[Fin] A Little Fishy

[Gwennythe]

Clancy eyed the bird one more time, but dismissed him as a threat, apparently, as he went about re-baiting (whatever he was putting on his hook did look rather... meaty... if unidentifiable) and then recasting his line.

"Ya just moved here? From where?" 'Carl' demanded, though his eyes remained on the line... If Taavi said 'Hoenn', Clancy was going to have to take a good look at him again quickly. Of course, Hoenn was big enough, and had towns and such, and it was probably incredibly unlikely he'd run into someone who could recognise him here (he had somewhat forgotten about Diantha's descriptions, though, unfortunately) from Hoenn or otherwise, but still, Clancy's mind turned a little suspicious.  

[TawnyAngel]

Naturally Taavi went ahead and said; "Hoenn! Um, from just outside Mauville City? I was a ranger there, lovely region." Did that make it better? He hoped it did.... And what the heck was Carl baiting his rod with? That looked... it looked... questionable.  

[Gwennythe]

Clancy, or Carl, stiffened.

"Oh. A ranger? Hoenn? Ya don't bloody say..." His mind flashed warnings at him; ranger, probably wouldn't have been very happy with Aqua plans... He had no idea if rangers really... did anything against his former team, but he couldn't imagine they'd be all that happy either way.
"I'm... familiar with it." He growled.  

[TawnyAngel]

...Okay, what? This didn't seem so personal anymore, this was... what was this? "I... lived in the region for about three years," Taavi continued awkwardly, trying to ignore how his skin prickled at those growling tones. "I was a ranger for only a year or so of that though...." What had he said to cause this reaction? He didn't like this, he didn't like it at all.

 

[Gwennythe]

Okay... He had to calm down. Why would the guy be telling him any of this if he recognized him or had any idea he'd been in Aqua? Nooo... This was just a coincidence, that was all.
And Mauville... Why, it was large and lots of people lived there and often had nothing to do with the greater goings on of Hoenn...

"Eh. Three years eh? What were ya bloody doin' there 'fore you ended up bein' a ranger then? And 'ow 'bout b'fore that? Where'd ya come from?"  

[TawnyAngel]

He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. It was weird, and though the man wasn't exactly being confrontational it felt like he wasn't far off it. Why? He hadn't done anything wrong! "Just odd jobs," he managed to force out, trying to keep himself calm. "You know, um, a bit of handyman sort of things and... and things. I worked in a 'mart for a while too." Taavi swallowed and licked his suddenly dry lips, heart racing with building dread. He hadn't done anything wrong! "I... I came from Unova." Why did Carl want to know all this? It wasn't just friendly curiosity. He should get out of here, he didn't know what was going on but it was not good.  

[Gwennythe]

Maybe Clancy remained genuinely suspicious, maybe he was just covering his bases now he'd started the thread, or maybe he'd noticed Taavi seemed somewhat uncomfortable and was just being a jerk.
Or maybe he was just accidentally a jerk.

"Whatcha mean by 'things'? You do owt interestin' in Unova? 'S 'at ya home region?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Why was he asking all these questions? Taavi licked his lips again and glanced around as though looking for an escape. It was none of Carl's business what he'd done, where he'd come from, none of it was!... But he didn't want this to get any worse than it already was, he just wanted this to be over and it would be easier to do whatever Carl wanted.

"You know, like, odd jobs," said, twisting his hands anxiously. "Nothing really interesting in Unova... I just grew up there, that's all, and then I moved to Hoenn when I left home." Sort of. With a bit of a detour. Via organized crime. It was probably lucky he looked as awkward as he already did, thinking about his time with Plasma didn't make him cringe any more than he already had been.

He wanted to ask Carl why he was asking all of this but he couldn't find the right words, probably wouldn't have been able to find the courage to voice them even if he had. All he did manage was; "Are... are you from Hoenn then?"

Behind him Valour started to bristle even more.  

[Gwennythe]

At first, Clancy ignored the question, and nodded, with a glance, toward Valour.
"Y' big bloody bird's gettin' all bristly 'gain..."

And then he grunted and watched his line for a long moment. And another.
"Funny bloody place t' wanna move to." He declared, finally, and then gave a firm nod.
"Aye." He answered; and left it at that.  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh dear, threatening the angry man with a giant bird was probably bad. "Um, he thinks you're threatening me. It's okay, um, really," he said to Valour, even though it wasn't.

Valour smoothed his feathers down a little and raised one foot as if to nibble at an itch. It was a calculate move. Braviary are very large birds with very large feet with very very large talons, each one was probably the length of Clancy's hand. Valour turned his head to the side and regarded the red-haired man through one golden brown eye.

"I didn't think it was that funny a place to want to move to," Taavi continued awkwardly, unaware of the now more subtle posturing behind him. "I mean, I only had Valour to travel with, and not a lot of money, and so Hoenn made sense. We were able to just fly over the water, though it was quite a long flight.... Um... why are... why are you asking me all this? I mean. I don't midn telling you. But. Um. It...." It was weird.  

[Gwennythe]

Those were very big claws, Clancy thought, but as the bird was back a way, and seemed to listen to Taavi (who Clancy had decided now just... wasn't very threatening at all...), the redhead wasn't all that worried.
In fact, he was thinking about how his dark Fabarglewargler would probably be able to eat big birds like it when he had it, at least, that's what he thought.

"Eh. I grew up there. Ain't nowt special." Clancy's accent didn't /really/ sound like he grew up there, despite there being truth in the matter.
"Just makin' conversation. 'E ain't seen me threaten no-one if 'e bloomin' thinks this is threatenin'..."  

[TawnyAngel]

That was not a very reassuring statement. At all. "Ah.... Right." Taavi smiled but it was a rather worried looking smile. "So um.... Are you just in Makko for the day then?" Somehow he couldn't imagine Carl living in this quiet little place, especially after his comment about threatening people. Maybe he should just leave but that would be rude and he didn't want to be rude.... Maybe Carl would go back to fishing soon?  

[Gwennythe]

Carl /did/ go back to fishing... Unfortunately for Taavi, he apparently chose to multitask as he did so, continuing to talk.

"Aye. Here f'r the fishin', the bloody fest'val. Ain't my cuppa tea, this place, but it ain't 'alf bad for the fishin'. You like fishin'? Ow'd ya feel 'bout the ocean?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"I... I quite like fishing?" Taavi offered hesitantly, this topic of conversation seemed a little odd too but less threatening.... Mainly. "I used to go fishing a lot when I went camping. I like the ocean? I've never lived near it before but I do now, it's nice to wake up and look out over it." To be fair what he was mostly looking at was the Egg but Carl didn't need to know that. "You're... a fan? Of fishing? And the ocean."  

[Gwennythe]

"Oh, aye? So why doncha get y'self a damned rod and cast off, eh?" Clancy asked, with a side-look at Taavi, as though suspicious suddenly he wasn't doing just that.
"Aye. I like the ocean. Nowt better than watchin' it and the beasties in it. Ain't much f'r the sky." He added the last bit, with a quick look at Valour, before returning his attention to his line. Maybe he was just unhappy that Valour wasn't in a ball or something.