[FIN] Call To Aid

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera would have been a poor pupil indeed if she had never so much as seen Ray's workplace in the weeks she spent living with the woman, and as such the brunette was able to give directions to the building. She remained silent while Rosie and Akira talked, and though he looked at her at one point, she did not return the glance nor even give any hint of having noticed that he looked at her.

---

As the group filtered into the small building, Seraphine wasted no time walking up to the counter. She would've much preferred just heading out before, but someone had to suggest getting directions - not that she wanted to admit it was a good idea, even though it was - and she had absolutely no desire to dither and wait around longer than they had to. "We're not here for a tour," she said to the older man as if that should've been obvious, "we're here to find Ray. We haven't heard from her in a couple of weeks after she went to check some stuff out - some missing people and a fire or something." That said, she stopped and awaited his response, fully expecting a detailed answer to her statements that weren't even questions. Obviously he would know exactly what to say and how much to say about exactly what they wanted to hear.


If Nicolette were more bold, she would have begun talking - but to the group, to ask their opinions on what to say and ask, and who should be the one to speak to the gentleman who was obviously in charge, but she had hardly any time to think of anything before Seraphine approached the counter and addressed the proprietor. Instead of focusing on that though, she glanced around at the others gathered around to try to find something she could help with - making even moderately important decisions on her own was definitely not one of her strong points - and her gaze settled on Luke. He was, she believed, still recovering, and thus she didn't know how long he could walk or stand around without resting, and thus she moved to his side to ask quietly, "How are you doing?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Reply to Sera's questions

The man's eyes fell onto Sera as she walked over, a light frown on his face "Sera, you back?" He said with a twitch from the corner of his mouth and a sigh.

Her question drew a confused frown. "finding Ray? Why would I know where Ray is? She ain't working again till the summer."
Though another raised eyebrow. "She went after Colin you say? Are you kiddin'? That boy didn't know his flint from a rock, heavens know why I hired him, favor to his 'Pop I guess, 'least he was good with people. Made em smile"
The mans hands folded on the counter "Breaks my heart that he went missing, just kinda gatta hope he ran off to the city where he belongs.
Are you sure Ray ain't just going it in the wild for a while? you know she does that."

He drew himself up again, his hands resting on the counter. the older man wore a deep from on his lips, running a callused and rugged hand over his forehead "A fire you say?"  

[Gwennythe]

While Sera and the man talked, Lin, with Jeeve's on his good shoulder, wandered toward the map on the wall and began to look it over.
He didn't really need to hear about fires.
But he knew about hiding from people.
Rockets would hide.
Lin looked at the map, most ignoring the highlighted trail, and focusing on those that looked 'less traveled' and yet still were marked.

He coughed a little and sighed. Maybe he would have to think about fire after all.
"Fire. Yes. Wouldn't be able to point it out on here by any chance?"
The boy jabbed a thumb at the map, looking toward where Sera and the man conversed, then stepped slightly away.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Response to Lin

The man moved his gaze from Sera to the young man inspecting the map.
"What in blazes are you guys talking about? A fire." He glanced to the map that Lin was indicating "Are ya talking about a mine fire, boy?"

He paused, narrowing his eyes slightly as if trying to understand what they were talking about "Are you guys talkin about that bitty one in the mountains we heard about two weeks ago?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke had been fairly confident in his ability to persevere, bringing the cane along mostly as a precaution, but Sagestone's uneven terrain made the short walk to the tour building much more difficult than he would have expected. He was glad he had had the foresight to pocket a small bottle of anti-inflammatory medication from the variety of prescriptions he had amassed; he had no intention of slowing the group down at a time like this. It was through that determination that he summoned a smile in response to Nicolette, nodding his assurance, "I'm all right."

The questions about the fire didn't seem to be getting much of a response from the man, unfortunately, and Luke wondered if the fire in question hadn't been noteworthy enough for Sagestone's locals to remember. The conclusion the man seemed to draw, however, seemed promising. "Around the time one of the employees disappeared," he contributed, lining up the two week estimate with another event that had been mentioned. "The smoke in the mountains - did you see it? Do you remember where it was?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

The wish pokemon hung about the walls of the group, looking over to maps with Lin, the little legendary hovering by his shoulder as she tried to make sense of what the boy was studying. It looked gibberish to her. then again most everything did.

Response to Luke
As the question was narrowed down and clarified by the red head, the peppered haired man looked to the boy with a growing frown.
"Yeah I know that one." He replied, giving Sera a deeper frown and a look that said 'was that so hard?'
"I didn't see it myself, but I heard from the rangers about it, said it was probably from the old abandoned mines up further in the mountains. won't there long before the weather went and took care of it from spreading. What was the Rangers worry at first."

As Lin had asked before, the man walked around the counter to the map that was splayed.
His finger moved up along the trails, up to the higher point of the mountains quite a distance away from the town itself. his finger circled an estimated aria within the mine lines and forest.
"He said it looked to be coming from this aria here."
Again he frowned, looking between Lin, Sera and Luke "Why do you think Ray cared about that?"

The group has now achieved a location  

[Gwennythe]

Lin still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the little legendary.
It was... adorable. Point in favour, and yet it could 'detect feelings' or something like that? That was rather... eerie.
Plus it could do things that he just wasn't used to pokémon being able to do...
Still, the thing was cute.
"Hello." He greeted it, with a quick smile, as it hovered close by.
Jeeves offered a slight, cautious, bow.

