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Night Life; Umber Quarter - Open Thread
Topic Started: Jan 24 2015, 03:02 PM (590 Views)
Vulpix Windchimes
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It was half past two AM when the sky opened up. The portal was dark and subtle, only noticeable to those who looked outside if they happened to be watching the handful of stars it ended up obscuring for the moments it took to open, then shut. There were no flashing lights, no booming voices, no announcement that the Gods of Time and Space had been flexing their powers. The point, after all, had not been to make the spectacle. The one passing through said portal did that all on her own, anyway.

A woman fell from the portal, plummeting toward the earth head-first and in a relaxed posture, eyes shut as she were sleeping away her free fall. Then, she burst into flame, ghostly fire coating her body and making her appear to be a bright purple falling star. She continued to hurtle toward toward the ground, until more fire seemed to spread out like wings behind her back and she began to pull out of her dive.

The fire extinguished, leaving behind feathers, fur, denim, and leather, all jet black. Wide, dark wings sent the revealed creature swooping close to the ground, then soaring upward again to land on the roof of a building. Green eyes burned from above a hooked, black beak on a feathered face, and her wings curled around her body like a cloak over her dark jeans, T-shirt, and leather jacket. She crouched on slender, fur-covered legs as a long, tufted tail flicked behind her.

Raven Corvidae, daughter of the Raven of Truth, she who walked in dreams, in shadows, and through flame, had arrived in Natura.

The shadow she cast suddenly shifted, and a small, black shape stepped out of it, round and bushy-tailed with small paws and bright eyes of the same burning green. "This the right place, sis?" the little creature asked with a flick of his tail.

"Better be," she mumbled in return. "Or I'm going to have to kick some divine ass." Hands with long talons gripped to the edge of the roof she was perching on as she stared out at the buildings. "Big fuckin' city," she observed as she took in what looked like numerous apartment buildings and what she was fairly certain, some distance away, was a library.

"Thank you, Miss Obvious," came a grumbling retort from her smaller, fluffier companion. "Now, can we get off the roof?"

Raven huffed, then almost seemed to smirk despite having a beak. "What's the matter, Salem? Afraid of heights?"

"You're the one who can fly, feather brain." He took a sidestep, and vanished into her shadow once more, just in time for her to spread her wings and pitch herself off of the roof. She landed with a soft fluttering of feathers into the nearby alleyway, then stood up and glanced around, her eyes gleaming as they easily pierced the gloom.

Now, where exactly in this place did a stray gryphonkin go when she needed to track down her mortal cousin?
Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Jan 24 2015, 03:02 PM.
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Curon Hifor

Half past two in the morning and a lone individual found himself walking down the lane, more tired than he ever thought possible. He had not been sleeping well these past few days--mostly due to the insane hours and amount of research work he had been putting in--and it looked like tonight was going to be another short night of sleep, or lack thereof anyway. He wasn't sure what was going on, but the culmination of so many events had him restless and constantly thinking about various subjects and implications. A lot was starting to change on Natura, some of it for the better, the rest undecided. It was concerning, yet exciting, all at the same time.

However, Malcom Tian was hopeful he would at least get some level of sleep tonight as he walked down the lane towards his home, not really realizing the event going on above his head until his peripheral vision detected a flash of light, but by the time he actually looked up towards the source, whatever it was, the event seemed to have already passed without his full notice. Maybe he really was just that tired that he was imagining things--so he merely shrugged and continued towards the nearest building, an apartment complex where he called home.

That is, until he heard someone talking before the sound of something landing in the alleyway. He tilted his head to the side as he listened, curious what it could have been. So, like any reasonable human being, he pulled out a Pokeball and peered around the corner towards the alleyway, spotting some sort of... something standing there. He slowly pulled away from the corner, looking out at the rest of the city in absent contemplation for a moment, as if not sure if he saw what he thought he saw. His face went a sickly pale color before he looked around the corner again, unsure if he should use his Pokeball to scare off... whatever that thing was in the dark alleyway or just make a run for it. Instead, he squinted his eyes at the figure and did the only thing a reasonable human being could do when he 'thought' he recognized what it was.

He let out the most embarrassing squeek of fear one could imagine. It looked like a person with bird wings and a beak! A humanoid bird Pokemon! The entire time he thought to himself pleasedon'teatmepleasedon'teatme. Either way, now that he gave away his position to the... the thing, he found himself paralyzed with fear, just standing there and staring at the bird, person, thing.

