|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:21 pm
It was just a day like any other - the sun had risen hours ago, Claire'd had to work shortly after getting up, finished her uneventful shift, had swam and trained and exercised, went through the normal routine... Except none of it was normal. The entire base was scrambling to find any hint of the Galactic base's location so they could rescue those that had been taken from them. All of them, she hoped, not just Lore; although she could understand that the goofy Executive was obviously the Boss's main (and probably only) concern. She wanted Aulus back.. And she wasn't the only one.
Violet eyes reluctantly moved from the skyline to the assortment of pokemon scattered around her on the beach - she was sitting on a large rock she'd used as a seat the last time she'd come - and while most were hers, several were not. Regardless of who belonged to who, the majority of them looked confused, anxious, upset, or just depressed. The agent sighed, mirroring their feelings, before gazing back out over the water again and continuing to stroke her Quilava's head. It would set soon; maybe that would help her feel better, at least for a little while.
The only ones who didn't seem too depressed to do much were Zeus and little Cassiopeia. The tiny Pichu was busy scurrying around the sand, studying shells and rocks and bits of seaweed and sticks -- anything she could possibly find was a goldmine of interesting things to sniff (and maybe eat). She was keeping the chubby Pikachu very busy as he stumbled after her to make sure she didn't eat anything she shouldn't -- which was everything.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 12:55 pm
Tortie had always hated the Female. Now however she lay with her chin on her paws next to the rock the human sat on, staring at nothing. Until now she had not gone a day in her life without seeing Aulus, and now he had been taken away and it didn't sound like he would be easy to get back. Being close to the Female he had liked so much was as close as she could get to being with him. Nestled up against the Absol's belly was the tiny form of the cripple Spinarak who she had always seen as a competitor for attention and an annoyance. Raising her head she nosed his miserably shivering form and gave him a lick before laying her head down again.
Overhead, Red was trying to get used to being minus her crest. Unlike the others it was the insult to her that stung the most; she was fond enough of her human but presumed that as a tough creature he would find his own way back sooner or later.
Char was busy boiling a kettle over his tail, because Tea Had To Be Made. He didn't know how to deal with the absence of his master's orders other than to more or less follow along with what they usually were but for the master's lady instead of the master himself. At about this time of day, the master liked a cup of tea, and so tea would be made and presented. If it was not required like a good servant he would dispose of it; fortunately he rather liked tea himself.
*****
Some way down the beach something interesting was happening.
There was a Ponyta.
Its colouring was normal but it was much shorter and much stockier than usual. Still, it was getting up a very respectable pace at a canter. Perhaps more interesting than the short stocky Ponyta itself was the harness it wore; this was something like a miniature cart harness, but the leather straps that came off it were not attached to a chariot. No. They were held by a very large man standing on a very large skateboard with rugged wheels. He appeared to be having a really bloody good time. "Yeeeehaw!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:02 pm
Luc withdrew his head with a frightened squeal when the sudden shout sounded from somewhere down the beach, while Claire merely exhaled through her nose and closed her eyes, then lowered her hand. What now..? Besides tea, it seemed. She wasn't even a big fan of tea, but if Char was upset and felt compelled to make it for her to retain some semblance of normality, she would accept it.
Odette was soaring overhead with the other Pidgeot. She didn't even seem to care that the obnoxious male was gone - except she was a bit, though only because she didn't like to see her beloved human so sad. She couldn't do much about it though, so the bird continued doing dives and tricks she normally couldn't do with a rider.
The agent's purple eyes opened again, this time focusing on the slender Glaceon playing absently at the water's edge. Claire knew the ice-type would much prefer it if Skiron were there, but Frost seemed preoccupied the last time she'd seen him and she had no desire to bother him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:39 am
Somebody was up ahead; he should probably slow down. Dith pulled back on the reigns, calling out a command to Dolly in Russian at the same time. Snorting acknowledgement the fire type started to slow gradually; the first time she'd done this she had stopped suddenly, and the skateboard plus her trainer had not. He was heavy.
