News, Announcements, Weather, and Events

[Negrek]

Lindsey was a little unnerved that Astarael didn't seem inclined to follow her, but, well, he wouldn't be alone for long, and surely he wasn't going to just up and abandon his source of mamoswine meat, was he? It's not as though he had a history of wandering off or anything.

After she'd taken a seat and started flipping through her papers, though, it became apparent that the karma gods must be smiling on her or something. Glancing up at the sound of the nurse's voice, Lindsey smiled and said, "Yeah, a plastic bag would be great, thanks."

And then to the task of filling the rest of the forms out as prescribed. Name, gender, and so on were easy enough; something probably illegible about drug allergies was scribbled below. After a few seconds of bewildered pondering, she threw her parents' e-mails down on the line below that; hopefully nobody would have to mail her home in a little box anyway. Second page, sure, whatever. And on the last... oh, right, the wall o' fine print. Well, nothing for it; she flailed a signature onto the appropriate line and consulted her pokénav for the appropriate date. Good to go. Now all she needed was for the nurse to get back with the plastic bag so she could hand this over, then hustle back outside and see if her pokémon was still hanging out.

[Malice Aforethought]

The nervous nurse was not long in returning with a 13-gallon white trash bag, complete with handy plastic drawstrings, which she held out at arm's length as though it were already filled with Mamoswine blood. "Here you are, miss," she said, presenting it to Lindsey while determinedly looking anywhere other than the massive femur. When Lindsey showed her the completed Deathgorge paperwork she frowned, as if puzzled, but then took the sheets anyway. "This goes to the head nurse you were talking to earlier, but I'll go ahead and take it to her. I suppose you'll be notified if anything changes or the shuttle is ready to come get you." Then she hurried back toward the desk, leaving Lindsey alone in the half-restored lobby.

Astarael had not budged an inch since Lindsey had gone inside, even with the rain now coming down much harder than it was before. His usually fluffy white pelt was now clinging to his body in a stringy, dripping mess, but he didn't seem to mind; he was still glaring around at no one in particular for no special reason.

[Negrek]

"Thanks a ton," Lindsey said with a grin as the nurse handed over the bag. Yet another awesome item to add to her collection of miscellany. As the woman headed off with her registration papers, Lindsey pulled the garbage bag over the top of the bone, tying it as tightly as she could around the mangled end. The femur looked even sillier than before, but hey--what could you do?

Outside, she was relieved and a little surprised to see Astarael still hanging out, surly as ever but at least not with somebody impaled on his horn. Which meant that now she was ready to... well, what? She was good on lunch for now, thanks to that pretzel she'd gotten from Ricky earlier. So that left... gainful employment, place to stay, clothes-washing, and a little training to get Astarael and Belgaer used to their new attacks. Oh, and gym, definitely gym. At the moment, though, it was probably crawling with policemen and other slimy things, so that could wait until later.

Well, she didn't need to worry about lodging until sometime later. Maybe she could even stay in the Pokémon Center for free; some places did that, she thought, but she didn't know if Kutho was one of them. Whatever the case, a hotel or similar would probably have laundry facilities, so she could worry about clothes there. No point in getting them all nice now and risk some calamity screwing them up again before she got a chance to wear them anew.

Find a job, then. Hopefully there would be something that would give her an opportunity to fight some wilds or a trainer or two on the way, so she could get her battles with Astarael and Belgaer in, get some cash, and get an excuse to head back to the Pokémon Center and sleep there on the cheap. Reaching to her belt, Lindsey unclipped her pokégear and set up a search for "job" in "location: mura city." With the other hand, she took out her pokédex and had a look at its menus. Perhaps there was an option that would let her look at her pokémon's status.

"So, Astarael, looking for a chance to try that thunder wave out on some stuff?" she asked distractedly, trying to manipulate both pokédex and pokénav at once with mixed results.

[Malice Aforethought]

Raindrops splashed onto the screens of the two devices as Lindsey went back and forth between them. The pokénav bleeped and its screen flashed for a few seconds before loading a plain white page with some search results. The first was the Mura City Unemployment Office, followed by a string of other hits like the Mura Chronicle Classified Ads or

"PocketMonster.com Job Search: Find local jobs in the Mura City area!... WANTED Ultra Sound Tech/Registered Vascular Technologist or Sonographer... The Mura City Vein Clinic, the largest medical group in the region dedicated solely to treating all aspects of varicose vein disease, is seeking a skilled Ultrasound Technologist to be trained to perform all necessary Duplex Ultrasound scans and assist in treating patients at the direction of the Physician, advise Physician and monitor treatment quality and safety, educate and motivate patients, and participate in practice building in our Mura City clinics..."

