Like a Tauros in a Chinashop [Subterranean Sabotage] [F]

[Pixel]

The blizzard that started the prior evening still raged as Adrian prepared to head off to his assignment for the day. Somehow he managed to sleep relatively well while upright in a chair with just a blanket thrown over his lap, if one discounted the crick in his neck. Maybe he had been just so exhausted by the cold that his body had dragged him into a deep, healing slumber. Regardless, he roused to his alarm blaring a little after dawn, and made his way to the bathroom to take a quick, hot shower. 

Once he was cleaned up and changed into his uniform, Adrian went downstairs to pick up his pokemon and make a few swaps at the PC. He would keep Flicker with him, same as always, as she stayed in his bag and would keep him warm while he worked. Heimdal was his 'bike' since he still didn't have one of those as he'd yet to make it to Goldenrod. And then he decided to bring Blaise and Puddles for some power and support. Apparently whatever job he was doing today required pokemon that weren't 'too strong' or they'd risk doing damage to the area. So Adrian complied with that and brought along some pokemon that were close but not quite at the recommended level restriction.

Then he fished out a snack from his travel pack and munched on that as he waited in line for hot water at the little 'coffee' station in the corner. He wasn't the only one who had sheltered here last night that needed to get somewhere first thing in the morning, no matter the weather. In silent solidarity, he and the other early birds dumped instant coffee into a little styrofoam cup and drowned the grounds with boiling water from an electric kettle on the counter. Adrian chased that water with a couple packs of sugar and a little cap of creamer. Standing there, he absently stirred the mixture until it was cool enough to drink, and then warmed his core with the sweetened brew.

With one last check of his appearance in a window to make sure he didn't look too sleep-deprived, he tossed the cup and submerged himself into the white out. The winds railed against him, but Adrian fought the long battle to his destination, keeping his head low, and the collar of his jacket pulled high. His boots crunched along tightly packed snow banks that covered the streets and his gloves creaked every time he flexed his hands to keep blood flowering in his fingers. What should have been a short walk took considerably longer than expected, but Adrian arrived at his destination in relatively good time given he just walked through a literal blizzard. 

He let out a sigh of relief and shook himself off once he stepped inside the sheltering entrance of the cave. 

There were strung up lights and people moving around. Work equipment littered the open space. He had not been in Union Cave for a little while, but apparently they'd discovered a new tunnel or something and were excavating, ensuring that it was safe for trainers. Adrian wasn't entirely clear on the details, but that was probably because he was a little windblown and his brain frosted over from the cold. 

After brushing off the worst of the snow, he picked past the barriers meant to keep unsuspecting children from falling into a mineshaft and looked for his touchpoint.

"Foreman Blake?" he called out, spotting a man that looked more official than the rest with the way he was seemingly giving orders. Adrian approached, "I am Adrian Hartt with the IPF. You asked for an officer's assistance with..." He took his notepad off his belt and glanced at his notes, "suspected interference with the current excavation operation? You have been having troubles with someone meddling with your work and don't know who? Is that right? Could you, uh, give me more details about the problem and I'll do what I can do help."

Adrian looked around, feeling a bit anxious being in this relatively confined space with so many people. There had to be easily half a dozen people in this part of the cave doing work. He noticed that it looked like some of them were getting ready to hang up lights? That made sense. Keeping this cave well lit made sure that the trainers that traveled from Violet to Azalea were kept safe, especially if they did not have a pokemon who could use flash and help them navigate through the dark,

But at first glance, everything looked like it was orderly and working as planned...

He would need to lean on the Foreman to give him details of the issue and what he expects might happen if they don't figure out who the 'prankster' was sooner than later.

—

Word Count:  809  (+800) | OOC:

Quest Start!

[Tiki]

Adrian walked in on Foreman Blake giving out orders, although on the end of his daily task assignment, as there was one other dude that was standing before Blake would send him off. "Dave, I need you to work with Quentin today, remember to keep your hard hat on at all times!"