As Dolly eased into a trot a frown spread across Dith's face. Hang on. He knew that Glaceon. Looked like a certain somebody had got herself quite a collection of pokemon there. Hopping off the skateboard (and passing the reins to a pair of unseen hands) he made a beeline for the young woman sitting on the rock. "No Skiron today, I see?..." Wow she looked dejected. So did several of those pokemon. Something rather odd was going on here, he was pretty sure of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:30 pm
While the bit of foreign tongue didn't ring any bells, the same voice in English did - even if he hadn't asked about Skiron. "Not today, no," Claire replied readily, still focusing on Alexina. The ice-type had halted suddenly and was watching the taller human steadily, ears perked upon hearing the name of her friend. She didn't like this enormous male human though, so she merely stood there and watched, feeling vaguely uneasy about this. The last time this human had shown up, Skiron wasn't pleased. Would that Espeon be let out again? She certainly hoped not.
A sharp cry overhead from a large bird was aimed directly at the large male human who was now very close to being unacceptably Too Close to her trainer, and Odette had every intention of letting him know that - even if he didn't understand bird.
Luc stared out at the tall man with wide, reddish-pink eyes, his ears slicked back against his head as he hid behind the boulder his mistress was seated on. She didn't seem at all afraid though, so that meant everything was alright for now, right?
"Did he contact you?" She asked suddenly, purple eyes moving to the tall man who was now standing near her. "I gave him your message, but I never asked and he never brought up the subject again, so I wasn't sure if he did or not."
Dith would suddenly find a tiny Pichu stumbling over one of his shoes, with her tiny teeth clamped down on the laces on the other, and making every vicious attempt to rip the strange things off his feet. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't making any progress at all. Zeus halted just after her and panted a bit, then flicked his ears back and gave her a very stern look. "Pika. P'ka chu."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:12 pm
Dith looked up when he heard the bird cry, and while he didn't back up or baulk he definitely didn't move any closer either; he might be very hard to ruffle but that didn't mean he wasn't essentially sensible, he most certainly didn't want to provoke a large bid with large talons.
At Claire's question however he looked slightly less unruffled; he opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it again quickly. Being just about the least introverted person ever it was quite clear what the answer was and just how dejected he felt about it. "Well... thank you for passing the message." He had hoped that she just hadn't told Jack. He supposed it was still possible that she hadn't and was lying but he didn't see what she stood to gain from doing so. No. Seemed more likely that Jack just didn't want to know; he had that Xander kid now, didn't he? That wasn't fair....
Oh.
Hello.
As he felt something tugging at his laces Dith looked down, and his lips twitched into a faint smile as he took in the baby pokemon. "Those aren't edible you know," he informed her softly, then shooting a lopsided smile at the Pikachu apparently admonishing her. "A new addition, is she?" Dith asked with a nod to the Pichu and then, recalling one of the first details he's noticed, he looked around at the rest of the gathering. "A lot of new additions. I think the Charizard is trying to hand you a cup of something."
"Charr!" Tea for the master's lady. He rather wished he had a second cup to give some tea to the stranger. He did not seem to be entirely welcomed by Claire, but a guest was a guest and should be offered tea even if it did come with a helping of chilly disapproval for their being uninvited and somewhat scruffy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:40 pm
When he didn't reply much in regards to her question about Frost, she didn't press it. Judging from his obvious lack of a reply and the way he looked, Frost hadn't contacted him yet. Even though it wasn't any of her business, she did feel sort of bad about it. Oh well. "She is," Claire replied with a small nod, violet gaze drifting to the Pichu still tugging at the man's laces before she glanced at Aulus's pokemon. "I suppose I do, ye-- oh." Tea. "Thank you Char," she said as she patted one of the Charizard's clawed hands - paws? - before accepting the cup of tea. Briefly she wondered what he'd do next; obviously he couldn't do her laundry way out here.
