[PTU, IC] The Invisible League 3: You actually exploded!

[passinglurker]

When we last left our heroes they were hanging by a rope bridge over a pit of physically affectionate tentacool(whoops those were from my notes for future plans... just ignore that >.>) ahem! They were about to answer one of the most important questions of the hour, and perhaps thier young lives!(possibly... not really... but hey one can dream right?... no?... bummer)

Uriel
Chimney frowns, and signs some more. Understood most of that. Did you tell him yes or no?

Old thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?334075-PTU-IC-The-Invisible-League-2-No-more-normal-knees!/page50)

[Jacior]

Drew turns around when Uriel walks over to the door and starts talking to the girls. While he has them distracted, Drew looks around for a window or something similar to escape through. Chimney was likely to murder him without giving him a chance to explain that he tripped.

[Major]

Claire watches the hands moving back and forth slightly confused. It was clear they were communicating with sign language, but she didn't understand it and felt a bit left out. The more she noticed the interaction, the more she started to wonder if Poffins had been right. They'd seemed closer and now here they were capable of communicating privately. Yet at the same time, regardless of how close they had seemed, clearly Uriel was already with this Drew guy. It'd explained the earlier meeting. He'd been out for a walk, they'd declined the ride, and clearly they must have been hoping for privacy then too.

"Good morning. And its fine. You don't have to explain anything, dad taught me to be open minded to people." She says, "I'm sorry for intruding on accident. I didn't realize it was private, I just arrived. I think the meeting is soon? I don't know, again, just arrived. I'll uhh...I'll go check." She says turning to head down the hallway to inquire if the meeting was soon feeling slightly disappointed with how things had turned out.

[Regalus]

Uriel winces slightly in embarrassment as he decodes Chimney's message, it seemed he still had a ways to go before he was anywhere near Chimney's level of skill, Explained I had ru-les ag-ainst it, circum-stances made it bad to do. Told him why bad idea. Said he could help with hex later though. He agreed. Was O.K. with, he signed, trying to hide his frustration at his lack of fluidity. THe conversation being a bit more complex than what he was used to with Mani.

[passinglurker]

Uriel
Chimney's face blushes for a brief instant before she blinks and returns to normal "I get it, but honestly I'm a little mad. Part of the reason I like your idea of becoming a ranger is because I wanted to help people I had to pass by before because I could only afford to care for me and steven. I would have liked an opportunity to help you to... we can talk about this later lets have this meeting and find anne." she signs as she begins to turn away to leave

Drew
There is indeed a window, and this is obviously the ground floor escape through there would be pie if a bit obvious to anyone standing in the doorway, but before you can even step close to it *Attract!*(you are infatuated with Chimney A.k.a. Mary Poffins)

Opal
you hear a distant tingly sound, and get the feeling that love is in the air.

Claire
Viel clearly tried to hold it in but your sore little shuppett ultimately can't help it and lets out as faint a cough as she can manage. unfortunately this tactic of sound suppression means most of the vibration goes into your chest instead making your breasts hop slightly.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal tilts her head at the sound, then goes over to one of the entrances to the cat tunnels she had found, sometimes small pokemon got caught in them, last time it was a patrat that had been scared stiff, so, she went over and made as if calling a cat. It had worked with the patrat, so she decided to give it a shot here.

[passinglurker]

Opal
You get the familiar feeling of a mightyena watching you as you stoop down next to the hole and make noises.

[EdroGrimshell]

A shiver crawls down Opal's spine, and she gulps slightly, but, her curiosity was peaked, the only things that gave her that feeling usually were houndour, houndoom, and mightyena, poochyena were up there too, though she could deal with them at a distance. Only a poochyena might be able to fit in here. She gives another quick call, though pulling her head out of the entrance so she wasn't in the way of what was in there.

[Regalus]

Uriel nods in agreement with Chimney before trying to catch up to Claire; suppressing a pang of guilt as he picked up his pace. He couldn't fault Chimney for wanting to help him, but he had his rules; and they weren't only for his protection. He was only bending them so far with Drew as it was because it seemed like the young man had an open mind, and was the one he hoped might so far the least inconvenience should his fortune go to awry in the evening. The seviiborn man promised himself he'd make it up to her somehow.

"Hey Claire listen," he started as he kept pace astride the kalosian maiden "I was being serious back there, I have rules about that sort of thing. Drew tripped; he and I...weren't..." Uriel trailed off as a most queer sight drew in forth his attention like a yawning black hole, his face contorting slightly in confusion, disbelief and fascination by the unnatural oscillations exhibited by Claire's bosom; which most curiously appeared to sway out of synch with the red haired beauties own movement.

"Uh...d-did t-that, just happen?" questioned dumbly the flustered young man, unsure of what he had just witnessed.

[Jacior]

Drew stops suddenly. He was feeling... attracted... to Mary of all the possible people. This wasn't normal. This was really freaking weird. He had just wanted a date with Uriel, right? But why did it feel like Mary was the one that he should be with? Drew walks up behind Uriel and peeks out from behind him, looking at Mary. She was really pretty.

If she notices him looking at her, he blushes and hides behind Uriel.

[passinglurker]

Opal
There is another distant tingling sound and the feeling of love in the air

Claire
*Attract!*(you are infatuated with uriel)

Drew
Chimney doesn't seem to be paying attention to you, but you soon lose your Uriel shield as he runs ahead to catch up to Claire the pale redhead. As she makes her way down the hall she takes some of her flowing golden hair in her hand and you over hear her mutter to herself "hmm... maybe I should get a haircut."

[Major]

As Uriel spoke a soft chuckle escaped Claire's lips. She wasn't sure if he was embarrassed and in the closest or telling the truth, but either thought was amusing. Either the young lad had merely been unlucky, as was his curse, and it just looked odd. Or he was ashamed of his sexual preference which was a silly thing to be ashamed of since she wouldn't judge for it. When he eyes glance down, her hand lightly comes up to his chin and lightly pushes up to guide it to his face, not hard enough to force it, but just soft enough to guide it if he didn't resist. "Oh? Rules about what sort of thing?" She asked. "Rules about people tripping into you?" She asked with a small smile. "I'm from Kalos, we don't judge people based on what they like. If it was just a confusion, I apologize for seeming so flustered. If it wasn't, you don't need to lie or feel ashamed. I---" She suddenly stopped and blinked as she looked at Uriel. She felt the touch of his chin as her finger pressed against it, and her finger feeling his body heat and warmth. Her cheeks slightly flushed as her finger turned into her hand as it brushed against his cheek and she looked him in the eyes. The way his skin felt against hers she didn't want to remove her hand. As she stood there, staring into his eyes with her hand against his cheek she couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy, "I wouldn't judge or discriminate, but to be honest, I really hope you were honest and it was a mistake though..." She says softly.

[Jacior]

Drew sneaks out from around behind Uriel and pushes past him and Claire. "'Scuse me." He walks up behind Mary and taps her on the shoulder. "I, uh, could cut your hair. I-if you want I mean. I'm pretty good at it. I could make it any way you like." He shuffles around on his feet a bit as talks, looking down at his feet.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal looks around, that feeling was... odd. She heads to the living room to see if Eugene knew anything about it, as well as trying to figure out what it was on her way.

[Regalus]

Uriel let's Claire lift his chin, the boy chuckling from embarrassment from the sudden and blatant faux pa he'd just committed do to his curiosity. All things considered it was going much better than he had expected, after speaking to them both the morning after Uriel had to wonder if perhaps his intuition had been wrong. Had he actually jumped the gun and underestimated how sturdy the pair where despite, or because, of everything that had happened to them? It was starting to seem likely. Yet he couldn't help but feel that something was off as Claire trailed off.

There was a change in the way the maiden held herself, and held him; the look in her eyes spoke volumes to him and her tone set of warning bells in his mind, yet he was unsure of what to make of the sudden change. "It, uh, yeah. I-It was a misunderstanding, just my luck at work I guess," he said as he sharply swallowed and tried to take a slow step back.

"A-Are you feeling okay Claire?" he inquired nervously

[passinglurker]

Drew
Chimney seems confused by your sudden decision to talk to her. For some reason she decides to keep the conversation on track despite you two's history. "Well the thing is I'm not sure. The past couple of year's I've been avoiding barbers and hair stylists. So I've let it get long on me, but its not like I've needed one no matter how much I neglect it it seems like it never gets frizzy, tangled, or overly dirty. I suppose I could blame my moms genes for that. Anyway since I don't have to worry about anyone in a salon ratting me out to my mom anymore I thought maybe I'd like something that looks more masculine or at least tomboy-ish basically not like some damsel that needs sheltering... but you know how it is hair grows slower than you can cut it so yeah big decision if I want to cut it... so why you eavesdropping? were you expecting to overhear me plot your untimely demise or something?" she says leaning to look up at you floor pointing face.

Opal
fairy type pokemon and techniques are often associated with feelings of love. the obvious possibilities are...
a pokemon is using fairy type techniques within earshot.
there are fairy type pokemon out and about nearby
something romantic is happening and its attracting fairy type pokemon and possibly other empathic species.

You find Eugene in the living room on his phone "A man was stabbed at the fitness center?... Well I'd check it out as soon as I could but I'm busy where I am now especially since Skull wanted to know what others were doing to find anne... him again? he probably just had an allergic reaction and stab himself like last time... surveillance tapes were destroyed eh?..." he seems to be preoccupied.

[Major]

"Well, at least good things happen to you, not just bad, right? And you've got Wisp looking into your curse now, so hopefully that will help. So to clarify, you do like girls then?" Claire asks with a smile as her hand starts to brush his cheek. "I'm feeling fine. Great actually. Why would I not be?" She asked moving closer to him so that her body was just shy of touching his. "Are you fine? Are you bothered by me?" She asks with a soft frown.

[Regalus]

"Girl's are nice," Uriel chuckled awkwardly at first as Claire moves in, hairs breath from attempting to squirm away; yet a single phrase brings his mind to sobering focus once more. The young man stands straighter as he locks a firm gaze on Claire, seemingly oblivious to how close the pair where at the moment.

"How do you know about that? That, Wisp's looking into my case" he asks in a carefully neutral tone, standing more confidently in Claire's presence.

[Major]

"Girls in general?" She asks as she moves closer and moves her hand from his cheek to put both arms around his neck. "How do you feel about me?" She whispered into his ear. "As for how I know...That's a secret silly." She said moving her arms from being locked around his neck to rest one hand on his lips, "Shhhhhh..." She said before putting her hand back around his neck.

[Jacior]

Drew frowns, wincing at the accusation. "I just have good ears, I guess. It wasn't on purpose." He doesn't step back when she leans in, much to his own surprise. "I thought it'd be a good way to apologize for last night. I might have over-reacted a little. Not like it was the first time I've been thrown to the ground, after all. Not even the first time by a girl." He grins at that, a little more like his normal self.

[passinglurker]

Drew
Chimney gives a smirk "Heh sounds like you have a few crazy stories under your belt. Anyway considering I totally over reacted at first who can blame you for over reacting only a little. That be said don't try rejecting a hand up in a dojo its a good way to find yourself tasting the ceiling instead of the floor, but sure I'll let you try some things on my hair follicles when we are both free. Opal seems to think hanging around you would help me get over my tendency to throw coordinators into things so this is as good an excuse as any I guess." She seems like she's had a weight taken off her as she returns to her normal posture and you both enter the living room where opal and ledianman are.

[Regalus]

Uriel's expression hardened in time with the knot of worry that formed in his gut as Claire pressed her body against him, the lad maintaining his ramrod posture despite the quickening beat of his heart. Any doubt he might have had that something was awry vanished as the maiden wrapped her hands around him, unable to deny how out of character the Claire seemed in the absence of her usual timidness towards intimate physical contact.

"Claire," he began in a warning tone while staring down at the woman pressing against him with a fierce burrowing gaze while his arms suddenly her sides, jerking her slightly in the process, "You're stronger than this. So stop screwing around, and wake up!" he ordered, the young man trying to maintain his focus on something other than his furiously beating and the excessive contact between the two.


Command: [roll0] DC 10

[EdroGrimshell]

With Eugene already distracted, Opal tries to think of it a bit more, if it was a fairy type, she'd probably read about it somewhere, or at least of pokemon that had done this in her therapy classes.

[roll0]

[passinglurker]

Opal
Not accounting for the possibility of "shiny variance" the most likely culprit would be spritzee, but those are not common in unova, and you don't smell any characteristic fragrances. The technique attract is also a possibility but it can be learned and passed down through a dizzying number of pokemon. It then occurs to you that if its a fairy type pokemon a rare one that is known for its ability to emit and manipulate feelings has been under your nose this whole time. Chimney's sylveon steven, but of course this does little to explain your recent momentary mightyena feelings.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal hums in thought, then looks around, "Edgar, can you help me with something?" she says as she walks down the hall to the door leading to the back yard. Likely passing by at least two of the other people in the house.

[passinglurker]

Opal
The literate trubbish pops out from behind a painting Ok. Is the meeting not starting yet? he writes reminding you of the present itinerary.

[EdroGrimshell]

"It seems like everyone's currently distracted, even Ledianman, I'll pull everyone to the living in a minute, I just have a funny feeling about something in the house right now, and I feel like there's a mighyena or houndoom watching me for some reason, can you look around for anything odd in or around the house? No need to be thorough right now, but I feel like something's making like a bell noise and causing a... well, a 'love is in the air' feeling, I guess is the best way to put it," Opal says, "mixed with the mightyena feeling... we'll have to look more closely later, but I think it's harmless for now, only thing I can think it might be is Steven or a spritzee, both of which I highly doubt... I'll have everyone together in about fifteen minutes if there aren't any interruptions along the way."

[Major]

At his shaking and calling out, Claire's eyes clear up and when she notices where her arms are and her body they quickly go wide. She quickly tries to move backwards, but in her haste she doesn't let go quick enough and her leg gets tangled up. She stumbles backwards, accidentally yanking Uriel with her as she falls and lands on her back yanking Uriel down with her. Her face is flustered as she her brain starts to piece together the events of the last few minutes and she starts to wonder why she had been acting how she had been acting. It wasn't that she wasn't attracted, but it wasn't like her to be that vocal about it. She felt so embarrassed and worried how unladylike she had seemed.

