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]

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."

[quickattackjack]

Jack wilted and just shook his head at his little fire fox's nasty behavior.

"We're working on it. Very hard. I have to wonder if someone mistreated her before she was given to me. Wouldn't surprise me. Rockets and all."

He reached out a long arm to pat his faithful Gyarados on the side.

[11121_assumption]

Walter paused and nodded, sitting down and placing Assumption squarely in his lap.

"That would not surprise me, either." He knew the other Lab Technicians could be rough or downright cruel in how they handled the Pokemon they researched on. After managing to earn the Stufful's trust, he learned that the others who had worked on it had tried to force it to comply and had earned themselves several broken bones for their attempts.

Despite having been raised in a not-so-kind environment, Walter didn't want to willfully hurt the Pokemon he recorded and researched under Rocket. He had no great loyalty to the Team, just as his loyalty towards the Order had been... complicated.

"I hope they didn't hurt you." He murmured to Assumption. The little Cubone didn't answer. Instead he just curled up in the safety of Walter's lap, settling down to watch the fire and think about his friends.

[quickattackjack]

Jack watched Walter from over the rim of his glasses for quite some time. He watched how he tended to the little critter on his lap, his quiet mannerisms.

"Why are you in the Rockets, Walter? You know you could run away if you wished..."

[11121_assumption]

Walter didn't look up, focusing on Assumption in his lap. "Running away doesn't work. When I was alive, I tried to run away from the people who had taken me in. I could never escape." Team Rocket didn't ask as much as the Order but there were enough similiarities. We provide for you. You will give back to us. There will be consquences for failure.

Do not tell anyone what happens here.

"They gave me my Pokemon when I first came here. I owe them for that. In the labs, I don't have to hurt any of them."

[quickattackjack]

Jack's endless curiosity bubbled in his chest. He wanted to ask Walter so many things about where he was from and who had captured him. He wanted to know his plans from here on out but...he withheld.

You don't stay in Johto for over five years without learning a little tact.

And there was always the possibility of Walter having other reasons, just as Jack had reasons of his own.

"Ah, you're in the labs! That would explain why I haven't seen you too often."

And that meant that Walter wasn't doing any harm. There was still a chance he could eventually convince Walter to join him in his uprising some lofty day far away.

"You couldn't show me the lab sometime, could you? They put me in the field so I don't have a pass..."

[11121_assumption]

Walter lifted his head, considering Jack. The labs were almost his 'safe place' in HQ, away from the other Rocket recruits. Nobody else he knew was currently employed down there, so it made it a great way to avoid others. Granted the only Rocket he currently actively avoiding was Felix. But it was a place were he knew Manaka or Wrath wouldn't suddenly appear by his side.

"I could." He wasn't promising to however. He paused, considering his next words. "They're...not always kind, to the Pokemon there." He let the words hang, waiting to hear Jack's reaction and watching him very carefully. Would he brush off their suffering?

[quickattackjack]

Jack's reaction was an understanding but unhappy humming sound. Of course they wouldn't be...but if he could learn something--anything about what Team Rocket had planned...

"They aren't kind to any Pokemon." He glanced back to his fox who was furiously trying to dry off and shooting the giant fish evil eyes every chance she got.

[11121_assumption]

Walter relaxed a little. It seemed like Jack was similar to himself in that regard. They didn't like it, but they understood that it's simply what humans do to anything and anyone around them. He pulled Assumption closer, idly petting him as he considered the Vulpix. It sounded like Jack suspected cruelty in her past. Would...could Team Rocket have had a hand in Assumption's past? He knew his starter had lost his mother. And...he remembered in his childhood, hearing some of the other 'orphans' cry out for their parents until they learned better.

The comfort quiet was broken only the soft crackling of the fire as Walter lost himself in thoughts and the slow rhythm of petting Assumption.

Then Radio burst out of his Pokeball again. Walter sighed heavily. "Radio. Why."