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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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 Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:00 pm
It had been a very long, busy day indeed. She'd found and recruited Aulus that morning, brought him to the base and then left him in the hands of others to show him to his quarters and all that. It made her feel a bit bad that she couldn't give him a tour right after, but she needed to go check on Lucas and then had a bit of work to do before checking on Lucas a few hours later. Then she'd found both of them, and had dinner, and Arceus, she was tired... Especially after nearly choking twice. Bitter memories were the worst...
Regardless of memories or how tired she was, she had every intention of giving Aulus a tour of the base. She sort of figured he hadn't been given one yet anyway, and he likely had more questions and she had no problem with either - as long as he respected her personal space, of course. Besides, it would help take her mind off old memories. After she helped Lucas to his room, of course. It didn't take too long, so by the time Aulus was finished putting things away he would likely only wait a couple minutes before Claire approached the cafeteria doors, a petite Glaceon in tow. "Alright," she said with a light sigh as she stopped before him in the hall, "did you need help cleaning up dinner, or..?" She trailed off, feeling it largely unnecessary to finish the sentence since it would be obvious what the remainder of it would be anyway.
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:08 pm
He hadn't been waiting all that long, but Aulus had a way of waiting that made it look as if he had been there for-frickin'-ever. It was probably something in the scowl on his face, or the surly way he folded his arms across his chest. As Claire addressed him, however, the intensity of his 'I am very anti-social leave me alone' aura lessened somewhat. "It pushed me to the limits of my abilities," he replied dryly, "but I did manage to accomplish that much. Here, first question for you, we allowed to have pokemon out on base?"
Tortie had been in her pokeball all day; she didn't even know about their change in circumstance yet. Although he ha barely accepted it himself, somehow Aulus also felt as though he couldn't recall what it was like to be anywhere else. He didn't know anyone yet, didn't know his way around, didn't know the rules, didn't know much of what his duties over the coming days and weeks would involve but... Well, this was the rest of his life now; part of him might still be reeling, but the sensible animal bit seemed to have quietly accepted its new territory. It's place in the pecking order was of course another matter; personally he felt that the red of his uniform rather suite him, but he didn't intend to wear it for long. Black was the next step up, and he would earn it as soon as possible.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:40 pm
Whether he was irritated with waiting or not was no concern of hers, and it was evident in the way she completely ignored his 'I've been waiting for-frickin'-ever' expression and posture. "Oh, I'll bet it did," she replied with a heavy dose of sarcasm, "poor thing, it was probably torturous. And yeah, you are," a hand gestured towards the Glaceon that sat beside the young woman, "as long as they're well-behaved. And not too big. It'd be sort of hard to let a Metagross or something follow you around. That and I wouldn't have too many out and about in the halls or cafeteria, just in case they get underfoot or something." Or tried to raid the pantry and fridge, or picked fights with other pokemon, or any such things. But those were all common sense anyway, so she felt no need to say them. Thus far he seemed to have at least a bit of common sense. Sort of. "Any other questions before the tour?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 1:49 pm
"Mmm... Can't think of anything right now," Aulus said, his scowl going thoughtful rather then sullen, "probably will any minute though." What did he know about so far? Food, his assignments for tomorrow, having pokemon out... "Guess bits of the fantastic tour might give me ideas," he added after a moment, "stuff that's relevant to wherever we are. Probably got some many questions in my head right now none of them can get to the front."
He was excited, despite how things had gone with his roommates, and despite the present of Psychotic Lucas he thought he'd get on alright here once he knew his way around. It was the sort of place where he could almost fit in, not that he'd admit to wanting to do that of course. Everbody wanted to fit in really though, sure people wanted to be the best at this or that or the other, but to have your greatness appreciated you had to fit in with other people. If you didn't, then you were just the weird show-off, or the reclusive genius. He didn't want to be either of those.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 3:42 pm
"Alright," she said with a nod, pausing to gather her thoughts and figure out just where to start this tour. She hadn't had to give anyone a tour of the base before. Not like she didn't know where everything was with or without looking, of course - she'd seen to that within a month of her arrival - she'd just never had to show someone else before. Oh well, no matter. "Right then, you can let your Absol out if you want before we start, she might like to look around too." She knew Odette would've liked to, but the bird was taller than most men, so that was sort of hard to accomplish in a hallway.
"I'm not sure how much they told you earlier," she said at length, running the fingers on one hand through her hair, "but this building has... Eleven, floors, I think - six above ground, and five basement levels."
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 4:00 pm
"Yea, he did tell me that much," Aulus nodded, unfastening his jacket a little way in order to reach Tortie's pokeball; he never clipped them to his belt these days. "He rattled off what was on them all too, and which ones I might be court martialed and or thrown off a cliff for trespassing in. I can't remember which they were," he went on as he pushed the button to release Tortie, "but I figured I was safe with 'floor one, cafeteria'."
