IC INBOX FOR VR

[quickattackjack]

Hi there! Wanna thread but don't have time/want to set up a whole post for it?
Does your character just wanna call and shoot the breeze? LET'S DO IT.

[Psst, if you need OOC contact, try here!]

Comments

[11121_assumption]

"I need to stay the night." He didn't really need to book a haunted room. He carried enough ghosts and had been a ghost - almost any room he stayed in was haunted just by him being in it.

Reed preened at the attention, clearly pleased. He bopped his head a little faster, spreading his wings and giving a hoot. Walter lifted a hand and absently pet Reed's chest. "He's a Rowlet, a grass-flying type. I named him Reed."

[quickattackjack]

Jack gave a sharp, yet friendly nod and managed to pull himself away from Reed long enough to move behind the desk and pencil Walter's stay in.

"Breakfast is at seven am, I hope you don't mind rising early but you know how the dead are!"

Yes he does, Jack.

The old man glanced up over the rips of his glasses, eyes suddenly curious.

"I haven't seen you around. How are things?"

Teammate talk. If he wanted to undermine Handsome Jack and ruin Team Rocket from the inside out, he needed to know what everyone was up to.

[11121_assumption]

"Restless." He nodded. If he was a less sombre man, that would've been a good joke. At the casual question, Walter drifted into his thoughts. How were things? "They're...interesting. I've been traveling. It's how I found Reed."

"Are there many ghosts here?" As in, ghost type pokemon he should know about.

[quickattackjack]

"Oh, dozens." Jack glanced up fondly.

If Walter strained his ears, he would be able to hear distant growling and chuckling and the strange tonal ring of the spiritual echoing off the old house's walls.

"Jimmy and Joker have taken such good care of them while I've been gone. I wish I was still their trainer but...that's just how things are." His smile faded.

[11121_assumption]

Walter listened, then caught the faded smile. "You're not their trainer anymore?" He had thought that, if wild, he would try to catch one but it seemed like they were all spoken for.

Walter tapped one of the pokeballs on his belt, Doll's, his Banette. Radio the Rotom was also with him, even if it was a troublemaker who still insisted on trying to spook him at every opportunity. He couldn't bear to leave any of his Pokemon in the PC for long. It seemed too cruel.

[quickattackjack]

Once Walter's reservation had been maid and money had been exchanged, Jack walked from around the desk, invited Edgar onto his arm, and led Walter up a tall, creaky staircase.

It had been specially built to creak especially loud.

"No...once you Go Away, it's very rare to recover your Pokemon. I was lucky enough to have left Edgar and Dennis in the care of friends...but the others have scattered to the four corners and quite possibly the attic. This is their home."

[11121_assumption]

Walter quietly followed, unbothered by the creaky staircase. He hoped the other guests didn't keep using them during the night.

"Go Away?" He asked softly. He looked over to Reed, who was nodding with every creak in time.

[quickattackjack]

Luckily for Walter, Jack rarely had guests--many of the locals found him a little too strange. Which was well enough since now he had his Other Job to keep him traveling.

The walls of Skellington House were lined with portraits and the paneling was odd--dozens and dozens of trap doors filled this place like holes in a sponge when fall rolled around. Up and up and up he led Walter.

"Ah--I guess no one's told you. We're brought here suddenly and mysteriously and, well, most of us leave the very same way...but every once in a while, someone Comes Back. Sometimes they don't remember and sometimes they do. Sometimes they're from the future or the past. It can be jarring."

Jack was lucky the poison in his face kept him from being overly expressive. He still felt so guilty over forgetting his friends while he was home, even if it had only been a blur, an instant, everything was just...gone. And he knew in his heart that wherever all the friends he'd made over the years were...they were no longer thinking of him. Perhaps for the better. Still it felt strange to be forgotten.

That was how legends die after all.

[11121_assumption]

Walter processed this information quietly. He had been brought here right before the ritual was about to enter it's final stage. Why would God bring him here, if only for him to forget it when he would randomly return and fight Henry? Was it a gift, a preview of what Heaven could be like? But, that didn't make sense. Henry had told him, they were brought here to feel joy...would She truly grant him the gift of Joy, before Paradise came? He was going to need the night just to reflect on all this information and probably quite a while to truly understand it and try to slot it together with his beliefs.