"Uhhhhhhh... H--Hello?"
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Vulpix Windchimes
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A tiny squeak emerging from the mouth of the alley made Raven glance up from the straightening out of her clothing and feathers that she'd started--just because she'd just dove out of a supernatural portal and gone through a free fall didn't mean she had to look like it when she actually met someone on his world, after all--and her eyes gleamed brightly as she took in the humanoid figure before her. Young man, shorter than she was, not terribly well-built, holding a pokeball...and clearly either already peeing himself in pure fright or one wrong move on her part away from doing so.

Luckily, he spoke the same language as her, as evidenced by his stammering greeting. Well, that was good. Language barriers were a bitch, especially when one party in the conversation was likely trying to figure out how likely the other was to eat them. "Uh, hey," she said, her wings rustling slightly before they folded properly against her back. Her tail flicked as a tiny flash of movement heralded Salem leaving her shadow again and scurrying off behind some boxes, likely not to be noticed by anyone without Raven's superhuman night vision.

"Nice night for a walk, huh?" she said, tilting her head and trying to get as close as a face with a rigid beak could get to smiling. Well, flight in my case, but same difference, right?"

Raven hoped he didn't run screaming. She really, really hoped he didn't run screaming. That was not going to be helpful at all for potentially wrangling him into giving her directions.
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Curon Hifor

Oh, sweet, dear, merciful Arceus. It could talk. It had the voice of a woman, but it might as well have been a demon at that point, for all the decorum the young aide showed just then. After it finished its speech, the young man threw his arms up, accidentally tossing his Pokemon in the air. He began to scream, likely from a mixture of excitement and sheer panic, and started running in the opposite direction, the empty streets practically amplifying and echoing his wails of fear. And like a lightning bolt--well, a sluggish lightning bolt--he was off. This was it--this was how he was going to die.

To a walking, talking, female-sounding bird monster with wings. It had to have been hungry--or at least, his mind was imagining it being super hungry and he was likely the closest thing to a meal right then and there. Oh goodness, he was going to be eaten by the second biggest scientific discovery he had made this week! "IT'S GOING TO EAT ME."
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"Oh for fuck's sake!"

A Raven in a more rational frame of mind would have shifted into her human shape and walked away, trying to look as innocent as possible, and later claim to any potential authorities that descended on the scene that apparently her sweet little pet eevee had given the man a scare. However, Raven was not in a rational frame of mind right now. Her cousin was missing, she had just consulted with a pair of Gods in pursuit of her, and was in the middle of a foreign city in another dimension with no leads and her current only source of information running away at what he likely thought was a pretty fast speed.

So, she lunged out of the alleyway and took off with a few powerful beats of her wings, easily crossing the distance the man was trying to put between them. She seized his shoulders in her taloned hands and, with another beat of her wings, jerked him backward toward her. Her feet touched the ground again as one of her thick-skinned hands moved to cover his mouth and her free arm wrapped around his waist to hold him tightly against her body. "Will you kindly shut up?" she hissed. "I am not in the fuckin' mood to deal with the usual xenophobic human bullshit tonight."

She started to drag him backward toward the alleyway, unflinching in response to any potential struggling. "You can run crying to somebody and tell them about the big bad monster after you answer my questions."
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Curon Hifor

He thought he could get away, but clearly, he was out of his league. He wasn't even in the right stadium in terms of speed, as the creature seemed more than capable of catching up to him and snaring him in its powerful limbs. This was it--he was going to die. One hand upon his mouth to keep him from shouting out--to keep him from shouting for help--and the other to keep him tightly against the creature's body to keep him from running away, it was the textbook case of being captured and eaten by a powerful creature--not that he had any experience with what that meant, whatsoever, but his imagination was running at a million miles per hour now. He could only hope the experience would be painless.