As she started to try and figure out what was going on and why she'd been like that, she frowned. She had been acting similar to how she'd been acting when Terra had done that ability of hers on her. Was Uriel capable of doing that too? Had he tried to charm her with some weird power? She started to get angry, but then realized he was the one who had snapped her out of it so that seemed unlikely. If it wasn't Uriel having a power similar to Terra's power then what was it? Why had she been so flirty?

"I-I-" She stammered, "Um---sorry, I tripped! Are you ok?" She asked her face as red as the pale skin would turn.

[passinglurker]

Opal
Edgar nods and passes into the back yard to begin his search

[Regalus]

"No worries, I'm fine; glad to see you're okay though," he says with a soft smile, ignoring the slight ache in his arms from when he braced them against the fall. The young man wastes little time disentangling himself from Claire, and getting back to his feet; having the good sense to offer his hand to the stunned woman to help her back unto her feet.

"We should get to the others and check on them, I think we might have a guest running around here," he adds with some unease.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal heads back to get everyone into the living room, and hears the tail end of Uriel's comment, "Edgar's looking around right now, if he finds anything he'll let us know. Come on, we shouldn't delay the meeting any more than we have already," Opal says as she heads farther down the hall, and mentions the same to Chimney and Drew, regarding the meeting anyway.

[Major]

Claire takes Uriel's hand and gets up, hesitating for just a second before letting go of it. "Thank you. Uhh sorry for all that. I hope I didn't embarrass you or make a fool out of myself."

[Jacior]

Drew follows Chimney into the living room, shaking his head as it clears some. "What's going on?" He mumbles to himself. "So, what are we meeting about anyway? I haven't really been told anything."

[passinglurker]

Drew
"We are trying to come up with a plan to try find a mutual friend named Annelise, the kidnappers who took her, and anyone else they may have taken." Says Chimney as she takes a seat on a couch. "All I know is Uriel and Claire ran into and took down two of them yesterday, and nearly got blown to smithereens in the process, and there is still at least a third running around who is likely the ring leader." she adds summarizing some of the story you heard from uriel last night.

[Regalus]

"Don't worry about it Claire, I know you didn't want any of that to happen," he says politely as heads to the living room, his earlier conversation with Claire not forgotten.

"That's more or less the gist of it," Uriel begins, catching the tail end of Chimney's explanation, "I got Drew caught up for the most part last night, though I can't be sure of what everyone's been told. So are there any questions or clarifications, or parts of what happened that anyone wants us to expand on before we get the ball rolling?" he inquired as he swept the room with his gaze, his eyes passing over all gathered.

[Jacior]

Drew nods. "Do you have anything that belongs to the girl? Barry is pretty good at tracking things... Despite the fact we couldn't manage to find our way back this morning." He grins. "He's helped me find more than a few lost animals back home."

[Regalus]

"We do actually. Do you think he might be able to get a good scent from her weapons? We managed to collect several of them yesterday, so her scent should still be just short of a day old. Otherwise I know where she works, so we might be able to find something there if push comes to shove,"

[Jacior]

"He should be able to. It'd probably be best to go where you guys last saw her, or where she got kidnapped to find the trail." Drew says before thinking a minute. "Why aren't you guys going to the police about this?"

[passinglurker]

Drew
"The police are already on this, and have been all over the site where anne, and reportedly two others disappeared. They have been using growlithes and more since yesterday, but the police have an attitude that getting civilians involved would create collateral damage among other things, and generally don't accept help beyond receiving tips. Since they effectively have the right of way what we need to devise is what we can do that the police can't or won't." says the masked man to you as he gets off his phone and joins the conversation.

[Jacior]

Drew shakes the last of whatever was making him feel weird off and frowns. "If the police are already on this, then why aren't we just being patient?" He leans up against the wall.

[Major]

"Well that's not..." Claire starts to reply to Uriel, but stops herself. Instead, she follows him into the room.

"In addition to Anne I have an Aron named Nickle whose trainer was also kidnapped. It was her we were looking for in the sewers when we found Anne's knives. We found out about Anne later." Claire explains. "I'm rather skilled at tracking myself which is how we found the killers." She doesn't comment on the police, however. It wasn't that she lacked plenty of reasons, it was that she honestly preferred that the coordinator boy, Drew, and the little girl, Opal, stayed out of it. Thus if they were content to wait for the police it worked out for the better. Especially since she'd recently learned of Kuro's involvement in the case.

[Regalus]

"There's a few reasons beyond just the fact she's our friend, and the little girl was hurt when Nickle last saw her," he starts, giving himself sometime to organize his thoughts before dressing Ledianman's point, "For one thing these guys manage to elude the cops during the individual Amber Alerts and missing person reports. We managed to get them a good lead earlier, but as it stands most of them are a bit too visible; and given the area where these guys seem to operate large search parties are probably going to tip them off. This is all assuming these guys don't have someone or something keeping an eye out for police movements, which is pretty likely given their power sets and track record.

Though that does lead to the fact that they're expecting cops which gives us an advantage, and a way to help. We don't have to take them on directly, but anything we find out on our own can help them out. After all they have to deal with a lot more red tape when it comes to investigations, so every tip helps; and if we happen to get a chance to lend a hand all the better. Now then, there are a few things we can do." he explained as he eyes scanned those gathered, interweaving his hands upon his laps as he noted Edgar's continued absence. The house seemed quite so it was unlikely he'd found their guest yet; their prankster could have likely gotten away by now, but the silence still unsettled him.

"First off, Opal do you think you might be able to douse or scry for Penny and Anne using Nickle and Anne's weapons? They haven't been apart for all that long so their might be a connection you can use their, 'specially Nickle since he's Penny's starter, promised to get her help, and was the last one who saw her so that should be a pretty damn strong connection if we can use it. I have a few friends that are acquainted with with a local poison elementalist who spends a lot of her time on the streets, and in spots most people rather avoid; though most folks don't notice or pay attention to her normally. With any luck we can check if she's seen or heard anything, or has a good idea where these guys might be hiding down there to narrow down our search.

We also know these guys are packing a lot of dream mist to boot. If they've been using dream mist a lot they either have alot of munna's, a large stock pile of the stuff, and/or have been milking the same ones long enough to leave a mark" he explains as he turns to Ledianman, "Do you know if Wisp's noticed any weird dream stuff or unusual psychic aligned stockpiles and/or disturbances, frequent trafficking of dream mist; or if she might have or know something that might? Or if anyone you know, mask or otherwise, might be able to find out that sort of thing?

By the way, if it can work; do either you know of any other Medium's you trust that might be able to help Opal with the dousing? We know these guys have an Aura Guardian and a Psychic with them, and they at least had a ninja with them so any extra oomph we can get for the dousing would probably be a big help," he suggested, offering up his ideas to see what the other's thought about them; hoping that if nothing else he may have sparked a few ideas in the others.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal thinks for a while during Uriel's contemplation, "I might be able to, normally dousing rods are only aligned with the resonance produced by crystal shards," she replies, slowly, her voice actually took on a deeper cadence as she shifted to a scholarly persona, "it would take a little time for me to attune the rods to a person based on the resonant signature left behind on a pokemon or object, and longer to sift through what other signatures are on them, anyone who owned or touched them would leave a small signature themselves, which I'll need to isolate and remove the influence of them," she hums lightly, "It may take me some time to properly attune them."

"Nickel wasn't the only one to see them as well, Edgar brought Anne down there to see someone, so he may know something as well. I promised to help him find Anne, like how you promised to help Nickel find Penny," she comments, her voice returning to normal at the last sentence.

[Regalus]

"Okay. Then we can hopefully get a trace off Edgar as well maybe, though its probably going to be pretty faint," he comments with a small frown, "Nickle's probably the strongest link we have, short of going to Annelise's home and asking for permission to look over her things,"

[Major]

"I can't judge the psychic's power very well, but the Aura Guardian is too much for any of you to take." Claire added simply, not saying much else and just listening.

[Jacior]

Drew looks around the room. These people were crazy. "Wait, wait. I thought you said there was only one left? Why are you talking like there's more?" He'd pretty much accepted that they weren't going to be sensible about this, so it was a matter of making sure they weren't walking into something that would get them killed. This was turning out to be a much more interesting vacation than he'd thought it'd be.

[Major]

"Because there is more than one left. A lot more." Claire comments casually, "A wanted murderer, a powerful psychic, some gas mask guy who is skilled at putting others to sleep, and various others that have been working along side the wanted murderer." She replies, "He has an entire organization working for him, which is why I've insisted repeatedly on certain people staying out of it rather than insisting on playing detective." Claire states.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I'm going to help regardless, whether it's helping you or Edgar, we're after the same thing, best to work together, and if it's because I look like a kid, I'm eighteen. At most I'm three years younger than you," Opal says, "And I'm a white medium, Ledianman can attest to that, and that I always get into trouble helping people."

[Jacior]

Drew sighs. "And I work for her, so if she says we're doing this, I have to too." Murderers, psychics, gas masks, kidnappings?! Sid was going to pay for this when it was all over, oh yes. "So the question is how we go about this without... dying. Or worse."

[Major]

"By gathering information and staying out the way." Claire says, "This man was capable of killing one of the strongest fighters in Kalos he'll kill you too." She states, "And getting in trouble helping people, wonderful. That's exactly what I want to hear."

She drew her pokegear and opened a picture of Kuro. "You want to help, you see this man, you do not engage and let me know where."

[EdroGrimshell]

"I'm more defensive anyway, light lends itself well to defense rather than offense," Opal says simply, waving off the comment, but already committing the face to memory, "might be hard for us to work together since my abilities seem to hurt you though," she comments to Claire, "though if you can't work around lights that may put you at a disadvantage... we'll have to work on that," she said with a smile aimed at Claire. It promised much pain, sunburn filled pain, with no way of escaping.

[Major]

"I'll pass. I'd rather avoid getting light thrown at me." Claire comments, "And it just means we won't work well around each other, not with each other." Claire notes, "As I stated, if you are just going to be gathering information it won't be an issue. I'll handle the dangerous work, you can keep doing your detective thing."

[passinglurker]

Everyone
"I think we might be getting a bit off track. As important as dealing with a larger criminal organization may be we should keep in mind that the thing we all have in common is a desire to recover the people taken, or in Drews case doing what Opal wants, but she's contagious so I'm sure he'll warm up to this eventually." Says Ledian before addressing uriel's questions "I know Skull asked Monitor to try to track down their source of dream mist, but he hasn't found any buying patterns that would suggest it being used in the bulk they would need to. He believes they are some how producing it themselves or they have found a way to use it more efficiently and stretch out their supply though its also possible that fewer people have been kidnapped than we suspect. It's unfortunately very easy for a trainer to go missing without anyone noticing so we have no way to know for sure how many victims there are. As for dowsing I'm afraid my specialty is blessings the only medium I can think of that could have more advanced knowledge on the subject is Siergie Ironwood who lives in the dojo's monastery. I guess you could say spelunking is a hobby of his"

[Major]

"I'm fairly decent at tracking targets." Claire comments, "Its how we found the kidnappers in the sewer before." She states, "I have a possible lead on Kuro tonight anyways so after I engage him either I'll take him out and then try and backtrack to find where they are sending people or he'll escape again and I'll follow him then. Either way if I find where they operate I should be able to find where his group is putting people."

[passinglurker]

Everyone
"Ah Monitor said something about that when I was on the phone before... lets just say we still need to pick an appropriate site so the setup for that can't happen until tomorrow actually." says ledianman to claire while choosing his words carefully

[Major]

"Ah, tomorrow then. That works out better so I can finalize my preparations." Claire says.

[Jacior]

"Arceus, you people need to take up less deadly hobbies. I really don't want to die, even to help someone. I like being alive a little too much for that. So I guess we need to go see this Ironwood guy, huh? I hope he's in the mood to be helpful."

[Regalus]

"Yeah, we really do," Uriel comments with a tiredly before refocusing.

"In any case Ledianman's right, our priority is tracking down the missing people; anything beyond that can be a boon, but we should avoid any unnecessary risks. I'll likely be heading over to the Dojo, see if I can't kill two birds with one stone while I'm there; and anyone who wants is free to come with. Chimney, any idea what Sergei's like and if we need to do anything special to get a hold of him? Also Claire, mind bringing Nickle out so Opal can see what she has to work with?" he adds falling back into pace as he revised his mental notes to see if he was missing anything.

"That reminds me, if anyone's interested I'd be open to including any and all of our mon in a short training exercise; should go a long way to helping us if anything comes up today, and make our mon familiar with one another," he offers prudently.


Given that training sessions occur in half an hour segments and Uriel's training Capacity; he can train and buff everyone's Mon in exactly one hour going by raw assuming everyone is interested.

[Jacior]

Drew nods. "Sure, Barry could always use a little more exercise." He also thought it'd be a good opportunity to watch him with pokemon. That was a good way to tell a lot about someone. "But for a dojo, I'm gonna have to pass. I'm not really a fighter."

[Major]

"More reason for you not to engage in direct combat with Kuro." Claire comments at Drew. She wasn't too thrilled with the fact that so many people were getting involved, but at the very least it was more eyes and ears.

"As for the dojo, I won't be able to join you there." Claire says to Uriel, "So as much as I'd enjoy a chance to do some training with you, I'll probably have to pass. I can do some warm-ups and work-outs myself though while you do that and then meet you somewhere if you still plan to do some shopping." She says as she releases Nickle from his pokeball.

"Nickle, these people are going to try and help us find Penny. I wanted you to meet them in case they can help."


Perception: [roll0]

[passinglurker]

Everyone
As Nickel klinks along from person to person like an excited puppy meeting new people Drew Claire and Opal start hearing what sounds like a poorly hushed squabble like two pokemon arguing(not fighting obviously different sound unless its like jigglypuffs fighting or something...) Its difficult to place the direction of origin.

Drew
The noise seems to be coming from above... from above opal infact.

[Jacior]

Drew squats down to pet the aron as it totters around on it's clinky little legs. "Aron are so cute, aren't they?" He stops and frowns. "Uh, Opal? Do you have an upstairs? There's pokemon fighting over the top of your head. Like arguing."

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal blinks, "just my study in the attic, let me go check," she says as she heads over to the pull down stairs to leads to the attic, Isaac following close behind, "anyone want to come with me?" she asks before she leaves the room.

