|
6,670 posts
|
92 likes
|
I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
|
Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2016 14:38:47 GMT
"I've known her most of my life, she's always been like that. Stubborn but resilient, naive and determined. Ain't a great mix, but hopefully Bunny can talk some sense into her if nobody else can. I don't think she'll hear it from a surface dweller." Pinching the bridge of his nose, the boy checked over his shoulder for a moment before lowering his voice. "Any idea what the fuck that weird purple thing with the beak and..." Cecil didn't have a word for them, not having encountered their like before. "They were almost like arms, but they didn't have hands, just tips, no bones either? Lucien keeps it in his office."
|
|
|
355 posts
|
13 likes
|
Oct 13, 2018 19:33:19 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by David Hilm on Oct 21, 2016 14:52:15 GMT
Bunnie nods.
"If we're in that area, which heaven knows is absolutely a possibility at this point, we'll be on the lookout. Otherwise it's probably about time we got the group back together. Don't need anyone thinking I've gone and got us abducted again. Thank you, Scrimshaw."
Bunnie looks to Christine and Amber, ready to leave unless one of them has more questions.
|
|
|
1,013 posts
|
95 likes
|
Feb 27, 2023 22:33:22 GMT
|
Administrator
|
Post by Seya on Oct 21, 2016 14:58:26 GMT
Kat looks at him in confusion for a moment before the description clicks. "Ah-- that's Jack. He's..."
She drums her fingers along her hips, slowing her pace and lowering her voice. "A 'malamar', I think it's called. Creepy beyond all hell, and not somethin' I'd wanna do battle with. Psychic- and dark-typed. Telekinetic. Some say it's even stronger than that. Able to get inside your head, 'n shit... just rumors for the most part, but more'n once I've seen people come outta Luce's office not... quite... themselves. Messed in the thinkin' bits. Even Emilia doesn't test her luck with punishments, for the most part."
Kat glances around, hoping nobody had overheard any of the explanation. "Just don't go thinkin' you can lie to Luce, aight? I don't want to come across you all glassy-eyed. Try not to piss him off. He's--he's not good, but he ain't the worst for this town, neither."
|
|
|
6,670 posts
|
92 likes
|
I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
|
Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2016 15:06:53 GMT
It was Cecil's turn to be surprised. "Explains a bit, but what's the worst in the town then? Aside from the odd gene child passing through?" He added with a bit of an irritable growl as they reached the bus. Cecil hadn't had any intention of pissing Lucien off, but the laced cigarette coupled with that particular insurance policy gave him a little pause about just who he was dealing with. Lucien didn't show Jack off in public, but he conducted his business in front of the Pokemon. Lent a lot of credence to the fact that the con might also know about his connections with Cindy. That was agitating.
|
|
|
1,013 posts
|
95 likes
|
Feb 27, 2023 22:33:22 GMT
|
Administrator
|
Post by Seya on Oct 21, 2016 15:55:33 GMT
Kat waves a hand. "S'not what I meant. Ain't nobody in Purewater having him beat for scumminess, but I'd rather him than a lot of the real messed up fellas out there. He keeps a few people happy and employed, and an awful lotta more people in line. For better or worse. Just don't get yourself too tangled in his web, yeah?"
She adjusts her new sledgehammer on her back as they approach home at last, eyeing around the area to make sure no strangers have been messing about. "Ladies not back yet? Hm."
|
|
Administrator
|
Post by DataNinja on Oct 21, 2016 16:13:07 GMT
"I think we're good, at least for now. But we'll come back if we need anything else... or have it to trade, I suppose." Christine nods. "I'll make sure to talk to Kat about that 'type' thing. Thank you for pointing that out."
|
|
Member
|
Post by Lockdown on Oct 21, 2016 17:11:26 GMT
Scrimshaw bids the three ladies and their newest acquisition farewell. The Dunsparce doesn't seem inclined to do much, simply laying in Bunnie's arms and looking around curiously at the people and pokemon that pass the group by. They easily find their way back to Kat's bus, to find the girl herself, along with Cecil.
