thought with an internal shrug. Ah, her name - crap. "Lucy, if you please," she said as she fell into step next to him, hooking her thumbs through the belt loops on her jeans. "You can never be too careful in public, you know." At this point she must have four - no, five different nicknames. Was it five? The point was moot, at any rate, so she moved on to the next topic.
"Nothing in particular today, actually," she mused aloud, violet eyes scanning the upper portions of the buildings on the other side of the street. "I had the day off and thought I'd come here to walk around, maybe find a fudge shop for Zeus or something. No such luck yet, though." The Pikachu in question grunted unhappily to affirm this. He wanted fudge. "Where are you headed today?" She had missed his comment about ice cream, thus the question.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:25 pm
"Lucy?" Frost blinked; of course it made sense to go by a different name off base, but he'd never really had to think about that as usually he had no reason to give his name to anyone. "Right, Lucy..." It would really help if he had more of an imagination for things like this; he had no idea what he ought to tell her to call him. His given name was out of the question for more than one reason so... "Call me Dith." That was hardly a name he would forget to react to, but he almost regretted saying it now. He wished things had turned out differently.
"In any case, right," Frost shook himself mentally, pushing down the emotions that were trying to surface, "what I am doing here is looking for sorbet. I promised Skiron he would have some a good while ago now, when I met you actually, but this is the first chance I have had to get off the base and come looking for some. I believe the shop I'm after is just down there," he gestured down the street, "it is supposed to be very good... Would you like to come with me?" She had been quite tolerable last he had met her; her company would be acceptable... She would come, wouldn't she? She had said she had nothing very much to do... Not that he mattered. There was no reason at all for him to want her to come with him. She could if she wanted to, but if she didn't he wouldn't mind. Not a bit.
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:32 pm
Dith? Odd name, but whatever he wanted to be called - within reason, of course - was his business. "Alright," she said agreeably, eyes still scanning the buildings idly. For some reason lately she'd been continuously finding herself distracted, not working or training as diligently as she used to. Something was bothering her, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. Was it something that had to do with Lucas? That could be it, but at the moment all that her mind contained was the sudden thought of ice cream - planted there by Frost. Dith. Whichever.
'Lucy' mused over this idea for a moment or to before deferring the question to the plump Pikachu trailing behind her. "Will chocolate ice cream do, or will you throw a fit if you don't get fudge?" She was not in the mood for him to have any sort of fit - not that she tolerated them, but it was an entirely different story when an electricity-wielding pokemon decided to electrocute you for not doing what they wanted. Zeus more than likely would never do such a thing, but it wasn't something she felt like testing today.
After a moment of deliberation (as if he needed to actually think about it), he nodded enthusiastically, so Lucy turned a smile to the man next to her. "Then we'd love to join you for ice cream. I had to make sure he wouldn't cause a power surge or something," she explained after a pause, turning her gaze ahead of them and focusing on the cone-shaped sign nearby. She did not want him to think Zeus wasn't as well-trained as before. "He probably wouldn't, but I'd much rather him be in an agreeable mood than knocking the power out because he'd have a fit or something."
Zeus scoffed at the very idea of him throwing a fit. As if. He had conveniently forgotten the week of kitchen raids to sate his chocolate obsession after his owner had broken her arm. It wasn't his fault she couldn't get it for him herself.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2011 3:31 am
"I investigated their menu to ensure they had sorbet," the rocket formerly known as Frost informed 'Lucy' as he set off towards the shop once more, "and one of their specialty flavors is 'triple choc-chip fudge delight'. It is chocolate ice cream with white, milk, and dark chocolate chips, and fudge chunks. I think that will satisfy your little friend?" He wasn't much of a chocolate man in general, but that had sounded pretty good even to him in an overly decadent way. "You can add toppings too," he added, "such as marshmallows, caramel, extra chocolate sprinkles... It seemed to have things to suit all tastes, but especially chocolate-centric tastes."
What else could he talk about? Humm. He wasn't desperate enough to bring up the weather, silence was better than that, but he did want something to say. What had come out of their previous meetings that he could work with?... Well, that would do. "Perhaps this is a foolish thing to ask given we are going to get ice cream, " definitely not Frost said in tones that almost managed to be jesting, "but how is his diet going? I suppose that now your arm has healed, it is easier to train and control him now?"
The discussion of chocolate and fudge interested Skiron not at all, but the brief mention of the sacred word made his ears perk and his mouth water. Sorbet. Delicious, sweet, sharp sorbet. Raspberry. He hoped his human remembered that was his favorite. Giving an uncharacteristically excited chirrup, the ice type bounded ahead a few paces before pausing and looking over his shoulder; they should hurry up, or all the sorbet might be gone!