Zeus gave the large male a very wary look before he grabbed Cassia by the scruff of her neck, eliciting a high-pitched and surprised "pii!" from the tiny Pichu before he carried her off to the other side of the boulder. Obviously he set her down when he got there because she was suddenly bounding around from the other side just two seconds later.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 5:11 pm
Interesting that the Charizard was serving her willingly but looked so very gloomy. Was it stolen but felt dutybound to serve her anyway because... well he couldn't imagine why any pokemon would do that. If somebody took Viktor from him he was pretty damn sure that his friend would be fighting to escape, not making beverages. Dith watched the Pichu evade its elder relative (possibly literal relative?) in silence for a few moments, trying to decide what to say to the girl. He was pretty sure she was involved in a horrible criminal enterprise that he was trying to fight and yet... she didn't look like a criminal. He knew perfectly well how naive that was as a view point, but she didn't; all she looked like at the moment was a dejected young woman.
"So why the long face?" Dith asked eventually, hunkering down and extending his hand to the Pichu, looking at the small electric type rather than Claire. "Looks to me like you've recently acquired a lot of very nice pokemon, isn't that something to be happy about? They don't look too happy either come to that - well with the exception of this little lady - so I have to wonder how you came to have them.... Unless you're just taking them out as a favour to a friend, like with Skiron." He missed Skiron. He missed Jack. He still hadn't told his young companions that his old friend was connected to Team Rocket, and probably actually a member of it. He needed to do that, soon probably, but he just didn't know quite how to go about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 5:32 pm
His question made her sigh at first, but served as a reminder of how obvious her mood was, so she made an effort to smooth her expression to something less blatantly dismal. "I have, yes," she agreed, "though only one is mine - that Pichu there," the agent indicated with a nod of her head. Cassia was busy sniffing at the large man's hand and had none of the hesitance that Zeus had, who was watching this stranger extremely closely. "I found her not long ago. One of those 'free to good homes' boxes was left in the park with a few of them in there, so..." She hadn't meant to take one, really, but once the little bundle of adorable energy fell out and started following Zeus around, she couldn't very well say no.
"I suppose it's sort of a favor... A... A friend of mine will be away for a while, so I'm watching over his pokemon until he gets back," she explained. While it obviously wasn't the whole story, it was true in essence. She had no desire to tell him Aulus had been kidnapped and that she had no idea when, or even if, he would ever get back. Or in how many pieces...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 5:40 pm
Dith looked up and studied the young woman intently. He didn't claim to be a master of mind-reading or anything but he didn't think she was lying... then again he didn't think she was telling him everything there was to tell. Still, why should she? He was a stranger, and a semi-hostile-ish-maybe one at that. The story about the Pichu sounded reasonable too, so he left the matter alone and scratched the little yellow creature under the chin with one finger.
"So you're looking after them... because he couldn't take them?" Where did you go where you couldn't take pokemon? That was odd now he thought about it, and he looked back up with a thoughtful frown. Maybe she had been lying after all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:18 am
"Chuuuu," Cassia churred happily at the chin-scratching. Zeus was notably less enthused about the large man's attention to the tiny Pichu, however, although he merely stood there and watched (very, very closely) for the time being.
"Well, sort of," she said with a thoughtful frown to her teacup as she cast around for an easier way to explain it. "I don't know that he couldn't take them so much as he left with them and then they came back.. without him." It was at that point she realized she'd been speaking to her cup of tea - which was probably getting cold by now - so she glanced off to one side, away from her company, as she took a sip. "It's rather... complicated, I'm afraid.." That was only a minor understatement -- on both counts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:29 am
Now that was strange, too strange for her to be making it up... but it told him nothing really, it just raised more questions. A warm huff in his ear announced the arrival of Dolly, and partially to give himself time to think Dith turned to free her from the harness. After lying it outside down on the sand (he didn't want the inside getting gritty), Dith sat down on the large skateboard that she'd nudged over to him.