After a moment, Malcom's head finally seemed to catch up with what the creature was saying, causing the researcher to blink. "whmf qwmfffns?" He tried to get out, asking what questions the creature had before it inevitably ate him, but now that he was able to hear something other than his fiercely-beating heart, he was curious what it wanted to know. Anything to delay the inevitable death by digestion.
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Raven didn't stop until they were back in the shadows, but once she did, she gave a small sigh. Well, at least he was listening. Listening wasn't cooperating, but it wasn't like he had a lot of options with her holding him like this, and hopefully he realized that now. A small growl came from her throat, deep and lion-like, before she spoke. "When I take my hand off your mouth, you better not start screaming again," she warned, adding, "And for the fuckin' record, I'm a 'she,' not an 'it.' Name's Rae." She paused, partly to let what she'd said hopefully sink in and partly to compose her thoughts, before she finally moved her hand away from the young man's mouth, though her other arm remained locked around him to keep him in place.

"First of all, what is this place? The Gods that sent me here didn't give me much info." Raven was too preoccupied to notice the small bundle of fluff that had crawled up on top of a few boxes to watch the ongoing interrogation with amusement. Salem would have tried to help the situation--possibly, maybe, probably not--but he felt that his big sister had things well in claw. And who was he to interrupt her when she working her irresistible charms?
Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Jan 24 2015, 05:27 PM.
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Curon Hifor

Malcom just stood there and blinked at the creature for a moment, positively flabbergasted that it--she--had a gender, and she was female. And she had pulled him close against her body for a little while now, enough to make his face fill up entirely with red blush, like his head was going to pop like a balloon from it. When she finally released his mouth, he didn't scream--he knew that would expedite his inevitable death--so instead, a feeble, quiet, long squeek emitted from his lips, apparently paralyzed with fear AND embarrassment from being so inappropriately close to a female, regardless of species. It was positively indecent!

"T--T--This place is--is--ah, it has--has a name," he said, trying to wrack his brain for what the name of the city was, practically unable to use his brain with so much blood rushing to his face. "N--N--Natura Central," he squeeked out. And then, all at once, he let out a single sentence that really should have been broken up into five. "Pleasedon'teatmeI'msorrytohavetouchedyouinappropriatelyIreallywon'tmakeforgoodeatingsopleasedon'teatmeIcanfindyougoodfoodtoeatjustdontkillmepleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaasssssee."
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Natura Cental. She logged the name away carefully, trying to make sure she remembered it. Then the stream of run-on, pleading sentences got started, and Raven almost found herself missing the screaming, the reference to inappropriate touching soaring right past her without much thought in favour of the rest of the nonsense. "For fuck's sake," she grumbled for the second time that night, as, not even caring that she may have to chase down and capture him again, she let go of the whimpering human. "This is exactly what I'm getting at when I say 'xenophobic bullshit.' When did I ever say I was gonna eat you? I didn't. I tried to be friendly, and you ran away, because I look different."

She took a few steps away from him and slumped against the wall of the alley. She could, and probably would, still easily leap into action and grab him again if need be from this position, but she had a defeated air to her all the same. "You didn't want to play nice, so I got rough. I don't exactly have a lot of options, here."

"Oh, I could've suggested a few," Salem piped up, causing Raven to look over at the tiny, jet black eevee with his eyes that matched hers so perfectly and his amused grin. "But you seemed to have your mind set on getting all up close and personal with him."

Raven growled, and her middle claw pointed straight upright. "Fuck off."
Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Jan 24 2015, 06:21 PM.
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Curon Hifor

"S--sorry, I just--I just assumed you were going to eat me. You aren't exactly a commonplace creature on this world so I just..." he said, his face still incredibly flustered, blushing both from embarrassment and from lingering terror. "B--but please accept my apologies. Both for the mistreatment and, well... I was always taught that a boy should never be that close to a woman without specific permission..." he muttered, poking his two index fingers together repeatedly, his blush deepening. At this point, he had finally noticed the odd Eevee, causing him to perk up for a moment.

"Oh--Ah! Would that be an Umbreon?" He said, adjusting the glasses upon his face. "We don't see many of them around the city either--a pleasure to meet you too!"
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Salem smiled at the attention, and he flicked his tail and hopped up from the boxes he was perched on to instead drape himself across Raven's shoulders. His black fur made him blend in to the point that it was only the fact that her glossy feathers reflected light slightly differently and his eyes were so bright that kept him from nearly vanishing entirely to human vision. "Not an umbreon yet, but I will be soon. Name's Salem."

Raven, while she made a grumbling sound when the pokemon settled on her shoulders, still reached up and gently scratched under his chin with a claw. "He's mine. Was a...you could call it a nest-leaving gift, I guess. From my dad." With a faint growl, she added, "He's also an unhelpful smartass."