|
|
Administrator
|
Post by DataNinja on Oct 21, 2016 20:23:10 GMT
"So, Cecil..." Christine says, almost immediately after returning to the bus. "I'd like to know... how much information about us have you been spreading around? Because Scrimshaw seemed to know a fair bit. Additionally, it might have been useful to know going in there that he was a barterer of information, and not just a 'historian'. Bunnie's the only reason we got anything. Not to mention-" She abruptly stops. "Sorry... I said I was going to try and stop doing that." She takes a deep breath, before saying, calmer. "All I'm saying is that I'd like it if you could try to share what you know, and tell us so that we know what you share..."
|
|
|
6,670 posts
|
92 likes
|
I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
|
Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by Robot on Oct 21, 2016 20:37:37 GMT
"Might've been useful to know yeah, if I'd caught onto that particular fact myself. Scrim was free with his information before I parted with that tape, figured he did it for the fun of it. Figures he'd need to get something out of it, everything's got a price up here. As for how much I told him? Enough. If anyone from this place would fit to educate 316 about the surface, it's Scrimshaw. We take too long or screw it up, his trust will be invaluable for keeping them safe coming topside." His statement was finished climbing the stairs into the bus dismissively. Making his way to the nearest soft surface he piled in and gave a languid stretch.
|
|
|
355 posts
|
13 likes
|
Oct 13, 2018 19:33:19 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by David Hilm on Oct 22, 2016 2:22:49 GMT
"Its fine, guys. Besides, we got some useful info out of him and he isn't expecting anything in return. Nothing specific, in any case. He did ask that we check up on a friend of his he hadn't heard from in a bit if we happen to be around Bell's View. Some chick named Maria Hernandez. I told him if we came across the place we'd at least ask around for her. Then this happened."
Bunnie holds the Dunsparce up so its more visible.
"I found an egg the morning after we dealt with the raiders. Don't know why I grabbed it really, but it hatched into this thing. He called it a Dunsparce, said it gets pretty big. I figure with all the babies we got running around with us it wont hurt to have one more. Besides, its kinda cute in its own ugly little way."
|
|
|
625 posts
|
6 likes
|
Nov 22, 2023 15:48:27 GMT
|
Administrator
|
Post by Slytherclaw on Oct 27, 2016 11:58:52 GMT
Amber watches the play between Cecil and Christine with a small smile of satisfaction at the attempt at civility. As Bunnie shows off the...worm thing, Amber turns to Cecil and starts to open her mouth to speak, only to pause as she notices Kat. Hesitantly, she approaches the woman instead.
"Kat?" She asks to get her attention, "He mentioned something about a chart or...like rock, paper, scissors with pokemon? Not much for details, just that it exists. Can you explain what he meant, please?"
|
|
|
1,013 posts
|
95 likes
|
Feb 27, 2023 22:33:22 GMT
|
Administrator
|
Post by Seya on Oct 27, 2016 19:47:29 GMT
"Rock, paper..." Kat looks confused for a moment. "Ah, chart. He must've been talkin' bout type effectiveness, yeah? What pokemon got an advantage over others, 'n such. Yeah, I can give you the low on all that jazz." She clears some room on the shoddy makeshift table in front of the couch she's on, and fetches some graphite and yellowish paper. "Right. So there's bein' eighteen types total, see, some more common than others..."
For the next stretch of time she draws lines and boxes with little symbols inside some of them. She starts writing out the words to go with the symbols too-- fire, grass, rock, and all the way to a final word that she writes and scratches out with a deepening frown half a dozen times before settling on 'psykick'. From there she pulls out red and green waxy coloring tools and begins to hue in the squares, explaining type advantages and disadvantages as she goes.