Tortie appeared to the familiar sound of her Trainer's voice, but very unfamiliar surroundings and smells. The absol's hackles rose immediately, and when she turned to her human for explanation he was wearing funny clothes. With Aulus for a trainer Tortie had not been coddled, and was generally a very tough cookie, but sudden strangeness of this magnitude had her worried; this was why she didn't like being in her pokeball. Giving a soft keen and tucking her tail between her legs she crept closer to Aulus; funny red clothes that smelled of new or no, he was the most familiar thing in this place... That female human was here too, and with a glaceon, but she couldn't manage to muster a growl or even a glare for either of them.
At the dark-type's obvious unhappiness a look of distress, perhaps even guilt flashed across Aulus face; he knew he should have let her out and explained what was going on before they'd arrived. Hurriedly turning his back on Claire, Aulus reached down to stroke Tortie soothingly. "It's alright," he assured her firmly, "we've just got a new home is all, and a new job; Claire brought us here. Sorry I didn't let you know before we arrived but, well, I was busy. It's fine here, I promise."
Her trainer's confident tones brought an immediate change to the absol's manner; her head and tail gave back up, and she gave herself a good shake. Dignity somewhat reasserted she turned to the ice type and its trainer, fluffing her hackles again briefly to assure them that she was back into b***h-mode but showing no more hostility than that. If her trainer had allowed the female human to bring him here, he couldn't think utterly awfully of her.
Just as Tortie turned and made sure everyone knew she was back to being bad, so too did Aulus... Well he tried; he had a good frown in place but he hadn't stopped stroking Tortie. "Well I think that's that sorted," he muttered gruffly, "should've thought of it sooner, but it's been kind of a hectic day..." Right. Manliness totally reasserted. Yea right. Bah.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:47 pm
"Yep," she agreed, watching him reassure his only pokemon with a guarded smile, "floor one is safe. Infirmary's on this floor, too, so if you ever need to get patched up you know where it is, though usually after large missions everyone's shepherded in that direction anyway. Or wheeled in." Not a very pleasant experience, probably, but it hadn't happened to her yet, thankfully. Yet.
Alexina tilted her head as she watched the Absol, treating her to the same attitude she did to everything and everyone else - impartial curiosity. "Laaa?" Neither Tortie's nervousness nor her 'don't mess with me' attitude elicited any change of response. "Nothing to worry about," the young woman responded with a slight wave of her hand, "now she'll be able to look around too." Then she'd feel more comfortable too, perhaps.
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Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:57 pm
"I'll try to avoid needing to know where it is," Alulus grimaced, "but a good boy scout is always prepared, or whatever crap." As he had said to Claire once before hospitals (and therefore infirmaries) were not his favourite places to be, but he'd rather visit them than die, or be stuck with a limb pointing the wrong way. "Where does the guided tour go first then?" he went on after a moment. "I'm afraid I forgot my binoculars and camera, do you think I should go and fetch them?" He hoped his camera was alright left in his room with the lowest common denominators of humanity.
After giving herself another shake, Tortie looked up at Claire expectantly; where were they going then? She might not have been given a choice about her new life and home, or even informed about the change until it had happened, but she was more curious now about her new surroundings than she was resentful about how she had come into them. Maybe this new life would be more interesting, and involve more battles. Never knew your luck.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:57 am
"It's always best to know where it is," she sighed, gazing down the hall, still trying to decide where to start the tour, "just in case. If you're lucky, you won't ever need to." But no one was that lucky. Oh crap, the tour. Right.
"I don't think you'll need those, no, I doubt we'll get lucky enough to see anything spectacular or elusive enough to merit using either," she replied dryly. Where to start, where to start... "Alright, hope you don't mind that I've never given a tour before. That said, we can go through the lower levels. Upper floors two through six are all either dormitories, single bedrooms or suites, and offices," she explained as she headed towards the stairs, Alexina following alongside her. "Trainees and grunts on two, grunts and agents on three, elite agents on four, executives on five, and the boss on six. I don't think the sixth floor is even an option in any of the elevators. You can only get there if the boss wants you there." Slightly scary thought, but oh well. Also scary thought - being along in an elevator with someone her age. Thus the stairs.
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:35 am
"Living on floor four sounds nice to me," Aulus smirked, "not sure about five let alone six though, probably far too much paperwork and administration." In other words, dull. Who actually wanted to spend their life in an office rather than out and doing things? People who valued rank about satisfaction with their life mainly, he suspected, along with a few weirdos to whom lines of figures were far more exciting than the figures of women... Or men, whatever gender was their (theoretical) preference.