[passinglurker]

Opal
When you pause for an answer to you question you see ledianman and his ledian conversing with claire little aron friend with the ledian serving as a sign language interpreter, and chimney peering over the back side of the couch as if looking for something come to think of you haven't seen steven lately and thought also occurs to the psychologist part of your brain that chimey might have developed over time a slight case of separation anxiety with the pokemon.

You don't have a moment to dwell on this further before the ceiling above you suddenly bulges and with a burst of light erupts like an upside down drywall volcano, and a furry weight drops right on top of you flattening you against the ground. despite the light and dust what this thing is soon comes into focus... black fur... canine... about as big as you... and all to familiar red eyes... this is a mightyena... and its laying right on top of you.

Everyone Else
The ceiling above Opal suddenly bulges and with a burst of light erupts like an upside down drywall volcano. a mass of old canned felinefood and arceus knows what else drops on opal and a large amount of obscuring dust is kicked up in the room.

Claire
Either surprise or the dust has given viel a case of the hiccups which she tries to supress causing your bosom to hop in recoil every few seconds.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal is frozen, completely, unable to move, unable to breathe, so, she did the only thing that the part of her brain that was working was able to think of, and she flooded the entire room with light, attempting to blind the mightyena, not even thinking about the other people in the room. Then she screamed, attempting to get away from the mightyena on top of her as the rest of her mind caught up with her. It wasn't a normal scream, it was the blood curdling scream you'd expect from a slasher film, and it'd be one anyone that actually knew her would recognize, especially Isaac who immediately charges over to get Opal out of there.

[Regalus]

Uriel has little time to properly parse what had occurred, barely having had the time to turn his attention to the ceiling before everything went to hell. Blinded and urged to action by Opal's panicked scream Uriel reflexively brings out Mani; unleashing the vermilion chimp into the fray moments later as he reached out with his free hand towards Claire.

"Hold back the dog!" he ordered piercing through the mon's sudden confuse upon being greeted by the chaotic scene as he tried to pull Claire behind the couch to block out the worst of the blinding light before the damage became too great, willing to use his own body to further shade her if he had the chance.

Wasting no time Mani speeds over towards the mightyenna, trying to grab unto the hound and haul it off and away from Opal; or at least give Issac the opening he needed to help Opal get out of the way.

[Major]

Claire's confusion at the ceiling falling in was interrupted when the giant blast of light blasted her eyes. She cried out in pain as she felt blinded and stumbled backwards, unable to see and feeling like she was burning. The pain from the light made it so she didn't even register Veil's boob bouncing hiccups. When she felt something grab her, she almost swung out to counter it with an attack, but hearing Uriel's voice caused her to stop before her hand could hit his throat.

She allowed him to drag her wherever he was going, while keeping her eyes clenched tightly and her free arm covering her eyes as best she could.

[Jacior]

Drew covers his eyes as first the ceiling collapses and then a blinding light shines out. "What the hell is going on now?" He yells after the bloodcurdling scream from Opal.

[passinglurker]

Opal
You can hardly consider yourself immune to your own blinding lights when you go all out like this so its a bit hard to make out whats going on, but moments after your scream begins you feel the weight of the furry monster lift off you. You then hear the clinking of chain links as a weighty meteor hammer coils around you, and then pulls you through the air away from the scene and into someones waiting arms. who you can't make out cause you are making it too darn bright.

Uriel(Mani)
The mightyena doesn't put up any hostile resistance when two pokemon slam into it and push it up against a wall. its seems just as stunned confused and panicked as everyone else.

[Regalus]

Mani signals Uriel, crying out to give him the all clear as he held the surprised canine.

"Opal turn of your light! It's pinned down, and you're hurting Claire!" he urgently ordered, knowing just how vulnerable they were in this state.

[EdroGrimshell]

The only sign that Opal even heard was that the light slowly turned down until it was out completely. Anyone who looked at her would see she was on the verge of a full on panic attack, if she wasn't actually having one right then and there, she was almost as white as Claire (which was saying something since she had an eternal tan), her eyes were wide, and she was still hyperventilating. Even Eugene didn't know what happened to make her so afraid of mightyena, and he'd never seen this bad a reaction from her either. Then again, she'd always been a lot farther and able to work her way around the dog, this was one suddenly being right on top of her.

[passinglurker]

Everyone
With opals light show over the scene becomes clear to everyone... Well after some adjusting and eye rubbing anyway.

Pushed up against a wall by Mani and Isaac is a female mightyena with hot pink eyes that looks just as panicked as Opal(at least to everyone but opal who might be to scared to even look) surprisingly she isn't trying to express her panic by ripping something to pieces as would be expected for her species but is instead just squirming helplessly.

Opal finds that she caught by Ledianman, and that was pulled out by chimney expertly using her meteor hammer. Chimney is still holding on to the other end of the chain and rubbing her eyes. To pull off a stunt with that much accuracy she probably hadn't given much thought to eye protection.

On the ground where the ceiling had fallen through among all the dust and debris are piles of well preserved cans of skitty food and novelty treats Drew(who rolled highest perception when I asked) right away spots an individually wrapped preserved leppa berry.

And finally poking their heads out of the hole in the cieling is edgar and steven. steven has a sad concerned guilty expression and edgar has and expression as if blaming steven.

[Jacior]

"Ok, ok. Everybody calm down!" Drew says, looking around the living room. "Every day is a new excitement around here." He mumbles to himself as he slowly walks towards the freaked out pokemon. "Shh, shh. Calm down. It's ok. No one's gonna hurt you." He crouches down, hands out. "Shh, shh. It's ok, just relax." He stops and grabs up the berry on his way by the rubble. He waits to see how the dog-pokemon reacts before getting that close.


[roll0] Spend 1 AP for +1 (Total +5)

[Major]

As the lights slowly dimmed, Claire kept her eyes mostly covered and tried to see how badly her skin was burned. She wasn't too thrilled with the events and went to move into another room. "I'll be right back..." She mutters to Uriel as she steps out of the room.

[passinglurker]

Claire
Your exposed skin stings a bit but Opal still doesn't hold a candle to legit sunlight especially when throwing her light out wide and unfocused so there doesn't seem to be any visible damage. You also notice that viel got rather dusty and caught the case of the hiccups which she is trying to supress to keep up the ruse that she's a dress but the recoil from such while silent is I guess you could say "visible" around the chest region.

Drew
She pauses to look at you then she looks at herself with a look of shock as if she had just noticed something for the first time, and finally she slumps while making whimpering noises as if completely overwhelmed and she looks up at you with big hot pink puppydog eyes that despite her size she hasn't seemed to have grown out of.

[Major]

"We're out of sight go ahead and don't worry at the moment." She says, "If someone comes in the room go ahead and stop and I'll try and find an excuse to get you more privacy." Claire tells Veil. "And thanks for helping with the light, I noticed I didn't seem to burn as much." She says, unaware of whether it was due to supernatural light or due to Veil's clothing, but deciding better to say thank you anyways.

[Jacior]

Drew looks between the two pokemon that were pinning the now much calmer mightyena against the wall. "It's ok guys, you can let her down." He knew the monkey was Mani, but he didn't recall being introduced to the dunsparce. He gets closer and places his hand out for the mightyena to sniff. "She's a good girl, aren't you? Such unusual eyes." He says, and pets her on her head.

[Regalus]

Mani backs off after a moment, letting Drew draw near; yet opts to stay nearby just to be sure the dark type didn't try any funny business. Uriel himself nodded once in understanding to Claire as he takes in the scene; much to his pleasant surprise it didn't seem like any grievous harm was suffered. Opal's terror stricken state not withstanding.

COncern fresh on his mind, the young man walks over to where Ledianman held Opal; a wary eye passing by the mightyenna as he made his approached, "Opal, are you okay? Your safe now, the danger's passed and the pokemon's not attacking anyone. It's over for now," he said as he studied the frazzled Prism, trying to assuage the young maiden's fears as best he could.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal is slow to respond, but eventually the panic seems to fade, though it makes her seem almost... blank, for a few moments before her breathing returns to normal, then slows, she'd fallen asleep. Probably for the best given a mightyena, even not attacking, was still in the room.

[passinglurker]

Claire
Viel seems to feel guilty when you praise her. Its possible that she hadn't taken any "active" measures to shield you against opal and considers herself undeserving of your thanks. She then starts to hiccup out loud the sound is so cute for an otherworldly being that finds sustenance in the negative emotions of others that nickle can't help but imitate it and hiccup along.

Drew
As you pet her her expression of overwhelmed confusion becomes one of affectionate cheeriness. Its obvious to drew she wants to do things like lick and cuddle but with the two pokemon still looming over her she stays put.

Uriel
"I'll take her to her room so that she can recover" says ledian man simply as Chimney still rubbing an eye retrieves her chain from around opal before he walks out with isaac following him.

Opal
You hear the mightyena sounds get further and further away until they disappear behind the click of a door.

[Jacior]

Drew looks over at the two pokemon. "It's ok guys. I'm not all that fragile even if she turns on me. But she won't do that. That's cause she's a good girl. Aren't you?" He coos to the mightena as he turns back around and starts scratching around her ears and neck.

[Major]

"You ok?" Claire asked, "I'm not sure exactly how to fix your hic-ups?" She says, "I'm pretty sure I can't scare you."

[passinglurker]

Drew
the mightyena eagerly expresses her agreement with your assessment by licking you.

Claire
your comment of being unable to scare viel seems to prompt a giggle from her that drives the hiccups away, but moments later she seems depressed and conflicted. She probably isn't "ok"

[Regalus]

Uriel nods at CHimney and Ledianman before coming up behind Drew, "Well, glad to see everyone's mostly okay," he says mostly to himself as a relieved smile made its way to his face, before turning his gaze skywards to Steven and Edgar, "Okay, now can one of you two explain what in the high holy name of Ho-Oh happened here?" he asked in an eerily calm tone that belied his own frustration and confusion with recent events.

[passinglurker]

Uriel
A guilty looking Steven shrinks back so that just his eyes are peeking over the edge of the hole, and Edgar quickly scribbles out and drops a note written on the back of a soup can label

Opal told me to look for pokemon in the crawl spaces. I found steven feeding a wild poochyena up here. I told him to get rid of it fast because Opal has a phobia of them. An argument broke out and then suddenly it evolved and fell through the crawl space floor.

[Regalus]

"I...what?!" he questioned as the embodiment of eloquence and composure, "W-What do you mean it just evolved? Did either of you spook it or something?" he added in disbelief with a hair more coherency.

He'd heard of pokemon evolving during life threatening situations before, but if he was understanding the events correctly...well, as an individual specializing in pokemon care he wasn't quite sure he liked what it implied.

[passinglurker]

Uriel
Edgar shrugs as Steven makes a basic gesture to imply that they were focused on each other at the time.

[Jacior]

"Lot's of things can make pokemon evolve. Is it surprising really that stress might cause it?" Drew says, pushing the affectionate dog away from his face. "So she's wild? Seems pretty tame to me. Wonder how long she was up there." He says, still petting her. "Should we catch her? Or? I don't really know the procedure here."

[Regalus]

"It's...not quite just that," he says with an awkward smile as he turns to face Drew, "The kind of stress that normally triggers this sort of thing isn't the 'I spilled milk all over my new clothes before a big presentation kind', it's more along the line of 'Oh gods I'm about to die'. If that was enough to evolve her either she's really strong and just needed a push to finish it, which is rarer than you'd think, or well...let's just say she'd have to have a less than pleasant story," he explained as he glanced thoughtfully at the newly evolved mightyenna, now noticing it's oddly colored eyes. It seemed friendly enough around the others and the mon that it didn't seem to have major trauma kicking in, so Uriel hoped it was the former after all.

"Any way. Opal sure didn't know about it so it couldn't have been around for too long. It might know about whatever mon messed with Claire earlier though," he mused, the former poochy was technically the likeliest perp; yet he knew well enough their breed didn't develop that sort of abilities. Pushing the thoughts aside the young man continued, "Any way. Standard procedure in this situation is that either someone takes her in, or we call up the Ranger's and they make sure she's either taken to the wild or to an adoption center depending on what they rule after checking her,"

[passinglurker]

Drew
Edgar drops a paper airplane folded note on you

Only could have been up here a few hours. Steven said he found her trying and failing "adorably"(his words not mine) to eat out of the trash and brought her inside while chimney was exercising this morning before you and opal woke up. He also said she seemed to be really shy and didn't seem to have much skill in caring for herself so he couldn't just leave her. Honestly it sounds to me that she's a freeloader that gets by on charms and puppydog eyes, and latches to whoever is nice to her. Though probably an innocent one seeing as how she isn't begging.

With some distance between the mightyena's tongue and your face you can now make out some sort of olivine colored wrapper with fancy cursive writing adhered to her tongue by saliva.

[Jacior]

"Oh that's gross." Drew says when he sees the wrapper. "We're going to have to brush your teeth." He says and ruffles her fur. "So do we battle or the easy way?" He's looking at her when he says that.

[passinglurker]

Drew
The mightyena pauses mid lick with her tongue still hanging out and olivine wrapper still stuck to it and tilts her head. She doesn't seem to get what you are talking about.

Uriel
"What were you saying about mons messing with claire before?" Asks Chimney As Drew converses with the the canine that apparently didn't think of unwrapping its food before trying to eat it.

[Jacior]

Drew takes the chance and pulls the wrapper from her tongue, holding it out in one hand. "That's really gross." He says, making a face. "You're too big to go around by yourself and try to beg anymore. So you've either got to belong to one of us, or go with the rangers. I'd like it if you came with me, but I'll leave it up to you what you want to do."

[Regalus]

Uriel nods to Chimney, "Yeah, on our way to the meeting Claire got whammied by an Infatuation attack, only the weird thing is that I was the focus of it. Managed to snap her out of it quickly enough, and Opal had Edgar scout out the area to find the mon that did it,"

[Major]

"What's wrong, Veil?" Claire asks as she leans against the counter.

[passinglurker]

Claire
The shuppet ponders no doubt frustrated by the mon to man language barrier, but she also seems hesitant and indecisive as if she wasn't sure what was wrong herself which would only make telling you all the more difficult.