"And then on top of that, a lot of pokemon have two types," she points out. "Like that beedrill we picked up, he's both poison- and bug-type. That's a fair common combo, mind you, but fuck if it can't get complicated when you ain't sure of a species' types just by glancin' at it. And that's not takin' into consideration any odd mutants out there. Sometimes you just gotta run by gut instinct, y'know?" She shrugs and tosses the graphite town, reclining into the couch.
|
|
Administrator
|
Post by DataNinja on Oct 28, 2016 1:51:19 GMT
"Well, that's certainly... something to think about," Christine says, having come over to look once she realized what was going on. "I'll have to keep that in mind, try and learn as much as I can about the various things. Probably wouldn't hurt my regular duties, either. I have a feeling what works on a Fire type, may not work on, uh, say, a..." she glances at the chart again, "a Poison type."
Staring over the paper, and trying to commit the thing to memory, she suddenly remembers, "Oh, yeah, Cecil?" she asks, looking around for him, "Cindy was offering to provide some surface clothes for, well, at least Amber and I, but, since we don't have any, er, what's the currency up here called again? Hats? Anyways, she was mentioning that she'd be open to trading for that hide the Yellowjacket had. Regardless, I figured you might want to know that there was a place to offload it, so that you don't need to lug it around anywhere."
"Oh, also," she says, more authoritatively, "While I remember, and have everyone here, I'm just going to remind you that I'm going to make sure that I do a diagnostic on everyone tonight. Well, uh, Kat, I guess, you, being from here, don't have to have one if you don't want. But, everyone else, you don't get a choice. I had a bit of a... scare, earlier, so that made me realize I've put it off long enough. So, yeah, I'm not hearing any complaints, I want to make sure that no one's going to lay an egg on us." She puts a bit of emphasis on the last words, giving a meaningful look at Bunnie.
|
|
|
6,670 posts
|
92 likes
|
I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
|
Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by Robot on Oct 30, 2016 21:15:12 GMT
Cecil listened, but he looked more like he was sleeping. Eyes shut, head on his chest, breathing slow and even. The greaser hadn't even made the effort to rise from prone. "Currency is caps, like bottlecaps, and sure. I'll drop in on her before the night's done." Christine's sudden shift in tone brought one glassy eye open a slit, hands folded haphazardly over his middle. It followed the motions of her hands as she spoke, and the corresponding eyebrow rose slightly as she continued. The other joined it when she mentioned eggs, and his dark eyes flicked knowingly towards Bunnie.
"Checkup ain't a bad idea. Luce put something in his cigarettes. Called it a 'dream smoke additive', didn't know till after I'd had one. Not sure if there was anything else in it." Letting his eyes slide closed again, Cecil let out an airy sigh. "Just has me really, really mellow, little sleepy to boot, so far. Can probably get to Bunnie first, she needs it more."
|
|
Administrator
|
Post by DataNinja on Oct 31, 2016 18:12:06 GMT
After having done all of the tests, Christine reconvenes with everyone. "So... the good news, is I can't find any major problems. Or... really, a whole lot of minor problems, either. I found some traces of things that I think is the Pokérus, but I'll want to get some more information." She pauses, before briefly addressing Kat. "Kat, what's the local place of healing around here? I'm hoping I might be able to visit... in the morning, probably. Sleep would be good. But regardless," she turns back to the entire group, "I want Cecil and Bunnie in particular to take some Purgative tonight, but the rest of us might want to take some, too, until I get more clarity. I'll see if readings change by the morning, because that would help me confirm my theories. I'd rather not take chances."
|
|
Member
|
Post by Lockdown on Nov 5, 2016 4:24:21 GMT
The next several days are spent in a combination of recuperation and preparation as the group girds their loins for the descent back into the hidden Vault they'd discovered; trading for supplies and caps. The first thing on the agenda being to capture the newly hatched Dunsparce. After some debate, Cecil agreed to take the strange little snake on... leading to an intriguing discovery. Once captured in the pokeball, his Vault Dex had lit up with a message, proclaiming "Resonance Cascade Threshold reached! Searching for signal... Vault Mainframe signal found, transferring most recent capture! The pokeball had whirred and shook in Cecil's hand, emmiting sparks as a white glow of energy built around it, forcing the teen to drop it as it heated up. Glowing brightly, the ball seemed to dissolve into a stream of energy, which practically leaped into his Vaultdex. Transferring to Vault Mainframe. A progress bar appeared, quickly filling before a cheery "Ping" sounded and a "Transfer complete" message popped up.