He didn't want to lose this, however brief it might be. But it would be for the best if he forgot. It was too late to stop the Ritual, even if he remembered this world and his Pokemon and the people in it.

Unfortunately as he mused, he didn't notice a Pokemon slip free of it's pokeball and eagerly take in the place with glittering eyes. So many possibilities...!

[quickattackjack]

Jack paused outside a room and listened to the ghoulish laughter coming from the other side. He waited for a moment before knocking firmly on the door. "You had better not be destroying the pillows again, you two."

The laughter suddenly stopped and something went THUNK.

Jack just shook his head, finally managing a chuckle. "I'm thankful I remembered. What a pain it would be to learn how to be alive all over again!"

Up one more flight of stairs and--

"Here we are." Jack turned and held out Walter's key, unaware of the little prankster that had joined them. Edgar, however, had ruffled up her feathers. Something was up and she didn't like it.

[11121_assumption]

"You were dead as well?" Walter asked. So, he, Manaka and Jack had been dead when they came here, and Wrath had talked about the 'human he used to be'. Was that the linking factor between all the Rockets? None of them had been alive or quite human?

Walter accepted the key and opened the door, peeking inside to take a look at his lodgings for the night. Almost immediately, the radio in the room began to play something softly, heavily overlayed with static. Walter paused and glanced to Jack. Was that meant to happen?

[quickattackjack]

"Oh yes! Dead as a doornail! I had been dead so long I forgot how much trouble a single eyelash could cause a body!"

And then the radio sputtered into life. Jack blinked, then knocked against the door frame.

"He isn't paying for that, you can play with the ones downstairs." Jack turned to Walter, bringing his bony hands together. "I apologize, they've just been itching for someone to take the haunted room challenge but we haven't had any takers this month."

[11121_assumption]

"I had forgotten so much." Although whether he had outright forgotten or had those memories and experiences blocked away from him, he wasn't sure. Either way, it was an extreme shock to be alive and able to feel - both physically and emotionally - again.

"I would. But You said that required advanced booking." The radio didn't let up. The sounds of a child crying faded in and out of the static. Walter approached it, hand lowering to check- oh. As he drew close he folded his arms, speaking sternly. "Radio."

The child's crying became dark, low giggles.

[quickattackjack]

"Well it's supposed to, but--"

Jack paused at the laughter and Walter's gentle chiding of the radio. Botox be damned, his face split into an enormous grin.

"One of yours?"

He invited himself into the room and bent over the radio, hands on his legs.

"Hello in there!"

[11121_assumption]

You fell into it's trap! Radio popped out of the radio with a delightful cackle in Jack's face, intending to scare him with a little spark of electricity for flare.

Walter merely sighed at his Pokemon's antics. "I haven't been able to train it yet." He explained, although Radio only giggled and then bolted for the TV, turning it on and switching the channels rapidly. There were so many things to manipulate in this room! In this house even!

[quickattackjack]

The old man's brows did spring up in surprise, but it was not a frightened sort of surprise. Jack was delighted. A Rotom! He whirled around to watch the little ghost's path, not even minding the havoc he was wreaking on the television set.

"Now that's what I call a free spirit!" He barked out a laugh and elbowed Walter as if they'd been pals for years. "He's delightful! The others will love him--I forgot to mention, feel free to let your others out while you're here, it's no trouble at all."

[11121_assumption]

Walter was jostled by the elbow nudge, confused. Was he missing a joke? "It's not good when he takes over my PokeGear." Repeatedly. He's lost count of the number of times he's answered it's ringtone only to have Radio burst out of it.

But at the mention of letting the others out, he did release some of his other Pokemon. Doll spotted Radio and cackled at his antics, wandering over to play with the knobs and mess with him in turn, and of course Assumption came out. The Cubone looked around and then up at Jack, blinking before waving hello. Hello!

[quickattackjack]

Jack regards each of Walter's Pokemon with a grin, bowing his head a little in greeting. Edgar copies him but a bit more stiffly. SHE IS VERY REGAL AND VERY IMPORTANT.

"Hello, hello all of you! Feel free to explore, but be careful! I've bee renovating a little."

The Skellington House was a project Jack would never finish if he could help it. He glanced to his fellow dead man. "That invitation extends to you as well. If you need anything at all, I'll be downstairs. I'll have a fire going in the lobby."