Uriel
"Oh yeah she has a problem with that..." she says still massaging her visual sensing organs "but... At the same time that would be a very convenient cover" she adds looking at you from the corner of her eye "hmm... then again it would explain some things, but I've never heard of a pokemon who could infatuate people with things other than themselves... anyway this definitely is a bad time for our resident researcher to be taking a nap"

Drew
Her tongue retracts when you pull the wrapper off but head remains tilted in curious confusion. She must have been seriously sheltered for a wild urban pokemon.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal groans and reaches for her head, it really hurt, and opens her eyes. What was she doing in her room? She sat up and held her head... she'd been going to the attic, there was a cracking sound, then... oh, right, a mightyena fell on her, she breathed in, held it for a count of seven, then let it out, calming her nerves. She'd had a panic attack, she knew that much, having a mightyena suddenly that close would have done it easily, then she winced, if she reacted the way she normally did then Claire probably got a good bit of pain out of that little incident, she'd need to apologize for that... once her head stopped feeling like someone was taking a jackhammer to the inside of her skull.

[Jacior]

Drew pulls out a pokeball. "You wanna stay with me from now on? You'll get fed and taken care and all you have to do is behave and battle once in a while." She did not seem the brightest pokemon, she didn't seem to have a clue on how things worked.

[Major]

"I'm sorry I'm not very good at understanding." Claire says, "But you've done great so far and have been very helpful and a great new teammate, if that helps."

[passinglurker]

Drew
She shrinks, and whimpers when you pull out a pokeball as if she is expecting something bad to happen, and you hear steven grumble when you talk about using her to battle.

Claire
She lets out a frustrated sigh when you apologize for your lack of understanding, but your praise seems to lighten the mood a little.

[Major]

"I guess that wasn't the right thing to say...ummm...I wish I had Monsieur Uriel's talent for communication." Claire said, "Is it something you could tell him later and he could translate?"

[passinglurker]

Claire
She gives you the same look she gave you in the bathroom as if saying "do you want me to tell him?"

[Regalus]

"I don't think that's quite it, but that's neither here nor there," he quips with a helpless chuckle as he returns his gaze from Drew and the mightyenna, "Any way best not to force Opal too much, and let her own pace until she recovers. We can still 'try talking to Sergei, and checking to see if Nancy's seen anything that might help," he suggests before Steven's grumbles catch his attention.

"What's the matter Steven? Worried about your friend?" the young man inquired as he glanced at the irate Sylveon.

[Major]

"Tell him what? Its not what I want, do you want to tell him something to see if he can communicate?" She asked.

[passinglurker]

Uriel
Chimney dead pans "So are you in denial about claire or are you just oblivious?"

You are far from versed in stevens dialect of sign language, but steven does his best to express his opinion in four easily recognizable gestures "Protect"... "innocent"... "from"... "curly handlebar mustache"...

Claire
After doing what you could probably assume is the ghost equivalent to "taking a deep breath" your bow nods in an affirmative response to your question.

Opal
You're a bit dusty but physically you seem to be fine. Closer examination reveals the lingering traces of a reflect blessing likely cast by eugene or his ledian on reflex when the ceiling collapsed. The only other living thing in your room at the moment is isaac.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal calms as her headache fades somewhat, then brushes herself off to get rid of some of the dust before she goes over and picks Isaac up, that usually kept her calmer, and she was actually ready for a mightyena to be out there, even as she moved to head out into the hallway, that'd lessen the impact somewhat, she'd still have to skirt around it though...

Before leaving her room, she took a deep breath and opened the door to head out to meet with everyone else again.

[passinglurker]

Opal
"Feeling better?" Says Ledianman as you step into the hall, and hear the non-threatening sound of a whimpering mightyena

[Major]

"Alright, well we can deal with that when all the chaos in that other room is done." Claire comments.

[Jacior]

Drew puts the pokeball away. "Ok, ok. Bad idea. You're not the battling type. I can see that now." He goes back to petting her. "I guess we need to get ahold of the rangers then and see if we can get her adopted. With all this craziness," He gestures to what appears to be the universe in general. "She's not going to be safe if she comes with us." He thinks for a moment. "I could call my sister. She'd love to have her own pokemon. And she'd be perfectly safe and happy out in the country."

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal nods with a small smile, "I'll be fine, was just surprised, though it'd probably be best I not go over there for a little while longer so I can mentally prepare."

[passinglurker]

Claire
your bow nods again

Drew
The mightyena brightens back up and resumes her happy panting when you put the pokeball away, but despite the warm fuzzy feelings between you and the mightyena you can practically feel a certain someone rolling their eyes at you behind your back. You hear them get closer making a sound like the clinking of chains with every step. You can see the mightyena with an adorable twinkle in her bright pink eyes make a "beg"face at the source of the longhaired shadow that looms larger and larger over your head as if asking it to be gentle as your minds eye pictures its tongue coiling like an ekans to heckle, rebuke, criticize and otherwise strike with liberal amounts of snark as is the nature of this beast...

Opal
"Of course you shouldn't push yourself but if its any consolation the pokemon does seem to be a much more docile example of its species"

There's that darn "lovey duvy magic is in the air" tingle sound again but more distinguishable this time... Its coming from the room where a mightyena just made a hole in your ceiling!

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal blinks, "um, I think it might have something to do with Claire acting funny around Uriel, I just got the same feeling from where it is that I got earlier when it happened," she says, that was... odd, "I might have to see if I can't talk to it after all," she smiles up at Eugene, "if it's not as hostile I should be able to handle it for a little while," even as she said it, she was already shivering slightly, the fact she was willingly going to be a few feet from a mightyena had her adrenaline going already.

Opal takes a deep breath then starts walking down the hall towards the room, still holding Isaac, and really hoping Eugene would come along, even as she gets closer to the room, she forces herself to keep walking rather than hesitate or stall, she'd been trying to face her fears for a few years now, mightyena and houndoom were the only two that gave her any real trouble still, it was time to face the music, so to speak.

[Regalus]

"What? No!" Uriel counters, a bit taken aback by Chimney's unexpectedly blunt question, "All I'm saying is that what happened back there was...a bit to brazen and out of character for her. I'd like to think I've gotten a good read on her the past few days, if she was going to try to make a move on me it wouldn't have been something like that," he says in Claire's defense, experiencing teaching him that the lass was a bit too shy when it came to her own body image to attempt something quite so...physical while she was of her right mind.

[Major]

"Let me send a quick few messages and we'll check if its safe." Claire comments as she pulls out her pokegear.

She opens up [insert popular website used from before] and posts, -Monitor, its Claire again-

[Jacior]

Drew sighs as he strokes down the mightyena's back. "Yes? Do you have something you'd like to say? It's rude to just stand there looming over someone." He looks over his shoulder to confirm who it was, rocking back on his haunches.

[passinglurker]

Uriel
Your response has come a little too late Chimney seems to have become distracted by what drew is doing she probably didn't take her own bluntness seriously

Opal
Lederman follows you for the support that you clearly need and you arrive in time to see chimney about to say something to drew who is petting a very happy looking mightyena with what can now tell without your hysteria are actually hot pink eyes not flaming blood red spheres of murder.

Drew
You look back to see chimney given most of your interaction with her so far you can already guess where this is going to go... "I-I-I just..." well this is different... is she blushing? "...I-I W-wanted to say that-that is... p-pretty selfless of you to suggest that..." her voice is a lot softer than normal and she seems to be acting really shy she won't hold eye contact for more than a fraction of a second and she is stuttering and fidgeting a lot "I-its a shame things are so dangerous I w-would have thought that you two would look cute together on stage..." Chimney's unexpected shynes then peaks as her whole face turns red as if saying you would look good on stage was some how embarrassing for her.

Claire
-[phone number]-

-since you are living in wisps house now you don't need to take such a roundabout route to contect me you know-

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal blinks, her curiosity somewhat overcoming her fear, then the odd situation with Chimney acting vastly out of character kicks in, just after that weird feeling entered the air, "I think I might know what's going on," she says as she circles around the mightyena, still keeping a distance, "hello there," she says while standing facing it, still sweating somewhat, "is that your work?" she asks, indicating Chimney and Drew.

[passinglurker]

Opal
The mightyena shrinks and whimpers when she sees you. After all you did make quite a scene when you two first "met". When you ask your question the mightyena cautiously tilts her head noting confusion and edgar flashes a sign from his position above the scene.

She doesn't seem to understand what you mean by "your work"

[Major]

-Oh, so you are close to Wisp then? I assume she was your associate from before. Interested in me, mask, etc.- She replies, -Well, I can't say anything for sure, but I can tell you what I told Wisp from my first interaction with Kuro, as well as her suspicions. I did after all promise to try and tell you things I learned so you could understand your associate's behavior.- She pauses, -Wisp has been talking with me a bunch though, so if she is indeed your associate I'm hoping telling you things isn't going to be a problem.-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-I'm discrete, can keep a secret, and dream science is one of my many secondary intellectual pursuits so I'm sure you can imagine why we've wound up working together frequently, but yes she's the one we were talking about before.-

-When Wisp told us about Sam she of course had some explaining to do. I can't say I approve of what wisp did at all nor am I totally convinced thats the whole story. Mass conspiracy and ancient history lessons and legendary pokemon are hardly an excuse for illegal imprisonment, interrogation, and delayed treatment of very clear mental illness brought on by illegal tampering and brainwashing. I know the likes of Wisp, and Skull aren't exactly known for their ethics, but the behavior seems a bit extreme for her, but I digress this sort of speculation isn't healthy and unless I feel there would be more incidents like this from her its not worth making my bussiness.-

-Anyway despite being rather sensitive about stuff that could cast supernatural humans in a bad light Wisp isn't usually one to get to mad over people sharing things. Slippers is the one you have to worry about he's very protective of Wisp in his own twisted way, but thats only pertinent to sharing things about Wisp herself. As for what I've already been told exactly Wisp only shared information she said she had found out herself and shared with you already. She didn't give much in the way of details on your recent encounter with kuro other than it leading to you and her making a deal where she backs off and leaves kuro to you. She said it was your business if you wanted to share more than that.-

-Oh small side note do you know anything about a stabbing that happened in the powerpoint fitness center a little while ago?-

[EdroGrimshell]

"Um, how do I explain that? I guess... did you do something to the others in the house to make them like each other?" Opal asks simply.

[passinglurker]

Opal
The mightyena slowly shakes her head and makes a few week yips she's also blinking a lot as if at any moment you'll erupt into a blinding singularity of light.

Not that she knows of, but she say that she "wishes from the bottom of her heart for everyone to get along"... this is a very sappy and optimistic pokemon we have on our hands....

[Major]

Claire takes a few minutes to read the long message before replying herself. -Well, I said I'd tell you what I found about Kuro. We fought, he claimed because he wanted me to hate him. True or not, who knows. Wisp believes its a legend involving some Unova Dragons and an old Empire or something. I don't know much Unova history, so I leave that to you.-

She sends that as she thinks of what to say to the stabbing. -That's a random question. If you're asking I'm guessing you know stuff already.-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-I don't doubt Wisps theory about a plot concerning Unova's legendary pokemon at least to the extent that we are talking that there could be a malicious plot. Whether or not the prophecies that these plots are trying to invoke are in anyway legit are very much up for debate.-

-Anyway plot or not bringing in kuro could deal fatal blow to this plot. Did you learn anything from your fight besides his claimed motivations?-

-As for my randomness. Its just something odd happened this morning. The place is closed due to a catastrophic security system failure and piecing together some scattered comments on social media sites it sounds like someone was stabbed maliciously yet no one has taken what happened to the police. When Wisp first said to keep an eye out for you LM mentioned seeing you at the fitness center so I was hoping this was a place you frequented enough that you might know something.-

[Major]

-I don't know much more about Kuro other than what Wisp believes is his plot and that he has allies that are apparently infiltrating different places. He also met with Poffins as part of the Invisible League so he is a competitor. I wanted to pursue him, but Uriel encouraged me not to.- She mentions, -Despite my desire not to bring him to the Poffins meeting, I ended up having to. Surprise, surprise, Poffins tried to blackmail him, but I was able to counter and protect him...hopefully.-

She sighs to herself, -As for the dojo, I went there occasionally. Not all the time, but it was the dojo I used to use. I know about the stabbing, yes.- She replies.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Sorry, you startled me before, I won't do that again unless you startle me again, don't worry," Opal says to the pokemon before standing up and walking across the room, away from the mightyena... what could she say? Even docile, they scared her, "it might be an unconscious ability, I only started getting the feeling that's been with these random attractions between people shortly before she fell through the ceiling," she then goes over to the still shy Chimney, and takes her to a seat and sits her down, "I think you should take a couple deep breaths and think for a sec, okay? If I'm right you'll confirm my theory..."

Aided Take A Breather.

[passinglurker]

Claire
-I did say "as long as he isn't recognized" Unfortunately I think being recognized was part of Skulls plan to get poffins in inciminate herself(I wouldn't put it past him at least the guy can be ruthless) he certainly didn't take any effort to conceal uriel's identity and I was too distracted by a favor he called in at the same time to even notice what he was really up to.-

-Do you have a plan to beat Kuro?-

-As for the dojo granbull helped me and a friend in the past when we were in a tough spot. The unreported stabbing is odd and the security system suddenly going kaput is odd and as an old detective enthusiast friend of mine used to say "Two odd things happening at the same time are often related" so basically tell me everything if there is more going on here than poor security system maintenance and an allergic telekinetic stabbing himself that I want to know so I can help granbull for old times sake.-

Opal
"huh?" Chimney blinks surprised to find herself much clearer headed after following your instructions "wait how the muk did something like that happen unlike claire I actually have training to deal with infatuation" says a now pissed and normal sounding chimney still rubbing her eyes from your little light show earlier.

