[PRP] Red Sucks, Sorry(not sorry)

[Venti Mico]

Climbing the ladder would usually be what put a smug grin on one newly appointed Grunt's face. A small jump, but a jump nonetheless, and now she wasn't at the bottom of any toting pole. Maybe she was a little happy about that too, but for the most part she was relieved to have turned in her Trainee uniform and been given a nice black uniform that truly wasn't her style, but didn't turn her into a small(excuse me, average to tall, for those in denial) red pop-sickle.

Truly the best part about being a Grunt was being able to get out of the base without supervision. Aija didn't have much knowledge of the area, and she had no idea how to drive a car(the cars here were weird anyway), so in the time she'd been a Grunt she'd only managed one trip out to the nearest town, and hadn't bought much. New lip gloss. Still bright pink. Perfect. Also cheap.

Head high, back straight, and shoulders squared(as much as someone who looked 12 could manage), Aija headed towards the cafe to see if she might possibly harass someone into making piragi. With no luck there, Aija settled for a sandwich and a soda, plopping down into a seat and reading over a book she'd borrowed. She was dressed simply in a white tank top and brown shorts, her hair mostly loose but wrapped in a partial bun to keep it a few inches higher than the ground(no one here was as good at mopping as her, ew). Aija sat crosslegged on her chair, mumbling quiet translations of the book in Latvian and picking at her sandwich.  

[Gwennythe]

Why did people /insist/ on pulling and yanking and hitting things to fix them when they didn't know how they worked? A stiff tap plus the meaty fist of some brutish grunt had resulted in a rather wet bathroom.

Yet again, Clancy had discovered, a lack of knowledge on a colleague's part, regarding how to turn the water off. In fact, once again, it didn't even seem to have occurred to them.

Still, it was an easy fix; turn the water off, remove what the panicked grunt had tried to jam into the tap to cut the water off, replace tap lever with added lubrication, done... -But- it was also a very wet job, with the pressure, apparently, high enough to shoot the water into the air with the addition of the... He wasn't even sure what it had been, actually; looked kind of like a marble or a glass bottle stopper... Oh well....
The result had been that Clancy had gotten very wet. Sure, he'd dried himself off as best he could with a towel, but he had so much more work to do, and no time to go and change -and- eat and besides, he was more hungry than concerned about being wet... Not that he had much to change into anyway right now; he was on duty, and laundry was a thing unfinished...

Thus, a rather damp Clancy arrived, and decided to plonk himself, unceremoniously, and without greeting, uninvited, on Aija's table, where he proceeded to drip while he ate a sandwich that, to be honest, he wasn't even sure he could identify the filling.  

[Venti Mico]

...Soggy people were not people Aija liked, especially not when she was enjoying(read: tolerating) a meal. On her day off, nonetheless. "Hey hey hey, what is big idea? Dripping on my table?" She asked, frowning and sticking her bookmark into her book. She gave the guy a good look, he did not seem like he'd had a good day so far.

Upon further inspection, Aija realized she knew this guy. "Oh! Wait! I know you! You are big rude funny man, the toting pole guy!" Instantly, her demeanor changed, and she was on her knees to lean across the table to get a better look at him. "What happened to you, did you get in losing fight with showers?" She couldn't help but grin at Clancy, though she slid her own sandwich farther away, just in case he decided to drip on it.  

[Gwennythe]

"No big idea, just drippin'." Clancy supplied, at first, without much else of an explanation offered until Aija recognised him and was suddenly 'inspecting' him.

"Hey, hey, watch the grub!" He moved his own sandwich too, apparently just in case pink hair became part of the filling.
"Aye, toting poles, 's me." He offered a rueful grin back and then looked down at his wet uniform as she asked what had happened, giving a soggy shrug.
"Somethin' like that, luv. Bloody idiot decided the best way to fix delicate plumbing was to, A, give it a bloody good whack, then, B, stuff some random doodad inside it... Course, I get sent to fix the damned thing, get m'self an extra shower... How's your day goin'?"  

[Venti Mico]

Aija plopped back into her seat with a laugh. "Do not worry, I do not want your gross sandwich in my hair! My hair is clean for once!"

She listened to his story and couldn't help but grin. "Mister Fish," Fish was a much cooler name than Eel, Aija thought, "You keep getting short end of the stick. Or... short end of broom stick. Am glad to see your face is better!" And maybe he even learned a lesson about patronizing not-short-totally-average-height people. "My day? Oh, it is going! Slow, really. Day off but I did not make plans, so I am staying on base. Ah, hold on, please!" Aija hopped off her seat and scurried towards the cafeteria line again, grabbing a large handful of napkins before walking back over to Clancy and patting his head and face with them. "Your day does not sound so great, but have you never learned of a 'towel'?" she asked with a grin.  