"Aw, you love me, Rae. Admit it." He pawed at her face, like a young pup trying to get her to play, and she simply rolled her eyes in response, her attention fully shifting back to the man in front of her.

"Anyway, apology accepted, I guess." She sighed, wishing she could flex her wings but not wanting to spook him when she'd finally gotten him to realize that she wasn't a vicious monster. "But you should try not to judge on appearances. Being careful around strangers is all well and good, but good beings get hurt because of those kinds of assumptions. What if someone had come to your 'rescue' and shot at me or something?" She left it at that, rather than going into a full-blown rant, figuring that if he'd changed his tune as quickly as he had, he didn't necessarily need her to hammer in the lesson beyond that. Besides, there was the other thing he was apologizing for, and she allowed herself the faintest, amused chuckle. "Don't worry about the other thing, though. I was holding you, and it's not like you were grabbing at things." She gestured at her torso for emphasis regarding 'things' to grab at; she'd never been tremendously busty, and her feathers would have made it pretty hard to tell that there was anything there even without her shirt ovetop, but she did technically still have breasts in this form.

"So, how about we start over?" Raven held out one scaly-skinned hand, her fingers tipped with talons, moving it cautiously to make it as clear as she could that it was a handshake offer and not an attempt to snatch him again. "Hi. My name's Rae. I just got here, and I'm kind of lost. Can I ask you some things?"
Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Jan 26 2015, 02:12 PM.
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Curon Hifor

The young researcher blinked a little at the fact that the Umbreon--or rather, the dark-colored Eevee--could speak, but he seemed to be overloaded on hysteria at the moment, so he merely looked over back upon the female bird, person, thing in front of him. A wave of relief washed over him when she accepted his apologies all the same, Malcom finally calming down after all the hysteria and madness that had occurred just a few moments ago.

He shook his head all the same. "I would not worry about firearms around here. Most people, ah, haven't had need for weapons or guns in a long time, not since the great alliance was formed," he said, falling into his usual educational habit while he finally adjusted and cleaned off his glasses, mostly to reassure her of her safety.

When she mentioned him not grabbing at 'things,' another wash of crimson came over his face, causing him to hold still for a long moment before he shook his head to clear the embarrassment out. "W--well still, women should always be afforded their personal space," he insisted, making sure to take a half step away from her to prove a point. He wasn't going to run, but it was important to maintain propriety.

"W--well, a pleasure to meet you, miss Rae. I am Malcom Tian, an Aide for the Pokemon Professor, Hawthorne. Whatever information you need, I can happily provide," he said, finally forcing a smile upon his face.
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Raven retracted her offered hand, since it was clear that Malcom wasn't going to make willing physical contact any time soon, and would have shoved it in her jeans pocket had she not currently had claws that could harm the denim. At this point, she couldn't help but find herself wondering if she was looking at a typical human being for this world, because if the average person here would be this flustered over the perceived breach of personal space of a being that wasn't even obviously female on sight and had been assumed to be hostile, the right outfit and proper application of innuendo in her human form would likely be enough to short circuit brains. And that had the potential to be hilarious.

The fact that she wasn't likely to be shot at was a nice bit of news, too. If weapons were generally in short supply, she would be likely to survive any confrontations she found herself in, unless there were beings in this realm on par with her amount of power. This also implied that there would be little problems with crossing borders if required of her, though she hoped that that kind of traveling wouldn't be necessary.

"A Pokemon Professor, huh?" Salem piped up. "Sounds that Willow lady back home." He swished his tail, intentionally tickling Raven's nostrils with its tip and making her tilt her head away to keep from sneezing. "Not that we ever met her. Rae got lazy about getting around to grabbing a dex."

Raven rolled her eyes slightly. "Her Lab's in Hillmoss. Hillmoss is boring," she grumbled. It was also the home of a certain ranch, and she'd had her reasons for leaving it alone both before and after recent events, her reasons for after much less flimsy, but much more painful, than before. She aimed her gaze skyward. "This place, though. Damn. Natura Central, huh? Is that the name of the city or just this part of it?" Raven liked big cities. Big cities had big entertainment districts with lots of different things in them, like bars and night clubs.