[Major]

-I need to find Kuro first.- Claire types. -I have a plan coming up soon, but not sure how well it will work. As for Granbull, yes I know her. I talked to her and told her most of what I know already. Besides, didn't you tell me when we first talked about how information brokering meant trading information to buy it? However, I doubt you want to buy information Granbull already knows.-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-You mean the "Using Sam as bait" plan where you assume Kuro is going to waltz in alone without thinking about why sam suddenly turned up in a mental hospital?-

-As for granbull she's prideful she's not going to be too keen on help I'm just the sort of person that helps regardless but unfortunately this does mean I will need an alternate source of information. If you would like to make this a transaction then thats fine what would you like to know?-

[Major]

-I never said I'd be alone. Besides, with him coming there, alone or not, I can till have time to set up a trap. A well-placed ambush can turn numbers to your side.- Claire replies. -And its better than ignoring a lead and just passing up on it.-

She thinks for a moment before replying, -I'm looking for a way to get myself a Mega Ring and possibly a Mega Stone without having to spend the time and money to travel all-the-way back home to Kalos. I didn't realize they'd be such a pain to find here in Unova. I figure you probably know a good way to get one. Legally, please. Be it buy one somewhere, some competition or contest, or something. Hell, even a place to possibly dig around and look if Unova has those. With Faux becoming a Scizor earlier than expected I wasn't expecting to need one so soon. But the Mega Ring would help give me an advantage against Kuro. Can you help with that? Or do I need to find something else?-

[EdroGrimshell]

"Yes, but have you ever tried doing that more than once in the span of a few minutes?" Opal asks, "pokemon that have that same talent can't get rid of it more than once in a short time period. It may hold true for people as well," she sets down Isaac to go interact with the mightyena, "and I don't think it was intentionally done either, just an accident by our new friend," Opal points to the mightyena.

[passinglurker]

Claire
-I hope you are not planning on fighting inside the mental hospital itself-

-If you are looking buy or win a mega ring off someone I'm afraid that normally isn't any easy thing in unova they are all either prized by collectors with no interest in selling or used as symbols of position in the pokemon league, contest circuits, and fighting tournaments and are held by trainers who would outclass you be a very large margin. Fortunately for you I do have a few leads on possible ways to get a mega ring-

-A mega stone is easier with the right guide its possible to excavate the desert north of the city or if you'd rather avoid the sun there is a place in town that is handing out rocks from a research lab that went under as prizes you might get lucky or at least get something valuable enough to trade for the stone you are after from another contestant-

Opal
"If thats the case then it probably isn't safe to send a pokemon like that to drews little sister in hoenn." says chimney "well not safe for drews little sister anyway."

[Major]

-Depends. Ideally an ambush would allow me to drop him quickly before he could react and thus there wouldn't BE a fight.- She replies. -If it turned into a fight, if I felt I could move it outside without losing him I'd do so. If not, then yes I would be fighting inside.- She replies, -Actually...that gives me an idea. I don't suppose you're good enough with computers to fake a league challenge?-

Claire starts to type asking why the sun would be a problem before remembering her condition. She muttered under her breath before replying, -Alright, so in exchange for some leads on the ring I'll tell you what I told Granbull. Seem like a fair trade to you?- She asked. -I was present at the scene and tried to get an ambulance called. Instead his sister assumed I attacked him and kept trying to pick a fight. In order to avoid an unnecessary fight, I left the area and ran into Granbull. Granbull noted that since trouble follows me she can't afford to have me around due to money issues and that I shouldn't come back.- She types.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal looks over at what was essentially an oversized puppy of a mightyena, "I think... she'll do well with Drew, actually. She may do well as a contest pokemon. Her unusual eyes might give a better appeal and her not wanting to battle makes contests ideal for her," and if she was trained well, she could learn to control her talents while there, and it'd help Opal get over her fear of mightyena, a docile one like her was just what she needed to get a bit more comfortable around them. And that's not even mentioning Drew coming on stage with one and Opal's own skill at grooming pokemon, though that would require her to be a little closer than she was comfortable with at this point in time. Yea, that was a good idea. Although, with that in mind, I might actually... hm...

Opal walked over to the mightyena, took a deep breath as she bent down in front of her, and offered a hand. Eugene could tell she was pushing herself and fighting a fight or flight response, but she had a lid on it and was in control at the moment, if only just. If the mightyena looks at Opal, she smiles at it.

[passinglurker]

Claire
-Their security and error checking is crazy redundant it makes cracking a pokedex look like childs play-

-Assuming what you told granbull was the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth that sounds fair-

-Sorry to sound skeptical but I'm legally obligated to say stuff like that that-

-What do you mean by present at the scene? did you see it happen?-

-The first lead for a ring is actually the same as the possible source for the mega stones. A relative of mine introduced me to an excellent desert guide an elementalist by the name of collin brady he is a bit odd, stubborn as a rock, as subtle as a landslide, and won't work with just anybody but assuming you can get him on your side there is no one better to help find things in the desert. I never went looking for keystones or mega stones with him but I wouldn't put this beyond his talents. When he is in town he can be found near the north gate of the city-

Monitor then sends a picture of a fit perpetually dusty looking aloof young man with brown eyes brown hair and dire need of a shave.

Opal
When you smile at the mightyena her own caution of you seems to melt away and she happily starts licking your hand.

[EdroGrimshell]

Well she was definitely friendly, "...would anyone mind if I kept her? I've been thinking of entering some contests lately and I think that our new friend might like it," considering she'd freaked out earlier, that was a really odd request, and the fact she still looked like a scared buneary about to bolt, it was even odder, and the fact she'd just changed positions to pet the mightyena's head even more so. Eugene would be the only one able to tell she was doing this because she was afraid, not because she wasn't, or anyone with a degree in psychology.

[Major]

-I figured, but didn't hurt to ask. So not even possible to just imitate the look of a text or something?-

-I'm a terrible liar, I did not lie to Granbull. I didn't give every detail, but I didn't lie. And I promised to tell you what I told Granbull.- She notes. -I told Granbull I was following leads on Kuro, then I saw the psychic guy bleeding. The sister then entered, I tried to get her to help me help him, she insisted on fighting and accused me, I left the scene to get help. I encountered Granbull and then later encountered an Elgyem that tried to blackmail me with memory altering threats. He wanted me to give him something and if I didn't then the psychic's mind would have me appearing as the attacker. The security system was tampered with and thus there is no proof of my innocence.- Claire comments. -She called somebody else to investigate and allowed me to leave.-

-As for desert man, I'll keep a note of him. Not the best due to skin condition, but I'll hopefully be able to cover up or something.-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-They have deals with the service providers to prevent and filter out forgery attempts. I could do something if his dex was bugged but that requires physical access to the device to install.-

-As for Granbull... -_-... look I could be way off with this but if you did something like accidentally associate someone with kuro, stab them, then realise your mistake and cause major property damage to cover it up then you need to tell Wisp you screwed up-

-The next lead is an auction. The string of busts last night have sunk and generated a lot of "economic casualties" especially among the research labs leading to a lot of mystery box auctions where their hardware is sold off in bulk to recoup losses. One of these research labs were working on a synthetic keystone alternative. I can't say whether or not they ever came up with something functional but there are good odds they had to have had at least one example of the real deal lying around for study. This Could take a fair amount of money though but if the desert or competitive options are a bust you might come away with something valuable enough to fund your bidding here.[auction information]-

Opal
Like she was with Drew the mightyena keeps showing affection unless stopped even now her licks are making their way up your arm rolling up your sleeve as much as her tongue muscles can manage.

[Major]

-Alright, ignore that then. Was hoping to lure him somewhere.-

-And as I told Granbull, I have a pic, not a great one, but still a pic of the Elgyem to collaborate my story.- She comments, -The little pervert did try to blackmail me.-

-As for the auction, we'll hope for a last resort. I doubt I can afford a massive auction and I'm sure others will try to outbid me. But hey, who knows. Thanks anyways.-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-Yes yes the little cretin I'm aware of what a nasty piece of work he is. Unfortunately that also means I know enough about how he operates to know you did something he could hold against you. Look I don't know why this hasn't caught up with you yet but when it does Wisp is going to be the one stuck cleaning it up, and didn't you do work for her to free up some of her schedule for something? You need to tell her as soon as possible so that hopefully any trouble that comes from this gets headed off before it snowballs out of control.-

-One more thing. There is one other place where you might get lucky with mega stones. A geological lab went under a few days ago for reasons unrelated to the recent busts and its stock of fossils and other valuable rocks were bought by a private company and are being given away still sealed in their original cases as mystery consolation prizes for participating in some sort of competition give me a sec to look up the details...-

-On second thought you might not be interested in this one the private business is a bar by the name of "some bar" and their "competition" is strip battling. So yeah just nevermind about this one-

[Major]

-I'll talk to her after we're done.- Claire types as she sighs, -And yeah, I'd rather not do a strip battle, especially when its not guaranteed. Thanks for the information though.- Claire replies. -So to sum up, a desert explorer in some ruins, a giant auction for ungodly amounts of money, or a strip battle?-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-mystery box auctions can range from dirt cheap to very expensive for reasons that are difficult to predict, but they won't auction the whole contents of the lab at once but instead do it crate by crate so at the very least you might get lucky in grabbing what you can afford-

[Major]

-Oh, I misunderstood. So the auction is mystery as well. I'd buy random things and hope it has a mega stone, a mega ring, or something I can sell or trade for one?- Claire comments, -Good to know. Thanks for the information. Anything else or is our business deal done?-

[passinglurker]

Claire
-Unfortunately if there was a guaranteed way to get a mega ring everyone would be doing it though if you had enough money like you were originally assuming you'd have as close to a guarantee as you could get. I can't think of anything else so I'll let you go[disconnected]-

[Major]

-I know, thanks anyways.- Claire replies before opening up a new message to send to Wisp. She sighed as she tried to think of the wording.

-A slight misunderstanding occurred earlier today and I might be sorta kinda responsible for the stabbing of a psychic guy.-

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal shifts her hand and holds it up with one finger on the mightyena's nose, "let's not go overboard, I'm still covered in dust and it might make you sick if you keep licking it up like that," Opal stands up and dusts herself off a little, and the mightyena as well, she was a little dusty from the fall and the incident afterwards, "speaking of, I'll need to get the ceiling fixed soon, I should call somebody to repair that," she says looking at the hole in the ceiling, and signals for Steven and Edgar to come down, "would you mind showing her around while I get something for her to eat? Just be careful not to sneak up on me while doing so okay?"

[passinglurker]

Claire
-sLe3png. meaT H3r en lim6o.-

Opal
Edgar hops down and Steven uses him as a cushion creating a squeaking sound that draws the Mightyena's attention, but Edgar is quick to shoot a glare at the affectionate canine and put an end to any squeaky fantasies she may be having. Edgar then turns to you and writes a note

Very well and I take it you have no concern as to how a poochyena wound up in a hard to find crawlspace and then spontaneously evolved creating the hole in the ceiling?

[Major]

When Claire read the text she sighed. She'd probably just wait then, she couldn't just up and go to sleep at the moment.

Closing her pokegear, Claire decided enough time had passed and she might as well head back to where the others were.

[Jacior]

Drew is utterly baffled by the actions of Chimney, looking side to side to see if he was being pranked. "Uh, thanks. I've never really thought to do a contest before. Maybe I will try it sometime." He still feels like he's waiting to get hit, when Opal walks in and addresses the weirdness herself. After a moment, Chimney returns to her normal self and Drew feel like he can relax. He smiles when Opal comes over and pets the mightyena. "Over your fainting spell?" He says, only poking fun a little bit. "See, she's a good girl. I guess if you want to keep her around for contests, she might enjoy that. But she doesn't seem like the battling type." He remembers the wrapper he's still holding and grimaces. "Where do you keep your trash can? I really don't want to keep holding onto a wrapper for..." He takes a moment to look at what he was actually holding the wrapper to before shrugging.

[passinglurker]

Claire
You arrive in time to find Opal interacting with the very creature that had made her freakout earlier

Drew
The wrapper reads...


Olivine Confection's
Candied Shuckle Juice
The rarest of candies

Good news there was a rare candy hidden in all these old snacks that now litter the floor of the living room, and there might be more!
"Is there a good reason you didn't tell me you don't do contests when I called you a coordinator last night or do you just enjoy making me look like a fool?" More good news Chimney is 100% back to normal!... oh wait...

[EdroGrimshell]

To Edgar, Opal simply replies with, "There are a lot of ways for pokemon to evolve, stress, eating something with a lot of energy to it, I've seen that happen with a geodude that ate a shiny stone by accident and a mareep that was struck by lightning, there's also just being strong or using their abilities often, then there's just age, some pokemon will just spontaneously evolve when they're old enough."

As for Drew, "Yea, if I can prepare for something like this I can usually get by, though it helps that she's so friendly," she says in regards to the mightyena, then points towards the kitchen, "Look in the cupboard at the end closest to the door, the trash can is in there."

Opal gives the mightyena one last pet, "I'll have to think of a name for you before we try at a contest," she says.

[Major]

"No more blinding lights?" Claire asks as she peeks in the room.

[Jacior]

Drew blinks at the writing on the wrapper. That was prohibitively expensive candy. He almost gets excited when Chimney speaks up. Oh great. The nice morning was over. "I dunno, maybe I forgot to mention it when YOU THREW ME TO THE GROUND!" Things had been going too well apparently, the universe had decided. He shook his head and looked at the pile of wreckage. Maybe there were more candies that hadn't been eaten yet.


Perception: [roll0]

[EdroGrimshell]

"Nope, I'm fine now, as long as she doesn't try sneaking up on me I don't think there will be a problem, and even if she does I'll get better with it over time," Opal replies to Claire, then notices Drew when he shouts, only to see him go over to the rubble, and instead of him trying to clean it up, which would have made sense, he looks through it, "did you find something interesting Drew?" she asks, walking over, and looking over his shoulder to try and see what he's looking for herself.

[roll0]

[Major]

"Alright, is there anything else to talk about with the meeting then?" She asked fully stepping into the room.

[passinglurker]

Drew
Nope the surface from this angle appears to be just canned feline food dust and pieces of house.

You hear a low whine from the mightyena when you lash out at Chimney and... *Attract!* you are now infatuated with Chimney again. If you actually look at her at this point then you would see that she had a snarky smirk when she said that but it disappears as quickly as your words sink in.

"Grr... I said I was sorry... I admitted to over reacting... I tried treating you like anyone else... And you just won't let that go?.. What more do you want from me!" chimney sounds very irritated.

Opal
You spot a wrapper clutched in drews hand and you make out the words "Olivine Confections" That's a famous and very expensive johto sweets company most famous for its shuckle juice based products.

[Jacior]

Drew's face turns red. "I just meant that I didn't think about it. I'm sorry." He looks down towards his feet. "I wasn't trying to make you look foolish. It just never occurred to me to tell you. Please don't be mad." He looks down at the wrapper in his hand. "She evolved because there was a rare candy in the ceiling somewhere. I was trying to see if there were any more." He keeps his voice low, like he was trying to avoid offending someone.

