[FIN] Flute Fluke

[Suudonym]

Sorey had always had a weak spot for cities. Mikleo guessed it was because he was human, so naturally he would be drawn to places where humans gathered. If that was the case, Sorey was hardly aware of it. As far as he was concerned, his interest was no more than regular curiosity. No matter how much he traveled, big cities like these were, without fail, always filled with things he had never seen before.

So, while they had only intended to purchase a map of the region before leaving Camphoreon, Mikleo was hardly surprised when a store's window display drew Sorey inside. (And, well, the Vaporeon would be lying if he said he wasn't a little interested himself.)

"Whoa...! Hey, Mikleo, check this out!"

The Vaporeon stepped away from the baskets of differently colored pokeballs and moved to answer Sorey's summons. He found his human companion in front of a shelf, studying a delicate-looking blown glass piece. After a moment's observation, he determined that the item wasn't merely decorative but was in fact a flute.

he commented.

Sorey hummed. "Sort of. They're both flutes for pokemon, but I think that's about where the similarities stop. I'm pretty sure this style of glasswork is native to the Hoenn region. They're made from volcanic ash."

Mikleo recalled.

"Uhh, let's see." Sorey leaned to look at the informational label standing beside the flute. "It says this one is a white flute, so..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Sorey wouldn't have much time to search his memory for what the flute did before there was a slight wobble of the display that the flute was sitting on, then gave a sudden lurch, sending the display tumbling over and with a loud CRASH the glass flute shattered onto the ground at Sorey's feet.

With the display now on the ground it could not longer corneal a small boy standing on the other side facing the much older trainer.
the boy had messy hair, and an expression of great annoyance on his face.
It was clear a second later that he didn't expect to see another person looking at the display, so as soon as he saw Sorey his eyes widened in surprise, frozen in place for a few seconds before he suddenly took off away from the display and down the street. bumping into another person as he ran, the blond girl letting out a soft "Oh" As he bounced off of her.

Blue eyes widened as she watched him gather himself up quickly though and without a word to anyone he continued to sprint away.
the girl, who had seen everything looked back to the other young man still standing by the broken flute, eyes wide with a surprised expression like she wasn't sure how to have reacted to that.  

[Suudonym]

Sorey quickly stepped back with an exclamation of surprise, moving in a way that herded Mikleo away from the scattering shards. He blinked, speechless, at the child standing in front of him, but it was only a moment before he ran off.



Mikleo was first to react, but Sorey stopped him before he could give chase, "Wait!"

The Vaporeon, poised to pursue, turned to give his companion a look of incredulity.

Sorey shook his head and carefully knelt down, collecting some of the bigger pieces of the irreparably damaged flute and starting a small pile. "I know, but you can't just run off!" he insisted. "There's glass all over the place - you'll cut your feet! Besides, the store clerk will understand." Although he said as much, Sorey wasn't so sure. Even if he wasn't directly responsible, he still felt awful. Someone had worked so hard on that flute...  

[Blood_Goddess]

A sharp gasp from the shop keeper announced their arrival at the scene, a women stopped and clasped her hands over her face, watching the young man picking up the glass from a very... very expensive item
"Excuse me sir... But" she spoke up, a tone of annoyance in her voice as she pointed to a sign hanging from one of the display that read 'If you break it, you buy it. thank you for understanding.'
"I can't believe you broke that! That was all the way from Hoenn."  

[Suudonym]

Sorey's attention snapped to the woman as she approached, but he processed the last thing she said before anything else. "So it really was from Hoenn?!" he said, distressed, and his eyes shifted back to the glass. "Oh no, and it was so beautiful too..."

Mikleo reminded.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah." He stood - carefully, minding where the glass was so he didn't accidentally kick it further around - so that he could address the clerk more politely, "I'm really, really sorry, ma'am. There was a customer - a kid - who bumped into the shelf. I think it must have scared him; he ran off right away."

Mikleo muttered to himself.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The shop keeper, who had looked disappointed in the item being broken, now frowned at the young man when he told her what happened. allowing her eyes to glance around as if to look for the kid.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to buy that just becasue you want to get out of responsibility for the bill."
She explained "I saw you standing by it, I didn't even see a kid in here. I'm sorry but I need to be compensated for this" She made a gesture to the glass strewed around the floor.  

[Suudonym]

He was standing behind the shelf, so-- Sorey decided not to voice the words; they wouldn't resolve anything. By all rights, he certainly looked like the person responsible, and the shop wasn't busy enough that he could just ask another customer to vouch for him. He lifted a hand to the back of his neck uneasily.

Mikleo said.

"Then it would just look like we were trying to escape. We'd still look like the culprits," Sorey argued. There wasn't much choice but to acquiesce, he supposed. No matter who was responsible, the flute was broken and needed to be paid for. "How much is it?"

 

[Blood_Goddess]

She glanced from the boy to the Vaporeon as they conversed. It wasn't an unusual thing anymore, especially in Kodo, so she didn't even blink at their conversation.
"That was a genuine volcanic ash flute made from Hoenn, It was going for 1800" She replied. pausing and letting out a little sigh "Look I'm sorry, but I have to charge you."

"Excuse me." A smaller trainer stepped up into the conversation, hands behind her back as she slid closer to the two humans and Vaporeon. Large blue eyes on the shop keeper. Her hair was loose around her face, a bright pink rose with golden flex tucked behind one of her ears, a tiny white Flabebe dwelling among the flower's petals "If it helps, I actually saw what happened; He's telling the truth. There really was a little boy who pushed the display over."