Big cities were also easy to get lost in, though. Sobered by the thought, she sighed. "Okay, here's a pretty important question. You said that beings like me aren't common, but are non-human beings in general seen around here? What about people with superhuman abilities? Shape-changers?" She wanted to know how 'unbelievable' her or her blood were here. It would affect her approach in her search by quite a lot.
Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Jan 31 2015, 02:35 PM.
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Curon Hifor

"Oh, no--Natura Central is just the name of this city. We're currently in the Umber Quarter, the residential district--so there's a lot more to see if you're wanting to go exploring," he said, having calmed down a bit more as the conversation progressed. We have a lab over in the Azure quarter, where all the docks and piers are located, if you feel like stopping by--though this late at night, I doubt any one is there..." He said, scratching the back of his head in thought. Salem seemed to indicate that Rae did not have a Pokedex--something easily rectified were they closer to the lab.

"Non-Humans? Well, I can only assume you know of Pokemon--Pokemon exist here in our world of Natura as well. As for..." he said, trying to navigate through the conversation very, VERY carefully, "...well, individuals of similar disposition, I've heard of reports of people that are half-Pokemon, Half-Human, though I've obviously never seen one before. Other than that, I'm not aware of any supernatural entities that are in the city--maybe further out in the world? I haven't really spent time exploring the world we live in--I just review the data collected from Pokemon Trainers, since they're the ones that do all the exploring," he explained before a thought came to him, causing him to snap his fingers.

"B--But we don't have to have this conversation here! We can move it to my apartment, if you'd like, since it would be marginally more comfortable than standing in the middle of the alleyway. Not to mention, I might have a spare Pokedex and PokeBrace that I could loan you for use, since you don't have one," he said, looking over at the black Eevee for confirmation.
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Salem leaned forward a little with interest at the mention of people that were half-human, half-pokemon, his tail slipping out of sight behind Raven's head as he did so. "Hybrids? Sounds like the clan will fit right in," he commented with a grin, making Raven growl at him, slightly, and make a quick, subtle one-shoulder shrug to jostle him and make clear that he should shut up. Malcom seemed like a decent enough fellow for the moment, now that he wasn't terrified, but she had no intention of giving him all the details of her and her bloodline. Besides, they weren't here to scout out a family vacation spot.

Her good humour came back pretty quickly at Malcom's offer, however. She was curious at the mention of a PokeBrace, the term unfamiliar to her, but before she could ask about that, there was an opening here that she could not resist. "Inviting a lady you've just met back to your apartment? How bold of you," she teased, her long, tufted tail swishing back and forth once, and then started to laugh, adding quickly, "Only teasing. I'm okay with relocating, and I think I'd appreciate that loan. Thanks."

Salem rolled his eyes at her, the look on his face managing to look nigh-identical to how it had been when she'd done the same thing earlier despite their radically different facial structures. "I wouldn't lend her anything you didn't mind losing, if I were you. Rae tends to break tech when she flies into trees."

"That was one time."
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Curon Hifor

The aide's face became beet red at the mention of him being bold, causing him to freeze in place for a moment and stammer repeatedly. "Th--that--thats n-not what I--I meant, Miss!" He insisted, absolutely flustered at the mere thought. While she was charming in her own way, he could only imagine how something like that would--nonono, bad! He shook his head to shake the mere thought from his mind, the comment of her possibly breaking the equipment going right over his head.

"P-please, this way," he offered, leading the way towards the apartment building, which was rather plain, but clean all the same. His own apartment was split into four rooms--bedroom, workroom, kitchen and lavatory. The place was clean and tidy save for his desk, which was covered in so many books and papers that it was difficult to tell what the desk was even made out of. He started to dig through the papers in search of the offered equipment, still stuttering. "P--please, make yourself comfortable."
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"I think you broke 'im, sis," Salem commented as the stuttering human started to lead them out of the alley and into the building. Raven chuckled, though she hesitated a bit before following, glancing about uneasily as artificial light spilled over her and illuminated her glossy feathers. While she loathed to show it any strong degree, being in her true form made her self-conscious, especially with the knowledge that she was about as unique here as she was in her home dimension. Part of her wanted to shape-change, but she felt that maybe that little tidbit of information was better kept to herself, just in case.

Her cousin would have trusted Malcom wholeheartedly by this point, she was sure, but Raven was not Celeste, and never would be.