[Regalus]

"No, I think that's just about everything. I'm going to give my Mon a warm up session outback, and then I should be heading over to the Dojo. See if I can get in touch with Mr. Firehammer or Sergei while I'm there," Uriel explained to Claire before the other's exchange caught his attention once more, earning a sigh of equal relief and frustration as an argument was sparked and just as quickly disarmed. The seviiborn man was starting to think he'd have to seperate the two of them for their own good.

"Well hot damn, wonder how you got your hands a goodie like that little fella," he mused as he glanced at the sign trying to veer the conversation away from it's prior topic, "As for how our friend got here, apparently Steven's been keeping the little guy safe up there, from Evil I think," Uriel explains, briefly glancing at Steven for confirmation before continuing his explanation, "From the looks of things our friend here noticed some of us where a bit antsy this morning and tried to help us get a long, 'course thats when Edgar got sent to find it. Edgar and Steven apparently bickered for a bit about the little fella, and the pooch went and took a bite of rare candy out of nervousness, and here we are now. Assuming I understood everything right," he ended, glancing at Edgar and Steven once more for confirmation.


Perception CHeck because why not:[roll0]
*1 AP spent.

[Major]

"Want help?" Claire offered at Uriel's comment about training out back. "I know you were wanting to pick up some more combat and I can teach you how to fight and how to handle fights that aren't just one vs ones where you have allies." She notes, "Plus uhh...dojo might be closed still. I'll tell you why privately." She mentioned.

[passinglurker]

Drew
Chimney abruptly jabs a finger over your lips to stop you from saying anything else "Hold that thought I want to check something first" she then leans next to your ear and whispers something "I have boobs" *assisted take a breather!*

Uriel
Edgar and Steven both seem to believe that your assessment is accurate steven still looks pretty guilty though

[Jacior]

Drew blinks for a moment, frowning slightly as his head clears. He opens his mouth as if to say something and steps back, right onto a piece of debris. With a yelp, the remnant of roof causes his leg to slide backwards, landing him in an almost perfect split. He looks down as his legs and lets out a relieved chuckle. "Boy, if I were someone else, that would have ended very poorly." He looks around the room. "Pretty impressive though right? I'm still working on the full split, but dang I'm close!"

[passinglurker]

Drew
Chimney suppresses a chuckle and the snarky smirk returns to her face as she offers you a hand up "Heh I know I was right when I thought you looked like you knew how to take a fall" she quips her mood having recovered some thanks to your sense of humor "Now what was that you were saying before your spine suddenly walked out on you?"

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal laughs lightly, "maybe we should call you Olivine if one of their candies is what got you here," she says, looking back at the mightyena, "we'll also need to get a lid on that little ability of yours so that sort of thing doesn't happen on its own," she doesn't seem disappointed or annoyed, but actually rather interested in the ability itself.

With that, she heads to the kitchen and takes out something for Olivine, as she was going to call her, something to eat that wasn't canned or ready made dried pokemon food, and comes back with something quick and easy, left over pot roast heated with a little gravy. It was only two days old and would have kept for another couple days, plus pot roast tasted better when it rested.

"Here you go," she says to Olivine, setting down the bowl.

After she finishes eating, giving Opal some time to look up someone to take care of the ceiling, Opal makes her offer, keeping Edgar nearby so she could get if she was confusing her, "If I don't battle with you and don't keep you in a pokeball all the time, would you like to live here?" she sets down a pokeball as she says this, not keeping it in hand and letting her decide.

[Jacior]

Drew takes the hand offered and gets back on his feet. "Can't say I rightly remember. Couldn't have been too important then, hmm?" He shrugs. "I guess we should get this cleaned up before someone else takes a spill." This was certainly better than spending the day arguing.

[passinglurker]

Opal
The mightyena seems to gladly accept the food and her new name, but when you set down a pokeball Olivine shrinks and whimpers.

just a thought but it could be that all she knows of pokeballs is trainers using them to send out pokemon to attack her.

Drew
"Right we wouldn't want to give anyone an excuse to trip into uriel's waiting arms again now would we?" she quips as she resumes rubbing her eye. Steven puts on a concerned face and makes some gestures with his ribbons towards chimney "could you sign a little slower steven things are a little blurry at the moment" this comment seems to raise alarm with the sylveon who begins trying to drag chimney out the front door "Hey wait I can go to the pokecenter later! I'm Fine! Let me at least put on some shoes steven!" I appears chimney won't be around to help you clean up.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Don't worry, there's nothing in it," Opal says, and opens the pokeball to show the inside of it, "see? Nothing inside. Pokeballs are used for trainers to ally with pokemon, for battling, contests, or just simply so that someone can't catch someone's pet and force it to fight," Opal tries to explain, "all you have to do is press the little button here and you won't have to worry about someone else trying to attack you without someone to help you being nearby," she continues, closing the pokeball again, "so, would you like to join the family?"

[Regalus]

"Sure, feel free to join in Claire; though I should clear something up. I'm going to the actual local dojo, not the fitness center. I don't usually go there since the Power Point is closer to where I live, but that's supposedly where I can find the guy's I'm looking for," he explained before his attention was drawn in by the sudden motion in the periphery of his vision, being met by the sight of Drew in a near perfect split. "Well, aren't you flexible," he quips merrily.

The young man gives an emberrased chuckle upon hearing Chimney's own quip, though the bashful mirth soon gives way to concern as Chimney's eyesight proves to be a far more worrisome matter. He'd assumed that it had been merely a lingering glare, but it seemed the situation was a bit more severe than he'd hoped. Wishing Steven and Chimney well after chorusing the Sylveon's deceleration of urgency, Uriel turns finally his sights on the messy room and sighs before clapping his hands to gather the attentions of those still gathered. "Okay, let's see if we can't do Opal the favor of tidying up a bit here before heading out back for the session," he suggests with a genial smile before he and Mani get to work sorting out the mess, tossing out the trash and preserving what might still be worth keeping despite the fall.


Roll for Uriel in case the prior one was invalid/will not be used: [roll0]
Mani:[roll1]

[Major]

"Oh, I can go with you then." Claire says, "It'd give me a chance for some actual combat training and after I can show you something I got the other night while we're out shopping." She says with a smile. Her eye twitches a bit at the remark about Drew, but she nods, "Of course, it'd be rude to not assist in the cleaning." She says as she moves to try and help out.

[passinglurker]

Opal
Olivine seems very cautious of the ball still but she puts her trust in you and... DING!
Lvl15 female mightyena, Dark/Fairy

[Jacior]

"Oh yes, very flexible. Helps with dancing, you know? My mom made me take classes when I was younger. Never really stopped." Drew says merrily, before letting Barry out of his pokeball. "Wanna help us clean up, buddy?" The growlithe barks something that Drew takes as an affirmative and Drew nods. "He's in!" He holds up the wrapper to Barry and has him sniff it. "Keep a nose out for anything that smells like that while we're cleaning. It's candy!" The growlithe barks again and wags his tail before snuffling a bit.

When Claire says she's going to help, Drew raises an eyebrow. "Kalosian and cleaning? Aren't you supposed to be wearing a maid's outfit to do that?" He grins and sticks out his tongue.


Barry Perception: [roll0]

[Major]

"You're a riot." Claire comments as she works on cleaning, "You should be a comedian, but don't quit your day job."

[passinglurker]

Everyone
Barry gets right to work collecting strewn debris and piling it where someone with thumbs can more easily dispose of it, and soon comes back to drew with a tin on feline food thats a different color than the others(Drew roll a 1d8) Just then Mani finds a similar tin (Uriel roll a 1d8)

Moments after Claire's sarcastic response to Drew's mildly offensive stereotype feeding comment Claires Skirt gets longer and then the whole outfit suddenly transforms into a traditional and practical Kalosian maid outfit complete with apron though missing the frilly headdress.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal smiles as Olivine was caught, and sends her back out, "welcome to the family, Olivine," she says, officially giving the spur of the moment name she'd thought of for the mightyena, "I'll set up a spot for you after the room's cleaned up, okay?" she says, then turns to look at the others, and blinks, "when did you change into a made outfit?" Opal asks Claire.

[Regalus]

Uriel eases into an easy rhythm as they get to work, a small smile on his face as his companions exchange banter; at the very least it seemed like things were finally moving in the right direction. The fact that Mani seemed to have found a good carbos filled treat was just the cherry on top.

In good cheer, the young man turns from his work to share the good news and see how is fellows were doing; thus allowing him to see quite the show as Claire's dress suddenly, slithers and squirms through out her figure. The outfit somehow warping into a kalosian maid uniform as he stared on in equal parts surprise and disbelief, his head quirked slightly to his side as his mouth hung slightly trapped in mid-greeting.

"Claire...could....c-could you always do that?" he asks if only to give voice to his confusion, never having thought that one of Claire's new powers might have been the ability to conjure forth maid uniforms.

[Major]

When she feels her clothing starting to change she quickly jumps in surprised, "Ack!" She says startled. When she looks down she feels slightly annoyed as her outfit was matching Drew's obnoxious stereotype. "It's a long story..." Claire says with a slight growl. "Turn it back, please..." She muttered. "Long story short I did a job for Wisp in order to pay her for a favor."

[passinglurker]

Everyone
A disappointed grown emanates from the maid uniform as it changes back as if it was saying something along the lines of "but I thought..."

Meanwhile Nickle who has been snacking on debris and drywall hears Claires growling, klinks up to her, and offers a preserved leppa berry treat he found in an effort to try to make her feel better.

[Jacior]

Drew just stares in amazement at the shapeshifting clothing. "You have got to tell me how you got that. I'd kill to have something like that!"

[Major]

"I caught her while on a job." Claire says with a sigh as she continues cleaning. She takes the berry from Nickle, "Thanks," She says with a smile. "Speaking of which, Uriel, she needs to speak with you later for communication purposes. So that's another thing on my list of things to talk to you about later."

[EdroGrimshell]

"What do you have on under it," Opal asks innocently.

[Major]

"Clothing." Claire replies.

[Jacior]

"Wait, wait, wait. That's a pokemon?" Drew asks, mystified.

[Regalus]

"S-Sure thing. What's her name? I'm surprised you didn't introduce her earlier; is it some kind of Ditto?" he asked while trying to parse the fact he was looking at a pokemon, never having heard of a pokemon that could mimic cloth while being worn so seamlessly; a pun he realized only after he'd thought it.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I meant what articles of clothing, like do you have another dress or are you in just your underwear without her?" Opal says, then directs a question at Veil, "can you change to a school uniform? Like those ones you see in anime," she asks innocently.

[Major]

Claire sighs again at all the questions, "Yes, she's a pokemon." She says to Drew. Then she looks at Uriel, "Her name is Veil and no, she is not a Ditto. She's a Shuppet. Wisp suggested I wear her to try and bond. I feel weird wearing a living thing, so it's not been on the top of my talk about list. I just met her last night as a deal with Wisp." Claire says before glancing at Opal, "I am wearing clothing. If it was just underwear I would have said as such. I have shorts, a corset, and various other articles underneath." Claire says, "And she can turn into pretty much anything from what I've seen."

She looks around, "Shouldn't we be cleaning?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

[passinglurker]

Opal
You see the bow on the front of Claire's outfit nod eagerly in response to the question but then suddenly seize up and twitch in frustration when Claire tries to change the subject.

[EdroGrimshell]

"We can talk later if you want, we do need to get this cleaned up, and I don't think Claire would be comfortable with me basically talking to her chest," Opal says with a smile for the shuppet, "Claire, we should enter Olivine and Veil into a contest together. It would be fun, and she'd be able to show off, which seems to be what she wants to do. Letting her in an environ where that's encouraged may be a good way to stop misunderstandings as well," she says as she starts to help with the cleanup, "might also help if you."

"I found a number for a contractor to help handle this, I'll give him a call once we get this cleaned up, then we can check up on Chimney, I'm sure she'd like that," Opal says with a bit of cheer, then starts humming a cheery little song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckJc2qazNkU)

[Major]

"I've never been in a contest. I'm not the type to do all that dancing and prancing and try to appeal to an audience." Claire comments, "However, I'm sure Veil would be interested, so I could probably enter her at some point. Do I need to compete myself?" Claire asked, not knowing much about concerts. "I mean, I like the fashion sense, but I like fashion because I like how it looks. Not because I like how others think it looks."

[Regalus]

"Well it's nice to meet you Veil, you make a very pretty dress," he chirps with a warm and friendly smile at the apparent shuppet, "Though we're cleaning this stuff up now, and there are somethings here that might hurt Claire if there's an accident; so, if it's not too much trouble, it may be best to hold off on changing outfits. Do it to suddenly, or at the wrong time, and Claire might get hurt," he politely requested before clapping his hands once more to garner everyone's attention.

"Veil's amazing, but you guys can keep talking while we work okay? Nothing wrong with talking and enjoying our company, but let's try to stay productive while we're at it; see if we can get this done soon, so we can have our session before lunch okay? We've got more stuff on our plate after this after all," he reminded the others amiably as he went back to work.

[Jacior]

"A pokemon that can change into clothing. That's possibly the most awesome thing I've heard of." Drew says, watching the maid outfit change. "You've got a really frickin' awesome pokemon there, Claire." He nods and gets back to work, taking the pieces that Barry handed him and tossing them wherever it was they were supposed to be going.

[Major]

"Yes, she's been very helpful." Claire comments, keeping her mind focused on cleaning. The sooner the cleaning was done the sooner she could talk with Uriel. Plus the sooner she finished, the more time she could have to shop for the items she needed. "She's a good pokemon."

[passinglurker]

Everyone
Viel can't help but "squeee" as she is complemented. And since she isn't a secret her eyes on the bow become visible to everyone and she helps pick valuables from the mess with her threads

With all of you working together the cleanup takes a surprisingly short amount of time(also having a pair of terravores that can pack away the debris and a masked medium trained in the ledian janitorial art of "wax on wax off" helps too)and from the stash of old treats you collectively find...

5 candy bar equivalent
2 honey equivalents
1 of each flavor of poffin equivalent
1 black sludge(expired goods)
3 enriched water equivalents
2 preserved sitrus berry's
1 heart booster
1 preserved nomel berry


And finally Barry manages to sniff out a second rare candy.