[Gwennythe]

"Hrm. Well, clean or not, I don't much fancy hackin' up pink hairballs, n'matter how bloomin' clean it is, thanks..." He grumbled a little, but without much feeling beyond the complaint; complaining just to complain was nice sometimes, he thought.

He snorted and smirked as Aija commented on the story, and his face, apparently choosing not to correct the name.
"Aye, it's feelin' better, thanks luv; you left a good mark for a few days though- lot 'f power behind such a sm- er," He paused, he didn't want to be hit again "Anyway... Er, alright..." He blinked and watched the pink-haired grunt scurry off after telling him about her day off...
"Hey, hey! Watcha doin'?! Course I learned of a towel, just don't have one right now... 'Sides, I'm only going to go and get bloody wet again after this, most likely, right? What's a bit o' water gonna harm me?"  

[Venti Mico]

"Whatever you say, Fishman!" Aija said, rolling her eyes. When he almost said that... forbidden word, Aija gave him a small glare, but quickly switched off to her usual cheerful smile. She liked a guy that learned fast!

"I may have overdone it small amount, it is getting to feel very squished in here. Er... there is phrase for it, I believe... 'cooped in'? Yes, I am feeling very cooped in, so perhaps I beat you up too much! It gets very boring, yes," she said, patting his cheek with a napkin deliberately, almost like she was sorry for smacking him so hard... but also, not really. "Well! Perhaps it would have been good for you to find towel! Who would it harm for you to dry your head? Hm? No one! You will just make mopping harder! Leaving big puddles!" Aija patted his head a few more times with the napkins, then set the down on the table so he could continue on his own. She hopped back to her seat, shaking her head. "Besides, if big important people see you, Agents for example, what if they get bad idea of you? Think, 'oh, this guy, he is all wet. Does not care about appearings. Probably lazy!', and then you will be stuck on bottom of toteming pole forever. You wish to be trainee for ever?" She asked, arms crossed.  

[Gwennythe]

Fishman? He looked perplexed, and slightly concerned for a moment; 'Mister Fish' was one thing, but 'fishman' sounded like some weird kind of... comic book monster or something. He hoped she didn't keep that one.
He caught the glare though and left off commenting; tiny killing machines that didn't like being called anything small, or short, or little.... or things about height... He'd try to remember that a little better.
Still, a glare was better than getting another punch, at least.

"Hrm. Well, I'll try to avoid suffering any more of your bloomin' 'cooped in' wrath... And, yeah, I guess that's a point, but then me bloody towels gonna get wet, right? So what 'appens if I dry m'self, and then I get that towel wet, and then -I- get wet? Now I'm back at the flaming start and draggin' a wet towel 'bout, see?" He had to concede, though, she did have a couple of good points...  

[Venti Mico]

Aija rolled her eyes dramatically, picking up her sandwich and taking a big bite out of it. "You are just trying to come up with silly excuses, jeez! Would think you like being dripping wet!" She scoffed, with a mouth full of food. She swallowed before she continued, "See, here is trick! First, you find trainee, it is best to get one who is feeble-minded, and also easy to control! Then you will be all, 'hello! You will be my towel person now. Follow me with fresh towels. Thanks!', and then you have solution! See? Is great, plus then you are showing leadership! ...Er, kind of." Aija paused, furrowing her brows, considering if she might start bossing around trainees to show off her excellent leadership skills. It might also make her look bad, though; she'd have to think on that one.

"You are close to promotion, are you not? So you will have your pick of trainees! There is also this one, he is grunt, but..." she leaned in, putting a hand to her mouth and whispering like it was a most important secret, "He is very tall and has mean face, but he is total pushing over! You ask nice, he will do whatever. It is great. Hard to miss, very tall guy, long hairs." She winked at Clancy as if to say, go find this guy, he'll be your towel boy day and night if you asked nice enough!  

[Gwennythe]

"Well, maybe I do?" He didn't, but he felt like playing the point anyway, before he leaned forward a little, as she began to outline her 'towel-person' plan.

"Yeah, maybe, but ain't that a little, uh... risky? I dunno if the 'igher ups'd appreciate me stepping out of my bloody rank just to acquire a towel servant, right? Might make 'em think I need others to lump my stuff around, or I can't do the ruddy jobs on me own, see? I'm pretty close, I think, but, y'know, that kinda makes me even more flamin' reluctant... Don't want to jeopardize my move up inta black scrubs, y'see? Gettin' a little tired of the red."  

