[FIN] Getting Out

[Gwennythe]

<> Jubilee agreed <>

Tambrey smiled, inviting Ella closer, to pet her head, gently, despite the steel typing, while she watched Aulus and Phaethon hugging.
"Hm. We should probably do something nice for them when we can... A proper day out or something, rather than training..."  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Paul chittered as he considered Jubilee's question. <> That much had become pretty clear from watching Aulus grow angry and frustrated as he tried to do normal things.

"Mmfh!" Aulus said as Phaeth nosed at his face. "Ha, stoppit!" he gently shoved the Rapidash's muzzle away, a genuine grin lighting up his drawn features. "Yes, I think we should," he agreed with Tam, looping his arm over Phaeth's neck and butting him lightly on the side of the head. "We could head out to the plains, or maybe an isolated bit of beach. Somewhere far away from other people so I can let Asgard out." He knew that TR did sell legendary clones but he didn't fancy having to explain to anyone how he'd come by the Lugia.  

[Gwennythe]

"It'd be nice to see the plains again... I used to play on them sometimes when I was small... The last time I got to go there was ages ago now, as a grunt; Kangaskhan study mission... Still don't have a good way to reproduce them quite yet..." Tambrey mused, both apprehensive, and willing, to go somewhere close to home... Maybe she could stop in again on the way, or on the way back...
"Could give Octavia a chance to run around, and all my fliers would like to see more sky, I'm sure..."

<> Jubilee decided, turning just a little to regard her own. <>  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Paul replied with a little wriggle. <>

"Yeah," Aulus nodded, "that sounds good to me." As he spoke he released the other four pokemon he had with him; Red, Tortie, Char and Asgard. "There's no space for Asgard to even get off the ground in here and Red can only go in circles, and not very fast at that."

'Mmmh, what's this?' Asgard asked with a yawn. 'I could do with stretching my wings if that's what you mean... and going for a swim. Your pool is all very well but it's practically a bathtub to me.'  

[Gwennythe]

<> Jubilee worked her fuzzy little brows, pondering. <>

Her eyes widened as Asgard, and the others, but mostly Asgard, appeared; she'd never get used to how -big- legendary pokémon could be... and this was a bird too, of course.. She scuttled behind Paul, shyly.

Tambrey smiled as the other pokémon appeared and then braced herself for the 'speaking' from the Lugia. It always seemed strange to have a voice buzzing inside your head like that...
"We're thinking about it," She smiled at the large bird "wondering about venturing out to the plains, maybe the ocean?"

Pygi chirped a happy sounding greeting to the others, while Ella made do with a polite snort and a dip of her head.  

[TawnyAngel]

Paul glanced nervously at Red as she appeared but luckily Red had spotted Pygi and as such was focused on puffing herself up impressively for the lady. Asgard, despite being an even bigger bird, didn't worry him these days; he was kind of also a fish after all and he was generally very kind. <> he chirped encouragingly to Jubilee, <>

Tortie and Char signaled their own greetings to the group once they had got their bearings; one did so rather more politely than the other.

'Ahh, well my vote is for the ocean but either would be pleasant, a change from this place certainly!' said Asgard with a bass 'churp!' into the bargain.

Aulus gave a lopsided smile and a lopsided shrug. "Well I don't mind, and it's not like we're only ever going to go to one place. Whichever we don't visit first can be next on the list. Tam?"  

[Gwennythe]

<> Jubilee declared, tactlessly; and then, rather logically despite herself <>
She'd almost totally missed Red, being so focused on Asgard.

Ella gravitated toward Char; the butler-esque demeanor and unfailing politeness suited her, and her quiet, polite, tendencies just fine. She was never sure what to make of Tortie, equating her as a kind of 'furry Neph' in some ways, but even with the spider, she knew her well enough to predict near every way the arachnid might react... She couldn't say the same of the Absol.

Pygi had very very little experience with attention of the nature that Red was presenting her with, but it seemed nice, at least? She chirped an appreciative extra greeting and fluffed herself up, in case it was a custom that her mother hadn't gotten around to teaching her about.

"Hm. Well, you know the plains from Jinko go all the way out to the shore; there's beach with miles of plains right behind it in a few places... Probably remote enough in a few places for a Lugia to splash about without scrutiny? Could even do both at the same time, that way..." Tambrey mused, rocking her wheel chair back and forth a little, looking over Aulus pokémon, and considering who else to bring out.
She'd brought Jubilee, because the bug needed more time like this... Pygi to check on her injury... Ella to check how she was after the mission... The next flashes of red revealed Octavia, Tarana, and Palu... Lasi had had more than enough adventure apparently, during her down-time already... Treestar could do with a well earned rest, and Neph... She really didn't feel like trying to deal with Neph while she was wheelchair-bound.

Octavia snorted happily and then frowned worriedly; Tam was injured again... She did far too much of that...

Tarana rushed about from pokémon to pokémon, and to Aulus, to jingle loud greetings at everyone.