[11121_assumption]

Thankfully Walter hadn't let Darkness out, or the Honchkrow would be vying for the 'REGAL AND VERY IMPORTANT' title, especially with his larger size.

"Thank you." Walter nodded politely. At the mention of a fire, he knew he would be going down at some point just to watch the flames burn.

At the mention of renovating, Radio burst out the TV delightedly. Renovating meant lots of things he could play with! Equipment, creaky stairs, doors-! He zipped out the room before Walter could stop him, cackling gleefully.
"Radio!" Walter called after him sternly, but it didn't halt the impish ghost at all. Great, now he needed to go and hunt down the troublemaker. He gave Jack an apologetic look, embarrassed by his Pokemon's behaviour. "I'm sorry, I'll go get him-"

[quickattackjack]

Jack has only smiles for Walter's apologies. It honestly feels nice to give someone a genuine grin.

"I'll leave you to it."

Should Walter venture down stairs later in the evening, Jack has moved away from his desk and has retired from his fancy clothes, swapping them out for a nice fuzzy robe and some Gengar slippers. He sits in a plush high-backed chair right out of a murder mystery and thumbs through his Poke'Gear feed.

Nearly a forth of the lobby is taken up by Dennis the Gyarados who is curled up and snoozing peacefully in the glow of the fire. A skinny Vulpix bats almost boredly at the flames while a Purrloin tries to tug its toy out from under the big blue roadblock.

[11121_assumption]

Walter did indeed come down later. He had changed, only to take off his coat; he was wearing a very soft turtleneck sweater to keep warm and still carried his bag with him. Assumption came down with him, toddling after his footsteps while Joseph the Weavile led the way, leaping onto the nearest empty chair and calling over to Walter to sit. He easily jumped onto the back of it to give Walter room - and so he could be level with Walter's head to give him an affectionate nuzzle.

Walter gave the Gyarados a wide berth, cowed by it's tremendous size and the stories he had heard of the species destructive tempers. But he did pause upon noticing the Vulpix. It made him think of Warden, Heather's Pokemon. He had been keeping an eye out for one since she had told him to pick up a fire-type, but he hadn't encountered them yet. He took a seat, accepting Joseph's affection (as if he had a choice) and opening his gear to research where the fox Pokemon could be found.

Assumption meanwhile, looked around the room. So many new friends to meet! He also recognised the Vulpix's species and approached her first. "Hello! What's your name?"

[quickattackjack]

Dennis only snored. He was positively placid for a giant river monster.

Unfortunatly, the Vulpix was not as eager to meet Assumption. She turned away from the flames and her six long tails bristled. She gekkered and sparks flashed between her teeth.

"Spitfire."

Meanwhile, Jack glanced up when he noticed several more critters had entered the room and waved a greeting. "Welcome, guest! Grab a book, there's bound to be something you're interested in! No charge!"

[11121_assumption]

Assumption took a step back, hugging his club in surprise at the display. "Oh...urm, I'm Assumption." He offered, still trying to be friendly but clearly cowed by her behaviour. She wasn't like Warden at all.

He missed Warden. For some reason St. Alessa wouldn't let her on the PokeGear.

Walter lifted his head from the Gear and nodded, placing it down and rising. Joseph immediately leaped from the chair to hang off his shoulder, claws catching on his sweater. He looked over the books, considering what there was to read.
"I managed to contain my Rotom but he toyed with more electronics. I don't think they're damaged." Walter murmured. He had taken an hour and a half to chase the plasma ghost down and another fifteen to get it into the pokeball.

[quickattackjack]

Spitfire sparked at Assumption again.

"I don't care. Get lost before I-YAOWWP!"

Suddenly, like a bolt from a bow, a thin jet of water crossed the room and doused her nasty attitude. Dennis had cracked one big baggy eye open and had it narrowed on the spiteful fox. The floor vibrated when he rumbled.

"Don't mind her."

[11121_assumption]

Assumption backed away from her quickly. Now he really missed Warden. He thanked Dennis for 'calming' down the angry fox, before hurrying to the safety of Walter's legs. Walter lowered himself, scooping up the spooked Cubone and tucking him into the crook of his arm, settling on a book about 'Myths and Legends of Kanto'. He returned to his seat, giving the Vulpix a stern look.

"It's not friendly then."