[Fin] Curriculum Vitae

[TawnyAngel]

A long figure sat in the warm orange light of late afternoon on a convenient bench facing the great tower, atop which was his reason for being here in Kodo. While it was his reason for being here Taavi was quite practical enough to know that it was not a means for being here. He needed a job. He sighed and turned the page of the local paper's job ads section. It made for pretty depressing reading. After having done a job he loved the idea of returning to retail or another job in the service industry gave him a sinking feeling of failure and a faint sense of panic. Had he made a mistake after all? They'd all said he'd regret it.

Taavi sighed, folded the paper up, rubbed his face amd he sat with his face in his hands. A long future of minimum wage work full of middle class people shouting at him stretched away ahead of him, yet....

He raised his head again and looked up at the tower. Wasn't it worth it, for that? He'd stick a terrible job out for now - once he found one - and eventually something better would probably come along but even if it didn't he was here....

...He was here on the docks in the evening with no idea where he was going to sleep tonight. He should really do something about that or he was going to end up sleeping in the park, a much more worrying prospect to him than sleeping in the wilds would be.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

A Charmeleon, her hide mottled over with bright greens and yellows, crept forward towards the back of the bench, studying the human sitting on it with intense interest. Also of interest was the paper he set down next to him - delightfully flammable paper - so she crept further forward and slunk her head through the space between the back of the bench and the seat to try and sink her teeth into the paper he'd been reading. The whole time she moved, she didn't take her bright yellow eyes off of him.  

[TawnyAngel]

Taavi sensed movement beside him and turned at just about the same moment as Valour dropped out of the sky and landed on the bench with a thump that made it shake slightly.

<> he said firmly, in regards to the paper the Charmeleon was holding in her teeth. <>

Taavi meanwhile had got to his feet quickly and turned to face the unfamiliar pokemon; another strange looking one! It seemed that aberrant colours and indeed physical forms were more common around here than normal pokemon were! Well, nearly. It was a stunning specimen, no denying that... and it had his paper. To be fair he had got it from somebody in the park who had finished it but it was still his and he still needed that jobs section!

"Ah, hello, you're a very fine looking Charmeleon." Taavi waved Valour back - the Braviary hopped backwards off the bench onto the ground with a displeased fluff of his feathers - and regarded the Charmeleon carefully, watching for any slight tick that would indicate it was about to attack. "There's a bit of that paper I need, you can have the rest if you want once I've taken it out?" Was it wild? You didn't tend to get wild Charmelon in cities, especially not ones like that!  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The abrupt entrance of the Braviary made the fire-type turn her head a bit to regard him, but neither his words nor the human's seemed to faze her even a little. She merely blinked at them, her gaze flicking from one to the other and she chewed on the paper for a brief moment. The Charmeleon blinked and, after a few seconds, her nostrils flared a tiny bit, eyes narrowed, and the odd-looking expression remained for a few moments before she suddenly sneezed. The normally innocent action had lost its innocence, unfortunately for Taavi, when it caused flames to briefly erupt from her jaws, flicker around her teeth, and blanket the paper. She sniffled once and blinked; while the unintentional flames had ceased as quickly as they'd appeared, the paper was, unfortunately, still on fire. She didn't seem to notice - or if she did notice, she didn't seem to care.  

[TawnyAngel]

"Oh. Well that's...." Taavi sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck. "Great." The paper didn't seem to be in danger of setting light to anything else so he just watched it burn; there wasn't a lot of chance of saving any significant portion of it and he didn't want to aggravate the Charmelon, he might end up on fire himself if he did that. Losing the paper wasn't the end of the world really, he doubted there was anything it he couldn't find online, but he was still reluctant to turn his pokegear back on. After a moment of thought Taavi stooped to pick up his backpack and swung the hefty thing over his shoulder, if the Charmelon set fire to that then he really was in trouble.