That meant walking around like this until they parted company, but the late hour made the trip to his apartment, luckily, uneventful. Salem hopped down from her shoulder as soon as they were inside of it and went darting off toward the kitchen; Raven hoped he had the good sense not to eat any of Malcom's food without permission. She, on the other hand, watched Malcom going through his papers for a moment before she decided to take the invitation, stuttered as it was, to make herself comfortable, and give her wings a stretch. The feathered limbs unfurled behind her carefully, as she didn't want to open them too quickly and risk a miscalculation that could result in them slamming into a wall or something else, as such a thing was both potentially destructive and painful.

"Thanks again for the help," she said as she began to pull in her wings again, this time draping them over her front like a cloak rather than folding them. She leaned against the wall as she added, curiously, "These brace things, they've got maps in them or something, right? I think I'm gonna need some."
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Curon Hifor

"Maps? O--Oh, yes, quite!" Malcom said, finally retrieving a black-colored PokeDex and PokeBrace from the piles of papers on his desk. He checked the make sure they were of a proper charge--half-battery, of course--before handing them over to his new acquaintance. "All known areas of our planet have thorough maps on the PokeBrace--that way, you can easily navigate the city or any of the surrounding areas. Beyond that though..." He said, showing a hint of concern, "...well, let's just say a lot of the regions are unmapped, due to the Cataclysm. Lots of unexplored territories," he explained.

Unbeknownst to Malcom, the black Eevee would find a rather well-stocked fridge in his kitchen, as well as various vegetables, breadrolls, and an open box of Pokemon Treats--about half-full.
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Both devices were solid black, and Raven's face would have lit up with a grin at the sight of them were she in human form. As it was, her eyes, which had faded from their usual gleam now that she was indoors and did not need her night vision, flashed brightly as she took them and slid on the brace. Her attention was grabbed by what he said next, and she looked at Malcom, then the brace again. "Well, I'm more likely to be flying from town to town, so hopefully I won't need to worry about uncharted territory." Right after she said that, the possibility that Natura Central was all they had occurred to her, and it left an unpleasant feeling in her gut. "Assuming there are other settlements," she added.

She pondered the thought of her cousin in some sort post-apocalyptic wasteland beyond the city. Celeste would kick the ass of anything that messed with her and then roast it over an open fire, of course, but it was not a pleasant thought all the same. "So, uh, what's this 'Cataclysm' you mentioned? It didn't involve anything radioactive, did it?" She had a good reason for asking, given that there were ruins in a neighbouring region to the one she came from that had had a good chunk of them wrecked by that sort of thing. Raven had luckily never set foot into that particular nightmare factory firsthand, nor had the source of her many secondhand memories, but even with instincts to seek out new experiences, the entire area had always been one big 'nope.'

That was around the moment that there was a telltale rattling of a box with pokemon treats in it, followed by a voice calling from the kitchen. "Score! Hey, Malcom, these treats open to guests? I'm hungry!"

Raven rolled her eyes and sighed. "Sorry about him," she said to her human host, "He's a glutton."
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Curon Hifor

Malcom continued to stand when he heard Raven's question, the young researcher putting his hands firmly into his pockets. Mostly to give them something to do rather than fidget while a female was in his apartment. It was all very flustering.

"O--Oh, yes. There are other settlements, of course--most have a means of fast transit from one location to another. The uncharted territories I speak of are mostly in between those settlements--some areas larger than others--and a lot of the wilderness can be rather dangerous at times," he said with a nervous frown. It was true--some trainers never did make it back to Central. It was part of the danger of exploring their world--some places were just too dangerous for a lot of folk.

"T--The Cataclysm? Ah yes--many years ago, roughly a thousand years ago--a powerful entity brought a meteor from outer space and slammed it into our planet, unleashing a powerful fire storm that nearly consumed all life on the planet. The fact that we're having this conversation is something of a testament to the survival skills of those left behind--even now, we are still rebuilding after such a gruesome event. But as far as Radioactivity... Well, we haven't gotten any reports of that in awhile. Some small areas could probably still be irradiated from the cataclysm, but such areas are very few and very far between. Some have journeyed to survey the impact site of the meteor but... once again, its a dangerous world we live in."

