[FIN] Step Ahead

[Gwennythe]

As usual, for Clancy, he was cleaning something.
At least, for now, it wasn't a toilet... No, he'd already finished cleaning the toilets in this bathroom.
Now he had to work on the sink.
He'd had to fish a paper towel from the drain; that had been easy, if a little disgusting- he didn't really understand the immature need to do such things.
At least he hadn't had to do any actual plumbing yet today, so some of his previous work was yet to be undone.

He stepped back to admire his work, as he finished, before gathering his tools and bucket, stepping out of the bathroom to make his way back to the janitorial closet.  

[Magician Arcana]

Being a Grunt was nice. Adam really did enjoy not having to share a room with eight other strangers. At the same time, though, he hadn't moved too far away from said strangers. Acting like they hadn't shared a room (and farts, groans, crying, and whatever else) together was just uncool. Or so said Adam. There weren't many other trainees he'd gotten along with, but one for sure stood out.

He sat outside the janitorial closet, humming gently to himself. Manny rested beside him, bobbing along to the beat of the tune. In his hands was a small bag of licorice. Some might look at it like a peace offering. Adam looked at it like a day brightener. He knew Clancy's job was... awful... and therefore he needed a perk.

When the other came into view, the blonde's face cracked into a grin and he waved cheerily, "Yo!"  

[Gwennythe]

... The was a grunt sitting outside of the janitorial closet.

This, immediately, got Clancy a little tiny bit worried; his previous encounters with grunts had involved their pokémon clogging toilets, headbutting him the shin, or climbing into his mop bucket.

The redhead turned a wary eye on the bobbing Gastly; he didn't /see/ any giant messes or floods of dirty water.

Wait... he knew that grunt...
"Adam, lad... Whacha doin' sat down 'ere? Roommate kicked ya outta your grunt quarters al-bloody-ready?"  

[Magician Arcana]

Adam snorted softly and stood up, "Nah, that b*****d still can stand me. Kinda crazy, actually." With a limp shrug he offered the candy to Clancy. "Wanted to make sure you hadn't gone bat s**t crazy in the tubes. Like aqua man of the sewers."

Manny floated a little higher. He remembered the trainee, even if it was a vague far off memory, "Ly!"  

[Gwennythe]

"'Kinda crazy'? Kinda sums up the whole bloody lot of this team lately, if ya ask me..." The red-head replied with a snort of his own, then shook his head.
He missed the reference to the water-powered superhero, instead taking it as a reference to something else... Well, he never exactly kept that a secret, he supposed, but he was pretty sure he hadn't talked too much of it...
"Aqua were pretty crazy f'r thinking they could do any damned thing with 'ow they ended up operating but I don't think they were all that crazy as that Magma lot at least. Bloody fools, they were..." He leaned forward to take the offered candy.
"Thanks f'r this; it's a friggin' kind a hell bein' stuck inside all the bloody time. 'Ow's being a grunt?"

He eyed the ghost warily; at least Manny was a useful kind of species, and kind of 'well behaved' if shy.  

[Magician Arcana]

There were rumors that Clancy had been in aqua, but nothing that Adam had seen confirmed. He was one of those "gotta hear it from the source" types who just didn't want to believe in rumors otherwise. Clearly shocked, the blonde nodded dumbly. Clancy was ex-aqua. Why the hell go from one organization to a new one? There was no way to keep his yap shut. When a burning question came into Adam's mind, it was out of his mouth with the same intensity. Like a Charizard's flamethrower.

"Dude woah woah. You were Aqua? Then why the hell did you go to Rockets? Like.... Why not just quit the biz or whatever?" Adam shrugged, feeling a little inadequate that his story of grunt hood could never live up to having been in the ranks of crazy weird aqua.

"It's like being a trainee, but a little better. We're still not as respected, but I guess we're not fodder and not doing chores. Which is nice."  

[Gwennythe]

"Hm? Yeah, I was in Aqua..." Clancy confirmed and frowned. How did he explain stuff... "Ah. Well, 'ow long you been in this whole thing? When'd you start?"

The red-head bit his lip, aligning his words.
"Ya see, I was bloody young, at the start o' my whole career and such when I got into this whole kinda gig... I ain't made for the legit and b'sides, I've done enough that I'm probably at least, uh, a tad bit 'wanted' in some place or other. Outta all the bloomin' teams so far, this 'un's still around; 's got stayin' power, see? There ain't no chance for me to 'quit the biz'; I'm stuck as the kind o' geezer I am..."
He popped some of the liquorice into his mouth and chewed happily.
"So. Still a bit o' improvement at least, eh, lad?"  

[Magician Arcana]

"Guess that makes sense," Adam nodded at the logic. More questions bubbled to the surface, and seeing as Clancy was willing to share, Adam was more than willing to keep poking, "How'd you get into Aqua in the first place? Was it for fun or some other reason?"
"A bit of an improvement. We get to go out of the base. How long until you're up for promotion?" Adam had no doubt Clancy would continue on, the trainee just admitted he was in it for the long haul.  