Valour glowered at the Charmelon. <> he accused. <>  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His dejection meant nothing to Elizabeth, who merely watched him curiously, the burning paper still held in her teeth. As he'd seemed to relinquish it to her, she decided to chew on it a bit. Luckily none of the fire had spread to the bench or the dock - not yet, at least - and as the bird glared at her and spoke, she merely tilted her head curiously but otherwise didn't respond.

The swift patter of furry paws darting across the boards beneath their feet signaled the approach of a second pokemon - a darkly-colored Growlithe this time - and it halted abruptly near the small group. His appearance elicited an actual reaction from the Charmeleon, who brightened and made a pleased noise, to which he responded with a frustrated growl - a frustrated growl that sounded as if he'd made the same noise many times before and would make it many more times after. <Elizabeth,> he growled, ears flicking back to visually display his displeasure, So saying, he looked from the burning paper to the large bird and unfamiliar human. Not long after him came a normal-colored Zoroark, and though she remained silent, her posture and expression easily conveyed her displeasure at the Charmeleon as well - and she didn't even know what the fire-type had done yet.  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Valour replied, regarding the newcomers with initial caution but relaxing slightly when he took in how they were looking at the Charmeleon; it seemed like they were team-mates or perhaps minders was a better word. <> Valour gestured with his wing to the dark young man beside him. <>

While Taavi of course couldn't understand the conversation he picked up the tone of it and offered the Growlithe and the Zoroark a smile and a wave. "Hi there." He assumed that Valour had done introductions so he didn't feel the need to repeat them, instead he turned his attention back onto the Charmeleon in case it sneezed again.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Zoroark politely raised a paw in greeting to reciprocate Taavi's wave, while the Growlithe pretty much ignored him in favor of focusing on the Braviary. he offered in response as he lifted his nose up a bit, then turned his head a little towards the Zoroark, then glowered at the Charmeleon, The named fire-type still seemed perfectly happy with her head shoved through the space in the bench, either too oblivious to notice or simply completely unfazed by the various looks her companions gave her.

It was around then that a weary-looking blond made his way over, a Cubone hurrying to keep up while attempting to stay hidden behind the human's legs, and a colorful Espeon that trotted on ahead of them. The latter stopped near the group and sighed a tired sigh. The psychic-type asked of the assembled pokemon, even though it was plain to see she'd set something on fire. Again.

Sonia reported readily in her typical quiet, patient tones, and gestured to Taavi as she did so.

the Espeon said as his ears flicked back, then he looked up to the Braviary and the unfamiliar human, he frowned and hesitated while he tried in vain for an accurate - and polite - word.

Caleb supplied helpfully, but the psychic-type shot him a reproachful look.

The blond stopped just behind his pokemon and ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, glancing from Elizabeth and her fiery find to the stranger and his bird. "That's your paper, isn't it," he stated more than asked, his voice sounding just as tired as he looked, but then he amended his statement, "or was, I guess." Not like the thing would be any good to anyone now...  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Valour nodded as the Espeon, Cubone, and then their human friend appeared. <> he added with a glare at Elizabeth. <>

That was quite a little gang of pokemon! The Espeon was frankly beautiful, how many generations of breeding had gone into producing that? Many, he hoped!

"It was, yes," Taavi smiled ruefully at the tired-looking blond; somebody had had a hard day? He didn't want to make it worse by making any kind of a fuss then. "It's okay though I'm sure I can find the stuff I was looking for online I was just, uh, saving battery on my pokegear." That wasn't really the reason of course but he was hardly going to go into his ridiculous woes to a stranger who had very much not asked to hear it. Anyway it was a sensible reason, he wasn't sure when he'd next get a chance to charge it. "Um, so hi, I'm Taavi and this is Valour."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The Cubone responded to the large bird by hiding as fully behind Abel's legs as he could manage.