At the sound of another voice from the kitchen, Malcom adjusted his glasses. "Ah--ah--y--yes, they're quite available! Help yourself!" He said before turning towards Raven and shaking his head. "Nono, it's fine--it's what they're there for, right?" He asked before letting out a nervous chuckle. He had no idea how to entertain someone in his own home--did he put in a movie?
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Raven listened to Malcom's explanation and, while it wasn't as horrible as what she'd previously been imagining, it was still a terrible thing to contemplate, to have so much of humanity wiped out by a single event that they didn't even have a hand in causing. The dangerous wilderness didn't worry her too much, though, if there weren't any huge, irradiated ruins to worry about. Back home had been dangerous, too. As, without so much as a 'thank you,' more rattling rung out from the kitchen, followed the crunching that heralded the beginning of Salem's feast, Raven considered what her next move would be.

Celeste was somewhere on Natura. Depending on her first impressions of the place, it was a toss-up whether she'd be lying low or being open about her abilities, though it seemed like the chances of a witch hunt were low even if supernatural abilities weren't commonplace. Asking around to people whether they'd seen her would likely be harmless, but Raven would need to be careful about revealing her own non-human nature, and her cousin's less-than-fully-human nature, since that apparently freaked people out, or at least some people. With the information and technology she now had, she and Salem would be able to pass as a relatively normal pokemon and trainer pair out there, or so she hoped.

There were really only a couple of things more that she needed to know. "So...Given that I'm a trainer, even if I'm a little non-standard," she said, flicking her tail slightly to emphasize 'non-standard.' "And I'm going to be traveling around here, are there generally places where a pokemon trainer can get a room for the night without paying an arm and a leg?" Raven wasn't going to just assume that Pokemon Centres took in travelers for free like they did back home, and currency was indeed something she may need to worry about soon. With a sigh, she added, "And, be honest, is walking around populated areas looking like this going to be okay, or should I invest in something with a hood?"

That was the moment that Salem pranced into the room, his chest ruff filled with crumbs and what looked about five treats crammed into his mouth with their ends sticking out and his cheeks expanding outward like some kind of mutant mixture of a dedenne and jigglypuff. He looked not even the slightest bit distressed, and in fact seemed entirely proud of himself despite the fact that it didn't look like he was currently capable of the jaw movements required to chew. Raven stared down at him for a single, silent moment, as if trying to process the image before her eyes. She then promptly cracked up laughing.
Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Feb 14 2015, 04:09 PM.
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Curon Hifor

Malcom thought for a moment before nodding to Raven. "Most Pokemon Centers will have a few rooms for traveling trainers to utilize for sleeping and general hygene, of course. We have a few spare rooms at the lab for such an occasion as well, but most places aren't built to accomodate more than, say, a half-dozen trainers. Natura Central is different since there is over a dozen Pokemon Centers scattered about, and all of them are rather large, so there's no need to worry about lodgings here in the city.

"Outside the city, however, things might get a little tight. Like I said, even if most Centers have beds for travelers, there's no guarantee that they won't already be claimed by other trainers--its on a first-come-first-serve basis, I believe--hence why we usually provide trainers with survival gear, a sleeping bag, and a few other odds and ends for their journey. Since I don't really leave the city, you can use mine, if that's alright. I think I have some spare survival gear around the apartment as well that you could use--not a problem, I assure you. However, the quarters in Pokemon Centers can be rather spartan in nature, and they only provide breakfast and dinner each day--so if you want something a bit more robust or luxurious, you'll have to either invest in some temporary apartments or a Secret Base," he informed her, nodding to her for a moment before looking over at the black Eevee. The look on his face was all that was needed to explain that, whatever Raven was laughing about, he had completely missed what the humorous part of it was. Maybe it was an inside joke?

"Oh, right--you might not know about those either. Secret Bases are kind of like your own private, dimensionally-anchored pocket realm. Essentially, you are assigned a position in temporal space that you can decorate and sleep in. Its not a large space, unfortunately--about the size of a bedroom, mostly--but you're able to sleep in there while out and about, or you could make it a more permanent residence. They're expensive, and some of the most expensive ones allow for the capability of using powered utilities, such as refridgerators or space heaters," he explained to her before he looked away for a moment as he blushed a little.