[Gwennythe]

Clancy frowned a little, noting the skip of the question he'd asked.
"'Ey now; little bit o' give and take, mate?" He hoped the 'give' wasn't going to be pointed out as the liquorice. "But, eh, I'll talk. Was mostly f'r summat to do, y'know? B'sides, I do like the sea; 's in my blood, the ocean, y'know? M' gran'father... Or maybe it was m' great gran'father; I ain't too sure now... Well, he was always a bit o' a sailor, by all accounts, and I've lived near or around water most o' me life. Aqua -sounded- like a bloody good fit, and, t'be honest, until bloody half-hearted leadership and the like made it fall apart, it -was- a pretty damned good fit. I kinda outgrew 'em though. This place? 's better."
The red-head watched Adam expectantly for a moment, having shared a fair bit, before nodding and answering the last question.
"Not all that sure. Any day now, by my reckonin' but we'll see. Gettin' off base sounds nice. Y' gone anywhere yet?"  

[Magician Arcana]

Adam grinned sheepishly. True, he had been asking more and more of the questions than answering his own. It was just.. Clancy was unique and very interesting. Adam couldn't help but want to pick at his brain more and more. At least finally there was a question he could answer.

"Yeah! I went to the... East Training Center. The one for newbies. I met two trainers there and had a battle with Manny. Pretty fun, honestly. I liked getting off of the base. ********' drove me crazy being stuck here. Still stinks I'm stuck on the same level as I was before. You'd think we're go UP a level, but nope. Here we are, still forever stuck in the basement." Sighing, Adam shrugged, but quickly brightened with a grin, "Cool! When you get off base you gotta let me know, 'kay? Maybe we can train together or something. Might be fun. Or at least go out on the town and drink, whatcha say?"  

[Gwennythe]

East... training center. Well. He'd have to look that up. There was an issue with being a Rocket before you'd really gotten to have a good look around the region you'd been assigned to.
He -vaguely- remembered reading about the League setting up training centers- in fact, the Leagues rather public issues with Rocket in Kodo had rather drawn him to the place...
"Right inta the ol' lion's den, eh?" Clancy shrugged regarding the different levels for quarters- as a trainee, he -still- had to share barracks with several people; reducing that number would just surely be an improvement.
"Eh. 'Bove us is the trainin' rooms. I wouldn't wanna live in one o' them."

Training was... definitely something Clancy had to do, though he didn't -really- like working to -make- pokémon useful, wishing that they'd just... be useful on their own; still, having someone to train -with- would be good.
It was the second option, though, that sounded -really- good to him.
"Aye. Trainin', sure, we can do that, but f'r sure I want t' have a go at drinkin' you under the bloody table. Y' know any good waterin' holes yet?"  

[Magician Arcana]

Yes! Adam had a feeling that the old aqua was a drinker. Maybe it was the accent? Was that a stereotype? Eh, regardless, he was tickled pink at the idea of having a drinking partner, "Sweet dude! That'd be so much fun. Uh, no. Not around here. I mean I knew one in the big city, but I'd rather not go back there..." Too many memories and people who might recognize him. He wondered tough if they really would. It had been months and Adam felt he had changed a little. Huh.

"Half the fun of finding a place is the adventure to get there. We could go searching for one. How about when you get outta grunt work we celebrate by heading to one of the cities and drink?"

Gwennythe

 

[Gwennythe]

Magician Arcana

"Oh? Bloody poison a little bland, or y' got a bit o' sour business with the landlord?" Clancy inquired, mildly, though clearly intrigued. "Ain't nowt wrong with a friendly ol' bar brawl now and ag'n, lad, but a drink in peace might be more the ticket aft'r all this Rocket malarkey with the bloody up-all-hours trainin' and scrubbing and all that... Aye, we could take a gamble 'ver the cobbles, find a suitable oasis t' wet our gizzards."  

[Magician Arcana]

Blinking slowly, Adam stared incredulously at the grunt. Was that even English? "Dude, I have a hard enough time understanding you sober. I can't imagine how ******** I'll be when I'm drunk." Snorting, he shook his head in amusement before processing Clancy's words.

"Yeah. I think it'd be better to not get into too much action the first night out. We get enough s**t bein' a Rocket as is, y'know?" Crap, was he starting to pick up Clancy's speech patterns? Grinning Adam felt enthusiastic, "Sweet. Then it's settled. When you become a Grunt we're going drinking."  

[Gwennythe]

"Ah, I'll you know I'm a bloody scholar when I'm drunk! Get m'best bloomin' ideas under the 'nfluence o' some sweet bitter and the like. B'sides, 'oo wants t' understand a bloody thing when y' drunk? Bein' drunk's about fun. Dun need no understand'n' to have some bloody fun, eh?"

At that Clancy couldn't help but give a grim chuckle.
"Aye, 'nuff s**t. Some of us a damned-lot more than others!" He bobbed his head, and jabbed a thumb, in the direction of the bathrooms.