With Amber's help, the group quickly found that if anymore than six active pokeballs at a time were on-hand, the most recently activated ones were de-materialized and stored temporarily in the Vaultdex until they could be sent, via use of a transmitter such as Purewater's radio tower, to the Vault Mainframe for indefinite storage. However, if the signal was lost or blocked, the mon were stored on the Vault Dex, with a limit of eight mon per Dex before the memory buffer became dangerously full.
While Amber pored over this new information, Cecil visited Cindy with the Ursaring skin in tow, coming back several hours later with a tired grin and bearing clothing for all three of the Vault girls, including Bunnie's new threads. What Mrs. Trehan had thrown together for the other two were less perfect fitting, but still very close, and the loose insulated clothing was a somewhat novel experience compared to a lifetime of wearing jumpsuits. Amber's had many pockets sewn into the overalls and tough shirt; while Christine has material that seems to be stain resistant.
Christine manages to enlist Amber's help after a visit to the local medical facility, requesting information on monitoring the progress and infection levels of Pokerus in a human host. With some insight and assistance from the medical staff and Amber's technical expertise they're able to kludge together a rudimentary diagnostic and tracking program to allow the Vaultdexes to track how infected the individual wearing a device with the program actually is, showing it as a percentage. She also spends time familiarizing herself with her pokemon, feeling out their personalities and quirks.
Kat had spent the time she wasn't making sure the Vaulties weren't going to vanish again, or playing tour guide; gathering herbs, flowers for use in making dyes and kindling for sale to the people of Purewater and training up her new additions to her team.
Cecil, after his, ahem, transaction with Cindy, speaks around town, finding buyers for the mon that the group had decided not to keep for whatever reason. He'd finally found a buyer for the Bonsly, surprisingly in Mahoney; it seemed he liked the little pseudo-plant. The Mankey on the other hand, found a home in Lucien's hands, the guards already saturated with Fighting types. The pimp swore up and down that the ape would be used as a deterrent only, and paid handsomely for it.
Bunnie had taken herself into semi-seclusion while the others busied themselves; a course of action that Ms. Maples had not taken well. The little mon had been bringing her trainer back gifts every day; several berries that, after consulting Kat, were identified as Babiri, Chople and Roseli berries. Expanding on her explanation of the types and weaknesses of pokemon, she was able to tell the Vaulters about the protective abilities these berries conferred, their enzymes lingering in the tissues of a pokemon that had consumed it until specific energies associated with different types hit the mon, and serving to effectively blunt the effect of the energy on the mon in question. The last day, the Munchlax had instead brought a strange capsule to present to Bunnie, with faded and stained markings identifying it as a "Dire Hit". It seems to be another item intended for consumption by pokemon.
Amber, in between her assisting the others with technical issues, spent her time in Mahoney's workshop, assisting the old man and even taking on minor projects to free his time up for larger more complex issues. For compensation he offers her caps, or a look at some of the schematics he's found and catalogued over the years.
The little Teddiursa, not to be outdone, also ranges around the edge of town near the gate, bringing back presents for Amber. Her first find is a shiny pokeball with a glossy black case and red decorative markings that Mahoney identifies as a "Luxury Ball". The next day she brings back a rudimentary spray bottle with a crude label designating it as a "Paralyze Heal". The third day brings another spray bottle, this one marked as a "Full Heal". The last day she brings back a strange pink berry that Kat identifies as a Magost, a berry that can cure the Enraged condition.
