[PRP] OMG! Shopping spree! (for Shadd!)

[TawnyAngel]

"You have got to be shitting me."

"I s**t you not, agent."

Aulus scowled as the small blond pressed the clipboard insistently into his hands. "I don't see why-"

"Trainees are not allowed to sign out rocket vehicles. You should know this."

Aulus' scowl deepened but he took the clipboard and scribbled his signature all the same. "I know," he growled, "but I don't see why I should have to babysit on my day off. Why can't some other sucker do it? Why should I put myself out for some damn trainee?"

Frost whipped the clipboard back out of Aulus' hands. "Because you signed for it. Excuse me." Without another word he turned away and headed back towards the cluster of grunts and trainees he had been when with Aulus started shouting at the hapless grunt who had first tried to get him to sign the clipboard.


Defeated, Aulus pursed his lips and shoved the car keys into one of the many pockets of his camo-print cargo pants. Fine. Fine he would wait five minutes for this damn trainee and if they didn't show then they didn't get a ride and would have to wait for another one of their rare days off to go into Camphoreon.

Tortie and Killer, currently out of their pokeballs, settled down to wait; each looked about as impressed with the situation as their trainer did, which suited the patchy Absol but looked a rather incongruous on the cute fluffy little Sylveon.  

[Shaddaling]

Lex walked into the garage, because what else did one call the place they stored the company vehicles, around the time there was shouting. His newest addition, a rather young fennekin was in his arms and Glit padding at his side. The rest of his pokemon were clipped his belt. “I think that might be our ride,” he mused and slowly approached Aulus.

He could place the other as higher then him, but what he did and his name was escaping Lex. He looked down, taking note of the Absol, nice and the Sylveon which was an adorable sort of creepy, since those ribbons were not ribbons. Tentacle eevee evolution was messed up.

“Hello,” Lex greeted, shifting Grimlock to offer his hand. He was not setting down the baby pokemon because he was not spending another fifteen minutes chasing her down.  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus looked the guy up and down, and immediately pegged him as 'pansy'. "You trainee Lex?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest and giving the hand a long hard look.

Killer made an adorable sounding chirp, reached up with one of his feelers and coiled it around Lex's outstretched wrist. he told the Fennekin calmly,

Tortie snapped, getting to her paws and showing her teeth briefly.  

[Shaddaling]

"I am," He replied and looked down at Killer. "Can I have my wrist back?" Lex questioned, tone mild. "I rather need it."

Grimlock blinked, large ears tipping towards the two older pokemon. She said rather flippantly and squirmed, little feet windmilling. She didn't like being carried and she wanted to explore all the things and why was she being carried.

Glit gave a lady like snorted looking first to Killer and then Tortie. She said softly. The Servine swished her tail.  

[TawnyAngel]

Tortie snorted contemptuously at Glit,

Aulus made a 'tsk' noise and then gave a short whistle. "Hey, Killer, drop it." The Sylveon quickly complied and Aulus opened up the back of the car to let his pokemon in.

<Now we can go,> Tortie sneered as she hopped in and draped herself comfortably across the seats. Killer followed quickly, curling himself up against the larger pokemon.

"Anyway," Aulus climbed into the driver's side, "I'm Agent Aulus, but you'll call me Kurt if we go anywhere together... I think the form said you were going to the mall?" He hadn't got a very good look at it before that little freak of an engineer whisked it away. He supposed that ought to teach him to read stuff before he signed it.  

[Shaddaling]

Glit mused silently that anyone could have said yes and hence it really wasn't a valid form of identification but decided to drop it. The Absol could put holes in her.

Lex shifted, keeping the fennekin from digging her way through his insides, and she was getting a leash and halter till she learned to behave. Or he was going to consider having Sideway's sit on her. "Kurt," he mused, reminded of a certain other individual. "I can remember that, Agent Aulus."

"Xander will work... and yes." He walked over to the passenger side, opening the door and let Glit climb in first before passing the squirming under of fire fox pokemon to her and her vines before slipping in. "I need to get Grims here a nice halter, one of the specially made ones."

Glit wrapped the fennekin tightly in her vines, one tightly around her muzzle and relaxed on the floor, leaning against her trainer's legs.

"Well before my more experience pokemon make her into a hat."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Xander hu? Alright." Aulus shrugged and started the engine; the name would be easy enough to remember, one of the few he considered a friend shared the name... even if he didn't see the kid that often anymore. He'd have to make more of an effort to look him up in his spare time, even if they didn't have much in common they shared... well, yes, all that stuff with Galactic.

