[FIN] Pythagorean Theorem

[Suudonym]

"Not necessarily," he replied. "Were you aware that the common conception is that blood appears blue in the veins because it's deoxygenated and becomes red when exposed to oxygen? They teach this to children in schools, but it's untrue. The answer is a fair bit more complicated than I trust myself to explain properly, but it has a lot to do with wavelength absorption and reflected light, from what I understand. But everyone says it's simply because deoxygenated blood is blue. No one questions it because it's a quaint answer that's easy to understand. Efficient, but not sufficient."

Atticus's tirade was brought to a forcible conclusion by a shirt being flung against the back of his head, and he turned in mildly visible indignation to discover Pythagoras watching him, a hooded jacket still clamped between her teeth and an expression of disapproval in her reptilian features. Unceremoniously she spat the fabric at her trainer, smothering his face, and moved towards the Rapidash to see if she could fit her face into the bag.

Atticus pulled the jacket from his face and draped it across his arm, plucking a pair of jeans from the sand where the Feraligatr had been. "I suppose I should endeavor to abide by public decency laws," he mumbled, pulling the pants over his trunks and shaking sand from his t-shirt. "One moment."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette finished with her bag and paused in closing it to turn an amazed look at Atticus. She had always believed that, and was amazed to find it actually untrue. "I had no idea," she replied after a few moments, her tones as awestruck as her expression. "I always thought--oh! Um," she suddenly interrupted herself as Epona half-reared with a displeased whinny, her ears swiveling back and forth when Pythagoras's face found its way into one of the bags, which she would find strapped securely onto the fire-type. The Rapidash snorted in displeasure, her ears pinning themselves back firmly as she bucked at the water-type and cantered away a few paces.

"Decency standards..? Oh, oh, yes," the girl replied distractedly, her face flushing a bit again at the thought, though not as much considering there was a large pokemon that seemed to be extremely interested in her bag.  

[Suudonym]

Pythagoras trundled after the Rapidash, rumbling her displeasure at Epona's noncompliance. The fire-type was being unnecessarily stingy.

Nicolette's attention to the pokemon drew Atticus's awareness to it as well, and as he settled his jacket on his shoulders he called, "Pi, whatever it is, it's not for you."

The Feraligatr answered in a long whine.

Atticus, ignoring that, retrieved his few belongings from where he had left them in the sand, returning the notepad to his pocket and slipping his feet into his shoes. "You're not a fire-type specialist, are you?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The young girl, who had just started considering the thought that maybe the large pokemon wanted something in her bag, abruptly turned her attention to Atticus as he spoke. "It..? Oh! Oh," she said, her hands raising to her cheeks briefly as Epona trotted to her side, still looking rather displeased at the Feraligatr, and Nicolette's hands lowered to the Rapidash's soft snout. "I packed some pastries and desserts I made this morning in that bag," she explained. "Maybe she smells those. She can have one, if she wants - you can too," she added quickly, making sure to extend the same offer to him so he wouldn't be insulted or anything or think her rude.

Whether or not the offer was accepted, Nicolette kept a hand on Epona's side as the pair began walking, intending to lead Atticus and Pi to their destination. "A fire-type specialist..? I'm afraid I don't.. Oh! Oh, no, no, I'm not." A small shake of her head accompanied her response. "I have a bunch of different pokemon; Epona is my only fire-type."  

[Suudonym]

Atticus, following as Nicolette began to lead, folded his arms and shook his head, "No, I appreciate the offer, but you mustn't enable her. This kind of behavior is best reprimanded, not rewarded."

Pythagoras, producing an apologetic, hissing rumble, fell away from Epona and into step near her trainer, disheveling his hair with invasive nudges from her large muzzle.

"Oh yes, that's going to change my mind," Atticus said, swatting lightly at the Feraligatr until she gave up with a displeased huff. "I suppose there were several others with you, weren't there?" he responded to Nicolette's reply, tilting his head slightly at the memory. "Would I be correct to assume that you're one of Kodo's trainers, then?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Ah, of course," she replied quickly, a light tinge on her cheeks again. Well, Pythagoras had seemed friendly, and was just curious...

As the large water-type left her immediate vicinity, Epona relaxed more, her ears perking forward once more as she walked beside her trainer.

Pythagoras's behavior towards her trainer drew a small giggle and an amused expression she tried to suppress (it didn't work), but his question caused her brows to raise. "Oh, no, no.. Well," she hesitated, a thoughtful pout frown on her face as she considered. "I'm a trainer, yes, and I became a trainer here in Kodo, but I'm actually from Grande Ile. I've been here a few months now," she explained.  

[Suudonym]

"I see." He removed his notepad from his pocket, but rather than recording the offered details, as the timing implied he might, he merely scribbled some formulas and numbers, neatly labeling the apparent gibberish with thoughts and ponderings. "Vacationing, then? Curious, given what I've heard of the Rocket activity in this region."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While Nicolette was quite curious about what he was writing in his notepad, she made no connections at all to give her any sort of clue what he was writing. Not that she could really see it anyway; her short stature combined with the fact she had to lead them towards the library prevented her from being able to see it properly. But she was curious.