Assuming that Lindsey was looking for something a bit more challenging than a position as a vascular technologist, results more suited to her preferences were further down the page. The city's Pokémon breeding center seemed to be looking for volunteer trainers to exercise the boarded Pokémon. The city community center offered "...Check our community billboard for community job/volunteer offers, community classifieds and fun community events!" At the very end of the list there was something titled "Cryptopokémonological Society, Mura City Chapter: trainers wanted for help with investigative jobs in area."

The Pokédex was a bit more helpful from the get-go: one of the first options that appeared was "Advanced Statistics", and selecting that presented Lindsey with another menu. From here she could view a list of all Pokémon she'd seen or captured, view information on any Pokémon with her or in her PC storage account or see an in-depth analysis of the members of her party.

Astarael did not respond when Lindsey addressed him, instead opting to give a passing little girl a withering glare that frightened her right into the hem of her mother's wet skirt. The mother, in turn, glared at Lindsey. "Teach that dreadful thing some manners, would you?" she snapped as she walked away. The Absol hissed at her retreating back but stayed put.

[Negrek]

While the pokénav searched, Lindsey glanced over the menus the pokédex had to offer. She chose the option to see a quick summary for all pokémon in her party and PC--always worth checking whether someone might have commandeered your computer account for moving black-market pokémon around the network, after all--then turned her attention back to her pokénav upon a short bleep that presumably meant it had finished searching.

Ah, search results; computer use didn't get much warmer and fuzzier than that. Lindsey passed over the first entry as sounding too much like it required some sort of commitment--she'd come back to it if all else failed, but it looked as though there was plenty for her to choose from. The next sounded as though it were going to need to wait until she decided to become a medical tech in the throes of a midlife crisis, but from that point on things got more interesting.

At the sound of the woman's voice and Astarael's hiss, Lindsey blinked and looked around in confusion. Had someone been talking to her? She hadn't caught the words, but the woman's glare was easy enough to read, although Lindsey didn't realize the intended target--surmising some comment on her bloody and currently very wet state, she merely glowered back at the woman as she walked away. Yeah, sure, so she wasn't the most attractive sight in all of Mura, but one would think that people would know better than to insult someone carrying around a bludgeoning implement longer than their forearm. "Thanks, Astarael," she murmured on the assumption that the absol had been reacting to an attack on his trainer, then went back to her browsing.

Exercising some pokémon didn't sound like a bad deal, if it was kosher to just take the lot out on a route somewhere and beat the local wildlife into submission for a while. That might even be something one could do in conjunction with another job. On the other hand, she had enough problems with the two pokémon she had with her now. The job board at City Hall might be decent if she couldn't find anything else; it sounded like just the place to find your last-cat kind of jobs, or minor errand-running and other trivialities that wouldn't require a load of time to clear. But, below that, was something rather more interesting.

Cryptopokémonological Society? Lindsey asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Man, imagine that on your résumé. Probably not the most practical of positions (although the request did seem to imply tantalizingly open-ended fieldwork), and almost definitely not the best-paying, but what the heck? Might as well give it a shot. The hilarity potential was just too high not to check it out. Lindsey selected the entry on the results screen, then went back to consulting her pokédex.

[Malice Aforethought]

It took a few seconds for the Cryptopokémonological Society's page to load. The resulting screen was just as plain and spartan as the results page had been, although it did have several fuzzy photographs, all of whose subjects were nebulous at best, that required a great deal of scrolling to get around thanks to the device's small display.

The text on the page gave the organization's name and their chapter's address in Mura, followed by a list of links to recent findings and articles: "Raticate King Found in Fleet Town Ruins", "Armaldo Sinks Boat Near Docklands?", "The Mossy Forest Monster: Dr. Umdhlebi Posits Relation to Jumpluff" and a forum discussion entitled "MARACABRA PHOTOS!!!!! SIGHTING ON MY RANCH TUES REAL PIX OMG!!!!" that was difficult to read until Lindsey wiped away the raindrop that had splashed over it. A link further down the page pointed to more information about the aforementioned investigative work. Interested trainers were to report to the chapter's meeting hall as soon as possible; applicants needed at least two capable battling Pokémon, pokénavs to facilitate contact, freedom and willingness to travel to various, "potentially interesting" locations around the Mura City area and "most importantly, a curious, open mind". Further information was available at the meeting hall.