"So anyway, other than the cafeteria, you find the fun stuff by going down," Aulus summarized as they approached the stairs. "Don't think I've ever been anywhere with so many underground floors before." This really genuinely was a super cool secret base. He wondered if there were missile launchers anywhere, or if a section of desert miraculously unfolded to reveal a runway and lift to an underground hanger.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:22 pm
"Doesn't it?" She agreed, her tone betraying a hint of what could perhaps be envy. She'd only made it to agent in Galactic, but hoped she could surpass that rank here in Team Rocket. That would be wonderful. Not only would she have her own room, she'd have an office, too. She'd also heard that elites had kitchenettes in their rooms, so they didn't need to go to the cafeteria to get meals. Envy...
As they descended the stairs, Claire obviously taking the lead due to being the self-designated tour guide, she offered a shrug to that statement. "For the most part. The first basement level has the garage, the brig - or detention facilities, whatever you'd like to call them - and an emergency exit. Nothing too exciting, and neither the garage nor emergency exit are hard to find, so we can go down to the next floor if you'd like."
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:18 pm
"Mmh. Fine," Aulus nodded assent, "I can cope with that. If something serious explodes I'll just follow the fleeing hordes, and for the garages I'll follow the sound of cheesy old rock music." He might happen to like cheesy old rock music, but he wasn't going to admit that. "As for the forth floor," that classic scowl flashed back across the trainee's scarred face, "I'll take floor two for now. Five minutes I've been in trainee dorms and I'm sick to the back teeth already. Think I've persuaded my roommates that I'm boss, but that doesn't make them any less a crowd of unbearable brainless little slugs. You said a couple of months is the minimum for getting to grunt?"
He supposed that made sense; even if they were confident of your skills in a day, they'd want a month or two to get a feel for your character before promoting you even to grunt. Getting to agent would be harder still and as for elite... He'd get there. Someday. Somehow. He wouldn't be a worthless little rank and file soldier forever. He was going places.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 1:15 pm
She also might happen to like cheesy old rock music as well, but she refrained from admitting it as well. Forthcoming with personal information, Claire definitely was not. "Alright," she agreed, bypassing the door to head down the next set of stairs to the second basement level. "Floor B2 is full of training facilities for pokemon, but I think some people use them for personal training as well because of the large amount of space." Obstacle courses, in other words, for people or pokemon training.
She canted her head to the side slightly to regard him while still walking down the stairs. "Want to check out this floor, or go down another level?" It was, after all, his tour. If he wanted to check stuff out, who was she to argue? He needed to learn his way around the base, and some people, herself included, learned better by exploring things first-hand instead of just being talked at.
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:57 am
"If you're not in a rush to get back to big important duties I'd like a look around," Aulus replied with a nod. "Sounds like the kind of place I'll be spending a lot of time... Well, not a lot given how little free time it sounds like I'm going to have, but a lot of what time I do have... So where do you spend your free time?"
Maybe he shouldn't have asked that, it made it sound like he might be thinking of stalking her there or whatever, which he wasn't. He was just interested, and since when was that a crime? Humph. Fine, let her think whatever she wanted to think, she could even think he was into her or something, which he also wasn't. She had a nice arse, but that was as far as it went. She might not even tell him where it was she liked to spend her time, secretive wench that she was. What did she think he was going to do with information about what she did in her downtime? Sell it to the highest bidder? Somehow use the knowledge that she liked to... to do whatever it was she liked to do in order to sneak up to her room while she was busy and steal her stuff? Egh. The Claire in his head who did and thought all this stuff was really stupid... He'd probably gone a bit far with that little internal rant.
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BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 4:28 pm
"The only important thing I have left to do today is change and go to sleep," she said with a dismissive wave as she left the stairwell and entered the hallway. As if she'd have any work to do this late. Seriously, she just wanted to go to bed.
She paused in the hallway, turning to look at him expectantly. "You can lead the way, if you'd like. Might be better than me guiding you the whole way, since you can explore for yourself. Ah, free time?" That usually meant time in which you weren't working, not time in which you weren't doing anything. No, those were entirely different. She hardly ever wasn't doing anything. "Usually I stick to this floor and the next one down," she started with a small shrug. "The one below has the recreation facilities and more training rooms and the like. Swimming pool, rec room to watch tv or play games and the like." Or mix alcoholic beverages. "When I'm not working I'm usually training my pokemon or swimming. I don't like to sit around and not do anything." It usually lead to boredom and that lead to thinking and thinking lead to dwelling on memories, and that inevitably lead to depression. Claire did not like depression, and therefore avidly avoided it as best as she possibly could.
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