"That sounds very strange," Dith said eventually, watching the young woman's face carefully. "They don't look happy... and nor do you." Her friend was probably in Team Rocket too. Had something...? Ah. Yes. Something had happened. "So did you see the news the other day?" he asked casually. "The Sky Plate was stolen from the Eterna exhibit, strange in itself but there seemed to have been some kind of fight there. People are saying Team Rocket was involved somehow, maybe that some vigilantes tried to stop them, thus causing the destruction... but of course people say Team Rocket was involved every time something big gets stolen or blown up. I'm sure an innocent young lady wouldn't know anything about all that in any case, now would you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:02 am
When he turned to take care of his Ponyta, Claire finished the rest of her tea and offered the empty cup back to Char, then reached down to stroke Luc's head. The albino continued to stare up at the strange man with wide, red eyes. He wasn't going to eat them, was he..?
"I admit it does sound very strange," she said with a shrug, "but that's pretty much the gist of it." His sudden topic change caused her to briefly shift her purple gaze to him, and found him watching her, so she quirked a brow in a questioning expression. Why was he..? Oh. That. Her gaze moved back to the ocean not too far off, as well as the Glaceon who had decided to sit and watch rather than stand forever. While her expression remained mostly neutral - besides the base amount of sadness she couldn't quite get rid of - for the most part, his mention of 'vigilantes' made her mouth twitch into a brief frown. While she was aware of the mission, she didn't really know much of what it entailed. After they received news of who'd been taken, everything else had pretty much been a total blur. "I did see the news, yes," she said at length. "They also made it quite clear they think Team Rocket was responsible for it, but you're right - they seem to think Team Rocket is responsible for everything regardless. And I don't know why you'd consider me an 'innocent young lady' when we've only met once before. I can watch the news just as well as you can."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:31 am
"I think the best of everyone I meet, until proven otherwise," Dith replied softly, looking at Claire with his head tilted slightly. Thus far nothing at all had been proven about her; name, age, history, whether or not she really did work for Team Rocket.... "There was a lot of blood at the scene, they say, but no bodies. I think I'm safe in assuming Jack wasn't there, he would have stopped to clean up the mess." Unless he was unconscious. Somehow it was impossible to imagine the careful considered man being injured, but the pictures of the smashed exhibits and caved in roof....
"More than one craft was seen leaving the scene, according to scattered eyewitness reports. I suppose they are not too reliable but... well, it's clear somebody stepped into mess up somebody's party. I wonder if Team Rocket got what they wanted in the end, and if any loss or injury they took was worthwhile? Do they see their people as people or as drones... eh, grunts they say, isn't it?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BlackFireKitsune Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:43 am
"Mmh," was all the reply he would get to his first statement. What did she think of everyone when she first met them..? What kind of person they were, if they'd be an easy target to steal from or not, if they'd make a good Rocket.. Obviously not anything like what this man thought.
He just kept going on about the Eterna museum, didn't he? But why? "Why do you think he might have been there?" She couldn't help but ask, shifting her gaze to him briefly as she posed the question to him. The topic made her stomach churn in horribly uncomfortable ways, and so she looked down to Luc again... He was standing close to Tortie and Paul. How did they feel, hearing this guy keep going on about the mission? Did they even understand any of what he said?
Blood at the scene, and of course no bodies - nobody was dead, or at least... not yet. Two aircrafts leaving the scene.. He was uncomfortably close to what had happened, and hearing him talk so casually about it made her skin crawl. Somehow, though, she managed to keep herself still despite the overwhelming discomfort. "I'm not sure," she finally said quietly with a shrug, still watching the three pokemon near the rock she sat on. Whether it was a response to any of his questions, or all of them, she obviously left to him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