She straightened up a little, at the same time a Jirachi drifted forward, holding her hands out and with a gentle sweeping motion all the glass on the floor began to flow a gentle amber and float up into the air
"He was frustrated." The small Psychic type added pulling the glass shards together so that they would not freely float around.

The shop keeper frowned lightly, looking over this girl "Are you sure?"

The blond nodded "Yes Ma'am"

"Come on, I didn't see a boy, I can't know you're not just saying that to get your friend out of trouble. No. There was no boy."  

[Suudonym]

"18--?! That, uh... That's a little..." Sorey was pretty sure he'd never even had that much money all at once. How much battling would it take to pay a bill like that? Would she even allow him to leave on the promise of coming back later? She already thought he was trying to lie to get out of it...

His attention turned to the new arrival as her unfamiliar voice joined the conversation, and he looked on in wonder at the Jirachi when it moved the glass. This wasn't really the time to be impressed, though - actually, he felt more relieved than anything else. The feeling quickly drained, however, when it became apparent that the stranger's testimony was having no effect.

Mikleo suggested.

"Ehh..." Sorey's posture stiffened uncomfortably. "I don't want to make waves, though... She's just doing her job."

The Vaporeon barked,

"Okay, okay! Sheesh." He looked back to the clerk, "Ma'am, do you happen to have any security cameras on this area? I'm sure you'll see him, if you do."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"... They're fake." She admitted, looking up to the camera's mounted in the wall. "We don't make enough to afford a system like that. The whole reason I got the flute in was to expand my business."

Rosie was honestly shocked, that someone would think she was lying to them, of course how could she blame the shop keeper, she didn't know the women, and the women didn't know her.. still, it was kind of hurtful.
"The boy was a trainer." Rosie added "His clothes and he had pokeballs... I'm sure if we ask other trainers we'll be able to find him."

"Look as long as I get paid, I don't care what you do, but I'm not letting you leave until I get my money, or some kind of insurance that you'll be back."  

[Suudonym]

Seriously? What good do fake cameras do anyone?!>

Sorey laughed, albeit just slightly. "Sorry, Mikleo. Good try, though." He listened to the suggestion given by the Jirachi's trainer (or he assumed that to be their relationship, at least), and weighed it as a possibility. Certainly, if he was a trainer, he would be acquainted with other trainers...

In response to the clerk's ultimatum, he hummed thoughtfully before reaching around to the back of his belt, producing a pair of knives. "I don't have 1800, or anything even close to it in value, but these knives are the entire basis of my livelihood. Would you accept them as insurance?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

With the shelf now back up, Northern placed the shards of glass onto of it again, making sure none would fall out as she released the psychic hold on them again, moving her self back around to the other side of Rosie.

The women looked at the knifes for a couple of seconds, her eyes wide as if surprised to even see knives at all, thus wore a skeptical look when he said that they were a basis of his livelihood
"Uh... no, I'm sorry. I mean like, a phone, or you're ID, something personal that would be REALLY bad if you lost it, so you would have to come back. not something you can just buy again. preferably with personal information so I can turn you in if I need to."

This wasn't fare at all, Rosie knew for a fact that this poor man didn't do anything wrong, she couldn't help but feel horrible about the whole situation. She too was taken by surprised when he offered knives, but when they were denied the blond perked up and reached into her own bag.
"Would this work?" Rosie asked, holding her Pokedex out.

The women glances at it, paused and held her hand out "Yeah, something like that." taking the dex she sighed, frowning at the two trainers "If you don't get that kid to fess up and pay you're going to have to pay in order to get this back. Do you understand?"  

[Suudonym]

"Huh?" The response obviously took Sorey by full surprise, and the correction left him yet again feeling pressed for options. "Oh, I don't... have anything like that, though..."

When the young woman offered something of her own, Sorey, startled, was quick to dissuade her, "Hang on, you don't have to--"

Mikleo interjected.

With a quiet sigh of resignation, Sorey nodded, giving his promise, "Yes. I'll definitely find him." He didn't have much choice - for a number of reasons.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie looked over at the young man as he started to protest, but from a word from his Vaporeon he seemed to then accept it. she gave him a kind smile as the women took the pokedex and returned further into the store.
It didn't even occur to her to be nervous, he needed help, how could she not do something.
She smiled with a nod at his promise "Since he's a trainer, there are a few places we can start with, especially one as young as he is." Rosie looked over to Northern who hovered gently in the air next to Rosie, staring at the other human and his Vaporeon. "Do you think you can remember him if you feel out for him?"
The Jirachi tilted her head, a light jingle joining her movements as she placed her hands over her belly "Maybe..."

Satisfied with that, Rosie held her hand out to the other trainer, smiling brightly at him "My name's Rosie, this is Northern and Floribel If you're alright with it, we would like to help you."

She tiny Flabebe rubbed her eye, raising herself from under the petals and dipping into a curtsy at the introduction.  

[Suudonym]

The situation was still far resolved, but as the clerk walked away, Sorey allowed himself to exhale some of the stress that had piled up. There was something he knew he could do now, and that was heartening.

As the young woman extended her hand, Sorey returned the gesture, replying in kind, "I'm Sorey, and this is Mikleo. I really appreciate you stepping in like that, and I hate to take more of your time than I already have, but..."

Mikleo supplied, sitting beside his human companion.

"Er, what he's saying is, we could really use your help. So, thank you very much."