The pokédex's screen refreshed and brought up a simple page with only two lines of text:


Trainer Roster and Storage Account

1. Natu (Female lv. 9): Active Party. More information

"More information" could be clicked if Lindsey wanted to examine her Natu any further.

[Negrek]

Lindsey had to crack a smile as she looked over The Cryptopokémonological Society's page. About as credible as she had expected. Looked to be a right nest of crazies, too, although perhaps they would be just out there enough to amuse without actually tripping the irritation meter too much. Lindsey didn't even really know why she was seriously considering this nonsense--it probably didn't pay well, the general intellect of the member base didn't look terribly high, and it was the kind of job you quietly dropped from your résumé--but what the heck, she was sure she had a sense of humor somewhere. And if nothing else, the job did mention travel to "potentially interesting" locations--that was just too tantalizing not to follow up on. Worst came to worst, she could always bail for the city hall stuff--that sounded kind of small-time but probably slightly less out there. For the moment, well, call her Little Miss Open-Minded, she supposed.

Her pokédex's report was far less smile-worthy, though. It looked as though not only had no mysterious benefactor dropped a Jirachi or something into her computer account with asking first, but Astarael hadn't mysteriously come under her ownership, either. Flipping the pokédex closed and stuffing it into her pocket, Lindsey eyed Astarael askance as she copied the CP Society's address and pasted it back into the Nav's search bar to see if she could get directions to the place. So apparently someone had come upon him in the night or morning while he was out a-prowling; well, that or he'd magically started to belong to someone else during that time period. She was positive her pokédex had said nothing about ownage when she'd first met him.

Whatever the case, she could only imagine the awkward situations that could arise as a result of Astarael's nebulous license. Bad news would by Mystery Trainer appearing to take his or her absol back. Worse news would be somebody authority-like finding out that Lindsey had accidentally-stolen Astarael. Worser news would be Mystery Trainer having met his or her demise at what looked like it might be absol claws and Lindsey being found hanging around with the prime suspect, who naturally happened to be accidentally stolen as well. There really was no way those could turn out well--possibly for either of them.

...well, at least if Astarael did something really reprehensible while she wasn't looking, it would be that much more difficult to connect her to the incident. The absol apparently had a built-in "auto-frame" button now. Although... if there were some way to find out exactly who owned Astarael, she might be able to work the situation out somehow. Surely that would be on record somewhere; obviously *something* had successfully recorded his capture. More tricky, though, would be figuring out how to get that information without being terribly suspicious and/or getting charged with anything in the process.

Well, everybody loved an intellectual challenge. And no doubt her parents would be so impressed to hear she'd gone criminal; she was sure they didn't think she had it in her.

[Malice Aforethought]

Another few seconds of barely audible whirring from the pokénav produced another white search results page, at the top of which was a map of the city labeled "Directions". Clicking it informed Lindsey that the Cryptopokémonological Society's Mura headquarters was about five blocks away from the Pokémon center she now stood in front of and that she'd have to make a left turn about three blocks in.

Astarael had apparently grown bored and sauntered a little further down the sidewalk, parking himself by a walk signal on the corner and watching the people approaching from the other sidewalk. A small girl and her Skitty skipped across the street, the girl's bright ruby galoshes spraying rainwater in Astarael's face when she landed in a nearby puddle.

"Oopsie! Sorry, big kitty!" she said, giggling sheepishly at the Absol from beneath her umbrella. "C'mon, Fliffles, we can get us all dry in the Pok-uh-mon center with the nice nurse ladies!" Fliffles mewled and bounded after her, leaving Astarael even wetter than before. A funny noise came from deep within his throat, though whether it was growling, purring or the precursor to an episode of vomiting was unclear.

[Negrek]

The interaction of the young girl and her skitty with Astarael was almost physically painful, and Lindsey couldn't help but grimace as the girl went past on her way to the Pokémon Center. At least Astarael didn't look intent on immediate retribution--especially considering how bite-sized the little... Fliffles... was. And the girl too, for that matter. Cheerful thoughts, those.

Perhaps he was developing a sense of humor or something; that would definitely be a plus. Or maybe he just had a deep, unrequited love of the color pick and/or cute little children/kitties.