Palu... inspected Tambrey carefully, and then turned watchfully to regard Red.  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Paul agreed, being himself rather smaller than the one of the Lugia's eyes. >

Tortie gave a snort of derision and moved over to stand with Aulus, even acknowledging Phaethon with a nod for a change; she might not like the Pony much but they had a common interest in looking after their human friend right now so she was doing her best to be good. Phaethon eyed her for a moment but his feelings were much the same so he didn't subtly try to stand on her paws or anything.

Char rumbled and bobbed his head to Ella, covering a yawn politely as she approached and stretching out his wings. <> he bowed his head slightly, <>

Red turned to fluff up her feathers at the newly manifested pokemon, giving a her long crest a toss for good measure; did they see how fantastic she was? Surely the lady also saw! There was of course another female flying type around but Red didn't think much of the lesser evolved of her kind.

'Well that sounds perfect then,' Asgard nodded, 'when do we leave?'

Aulus gave a half laugh and shook his head. "Not for a good while yet I'm afraid, Tam and I have healing to do. It takes us a lot longer than it does you lot." Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to be a pokemon. He had wondered that a lot more when he'd been young, well maybe daydreamed was a better term; he'd usually been a Rapidash, but sometimes - predictably - he had been some kind of legendary pokemon or combination of several pokemon. "We will go through, as soon as we can," Aulus continued after a brief pause, shaking himself out of vague reminiscence. "It'll do us all good I think."  

[Gwennythe]

Jubilee considered the things Paul told her...
A friend not eating a friend made sense; the wild pokemon that didn't want to eat her were as close to 'friend' as she'd known before finding herself in the base after all...
<> She understood that Palu and Pygi wouldn't eat her, but she remembered wild birds eating bugs, and she didn't really know Red...

<> The Lairon offered to Char, pleasantly. <>

Tarana, Pygi, and Palu all had their attention on Red, though the former just took her display for an invitation to come and jingle his bell ever more loudly at her. The latter was keeping an eye on Red and her daughter.

Octavia stayed near Tambrey, with her eyes somewhat locked on Asgard; the pony was rather enamored with the giant fish-bird; he looked very graceful.

Tambrey grinned at Asgard and gestured at her wheelchair.
"For one, I have to ditch this thing, and for two, the doctor-y people have to allow the both of us humans out again... We're kinda grounded." She agreed with Aulus. "We're doing our best to get better fast, but we don't /quite/ have your kind of healing factor yet... Nor bottles of potions that work quite as well..." Sure, Synth and ilk like it /might/ lead to something one day, she supposed... but she was painfully aware that such things were limited right now... Her recovery, though it hadn't been quite as much time yet, was -definitely- happening at a slower rate than she'd encountered after the Keldeo mission.
"I think," she ventured "I'll... stop by home just for quick visit, when we do get to go, though... Maybe on the way back. I think that might do me good as well..."  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Paul shifted and glanced over at Red. <> He suspected that this was mainly because Aulus wouldn't let her.

Char nodded his agreement and set about stretching the rest of himself out; that had been a good sleep.

Red squarked at Tarana, flaring out her wings impressively; she wasn't going to lose this competition! Whatever it was! Noise making! "Pidgeoooooooooooo!"

'You two need to stop getting blown up,' Asgard said wryly with a shake of his head. 'It's a bad habit you know.'

Aulus had been about to reply to Asgard but then he registered the rest of what Tam had said and turned back to her instead. "Yeah?... Might be a good idea." He kind of missed his own family sometimes, well other than his sister anyway, but they were all a long way off and he hadn't told them he'd lost an arm so seeing them was kind of out of the question until he worked out how to come clean. "I can wait for you somewhere?" he continued after a moment, his tones clearly seeking a steer on whether or not this was what Tam wanted.  

[Gwennythe]

"Unless you want to come in... My mum's pretty easy going but she'd probably try to feed you..." Tambrey replied, confident that her cover would hold up fine... Missing an arm was probably, by now, a perfectly reasonable thing to expect of her colleague's, by her mum's expectations, given how often Tam'd been injured (and not even half of it had -actually- been relayed to her).
She was aware, however (and in no small part because she suspected she would be) that some people were nervous around meeting the relative's of others, or simply weren't comfortable with it, so she didn't push for an answer either way.
"We do, it is." Asgard, at least, got grin, and a joking response back "But, you know, it's like that crisp advert... the pringles? How does it go? 'Once you pop, you just can't stop..?'" Terrible, she knew, but it amused her a bit.

Tarana was /delighted/ by Red's response, though instead of a competition, he saw a game to play... He tried to match Red's level of noise with his bell, and 'mimic', as close as was reasonable with a bell, aspects of the Pidgeot's cry.

Palu narrowed her eyes; she didn't approve of all the noise at all.
Pygi, however, seemed somewhat amused, if baffled.