"A halter though?" he raised an eyebrow as he put the car in gear; at least the a**l little priss had been good enough to give him a 'stick shift' aka a normal sodding car. "Run off a lot does she?... Or your others go for her?" That was something that would need ironing out before the trainee go as far as any missions.

As they trundled up along the long tunnel that would lead them up and out of the shiny new base Aulus flicked the in-car communicator to 'on', though he had a sneaky suspicion that the thing was on all the time anyway. Security were a paranoid bunch. "Agent Aulus requesting clearance to exit base, trainee Lex accompanying. Rec. day. Over?"

"Copy that Agent," came a voice from the speakers, "I'll open her up for you when you trip the sensors, keep your speed below ten when you pass the marker or you'll hit the wall. Have a good day, over."

"Copy that, thanks, over and out." Well it was nice to see - or hear - a bit of friendly efficiency around the place, he had to admit that much.  

[Shaddaling]

"She's a runner. One of the independent I can do it, get in it, chew it, or in general just causing trouble." Lex motion for Glit to set Grimlock down and bundled the fennekin in his lap. "The rest of my team tend to pin her down if she annoys them." Which saved his rather expensive makeup collection.

A halter and he was planning a mix of humiliation and bribery to get her to start behaving. "Want to break her of the habit before she starts spitting fire when she doesn't like things."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hu," Aulus slowed the car as they passed the warning, interested despite himself. "So how old is she then? Was she assigned to you? Stolen? I haven't raised a baby pokemon since... well, a long time ago." He was in danger of over-sharing, spurred on by enthusiasm for pokemon. Last thing he needed was to recount his life history for some trainee.  

[Shaddaling]

"A few months and assigned. Pretty sure she was likely stolen from someone though. Same with my Porygon Z and Ariados." Which met he had four new Pokemon. Sideways had adapted but the flareon was no near what he wished the eeveelution to be before obtaining a new Pokemon, let alone a baby Pokemon. "Well being assigned at least."

Lex smiled at Glit as the Servine leaned against his leg, the female grass type sitting up prim and proper. "Glit's mine though, raised her from an egg given to me by an old friend."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Hu." He nodded this time as they exited to the outside world. "Had two assignments myself, Killer in the back there's one of them. The one that grabbed you." In case he'd forgotten. "You can't have been here all that long, as a trainee. A lot to handle in a short space of time." He left that comment open to... well, comment. He wasn't against offering help with training, or just offering a punch bag if it was needed. He had been unhappy about compromising his day off for the trainee, sure, but on duty? Well, the team was kind of his family by now, anything he could do to make it stronger had to be good.  

[Shaddaling]

"I met up with Jerome in early fall I want to say, and joined officially about a month later, so nearly seven months now. Nearly a year." Lex replied, deciding that it was close enough. "So not as short of space as you likely believe." He was sure they were playing careful considering his previous affiliation.

"An interesting name for an Sylveon." Killer, hehe. "It is rather amusing how many people deny that their adorable eeveelution has anything in common with a tentacool."  

[TawnyAngel]

"He's an adorable, murderous little s**t is Killer. He- "

Wait, what? "Jerome?" Aulus sounded somewhere between incredulous and pleased as he glanced at Lex. "He brought you in? He's a good guy." This was an understatement; short of Alex Jerome and Tam were his closest friends. Well, he thought they were. He didn't know what they thought, let alone how to ask. It was hard, complicated, and frankly terrifying. How did you tell people you cared that much? Ugh.

Aulus turned onto the highway that would lead them down and out of the forest and hit the cruise control, a nice touch.  

[Shaddaling]

"Jerome was the first I meet, Xander brought me in." Lex paused, tapping a finger in thought. "The Alexander with a eevee name Conrad. Since there seems to be quite a few of us." Two at least, thought he was sure there was a third. "He is a good guy. The tattooed sclae is a bit over the tops though."

"I don't think he knew I joined until the meeting about the new base."  

[TawnyAngel]

Jerome and Xander? His friends were busy little recruiting bunnies.

"I'd say tattooing your eyes is a bit less extreme than joining Team Rocket, but your mileage may vary," Aulus said dryly. "I know Xander too, been on a few missions together; he's a sharp kid, decent trainer." Being kidnapped and tortured for a month counted as one, and being rescued counted as another right?

"You must be itching to move up to grunt then," Aulus observed as he recalled his own time stuck in a dorm with seven other guys; no space, no privacy. "At least you only have one roomate then." He hardly recalled his own, some pasty guy with a pasty soul who'd never make it into a white uniform. All that had come after his time as a grunt kind of made it seem inconsequential and forgettable by comparison.