Two days in, Cecil receives a message from Captain Emilia. His and Kat's presence are requested at the detention center. And if he'd like to bring the other three, she could have a talk with them while he helped Kat deal with a certain bug.
|
|
|
6,670 posts
|
92 likes
|
I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
|
Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by Robot on Nov 5, 2016 11:32:19 GMT
"Pfff...." On getting the news, the Greaser was very clearly not impressed, but he took it in stride. Bonsly's sale had afforded him some curatives for the road, which he now saw the point in becoming proficient in sooner rather then later. Some assistance from Christine had been needed, but blessedly most of the stuff was idiot proof and just went straight into any available muscle, usually the thigh. With the limit on what they themselves could bring afield, Cecil readily parted with Cable (the Elekid ever made him uncomfortable with it's high intelligence and the knowledge it may have been a human child under other circumstances) and reluctantly with Boneyard. He'd rationalized that Bunnie needed a creature as competent as the hound had been for him so far, it's packmate now lost to the wilds.
Paint, Chassis, and Dune had joined his roster, and he'd made all the preparations he could with his available funds. The man wasn't entirely sure what to make of the winged serpent, but it reminded him of the Snakes back home in some ways. Big enough to ride someday sounded cool, but it wasn't much to look at just yet. The temperament was a bit like Joe's Bonsly, without the tears, but at least he could work with that.
Into the bus, his hands found their way into his pockets, deep breath. "Alright everyone, it's time for a field trip. Couple of you probably ain't going to like it, but we're going to go see what constitutes 'civilized justice' on the surface. It's time."
|
|
Administrator
|
Post by DataNinja on Nov 5, 2016 20:38:39 GMT
Over the last few days, Christine had been slowly getting acclimatized (more or less, the clothes were still weird) to the surface life - though, she much preferred to stay inside. Outside was nice, but it was far too open. At least it wasn't too bad in town, and she had enough to keep her mind occupied. Thankfully they were able to get a monitoring system up and running without too much trouble - that they would admit.
She also tried to get more used to her Pokémon - making sure to only let Clement out when there wasn't anyone else around. He was probably her most useful Pokémon, skillset wise. Even if his telekinesis was... a little lacking in control. Still useful for passing her things and, as had been proved, he was good as a gurney.
She'd attempted to give Cecil some medical training when he'd asked. She was glad at that, as dissemination of medical knowledge - however little she was able to give him - helped her to sleep a little bit easier at night. Although, it was mainly just clarifying what medicines did what. She'd have been genuinely impressed if he'd been able to mess up administering the potions and stuff. But, luckily he didn't.
It was after she was beginning to get settled into a routine - mostly consisting of cursing her lack of access to the Vault's medical center to try and get more information on the Pokérus - that Cecil mentioned the 'field trip'.
"Why, exactly, do we need to go get involved?" Christine asks. "If all goes well, we won't need to deal with it, ever. As soon as we get the parts we need, and make sure we aren't going to go infecting the who Vault when we go back down, we can leave. Better to concentrate on those two tasks. The longer we're up here, the thinner our resources stretch, and the worse things get back home."
|
|
|
6,670 posts
|
92 likes
|
I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
|
Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
|
Member
|
Post by Robot on Nov 6, 2016 10:11:23 GMT
"If all goes well. If. There is no if Christine. Things won't, they haven't since the day we set foot above ground and every miss step has cost us dearly. I'm doing my part so hopefully you can, or don't have to, do yours. You coming or not?" It niggled at him a little, that hope that she still leaned on after everything that had happened, but he tried to remain as impassive as possible. There was a time and a place for bickering, and this was not it.
|
|
Administrator
|
Post by DataNinja on Nov 6, 2016 21:08:27 GMT
"Look, Cecil," Christine says, "I have to look on the bright side. Hope is one of the most important commodities when it comes to medicine. Patients have to hope, loved ones have to hope. It doesn't always work out, but if we always thought of everything in terms of the worst-case, so much less would be done. Despair is a terrible disease, and holding it off for as long as possible is a part of my job. My part here is making sure that we don't die up here. I don't see how going to see this 'civilized justice' helps us. It's them dealing with their own problems in their way. We shouldn't try and make them our problems too..."
|
|