It was best to be moving along before that train of thought really started getting out of sight of the station. "All right, Astarael, let's get out of here before any more crazies show up," Lindsey said as she started off along the street, ready to do her best at following the Pokénav's directions to her unwitting future employer. At least they seemed pretty simple.

[Malice Aforethought]

The walk to the headquarters building was uneventful, if very, very wet. Astarael made another strangled, unidentifiable noise as he watched Fliffles and its owner disappear into the Pokémon Center, but he got up and followed Lindsey without complaint or any further reaction. The pair made their way through the rainy streets, past a veritable boquet of multicolored umbrellas and people under those umbrellas who stared as if they'd never seen wet girls and surly Absol wandering the streets with mammoth bones before.

Two stories of faded brown bricks and dirty, streaked windows met Lindsey when she reached her destination. The Mura City chapter of the Cryptopokémonological Society was an unassuming building, no signage announcing what might be found within; the address matched the one on Lindsey's pokénav, however, so it must have been the place. Avocado-green paint peeled away from the single wooden door, which, on closer inspection, had a soggy piece of paper taped to it that looked as if it were in danger of disintegration. The words, in cheap, runny black ink that was quickly dripping down the page, looked as if they might read "...logical Society seeks inv... ask for Dr. Umdh... ithin". There was also something that looked like it may have been scribbled post-printing with a black marker: "GET A LI... RAZY FUC..."

[Negrek]

Lindsey shook her wet bangs out of her face and peered up at the building in front of her. A glance back at her pokénav confirmed that she was at the right place. Well, it didn't look too promising, but after all the only place that one would dare to put a secret government installation full of cool gadgetry would be behind some crumbling facade, possibly next to a boarded-up Chinese restaurant. The Cryptopokémonological Society was doomed to be not nearly as cool as such an establishment, but she could at least hope that the same principle held in its regard.

She reached out to try and pull the door open, frowning at the graffiti on the Society's sign. Honestly, some people...

[Malice Aforethought]

The door was unlocked and swung open with minimal effort on Lindsey's part, revealing a stark but well-lit hallway leading back into the building. A few doors, all the same avocado hue as the street door, lead off of the hallway. All of the doors were unmarked. At the end the hall opened into what looked like a carpeted waiting area, sparsely furnished with only a loveseat and some old folding chairs around a low wooden table with one leg propped up by what looked like a book.

Astarael ducked between Lindsey's legs and pushed past her into the hall, stalking down the dingy green-and-yellow-checked floor and moving toward the waiting room without waiting for her. Tiny rivulets of rainwater followed along the tile in his wake. He disappeared around the corner when he reached the room; Lindsey could hear a feminine voice give a cry of mild surprise that was almost immediately followed by a piercing scream.

[Negrek]

Lindsey had been just about to step into the rather drab-looking hallway when Astarael pushed through her legs, almost knocking them out from under her and leaving her clinging to the door handle for dear life. He apparently had some idea of where he was going, anyway. By the time Lindsey had righted herself and pulled the door shut behind her, he was already disappearing through the open doorway at the end of the hall. Someone was eager to get out of the rain, apparently.

Lindsey had planned to take a moment to stomp some of the water off her shoes and shake a bit out of her hair, just so she wasn't a complete dripping neanderthal when she went in for her job interview, but then of course someone had to go and scream.

Oh come on, you can't honestly maul someone that quickly, her mind said peevishly, but her body was already starting to move into a sprint for the doorway. Astarael wouldn't be murdering anybody on her watch, nosiree--well, okay, that other time didn't count, okay?

Not that there was any indication that Astarael was actually endangering anybody, of course; no need to jump to conclusions. For all she knew, someone was just horrified that he had gone over and started dripping on some priceless photos of a real, live red gyarados that had been left on the table or something. Or maybe someone had just been so surprised by Astarael's appearance that they'd accidentally stapled their finger instead of the brochure they'd been working on. Or, you know... well, the nonlethal possibilities were endless.

It was just better to be safe than sorry. With any luck, running in wet sneakers on wet tile wasn't going to come back to bite her before she made it into the office.

[Malice Aforethought]

((By the way, I appreciate your willingness to explore this job option instead of the breeding center or whatever. I've been looking for a guinea pig for some plotbunny experiments. >D

ohey look the long posts came back.))

Lindsey slid slightly and her sneakers squeaked obnoxiously as she hurried across the tile, but she was able to remain upright as she drew nearer to the waiting area; when she reached the doorway she was better able to see into the rest of the room.