All this food is pretty old. Its probably safe to eat(you know besides black sludge) but no ordinary store would carry stuff this old on its shelves so if you are thinking resell you might not get as much as you are expecting.

[Major]

"Wow...that's a lot of stuff." Claire comments as the cleaning finishes up. "I guess we should split it up, oui?" Claire asked.

Once loot was divided up in Skype, Claire brushed off some of the dust on her and Veil. "Very good." She said looking to Uriel, "Shall we start some training then?" She asked.

[Regalus]

Uriel nods as he returns from throwing out the last bag, "If we're good to go then yeah. Barry's joining my session, but I can handle one more mon if anyone's interested," he offers as he starts towards the back of the house.


Mon Training with Uriel will be gaining 13xp.

Moreover pick any two of the following buffs:
*+1 to AC checks, and +2 to all skills
*+1 to Crit Range, and +2 to Effect Range
*+1 to ALL Movement rates, and +4 to Initiative

IN addition pick 1 stat, this stat is raised to a default of +1 Combat Stage. These buffs last until the start of the next day.

Current mon in training Routine: Mani, Edie, Tank, and Barry. 1 Vacancy remaining, if no one chooses it I'll be using that last segment to give Edie 7 extra xp.

Plays state your choices, if any, in your next post.

[Major]

Claire moves out to join Uriel, but stops just as she sees the sun light. She quickly steps back to avoid going outside and into the sun. "Ugh, almost forgot." She muttered, "Veil is kinda my clothes, Nickle is probably full from his snacks, and I'd rather get a chance to make sure Faux is doing ok myself before throwing her on you." Claire commented, "So I'll work with my pokemon today. Any way I can get a rain check and have you work with them some tomorrow?" Claire asked. "I'll probably have to wait till we're at the dojo to train though..." She points up, "Sun and what not. If any of you want I can also help anybody who is interested in learning to fight as a team. I don't mean like trainers calling out to their pokemon, but I mean like teaching people to take advantage of openings their allies make and such."

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal tries to think a bit, "I think, Isaac might benefit from it most," she replies, "and that will give me some time to tune up my dowsing rods, I haven't had a chance to use them since I came here," she pulls two, very simple metal rods with small crystals at the tip and wooden handles.

And she actually gets to work with them, spending twenty minutes searching, and coming up with five shards.

+SpAtk Stage

Agility Training + Brutal Training

Shards (1 = Red, 2 = Orange, 3 = Yellow, 4 = Green, 5 = Blue, 6 = Violet)
1) [roll0]
2) [roll1]
3) [roll2]
4) [roll3]
5) [roll4]

[Major]

Claire tilts her head as she watches, "What are you doing?" She asks confused as the young girl starts walking around the outside of the house with random rod looking things and picking up different color pieces of what appear to be debris to her. "What are those?"

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal looks over at Claire, and smiles lightly, "these are shards, bits of gems elemental stones that have broken off. I turn them into elemental gems or combine them back into elemental stones usually, though I recently picked up how to turn them into type boosters and type braces," she replies, "some people know how to turn them into foci or stat boosters too, I haven't picked that particular trick up yet though. It's how I'm going to afford living in this house though."

[Major]

"Oh, I see." Claire says watching from outside the sun's harmful touch. "So...how do you use it? Is that another effect of your glowy power things?" She asked.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Nope, it's more something you can research if you have the inclination for it, I learned about it off the net then apprenticed to it after I went through my basic Medium training," Opal replies, "all you need to do to find them are these," she holds out the dowsing rods, "you don't even really need to be trained in using them as long as you're not supernaturally unaware. Would you like to try them?" she asks, holding out the rods, handles facing Claire, "One in each hand and just hold them loosely, they'll spread out when you're getting close then cross each other when you're right on top of one."

[Major]

"Ummm...does it have to be outside?" Claire asked glancing up at Veil, "Are you feeling well enough to cover me more?" She asked as she got the sun hat out of her bag.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Yes, most are cleared away or destroyed during construction, so you can only really find them in open areas," Opal replies, "I can get you an umbrella if you'd like."

[Major]

"Not sure how well I could hold an umbrella and those two rods at the same time." Claire replied, "And I'd not want to inconvenience anyone. I have this hat worst case and Veil is good at changing forms as you saw and she's been wonderful at protecting me, even when I keep forgetting. So I just take those and walk around in the backyard like you did?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"Probably not the back yard, it will take some time for more to accumulate, you might be better off trying the front yard or the park in the city," Opal replies.

[passinglurker]

Claire
Viel sprouts well... a veil that then wraps around the hat. It won't totally protect you but at least the sun won't be able to immediately set your pain receptors a blaze.

Opal
When claire mentions being protected by viel you notice the eyes on the bow take on a guilty expression and avoid eye contact.

[EdroGrimshell]

"...I think you might want to talk to her, she seems a little guilty about something," Opal says, "it may be easier if you have a pokemon that can translate around, like Mani, Steven, or Edgar, but trying to talk and connect to her should help."

[Major]

"Oui, that is why I desired to talk to Monsieur Uriel privately later." Claire said with a nod, "She seemed to have something to say and I am not very good at understanding."

"Thank you, Veil," Claire says with a smile, unaware of the bow's appearance since its on her head. "Alright, I guess you can show me in the front yard. I don't have much else to do until Monsieur Uriel is done."

[passinglurker]

Claire
As you search some of the occultic knowledge you learned last night comes to the surface of your mind and you find this is surprisingly easy to do though you don't find as many as opal did

[Major]

"Well, I found some at least..." Claire comments, "Wait...you said some people could turn them into boosters?" She asked tilting her head, "Do you know any? I was actually planning on buying one later. I assume three shards won't be enough?"


Shards (1 = Red, 2 = Orange, 3 = Yellow, 4 = Green, 5 = Blue, 6 = Violet)
[roll0]

[EdroGrimshell]

"Um, I think it takes six total, and I don't know anyone in town that can do this, though I haven't been in town all that long to find out," Opal replies simply, "If you don't mind waiting I'm working on the trick to it, I'll be able to make them myself fairly soon," she says with enthusiasm.

[Major]

"Sadly I'll need at least one of them by tomorrow." Claire says, "Though I would definitely be interested in getting a few made from you in the future." Claire smiles, "Ummm...could I buy like three shards from you or something? Or help you look in the future like today and give you some more shards with interest?" She asked. "It would definitely help save some money if I could find someone willing to craft them instead of buying it straight from a store. I can probably find someone capable, its just a matter of getting supplies."

[EdroGrimshell]

"Let's see if Uriel and Drew can find some first, then we can talk about that, Uriel's probably done with training by now," Opal says, "I want to see what they can find so I know which ones I can give you more easily, the more I have of one color the easier it is to make a living off of them after all," she finishes and leads Claire back to the back yard to see how Uriel and Drew are doing.

[Jacior]

The girls would find Drew out back with Uriel and the pokemon, watching and doing some exercises of his own. "Have fun playing with your weird stick?" He asks as they come back to the back yard. He'd watched them when Opal was holding it and rummaging around but hadn't interfered with it.


+1 Atk Stage

*+1 to AC checks, and +2 to all skills
*+1 to Crit Range, and +2 to Effect Range

[EdroGrimshell]

"They're called Dowsing Rods, used to find these," Opal holds up a shard, "which I can use for a few things, was curious if you wanted to try using it."

[Major]

"Makes sense." Claire says with a nod as she goes back inside out of the sun and removes her hat and motions for Veil to remove the veil.

[Regalus]

It had taken some doing but Uriel had managed to finally get the training session under way; having taken a moment meet and acquaint himself properly with both Barry and Issac, neither of which he'd been able to see in action before then. Personally, Uriel was just glad both pokemon were so well behaved; having had more than his fair share of ill mannered pokemon in the past. After evaluating them both to be in rather fine condition for mon without dedicated training he quickly pieced together a light warm up program for the pair; taking advantage of Drew's presence to ask him the occasional question regarding Barry and his habits both to better hone the session, and to keep Drew from growing idle.

Using few short exercises to warm them up Uriel led the pokemon through what seemed to be a short series of games, ranging from tag and keep away to even like target practice as they tried to snuff out Embers shot by Mani. He was pleasantly by how well trained Tank was, certain the torkoal had received competitive training by how well he took to the exercises once he'd reluctantly agreed; it made him wonder just what had gone on between him and his trainer to push them this far, though he knew better that to bring it up while Tank's wound was still fresh.

Never the less he tried to help the mon keep its mind away from recent events, doing his best to help the Torkoal hone it's skills and gel with the party. The mon had more potential than perhaps it's old trainer realized, and he hoped that helping the morose turtle tap into it might raise his mood. If he could manage to make Tank more amenable to his company as well, then all the better.

Sure enough the Torkoal could hardly conceal it's surprise as Uriel's tips slowly but surely helped fill gaps in its training, surprising most people when he floored accidentally Uriel and several of the other mon with a veritable tempest of steam and wind during one of the practice games; resulting in a thick fog settling in the field until the torkoal managed to banish it as well. Helping the torkoal develop finer control over it's steam and gale swiftly became a priority after the slight accident as he tried to teach the now much less reluctant mon how to better manage and focus the pressure of its steam.

Issac had taken a bit of encouraging to get into the swing of things, but Mani and Barry were able to handle that well enough without him; he swore the young growlithe's mirth seemed to be practically infectious, and he could only hoped he had managed to get Tank pause his rumination on a few brief occasions. The greatest problem he'd had was when Barry had taken to trying to catch Edie's tail puff, but thankfully he'd managed to step in and get them all back on track before things got out of hand. For what it was worth, Eduardo had enjoyed himself while chasing down the pup for all they were worth. All in all, they'd all made their own small victories leaving the young Tutor quite proud of the session.

With the session winding down he left the pokemon to their own devices as they picked up some of the earlier games they'd gone through, trusting Mani to keep an eye on things when he noticed Claire and Opal's arrival. "What's up girls?" he said with a friendly smile in greeting, "If you came to watch I'm sad to say you're a bit late; I'm wrapping up as it is," he explained as he approached the trio, having worked up a bit of a sweat after dealing with so much steam and handling the quintet of pokemon.


Signature Technique used on Tank: Augmenting Air Slash with One-Two Strike.
*Air Slash has become: Air Raid

Buffs: All of Uriel's mon gain +1 Crit Ratio and AC bonus, and +2 to Skill Checks and Effect Range.

Tank Gains +1 SATK Stage.
Mani and Eddie gain + 1 ATK Combat Stage.

[passinglurker]

Everyone, Opal house, 10:30 am? pretty sure thats right...
Anyone wondering where ledian man is will find a note explaining that he had to leave in order to "stay on schedule" but that he will be looking into the dream mist angle to help find when happend to the kidnapping victims.

[Major]

Shortly before Uriel came over, Claire did a quick look up on her pokegear for artificier's in Castila City.

"Bonjour, Uriel." Claire said when he came over, "Mademoiselle Opal was just showing me how to use some rods." Claire said.

[Jacior]

Drew couldn't help but grin. "If you need some teaching about rods, I'm the guy to come to." He laughs at his own stupid joke. "Sure I'll give it a whirl, how do I make it go?"

[Major]

Claire tilts her head as Drew confused. "I thought Mademoiselle Opal was a satisfactory instructor." Claire comments oblivious to Drew's joke.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal gives instructions like she had with Claire to Drew, "best way to learn it is to try it," she says cheerfully.

[Jacior]

Drew just shrugs and takes the thing, giving it a whirl.


Untrained Occult
[roll0]
[roll1]

In case of 6's
[roll2]
[roll3]

[EdroGrimshell]

"Oh, an Orange and a Blue, good find!" Opal says to Drew once he's finished, "Uriel, would you like to give it a try?"

[Regalus]

"Sure..." he says as he hesitantly picked up the rods, they didn't seem that complicated after all. He supposed he didn't lose anything for trying.

"So what exactly do you want these crystals for?" Uriel inquired as he tried to use the rods.


[roll0]

In case of 6s: [roll1]

[EdroGrimshell]

"I can make things with them, elemental stones, type boosters, type braces, and elemental gems. I make money off of the things I make with them," Opal says simply, "Claire also wants a few for getting a stat booster, you needed three, right?" the last part she aimed at Claire.

[Regalus]

Uriel nodded absentmindedly to the explenation as he paced around, trying to get the hang of the device. After a few minutes he walked over to Opal once more, an orange shard in hand which he quickly passed on to the young medium. "Well, in any case we best be off to the Dojo then; still coming Claire?" he asked as he called over the mon; congratulating them on the session they'd had, and thanking Barry and Isaac for being so well behaved, before returning his Mon.

[Major]

"Three assuming you allow me to keep the ones I found. Six total, if I heard you correctly. I mean, I did find them with your dowsing rods, so I could understand if you wanted to keep them." Claire noted. "Color for a stat booster shouldn't matter, so any six will work if you want specific colors." She noted.

She looks to Uriel and nods, "I still plan on coming." She says with a nod. "Just working on any shards if Mademoiselle Opal is able to spare any."

[EdroGrimshell]

"Well, four orange shards will let me make a shiny stone or a normal, fighting, or dragon booster, so I'd like to keep them," Opal says simply, "the ones you dowsed you can keep, and you don't have to pay me for the others, you should talk to Drew and Uriel about payment since they found them. I usually charge or pay two hundred for each unrefined shard, half for friends or colleagues," she continues, giving her own experiences with them.

Price is based on the number in an evo stone, 4, and dividing the price of the evo stone, 3000, by that number to get a basic number of 375. Then I took about half off for it being a raw material to bring shards to 200 each (an elemental gem would likely be the 375), if you have any problems with that let me know and I'll adjust appropriately.

[Major]

Claire nods, "Thank you." She asks as she glances at the others, "So are any of you without oranges wanting to sell any for a certain amount?" Claire asks tilting her head. "Or perhaps work out some deal or barter?"

[passinglurker]

Claires google search
You are bound to find a jeweler in almost any shopping center they all seem to be part of one chain or another but you never remember such establishments back home advertising that they would make boosters from any old rock people bring in. Doesn't hurt to ask though. More interesting is that there seems to be more general open air markets near the north end of town where more "independent" craftsmen could be found.