Lin wasn't really sure if they were supposed to discuss too much with, even, people who worked with the woman... Nor did he really know her.
His offer was a shrug.
"She, uh, likes pokémon right? A lot of pokémon live in old mines... Maybe she was worried about a Zubat colony or something?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke wasn't sure if the details of their expedition were secret or not, but Lin's suggestion was certainly a much easier explanation than their actual reason, so he nodded his confirmation, "Yeah, she mentioned something about that. We thought we would hear back from her much sooner, so we're just going to make sure nothing happened." He noted the area the man indicated on the map, turning to retrieve one of the pocket-sized maps from the brochure stand and pausing when he realized the possibility that they were items for sale. "Is it all right to take one of these?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Lin and Luke

He made a soft snorting sound "Yeah... that sounds like her." He noted. crossing his arms. "Was that all you needed?"

Luke

As he picked up one of the maps and asked for it, the man watched him, and with a nod of his head "for five bucks. yes."

Luke has obtained one map.

When she was greeted verbally, along with a feeling of intrigue and something a bit unsettled from the young man she was floating by the Jirachi turned to him sharply, staring at him for a couple of seconds as if studying him close before she spoke herself "Do you have a name too? Like Luke, and like Alder?"

Everyone

George watched Luke with the map, looking between all the younger faces, and the older ones as well "So that's a lot of land you're heading into, you know how to navigate it right? with that map? don't want to go hearing some kids got lost in the mountains again."

Obstacle Three:
You know where you need to get, Does anyone know how to get there?  

[Gwennythe]

"Don't suppose you sell compasses?" Lin called, as he heard the man talking about them getting lost. To be honest, he wasn't worried. Some people had flying types, he had Moriko... but it would be nice to be able to find the place, uh, easily, and he knew, from stories, that adventuring parties used compasses... So it seemed like a good request.

That done, he turned back to the legendary and nodded, with a bit of surprise, possibly, showing in his face.
"Well. Yes. Everyone has a name. This is Jeeves..." He introduced the grass type first, who bowed again, from the boy's shoulder "And I'm Lin. How come we don't know your name?" It hadn't occurred to him that such a human-comfortable pokémon might not have one.
Even if he'd given them the name, all the pokémon he'd known in the woods around home had had them, if he saw them often enough.  

[Suudonym]

Holding onto the map, he retrieved his wallet to pay the cost. With Leste and the other flying types, he assumed getting impossibly lost wouldn't be a major concern, though as Lin inquired after a compass, he was struck with a memory. "Actually," he pulled his pokegear from his pocket, unhooking the black compass that had been clipped to it, "I've got one of those. Sera, you do too, right?" It was an awfully long time ago that Ray had insisted they learn to navigate with a compass and map, equipping them to do so, and at the time Luke had doubted that the knowledge would ever be terribly relevant. The compass, attached to his pokegear to keep it somewhere nearby while it wasn't in use, had only remained where he had put it because it would have been somewhat of a pain to remove. Apparently that inconvenience was becoming a convenience; for once he kind of felt marginally useful.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The man's response to her presence vaguely insulted her, and she condescended to offer him a frosty glare and thereafter kept her mouth shut while others asked questions. As Luke asked her something directly, though, she shifted her attention to him with a much more amiable expression than the one she'd offered the man. A quick mental check lead to her shaking her head once. "No, it's back at home somewhere," she replied as she moved to join the redhead, her pale eyes shifting down to the map in his hand and commented in displeased tones, "That little map better be made of gold or something." Seriously - that much for that little thing? Everyone knew stuff in brochure displays was supposed to be free. "C'mon, let's get out of here."  

[Kitomyx]

While everyone had been talking and discussing things such as the map, Akira had been standing off to the side and inspecting the objects around the room. One of them in particular - the towel - caught his eye. He knew he was pretty ignorant when it came to outdoor activities and the like, but he couldn't imagine what someone would have needed a towel for. There didn't seem to be any swimming involved in any of the activities portrayed on the pictures of people all around.

"Um, excuse me," he spoke up, peering over and through people in an attempt to address someone who worked there. "But, uh...may I ask what that towel is for?" He felt a little bad drawing attention to himself when he'd kind of been off in his own world since they entered the room, but his curiosity was stronger than his shame or embarrassment.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Blinking, with a light tilt of her head, she looked from the boy, "Lin" and the pokemon with him "And Jeeves." She didn't know what Jeeves was, but she knew he was a pokemon, becasue he looked differently from the humans.

Her head tilted the other way when she was asked her name not even pausing before she replied with "I don't know." she replied truthfully "If we find where I came from though, maybe if my friend is still there, then they can tell me."

Rosie was certainly not worried about getting lost, but the fact that he made mention that it was a distance away, she had to wonder how they would find it in the stretch of wood and mountain.
Thankfully that was answered rather quickly when Lin mentioned a Compass, and in response to it Luke pulled one out.
"Oohh, Do you know how to use it?" she asked, impressed.
She knew he always had it on there, but she wasn't sure where it came from, or if he actually used it before.
If he did, then it would certainly answer their navigation problem!

Luke
George took the money, and held his hand out for the map "No its not made of gold, but you know how long it takes to draw up something like this? and you wanna know WHO drew up something like this?" he jabbed a thumb in his chest as Sera's comment "So five bucks, is a steal."

He turned back to Luke gesturing to see the map "Let me go and mark on where you wanna go"

Akira

Looking back over his shoulder at the towels then back at the person who asked about them "Some of our tours take you to underground springs and pools. depending on what guide you've got, you can get pretty wet if you're not careful."

Lin

"why yes! We have some compass for sale" He said, slapping a hand on the glass case that held an assortment of them. "What kind you looking for?"  

[Suudonym]

Well, he wasn't surprised. Seraphine hadn't seem especially interested in the matter of compasses and their use, and honestly that was so long ago that Luke's would have been at home as well if he hadn't decided to keep it with something as essential as his pokegear.

He nodded in response to Rosie, smiling lightly, "Yeah, Ray showed me and Sera how to use them, a long time ago."

He offered the map gladly when it was requested, "Thank you."