"Ah, sort of," said the girl who knew pitifully little about Team Rocket. "I'm here for a total of six months, after which I'll return home for the winter holidays before departing for another region," the young noble explained happily. "My goal is to gain more worldly experience, to learn new things about the people and cultures in other regions, so that I can use that experience when I finally return home to Grande Ile." And then no one could claim she didn't have enough real world experience as a reason to cancel their engagement to her.  

[Suudonym]

He snapped the little pad of paper shut, "Excellent. One must never undervalue the merit of discovery. It is a pleasure to know that one as young as yourself," - in appearance, at least - "is so dedicated to the journey of enhancing knowledge."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The girl smiled brightly, a blush spreading across her cheeks as she took what she presumed was a compliment. "I agree - it's very important to gain as much worldly knowledge and experience as possible," she said with a resolute nod, though her reasons for wanting that experience and knowledge were likely vastly different from anyone else's.

The trip through the city took little time, and after turning a corner, Nicolette raised her arm to point at a large building a little ways away, "That's the library there. It's absolutely wonderful inside," she said happily, her enthusiasm evident in her voice. "I'm afraid I don't go as often as I'd like to, though I went quite often when I first came here."  

[Suudonym]

He noted the architecture of the building as they approached it, his eyes habitually counting windows and measuring widths and heights and analyzing the facade in ways the architect likely never meant it to be analyzed. It was a nice enough building, but it didn't look like anything noteworthy.

Atticus pushed open the clear glass door when they came upon it, intending to hold it for Nicolette to pass and extending a blocking arm when Pythagoras moved to take the opportunity instead. "Not quite the place for large water-types, I'm sorry to say," he noted, gesturing aside with his head. The Feraligatr grumbled discontentedly and moved to make a place for herself beside the entrance.

"We're in need of a computer," he said, noting the rows of shelves. "We've a misconception to clarify."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette planted a kiss on Epona's nose before rubbing her soft muzzle, saying a few gentle words to her in French before moving to enter the building via the door Atticus held open for her. The hornless Rapidash took up an uneasy, tense post near the entrance, on the side opposite the Feraligatr.

Simply entering the library was enough to inject more energy into the young noble's behavior, though it at least was quiet energy - the simple fact that it was a library effectively hushed her words, even if it did nothing to suppress her excitement for learning. "Oh! Computers," she echoed quietly, turning towards another wall to which she pointed, "should be over there, I think." With that said, she began to walk towards the specified area, though made sure that her company was following.  

[Suudonym]

With a muted, throaty sound, Pythagoras lowered herself to the ground and gradually slithered over towards Epona, stopping a few feet short of the fire-type with her head near the ground and her tail flicking like a feline's.

Libraries were… okay. The wealth of knowledge they contained was appealing to Atticus, but their organization was often inefficient and distracting. He disliked the rows of shelves and the mixed colors and shapes of the spines of the books they housed. He would have to grin and bear it though; the little lady had said something he had reason to believe was scientifically unfounded, and he didn't want her to wander the earth with that misconception a day longer than she had to. When the computers were within their range of vision, he moved to one, touching the mouse briefly to dispel the screensaver and selecting the internet browser.

"Earlier," he said, "you posited that being immersed in water and then exposed to cold air would result in detriment to my health. We will now investigate that claim to determine whether or not it's a genuine cause for concern. Our rough counterhypothesis is, of course, that the presence of illness is unrelated to the combination of moisture and temperature."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Epona's eyes widened as the Feraligatr approached, and her ears flicked backwards as the Rapidash snorted loudly, one hoof pawing anxiously at the pavement.

The various reason Atticus disliked libraries were roughly all the reasons why Nicolette liked them; the various colors and sizes were a pleasure to see, and seeing so many rows and cases of them filled her with an immense curiosity to know what was in each and every one of them, what knowledge they held and what stories they told.

Atticus suddenly said quite a few words and it took a moment or two for Nicolette to catch up. "Oh! Oh, yes, I did," she confirmed, though she wasn't entirely sure exactly what she was agreeing to, though she couldn't fathom it being anything other than their reason for coming to the library in the first place.  

[Suudonym]

The Feraligatr tilted her head this way and that, observing her company with great interest. The horse had a bag, and in the bag was something that smelled very sweet and good. She wanted it.

Atticus nodded in response to her confirmation, "Very well. Then let's begin our investigation." He navigated to the default search engine. He began typing, accepting the browser's suggested completing, and briefly glanced over the page of links that was returned. "Ideally we will not be trusting the words of any article that cannot cite its sources," he stated, clicking through to one such article and scrolling through it cursorily, pointing out the various links interspersed throughout the information. "This one looks valuable. Would you like to read it?"