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:13 pm
Frost's description of this 'triple choc-chip fudge delight' sounded absolutely heavenly to the little electric-type, and he was practically drooling on the sidewalk as they continued. And he could even add more chocolate in the form of syrup and sprinkles?! Well he hadn't mentioned syrup, but no one could fool Zeus. Ice cream was normally served with the option of chocolate syrup.
Diet? Huh? Oh. "It's alright, I suppose," she said with a shrug. "I still need to give him chocolate more often than I'd like to but if I don't he throws horrible fits." The mention of this elicited a glare from the subject, but he bounded ahead to join Skiron. They needed to hurry up. He wanted his extremely chocolatey dessert immediately, or else.. Or else.... something. Yes, he would do something.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:31 pm
"I suppose sometimes it is easier to bow to their whims than to resist," Frost commented in typically bland tones as Zeus rushed onward beside Skiron. "For one constant whining does tend to be distracting, and for another..." The small man trailed off, a very slight thoughtful frown creasing his brow. He remained silent for a little longer than was generally considered to be a comfortable pause in the middle of a sentence before adding; "For another they work very hard, which should be rewarded... Skiron works very hard. Obviously I cannot speak for Zeus' work ethic other than his dislike of the treadmill. I cannot blame him: I find it to be a singularly tiresome machine myself, and although I do use it from time to time for Skiron I do not really see it as all the practical. How often in our lives do we need to run across totally smooth terrain? Running outside, or at least around inside a building where their are corners and stairs is surely a much more sensible way to train."
Had he gone on for a little too long then? He didn't think so really, it had been a related and fair point, which Cl... which Lucy would surely appreciate. Maybe it had been a little too obvious though. Perhaps she would tell him one way or another, people were seldom so helpful but you never could tell.
"In any case," Frost raised one eyebrow a fraction as Skrion trotted back towards him and sat up on his hind legs with a little whine, "I do believe we are being chivvied along. Mm. Skiron, if you cause a scene now you shall have only one scoop and it shall not be raspberry. I am sure that is a fate you would prefer to avoid?"
One scoop, and not raspberry? His trainer really didn't mess around. Restraining his enthusiasm with an effort of will, the ice type came to heel at a slight hand gesture from Frost and rolled his eyes at Zeus; humans could be so unfair!
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:40 pm
"It's true," she agreed as they continued along, watching the two pokemon. "I don't always throw him on the treadmill. In sunny weather I take him and Odette outside, and make him chase her shadow. She loves to fly in circles and suddenly change directions - which he hates, without a doubt." The mention of treadmills and Skiron being warned made the Pikachu realize he could suffer these same fates, so before 'Lucy' could say something similar - which he was more than certain she would - he bounded back and climbed up one of her legs, and she hoisted him up to her shoulder with a sigh. "In any case, I use the treadmill when I think he needs to run off all the extra chocolate calories and the like when he's pigged out too much. Thankfully this hasn't been much recently." Or at all, finally. It had taken much too long for the Pikachu to realize things turned out better when he had less chocolate. It still wasn't a good thing in his opinion, however.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the front of the ice cream shop, and Lucy opened the door and held it open for Fr-- for Dith after she'd passed through. The variety of aromas from the vast array of flavors nearly assaulted her senses, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could've been.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 1:51 pm
That sounded fairly amusing; he would have to try to observe at some point. One had to feel a touch sorry for Zeus, but only a touch; it would do him good no matter how much he disliked it. "I suppose they are efficient if all you need to do is burn calories," Frost admitted with a nod, "or I suppose for pure endurance training... They have several uses, but my personal dislike of them leads me to downplay these uses... Thank you." People didn't usually open doors for him, and so this was something of a pleasant surprise. Slightly less pleasant was the array of people inside; the shop was hardly packed, but there were still quite a lot of occupied tables, which made for a lot of people to be aware of. They all looked innocuous enough but it was always for the best to remain aware of people, for one thing it made it easier to dodge small sticky children.
Firmly repressing a shudder, Frost joined the back of the queue behind 'Lucy' and scanned the menu board. He already knew what he planned to purchase, but he wanted to make sure that there were no obvious 'sold out' signs stuck up around the place; he did not wish to look like an unobservant fool. 'Weirdo' or 'freak' and suchlike he was used to and prepared to accept, but idiot was one label he never wished to have tacked onto him.
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Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:04 pm
As Claire studied the menu board as well, trying to see what to get, she was struck by the sudden realization that she hadn't a clue if she would get something for herself or not, and if she did, what that something would be. She frowned at this and turned to Frost, gesturing towards her spot in line. "You can go first, I need to figure out if I want anything or not, I honestly have no idea." And he seemed to know exactly what he was getting, so it would give her a few extra seconds to decide. Perhaps a minute or two.
Zeus was appalled at his human's terrible decision.