[Venti Mico]

Aija listened and her face began to fall slightly, she slunk back into her chair with furrowed brows. "Ah. Right. I knew it was sounding somewhat... off. Hm. Will decide this plan was bad! Do not do it, Fishsticks, or you will be stuck in htose ugly red clothings forever!" She declared, shaking her head. Maybe she hadn't thought that plan through, but she got some feedback and sorted it out. This Clancy guy, she liked him a little more, he was smart. "Instead, train pokemon to carry your towels. Much better plan, yes." She looked over Clancy and his damp red uniform, and had to shake her head again.

"You know, the red is very ugly, good reason to move up sooner. No offense to, er, your hair or anything..." Aija glanced up at Clancy's hair; at least the white bit was cool, but she had a vendetta against red. "The uniforms would have done much better if they were to be pink. Pink is a good colour! Or perhaps blue? I suppose it is less intimidating, blue is..." That wasn't a biased statement, oh not at all.  

[Gwennythe]

"Well, the plan wasn't tha- Er. Right, the pokémon plan is better; but I ain't got anything b'yond Mircalla and she's not gonna be doin' no carrying, she's a bloody fish and... Wait; Fishsticks? What? I'm not bloody- how did you even get 'Fishsticks'?"

He shook his head, apparently rather side-tracked and distracted by this new monicker. Nope, he did not like this one. In fact, he felt he probably liked it even less than 'Fishman'...

"Eh, none... taken? I don't flaming like the red they use either, luv; b'sides, red hair, red scrubs? 'M like a bloody, living tomato or somethin'... I dunno if I'd like pink either, mind? Wouldn't wanna go about lookin' like some kind of bloomin' Pippin'stuff, or whatever that damned pink thing's called..." Wait, she'd said blue wasn't intimidating as well as saying red was ugly... Did she /know/? Was that deliberate?
Clancy eyed the grunt suspiciously for a moment.
"Kinda depends who's wearin' it, though, right?"  

[Venti Mico]

Aija laughed, slapping her leg at Clancy's reaction to 'fishsticks'. "I thought it was creative! Eel, fish, fishman, fishsticks... what am I supposed to call you, hm? How about Fish Tacos! Or Sea Cucumber... or, um... Sea Sponge. Because you soaked up all that water, like a sponge! Hahah!" Frankly, she thought she was hilarious.

"Pah! I do not wish to hear it, I looked ridiculous in the red! Tomatoes are at least delicious, I only looked like a disaster. A bad disaster! Not a cool one!" Aija shook her head; red was not and would never be her colour. Not that she could really wear pink that often either, it never meshed well with all the pink she already had... but wait, what was that? Aija perked at the look Clancy had given her. She'd hit something, but what? Did he like blue a lot? 'Depends on who's wearin' it', hm. Aija was quiet for a second, then grinned.

"Oh, no. I'd say blue is a rather..." She paused, thinking of the right word to use as bait. "...Weak. At least it is pretty, yes?" She had absolutely no idea what this sea cucumber's deal with blue was, but it was always fun to find out.  

[Gwennythe]

"Or you could just stick with Eel, y'know? Hah, yeah... Bloody hilarious. I don't think I like either 'f those, either."
He deadpanned some, and near enough groaned the rest; Sea cucumber? Sea Sponge? This was getting worse!

Ah, moving onto the reds and the blues again; at least it got her away from the silly names.

"Red, pink? I dunno about a disaster, but I guess you looked kinda like a ruddy dessert o' some kind. Cherry or somethin'..." Oh, and the blue thing again.
"Nah, see, 'cuz blue's the colour of the ocean, right? Ain't much more powerful than that; minces up rocks and carves chunks outta the coastline. Give it enough bloody time and water'll eat through anything, see?"  

[Venti Mico]

"Just Eel? But it is so boring... you should embrace better name, perhaps it can become new codename! Sea cucumber, it is very fitting you know!" She had no chance keeping a straight face at that. "...But, I will call you Mr. Eel right now, because I am very nice. Only counts for now though, not tomorrow or anything!"

"Cherry? Eh, I do not know, I do know it is way too much, too much! You though, you only have short hair, so if you were to wear much pink you would look great. Perhaps we can see about making you a pink uniform! You would be very terrifying, you know. I could be your partner, and then we could be very scary together! Except, I will wear not pink. Or red. That is rule." A very serious rule, at that. She'd be happy when she could get to Agent, as their uniform was much nicer than red; black at least looked nice.

"Jeez, you are so defensive of your blue. Favourite colour? All this ocean talk, it reminds me of those weirdos a while back... er, who were they? Am sure they were defeated. The water Team Rocket." She had barely known anything about them. "So! Were you surfer or a water Rocket, or are you really a sea cucumber?" She asked with a snort.