[Major]

Claire marks down the location of a few of the local independent ones. Independent crafters were more likely to be willing to work out a deal. Plus most likely the jewelry shops wouldn't have crafters there, but would have the crafting done elsewhere and mass-shipped.

[Regalus]

Uriel shrugs good naturedly, "You can have mind, don't worry about it," he comments as he hands the shard over to Claire.

[Jacior]

"I dunno. This thing is pretty valuable." Drew in fact had no idea to the item's value. "Maybe a favor to be named at a later date?"

[Major]

Claire nods, "That would be acceptable." She says with a nod. Once arrangements were made she slipped on the hat and headed out to the car assuming Uriel was ready.

[Regalus]

"Well, take care; see you all later," Uriel said cheerfully in parting to Drew and Opal before heading out with Claire. Once outside the young man approached the vehicle with a hint of trepidation, last night's fiasco fresh on his mind as he opened the passenger door; for a moment staring at the doorway as if it were the maw of a beast, before shaking his hesitance of and stepping with in. It was just a car; a freaky, overly designed car, but still just a car.

Surely he was over reacting.

Distracting himself Uriel's eye focused on Veil, the twinge of fascination reminding him of their prior arrangement. "Oh right! Claire did you still want me to have a moment with Veil?" he inquired as he buckled himself in.

[passinglurker]

Uriel

It was just a car; a freaky, overly designed car, but still just a car.

Surely he was over reacting.
You could almost swear you hear deep low chuckling coming from the black evil depths of the car as you buckle your seat belt.

[Major]

"Veil seemed to desire it." Claire says with a nod. "Unless that changed. Sadly I'm not as skilled at communicating with Pokemon. I can typically understand Faux, but I've faught with her and worked with her. I guess I understand the hunter fighter mindset better." She noted as she got in and turned on the car. "I'll let her talk first, then I have to talk as well." She added. "Dojo first? Do you mind if I swing by a shop on a corner just to nab some healing items. Veil got a bit hurt earlier."

[Regalus]

Uriel nods in understanding as Mani settled himself down on Uriel's lap, "Go right ahead! Though we can also stop by the Pokemon Center if you want," he offered kindly before resting his weight against the chair and folding his arms softly around Mani's midsection, doing his best to ignore the ominous feeling hanging over him. The car seemed to be calmer around Claire; surely the vehicle had already played out its hand last night. He was just being silly, after all it already molested him on accident once; what's the worst that could happen?

"Yeah, most trainers tend to go through something like this when they add a new mon to the family; especially when there's already a strong bond like the once you have with Faux. It's going to take a while for all of you to adapt to Veil being part of your dynamic now, but I'm sure girls 'll pull through. Just need to keep an open mind," he commented amiably, a bit more relaxed now.

"I kinda got used to dealing with all sorts of personalities since I grew up with a big family, and helped out at our daycare; so I'm willing to help you two sort things out any way I can,"

[Major]

"Not sure how the Pokemon Center would react towards me walking in and undressing." Claire comments, "Plus it was nothing serious. Just phasing drain." Claire commented as she headed towards a nearby pokemart.

She nodded at Veil, "Feel free to tell him whatever it is that was bothering you."

[passinglurker]

Mani
Veil seems to be a bit of a motor mouth, and some underlying built up emotion sure isn't helping. Over the course of her rambling Viel spills the entirety of her experience with Claire from the warehouse up to the present from her perspective(wardrobe malfunctions, dreamworlds, stabbings, and sabotaging the fitness center included) an over arching theme of this seems to be a desire to be in sync with claire and to "put on a good show". It seems at first Claire was rejecting most of what viel was doing, and ignoring or falsely accusing her when she didn't do anything(both of which seemed to hurt) and blinded by a preconceived notion of how things would be she couldn't figure out why claire was acting like this. Things eventually seemed to get better for a moment and she finally felt like she was getting in sync. She played along with what Claire wanted but then the events of the stabbing happened she didn't feel like she was satisfied with the results. Strangely it wasn't because she felt guilty about the stabbing, the lies, or the property damage, but rather she was irked over a lack of closure. She didn't like how claire just slipped out and ran from it all and that it was "no way to put on a good show, cause the story ended on a cliff hangar"... Ghosts have really screwy ethics. So now viel isn't sure what she should do or if she wants to keep doing this. Some of Claires recent words and everyones interest has been a bit of a pick me up but she's hesitant to think its a sign that things will get better and that she should keep trying to sync up with claire. After all she thought things were getting better before and the story didn't turn out well.

(Mani can only relay what he has been told in a message with a maximum of 25 words)
Claire
the pokemart looks really busy when you arrive

[Jacior]

Drew shrugs and hands her the shard. "I would have given it to you for a candy bar. I have no idea what I could use it for." He sticks out his tongue and waves her off. After that turns to Opal. "So now what?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"I'm making a normal booster from these orange shards then we can go looking for a reanimation machine I can use on your fossil," Opal replies simply.

[Regalus]

Mani just starred as the ghostly pokemon all but puked her tale at him in an unending torrent; leaving him unable to do much beyond stare on in equal parts fascination and horror. She went on, and on, and on, and oh mew she isn't stopping! The monferno struggles to get the gist of Veil's cathartic release, using the time to pat the little ghost pokemon reassuringly; he'd offer a hug, but that wouldn't be too considerate for Claire given she was driving. He was sad that things seemed so rocky for the mon, but he was certain that Uriel would be able to sort things out with Claire!

Now if only he could remember that right signs...

"Okay, so what do you have for me Mani?" Uriel chimed in, calling him to attention. The former chimp took a moment to collect his thoughts before relaying things as succinctly as he could.

Sad. Try to help, accidentally hurt. Confused; want synch and make good story, but backfire. Both not understand, too different. Unloved. Unsure, Stay or go. Mani signed with deliberate motions, once or twice being amended by Uriel when one of his signs weren't quite right.

Once all was said and done Uriel thanked Mani in sign and patted him on the head, the promise of a nice treat for his good job in the near future, before the young trainer breathed an airy sigh and turned to Claire, "Okay, it seems like there's a bit of a miscomunication and mix up of intent problem; which isn't too surprising since Veil's your first new pokemon in a long time, and is a ghost type no less. They tend to think about things pretty differently most folk," Uriel began, adding the bit of useful trivia incase Claire was unaware of it.

"It seems like she doesn't understand you all that well, and that's she's sad it's gotten her in trouble with you. Though it seems like you've said or done a few things that hurt her feelings, while you might've not thought it was a big deal at the time. In short she's tried to help you, but her help seems to just go wrong for reasons she, due to her background and nature, doesn't get; which must've made her seem annoying, or troublesome to you, but the opposite is also true. You've apparently said or done somethings that, while they same perfectly reasonable or not that big a deal to you, confuse her and make you seem callous," he explains, pausing for a moment as he parses what he's been told with what little he's seen of the two and Veil's own cathartic release; the pieces slowly falling in place to paint a familiar picture.

"For example, the thing with the Maid uniform back there?" he starts after a moment's thought, "I don't think she was just playing around back there. I think she realized that you were cleaning up, so she tried to help by turning into something better suited for cleaning. You didn't agree with it because you didn't feel like dressing up, and you thought it was unnecessary, but from her point of you she'd found the perfect way to be helpful and you just got angry at her. Think of it this way, for it was like if you had gotten angry at me back in the fitness center for dressing your wounds while you were knocked out after our session with Mani got out of hand, and told me to go and undo the bandages," Uriel explained before quickly adding.

"Yeah, it seems weird and out of scope to you; but that's how it feels from her side. She thought she could help you, but then you get annoyed at her for trying to help. She doesn't understand that you've got a few hang ups she keeps prodding, and it seems like you haven't explained them in terms she can relate to and understand. Now I'm not saying you haven't tried, or that you're at fault here; but that may be adding to a bigger problem," he continues as a concerned expression settles on his face.

"Apparently you've accidentally given her the impression that you hate her, or just couldn't care less about her; which is making her question herself a lot. She wants to work with you, she wants you two to be able to do great things together; the kind of things that might make a great story to tell someone someday. She wants to be on the same page as you, dance to the beat of the same drum as you do, heck, she wants to make memories with you; but she's starting to wonder if its worth it. She feels unloved, and like anything she does to make you happy or she thinks is fun only serves to annoy you. She's starting to wonder whether this is all futile, and you're going to keep being a proverbial mine field for her until the day she screws up for the last time and you make her regret it; or if there's really any hope for the two of you to be a time, and she should stick it out." he explains, a bit morose from the tragic case of miscomunication if what his evidence pointed to was correct.

"In short she feels unloved, and like she's little more than an embarrassment to you. As if the only thing she's good for is to give you reasons to be angry or disappointed at her. She wants to do great things with you, but with the way things are between both of you she's not sure if the best thing she can do for both of you is just to up and leave you; that way you can at least avoid hurting each other. She wants to reach out to you, but feels like you'll just slap her hand away and berate her for trying," Uriel ends somberly, giving Claire a chance to digest what he's said so far before saying anything else.

[Major]

As Claire pulls up to the pokemart she waits and listens to Uriel's response. She turns the ignition of and sits back and listens until he is done. When all is said and done she sighs, "I thought we'd worked that out..." Claire said with a sigh. "It's why I started wearing her and what not. Wisp said the same thing before and so I've been trying to use her and get her help more. I've worn her as clothes despite the fact that its kinda weird for me. I used her at the do---err...that's something to talk about later. And I've been trying." She explained. "I don't hate her and I've tried to thank her for her help frequently to let her know when I appreciate it. Like when she helped earlier with this whole cover me from sun thing. That's very helpful. At the dojo she adapted and helped block some knives that got thrown at me. That was helpful. I'm trying to use her and get her help more often in order to make her not feel that way. So I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong if she still feels that way." Claire sighs. "I'm not angry or disappointed at her. Maybe its because I'm stressed about other things, so it might be coming across that way."

[passinglurker]

Mani
Viel starts questioning you asking you what you told Uriel and if you cut anything out. She also clarifies in reaction to what claire just said that its not just the rocky start but that when things started getting better that the story didn't turn out good.

[Regalus]

Mani says he explained that both of them were stepping on each other's toe for a while since Claire kept getting angry at stuff Veil did to help, or accused her of stuff she wasn't all that responsible for. He adds that he did mention she'd tried to get more in sync with Claire, but that most attempts had backfired a bit. He sorta needed to summarize it a bit for Uriel's benefit; with that he turns to Uriel to try and offer up further clarifications.

Things were getting better, but get worse. No closure at Dojo, just run away. Story bad. Nice words make better, but not sure if fluke. Mani signed, a bit uneasy with the more complex message he had to deliver.

Uriel for his part quirked his lip slightly as he parses the message before nodding to Mani in acknowledgement, "Okay, Veil seems to agree that things did start to get better; but that once you two were on a roll and starting to find your rhythm it got botched. Apparently how things turned out at the Dojo didn't sit well with her; something about a lack of closure? She seems okay with what happened back there, but the fact you just 'ran away' instead of handling whatever happened didn't sit well with her. My guess is she might feel like you left the 'story' unfinished or left too soon, that you weren't involved enough in the resolution, or maybe how you did handle things left a poor taste in her mouth narrative speaking; like maybe she thought you could have done a bit more before leaving, or done a few things better before heading out. In short she might feel like you turned what was turning out to be a good story into a bad or lackluster one," he interpreted, eyeing Veil through out his discourse.

"After that it seems like things got a bit better; your interest in her, and showing her to everybody, was a good pick me up but she's still worried. She's not sure if that's a sign things will keep getting better and that the road there's a bit bumpy, or if what happened was the exception to the rule and things will just get worse again. From the sounds of it your relationship with her has already had quite a few up and downs, and she's worried about how steep the next one will be; that and whether things will steadily get better. If she feels like you two have had your fair share of false starts already it'd explain part of her anxiety about this; she's waiting for the other shoe to drop," he explains before turning to Veil once more.

"Is that about right?

[passinglurker]

Uriel and Claire
The bow with eyes nod's with an equivalent to going "yep". She then looks up at claire to see what she thinks with a look of concern over possible reactions

Opal and Drew
no other canines come crashing through the ceiling as opal puts together her booster

[Jacior]

"Oh, cool. Aren't those things expensive to use though?" Drew asks. No matter the answer he gets, he spends the time waiting for opal to be ready to go playing with the pokemon.

[Major]

Claire rubs her temple and pauses, forcing herself to continue, "The Dojo..." She says before pausing. "Was...complicated." She struggled to find the words. "The whole entire thing was a mess and I didn't like it either, but the core goal of what was needed happened." She said, stepping carefully on her words. "That's what *I* was going to talk to you about actually, but that's...a complicated story." Claire said fidgeting slightly. "Let me run inside and get the healing stuff I need for Veil and we'll talk more when back on road." She said opening the door and moving to go inside to grab a few potions to heal up Veil.

[Regalus]

"Sure go right ahead," he replied politely, overtly gesturing to the shop as he hid his own concern. The times in which Claire hesitated to do or speak something were few and far in between from what he'd known of her; the fact that this recollection give her so much pause was cause for concern in and of itself. The fact it had injured her relationship with her pokemon when it was improving before hand all added even greater gravity to it; whatever had happened was certainly grave, though he could at least be sure it wasn't Kuro related. If it had been he sincerely doubted that 'subdued' would be a good word to describe her at the moment.

With nothing else to do, Uriel waits patiently in the car; bonding a bit while waiting safely in the car.

[EdroGrimshell]

Opal holds up the normal booster, a dull orange gem that looked like it had been bleached of most of its color attached to a metal mounting, then took a simple cord and threaded it through an opening to hang around her neck on display, it didn't go with her current attire, but it would bleach to white within a few days as the energy attuned more thoroughly. She hoped she'd be able to make a proper focus brace to mount it to in a few days, that, at least, would be a good way to improve her own offensive capabilities. Hm, maybe Drew would like one, she remembered some musicians had some offensive talents that could be augmented by a booster... but that'd be for another time.

Opal turned to Drew, "to own, yes, to use, no," she replies to his inquiry, "though it does depend whose it is as well. The Kanto museum had one that they used to let people use free, but they changed that now that they're research on prehistoric pokemon is pretty much finished, so we might get lucky at a museum or research facility, though they may want to keep the pokemon if that's the case, we can figure out the details when we go to them. Just don't sign anything."