She failed to notice his horrified reaction, however, and continued to study the board after taking her new place behind Frost in line. Maybe just a scoop of plain vanilla...? That sounded so boring, though, but she really wasn't a fan of too many flavors or toppings.. Hmm...
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:35 am
"Very well," Frost stepped in front of NotClaire, now studying the rows and rows of icecream tubs. Some of them had visible traces of other flavours on them from imperfectly washed scoops; this annoyed him far more than he knew was reasonable... Blast. Why was the pistachio ice cream green? He had expected it to be white for some reason, and had planned to have it with mint. If he had two green ice-cream flavours how was he supposed to know the difference until he tasted it? That was not acceptable, and so mint was off the cards; cherry would do instead.
"Hi there, can I take your order?"
The chirpy voice of the serving girl made Frost blink in a slightly bemused fashion. Why was she so happy? Did she really enjoy her job that much? He completely missed the glassy nature of her smile, and the slightly forced note to her tones.
"Mandy," he began after a moment, because that was what her badge said, "I will have one scoop of cherry ice cream and one of pistachio for myself. My glaceon will have two scoops of raspberry sorbet." He wondered briefly how clean the crockery and cutlery here would be, but quickly forced himself to dismiss the issue; he might prefer to know how everything had been washed, dried, and stored, but this place had a good food hygiene sticker and so he could survive without the specifics.
"Right you are sir," trilled Mandy in the desperate tones of one who had been sure three years ago that her BA in English would be her ticket to a shining career in journalism, and was now discovering that she had been incorrect. "And would you like those in cones? Waffle cones? Bowls? Can I get you any sauces or wafers or chocolate flakes, or any other toppings?"
...He liked waffle cones, but they were hard to eat tidily, and he wouldn't be able to separate the flavours on one in any case. "I will have a wafer with mine," Frost decided after a slightly drawn out silence, "and both in bowls. Nothing else. Thank you."
"Okay, I'll get right on that," exclaimed Mandy, her smile growing more glassy by the moment and her voice more strained as she struggled to deal with the expressionless man before her. "Your total is-"
"I can read the till Mandy," Frost interrupted, already counting change, "I am neither blind nor illiterate. Have a nice day."
"Err... Thank you sir," said Mandy, accepting the money and feeling that her line had been stolen, "and here's your ice cream and sorbet; enjoy! Next please?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 12:03 pm
Claire - or Lucy, rather - had to try extremely hard to refrain from smacking Frost over the head. He really lacked any sense of social graces, didn't he? Oh well, some things couldn't be helped, so she did her best to ignore it.
Once Frost moved out of the way and it was her turn, she nonchalantly leaned a bit closer to the thick glass separating her from the chilly ice cream. "Um," she paused to quickly scan the large containers of ice cream, noting which had flecks or smears of other flavors from improper rinsing of the scoops before deciding. "One scoop of the.. Triple chocolate chip delight, I think it's called - in a bowl - with plenty of chocolate sprinkles and smothered in chocolate syrup." It sounded absolutely disgusting, but she lifted a brow slightly before looking at Zeus out of the corner of her eye. "Whipped cream and a cherry, too?" The Pikachu on her shoulder stuck his tongue out and shook his head, so she shook hers as well just a bit. "No? Alright. And, for me, um.." This took more thought, but she had to make a decision now, so she finally just shrugged as one of the other shop workers removed an empty container from the lot and went to the back to get a new one. "Two scoops of black raspberry, please, also in a bowl." Toppings? Uhh.. "No toppings, so that'll be all," she said as she pulled a small wallet from her pocket.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 3:50 pm
Well. Table... Far away from the family with three sticky young children. And far away from the odd smelling old woman. Blast. Why did their have to be people all over the place? They made the city so... untidy. Pursing his lips, Frost eventually selected a table in one corner; it had four chairs, and was separated from all seriously unsavoury personages by at least one table filled with vaguely acceptable people. There was another corner table where free tables close to it but, while that was more attractive at first glance, said empty tables could be filled with any kind of person at any point.
Skirting carefully around the sticky children table and, treating them to a look more frigid than Sheer Cold, selected a seat that put his back to the wall. Right. He could see everyone in the room, and all entrances and exits. Good. "Seen as those little whelps are allowed to eat at the table, I presume you must be allowed as well," Frost observed to Skiron as he placed the Glaceon's bowl on the table. "Sit on the chair, and behave well; this means that you can't start eating yet. It isn't proper to start eating until everyone has sat down." This seemed like a rather silly little nicety, but that wasn't for him to judge. In any case, it would be a good exercise in restraint for Skiron to wait for Claire to come and join then.
Wait. He didn't really want to, but if it was what his trainer wanted then he supposed he could. While he did resist the urge to tuck into his treat, the ice type couldn't resit leaning forward to sniff at it. Raspberry. Mmmmmmm.
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