Caleb said gruffly, but the Espeon shot him another look and opened his mouth to offer a rebuttal, but then shut it again. Elizabeth did similar things often enough that he couldn't in good conscience say otherwise.

he said politely instead, still not appearing entirely pleased with either of his companions at the moment,

It was his paper, and it sounded like he had needed it - unless he could find the same information online. While Abel knew quite well the variety of information one could find online, especially about certain people, he couldn't be sure in this particular instance without stopping to look for himself. Perfect... He could only be glad she hadn't set fire to something more expensive, less replaceable -- his backpack, for example. "No, it isn't okay," he said with a sigh as he lifted a hand to rub two fingers on his eyes, then pinched the bridge of his nose. Wait, introductions? "Uh, gimme a sec," so saying the blond held up one of those fingers, then turned to his wayward pokemon. "Elizabeth, get out of there."

The Charmeleon made a happy noise through the charred paper and attempted to do so, but she hadn't counted on her horns interfering and bumping against the back of the bench. Bewildered at being unable to get her head out, she bumped her head against the seat again and made a confused noise.

The blond just sighed again, but before he could ask, Sonia stepped forward to take the paper from Elizabeth lest she drop the flaming thing onto the bench and set that on fire next, and swiftly handed it to Caleb before she burned herself. The Growlithe deigned to accept it - not without a displeased expression, of course - and Abel stepped close and put his hand atop her head to gently push her out from the space in the bench while avoiding catching her horns on it again. Once free, the fire-type made a gleeful noise in the back of her throat and playfully headbutted her trainer's leg, but he merely frowned down at her. "Elizabeth, I'm disappointed in you." Elizabeth froze. "I thought you were better with that, you know you're not supposed to set other people's stuff on fire. I can't take you anywhere if you're going to start setting fire to other people's things again. I'm very disappointed," he added at the end in a tired, suitably disappointed tone, and for once the Charmeleon reacted. She wilted and fidgeted with her claws and cast her gaze down at the boards between her feet, and a pitiful, upset sound rumbled up from her chest before she shuffled around behind him and the Cubone to stare at anything else except the pokemon or humans. The blond rubbed at his face a bit, sighed, then shoved that hand in his pocket while offering the other to Taavi, "Sorry about that. Nice to meet you, Taavi, Valour," he nodded to both, "I'm Abel. You've already met Elizabeth, but this is Caleb, Sonia, Isaac, and Joel." As he spoke their names, he gestured to each in turn. He paused though and regarded Caleb, who still held the paper that was still on fire but looked a great deal smaller now than it had been originally, and gestured off down the boardwalk, "Do me a favor and go put that out, then toss it, would you?" Caleb made an agreeable whuffing noise around the thing, then turned and trotted down the boards to do so. "Anyway," Abel went on as he turned back to Taavi, "sorry again - I'll buy you a new paper if you want to replace that one."  

[TawnyAngel]

Oh dear. Whatever else could be said for her, it was clear that the Charmeleon known as Elizabeth was not blessed with brains. Taavi managed not to laugh as her trainer helped her get her head out from the gap in the bench and then gave her a stern talking to about her behaviour.

"Oh, no it's no problem," Taavi smiled and shook his head to Abel's offer. "I was actually given it anyway, somebody was done with it and they were going to throw it away so, well, I haven't lost anything really. Anyway like I say I can just go online, it's probably a better way to job hunt anyway." Was Abel local? He looked local, that was he looked pretty comfortable in his environment. Tourists in Taavi's experience often had a faintly lost expression on their face and tended to be hefting around bags and things. "Um, I don't suppose you know anywhere that's hiring?" he asked hopefully, because it was worth a shot. "We just arrived here today see, so I'm sort of looking for employment. Oh, and somewhere to live." That would be good too. If Abel was local then maybe he'd know where a hostel or motel could be found? That would do for now, preferably the former as it would be much less expensive.

<> Valour replied with a bob of his head to Isaac; it might not be the Espeon's fault but he appreciated the apology all the same.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Abel wasn't entirely convinced that Taavi didn't want or need that paper, but he seemed perfectly content to insist he didn't need it... "It's no trouble, really," he assured him as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "it's only fair, at any rate, but if you'd rather I didn't, then," he finished the sentence with a shrug. It wasn't like he could buy the paper even if he didn't want it - he had no idea which paper it was.