The woman whose voice Lindsey had heard was tugging at the sleeves of a thin man who was jumping up and down on a folding chair and screaming like a banshee. The man had two pokéballs in his hands and was waving them excitedly at the Absol, screeching a word that Lindsey couldn't make out.

"No, no, Henry, calm down!" cried the woman, doing her level best to pull Henry down from the groaning metal chair. "It's just an Absol, Henry, please!"

"Naaawawawawawaaa!" shrieked Henry, his tinny voice ringing in Lindsey's ears. His dark skin was quickly losing its tan and becoming a sickly white. If he was afraid, however, then no one had told his expression: his green eyes were wide with something more akin to triumph than fear, and all of his teeth were visible in an unsettling grin. "Nawawawa... nahahahawawawaaa... th'nawawawaaalll! Naaahahahahaaa!"

Astarael sat near the coffee table, dripping all over the carpet and staring fixedly at the far wall. The insect inching its way down from the ceiling was infinitely more interesting than howling Henry and his chorus of nawawawawawaaa's.

The woman gave Henry's arm the hardest yank she could manage and finally threw him off-balance, causing both of them to tumble to the floor in a heap. "Dammit, Henry, stop that! What did Father tell you--oh, for God's sake, it doesn't even matter, it's just an Absol!"

But Henry wasn't listening. He was mashing both of his pokéballs against the floor in a frantic attempt to bang their catches open; he finally succeded in getting one to split down the middle, releasing a white, horselike creature. The little pony, its fiery mane and tail blazing a merry blue, whinnied and then looked back at Henry as he continued to rave and point at Astarael.

"Get it, Devil, get it get it get it! I knew it, ahahahaaha, I knew it, Devil, I knew we'd find it someday, just like you, I always find them, now they know, they'll all know, now they nahahahahaha-hahahallll!"

The woman pulled one hand from beneath Henry's chest and gave him a hearty slap across the face. "Would you shut up and get a hold of yourself?!" she demanded, finally extricating herself from the tangle of legs and sitting on Henry's back. "No, Devil!" she snapped, startling the Ponyta out of the ember attack it was about to spit at the soggy Absol. "Leave it alone and come here!" Devil flinched and then took a few nervous steps toward her.

Astarael was still hypnotized by the bug on the wall.

One of the hall doors behind Lindsey burst open and several people rushed into the room, shoving her unceremoniously out of their way as they passed. Another woman, shorter and stockier than the one sitting on top of Henry, aimed a kick at the screaming man's face and shouted down at him. "Shut up, Henry! Shut up, would you?! Sandra, what the hell is wrong with him?"

Henry's mad eyes were still trained on Astarael. "No, no, Devil, ember-ember-ember it's the nahahahahadada don't let it get away, it will get away!" Devil looked back and forth between Henry and the woman on top of him, obviously confused.

The first woman pointed at Astarael. "That Absol walked in here and Henry just about hit the roof! I've been trying to calm him down, Mariella, but he insists that it's his Nahualdan and--"

"The Nahualdan, the Nahualdan, aaah-hahahahaha!" Beads of sweat were pouring down Henry's pallid face.

Mariella turned and gave the motionless Astarael a critical once-over, and then she swore loudly. "Not this crap again. That's not a Nahualdan, damn you, Henry."

The two men that had entered with her crossed the room and took each of Henry's arms in their own, lifting him to his feet and holding him still after Sandra had gotten up and straightened her skirt. Henry's left arm was still swinging the unopened pokéball up and down. The larger of the two men calmly threw a meaty fist into the side of his head. Henry stopped screeching and his knees buckled; the men lowered him gently into the chair he had been prancing on.

The bug on the wall crawled behind the loveseat and out of sight. Astarael blinked rapidly, as if coming out of a trance, and looked around at the people arguing all around him. Then he stood, stretched, and shook himself vigorously. A shower of rainwater splattered over all and sundry, a few drops managing to hit Lindsey's face. Devil whinnied and dashed past Sandra to take shelter behind a desk, only peeking out again when it was certain that Astarael had stopped shaking.

"Nope," said Mariella, grimacing and flicking water off of the bridge of her snub nose. She reached over to the dazed Henry and gave his head a patronizing pat. "That's a garakin if ever I saw one."

Sandra threw herself into the loveseat, a look of dismay crossing her face. "Oh, God," she moaned. The two large men shook their heads, and one of them pulled out a blue pokénav and held it to his ear.