<> Jubilee squeaked in alarm as Tarana and Red... did whatever it was they were doing. <>  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus was not at all sure how he felt about that offer, he certainly hadn't expected it. "Um," he blinked and rubbed the back of his neck, "well I.... don't know if you really want to introduce me to your relatives. Uh. But... if you don't think they'll either hate me or be too suspicious then sure." It was a kind offer, he didn't want to just rebuff it because he was nervous of the idea.

'I have no idea, I've never seen a pringle,' Asgard replied, amused. 'I follow the joke though! Just be careful not to pop off your mortal coil.'

"Shuffle," Aulus corrected, "it's shuffle off your mortal coil."

Red screeched louder still and flapped her wings; she was the biggest! She was!

Tortie's eye narrowed, she was far less impressed by the racket than Tarana was.

<> Paul replied over the racket. <always good!>>  

[Gwennythe]

"I don't think she'll find you suspicious," was it a bad idea to make an 'armless' joke? Probably... "I think she'll," Very bad idea, choose something else "like you." That was safer, and probably true. "Plus, you can meet Ratta. He's older than I am, I think, but still pretty playful."
She winced a little at the ever-increasing noise... Should she tell Tarana off? Probably... But then it might seem like she was telling Red off, and that might be awkward...
"Really? Huh. I guess it would be awkward to have you out of your ball for movies and things... That's generally when Pringles are eaten, I think, but yep, the phrase is 'shuffle'... I don't know why?" She looked to Aulus to see if he knew the origin; it just seemed like something he might have picked up.

Tarana hopped up and down in delight, chiming as loud as he could; now it almost sounded like he was bells sounding in celebration of the large screeching bird...

<> Jubilee found herself raising her voice louder and louder to talk over the noisy pair <>

Palu had had quite enough and screeched her own noise, sharp, short and sudden, in a demand for quiet from the bell and larger bird.  

[TawnyAngel]

Red squawked back at Paul, fluffing herself up bigger than ever and-

She was hit with a beam of red light as Aulus lost patience. "Sorry about that," he muttered with a frown, "she gets... competitive. One of these days she'll learn to curb the shrieking though, operant conditioning and all." Red was certainly not the brightest of his pokemon and some of her bad habits were proving hard to brake, mainly the showing off thing really.

"Well, anyway... if you're sure," Aulus continued after a pause with a little hesitancy. "I mean, might do your family good to see that you've got real living friends at your apparently insanely dangerous job?... Err, or I can be a friend from outside work. Whatever, we can work up a story." Something that was better than 'secret crime fighting organization' couldn't be too difficult to concoct between them. "Err, and I think the phrase 'shuffled off this mortal coil' was Shakespeare originally, but I was referring to the dead parrot sketch." He remembered his sister informing him of that fact contemptuously quite clearly now he thought about it, the phrase 'uncultured swine' had featured.

As the loudness finally stopped Paul relaxed and gave a sigh of relief. <Loudly.>> Paul wouldn't say a bad word about anyone but his tones made it clear that he did not enjoy Red's behavior.

'Dead... parrot? Okaaaaaaaaay.' The fluffy crests above Agard's eyes raised.  

[Gwennythe]

Palu watched Red with a skeptical eye as she fluffed herself up; bigger and evolved or not, Palu felt she'd been around long enough to deal with such birds... and then Red was gone.
Well that was okay then.
Now it was just the bell to deal with... Tarana had forgotten to shut up when Red vanished.
Palu made her way over, bent down, and gently pecked the little psychic type on the head; she knew he wasn't a show off, he was just an idiot, and so she was a little less sharp in dealing with the little thing.

It seemed to work as Tarana stopped ringing loudly, tilted his whole body up to look above and behind him, and waved a stubby little arm at Palu with a huge grin.
The Pigeotto rolled her eyes.

Pygi winced when Red vanished. Well, she was glad he mother wasn't trying to pick a fight with her, now, but apart from being noisy, Red seemed nice.

Ella breathed a sigh of relief and then straightened up immediately.
<>

"It's okay... Um," Tambrey gave a sheepish grin "Sorry about Tarana? He's... not competitive, he's just... He thinks noise is the correct response to everything. He's a bell..." She finished, lamely- it was, of course, pretty obvious that Tarana was, indeed, a bell.
"Inside work could, uh, work... Mum thinks pokémon research takes me out into the wild all the time and that's where the injuries keep comin' from... Falls and wild pokémon and the like. She already thinks there's a proper research team and campsites and the like, so... well, something'll work... Oh!" She smiled then, and wheeled herself better to face Asgard.
"Has he not shown you Python? Wait, that's a stupid question, how'd you fit in a rec' room... Uh... We've got to get a TV or something hooked into a training room one day; I bet you'd really like Monty Python..." Her tone hadn't really... changed much at all from conversing from Aulus, human, to addressing Asgard, the giant fish-bird, about Monty Python, except for true geeky enthusiasm regarding the latter subject... Team Rocket definitely made the unusual a lot more... commonplace...

<> Jubilee mused on her, so far, mysterious team-mate. Was Tambrey keeping them apart because the older bug was very loud? Or something? Like Red had just been?