"W--well, you can be rather eye-catching, Miss Raven--and you're probably unique enough to catch a lot of attention. If you're trying to travel from one place to another without being bothered, a disguise or cloak might be simple enough to get you through the day. Otherwise, I don't think you should be worried about the people of Natura--most of us no longer use weapons, save for the different warrior families and their holds. Even then, every warrior family has allied with the city, so you shouldn't have to worry about being attacked, miss," he said as he shook his head. "I guess it would be up to you, really."
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Vulpix Windchimes
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Her uproarious mirth at her sight of her little furry brother having forgotten the two important rules of eating, that chewing was mandatory and mouth space was not infinite, aside, Raven tried her best to pay attention to the answers to her questions. Salem scowled, or as close to scowling as he could get at the moment, and made a flicking motion with one of his front paws that he and Raven had long agreed on being his equivalent to giving the middle finger. At first, she just laughed harder, though she soon quieted down again as he strolled off to a corner of the room to figure out how to transfer his current mouthful of treats to his stomach in a timely manner. Her attention was then fully back to Malcom.

The reference to multiple Pokemon Centres just underscored for her how massive this city really is, but beyond that it all seemed very standard. The information about Secret Bases was very interesting, the idea of being able to carry around a pocket dimension being very appealing to her. Private, customizable, and portable. Who cared if it wasn't that big? She didn't need much, just a safe little roost between flights. Of course, she'd probably be stuck with camping for a bit, but she couldn't complain so much if Malcom was willing to share his survival supplies...Oh, look, he was blushing again.

"Eye-catching, huh?" she teased, unable to quite resist opening her wings again as her tail gave a lazy swish back and forth, "And I don't mind attention so much, just the negative kind, so I think I'll be fine." She tilted her head slightly as she continued to eye Malcom. "I know I've already said thank you, but I'm very grateful for all the help, Malcom..." Her tone then took on a shift, sounding almost sultry. "Is there anything I could do to...show my appreciation?"
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Curon Hifor

At first, Malcom was rather glad that Raven was trying to be appreciative of the help he was giving her, until the full implications in her voice reached his frontal lobe, causing his face to deepen even more with crimson blush. The stuttering intensified, the poor researcher unable to formulate a full phrase as his blush deepened into a hue similar to purple. A faint flicker of red seemed to drip from his nose for a brief moment before he found himself unable to breath--just from the sheer embarrassment of the whole situation. Surely, she wouldn't be suggesting that, since they barely knew one another, so it had to be his own perverted mind playing tricks on him, causing him to picture her without clothes and--BAD, BAD, BAD, he shouldn't have thoughts like that, they were extremely rude and, and, and, and--!

With a resounding thud, Malcom fell face-first onto the carpet, feinting from all the excitement of the last few seconds, his face still beet red and purple. He was at least breathing again though.

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Vulpix Windchimes
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Well, that had been slightly more dramatic a reaction than she'd anticipated.

Salem, having managed to swallow his treats by this point, scurried over and prodded the young man laying on the floor with his paw. "Congratulations. You just blushed a man to death."

Raven rolled her eyes as she walked over and knelt down to examine Malcom, her wings once again folded tightly against her back. "He's just passed out, asshole," she said as she rolled him over onto his back, noting that he was still a vibrant mix of red and purple. "And...has a bloody nose. Hey, go get a tissue or something."

Salem gave his sister a deadpan look. "Yes, I will go do that with my nonexistent opposable thumbs."

"You got those treats on your own just fine, fuzzbucket," she shot back as she shifted back to sit on the floor and then scoot away just enough that she wasn't touching him. Didn't need him regaining consciousness to find her hovering over him and her hands on him if she wanted him to stay conscious. "Just do it."

Electing not to continue arguing, Salem started off toward the kitchen in search of a tissue box. "Don't see why we don't take off and just let him think this was all a dream. We've got everything we needed from him, right?"

"Maybe because I'm not completely heartless and actually do feel like I owe him?" she snapped back. She'd not remotely been serious about the implications she'd been making in her tone, but there had been some truth to the words themselves. Raven would have pointed out that Malcom hadn't gotten those survival supplies he'd offered them, yet, but that was beside the point. There was also the fact that, if she were going to do the 'pretend the encounter was a dream' thing, she'd still have cleaned up the blood first, and probably relocated Malcom to somewhere less uncomfortable than the floor as an act of kindness, but that was also beside the point.
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