He mentally rewound the last few minutes, trying to recall what Taavi had said that he'd passed over in favor of scolding Elizabeth. Something about his pokegear battery? Conserving power on it, that was it. His own phone's battery was nearly depleted at the moment as well, so he could sympathize, not that that really mattered much. "Anywhere that's hiring? Uh, no, sorry," he said apologetically, feeling a bit bad about it. "I've had a steady job for about.. two years now, so I don't really know much about places that are hiring at the moment." Employment, somewhere to live -- he'd just gotten here, so that explained a lot. And here his pokemon had destroyed his first line of finding employment in a new, unfamiliar region. Now he felt even worse, ugh. 'Welcome to Kodo, where rogue Charmeleons destroy your means of finding employment!' "D'you at least have a place to stay for a few days until you find a job and somewhere to live?" Surely he'd prioritized finding temporary shelter over finding a job though, right?

Isaac nodded to Valour, but as he didn't know what else to say - and since Valour seemed disinclined to blame him - he merely remained quiet for now. At that particular moment Caleb came bounding across the boardwalk again to reunite with the group, sand clinging to his paws and legs, the burning paper no where in sight.  

[TawnyAngel]

Ohdear, now he felt awkward. He didn't really know why, but he did. "Um, well, if you want to? Uh, but I don't know if there are any shops around here." Taavi started fiddling with his hair with his free hand, the other was holding the strap of his bag which he still had on one shoulder. It was a pity that Abel didn't know of anywhere that was hiring but not really a surprise, he wouldn't have been able to tell anyone that information when he'd been a Ranger.

"Um, and not really," Taavi continued, feeling increasingly embarrassed and fiddling more with his hair as a consequence. What was this guy going to think of him, turning up in a new place with no job and nowhere to go? "But, um, we don't mind camping!" he said with slightly brittle brightness, trying not to think about the weird sorts of people you got around big cities at night. They still had time to fly out of the city, it'd be fine, and Abel might even know of a place? "And... well there's probably hostels and things around here right? Err, I didn't really notice how fast time was passing or I'd have looked into that first."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh, there's plenty of shops along the boardwalk," Abel assured him with a gesture that was both dismissive as well as vaguely indicating the nearby buildings or vendor carts lined up one after another. "At least a handful of them are bound to sell newspapers." Why wouldn't they? ...he seemed kind of nervous. Why was he so nervous? Was he just really shy? Maybe timid -- and some unfamiliar Charmeleon had waltzed right in and set his newspaper on fire. Welcome to Kodo indeed.

Wait, he didn't have anywhere to stay? He'd just arrived in the region, which meant he'd come by boat, which meant he didn't even have a car or anything to sleep in. Camping... "I don't think there's anywhere to camp in the city," the blond replied rather guardedly; it was true, he didn't think there was anywhere within the city that someone could really camp, or was allowed to camp, but cities were dangerous, and he mostly just didn't want someone to spend their first night in Kodo camping out in what could be a dangerous part of Camphoreon - which meant any part of it. Granted, some areas were more dangerous than others, but to Abel all parts of it carried at least some risk of being mugged or assaulted in the middle of the night. His first instinct was to offer his own hospitality, but he'd only just met this person and thus had no idea if it would be a good idea to just invite a perfect stranger over that evening. Probably not. Still, he didn't like the idea of him merely camping out, either... "I think I remember hearing about the pokemon centers letting people stay overnight or something," he added after a few moments of silent thought, "and I don't know about hostels, but there's some cheap hotels or motels scattered around if you're in the right districts."  

[TawnyAngel]

"I'm sure we can find something," Taavi said with a small smile and a shrug. "Either a place in my price range or, um, maybe a spot outside the city." Buuuuut, what now? Was the paper going to be a thing or...? He could do with some more food too really, and they'd probably sell sandwiches or something right? "Ah, so, having got totally distracted I forgot to have dinner so... I guess somewhere along here will sell food?" Taavi copied Abel's vague gesture, it seemed to fit.