"Ye-yes sir!" The young man seemed to almost stammered for a bit, as if it was his first job or Blake just had an air of intimidation, and then headed out. Once he was gone, Blake led Adrian to a smaller, mobile office for industrial use, and closed the door as he discussed the matter at hand.

"So the IPF had sent you, huh? We'll just call you Adrian here. As you've been briefed, we're expanding the Union Cave, but there are environmentalist who wants to preserve the Union Cave as it is. The current passageway had become dangerous when it rains, so we're opening a new passageway for trainers to use even on rainy days. I am technically their boss so there might be a conflict of interest if I interrogate them about their views, so I want you to be an insider to talk to them and to figure out who's radicals disguising themselves as our workers. Oh, and try not to say you're from the police." He chuckled and stopped as he grabbed a clipboard from a drawer.

"You can just pretend to be a new worker. Here's a list of workers that I think might be the troublemakers. They're in different department so just check their name badge. Don't waste time talking to anybody else. I think something terrible is going to happen today." He gestured Adrian and showed him the people on the clipboard.

"There's newbies Colin and Dave, the guy you might have saw earlier. Dave's got two strikes left until he's fired, and Colin might be better for Inspection Department or something. Then there's machine operator Jeff and Scott. We have to keep them separate because Scott can be very distracting. And lastly, we have the engineers Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter. Conrad seems easily distracted, but he's a good man, always looking out for the fresh faces. Quentin and Dexter are both smart, but it's best to leave them to their work. Obviously, you have no choice, but keep the conversations short." His hand held a pen as he went down the list.

"I'll give you something to do, of course, so you won't stand out too much. Grab this air duster, water sprayer bottle, and rag and just wipe equipment as you talk to them." He handed a belt with the tools to Adrian, and outfitted him a coverall to blend in. "I believe in you, bud! Thanks again for helping me out!"

OOC:
you're the first one doing this quest so IDK what's going on.
LMK if I should add some details
This is meant to be an introduction post so it shouldn't count against the investigation yet?
I'm not sure how many mod or member post until the plot progresses per the staff guide.

mods:

SPOILER: Click to show

other mods besides pixel can PM me if needed if the clue was confusing about who's who

[Pixel]

Adrian nodded along as he listened, watching as the Dave fellow ran off with a nervous stutter, perhaps intimidated by Blake. He could understand Blake wanting him to not tell everyone he was a cop, as that could make people nervous and clam up, and inhibit problems from being solved. That said, he wasn't...well...a people person. Or very good at 'blending in'. He wasn't an infiltrator. Disguising himself and buddying up to people wasn't exactly his...go to method of dealing with situations, even if he understood the need for it.

Moving too impulsively could lead to the radicals either panicking and setting a plan in motion too soon, or fleeing or even them becoming so tight-lipped that they all delay any plans until he left, ultimately defeating the purpose of inviting IPF here to investigate. 

He awkwardly looked over the clipboard and pulled out a pen, flipping the list of names up to start making notes on the page beneath it so he has something to reference when Blake started to describe the situation and the crew members he was worried about. There were 7 named suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin and Dexter. They were on shift today and working in the tunnel in question. Colin and Dave were new. Dave was the nervous one that he saw scampering away from Blake, and today was helping or shadowing Quentin, who was an Engineer. Dave also had a strike against him and apparently needed to be reminded to wear a hard hat on a job site.

Hm. 

He paused as he jotted down the names. It seemed like Dave was sticking out like a sore thumb here. Inexperience could explain his behavior, and forgetting basic safety could explain why he already had a conduct strike against him if the Foreman didn't want a work accident claim on his hands. But the guy looked young and Adrian heard plenty of stories about folks working construction jobs often...skirting...safety regulations—be it because it slowed down their work or because the hatch was itchy. 

The rest he didn't have that much to go off of.

Conrad had the highest praises it seemed, as he was described as looking out for the newbies. But was that because he cared about his coworkers, or because he was a mole who was looking after other radicals and did his best to ensure they fit in?

The rest were just fairly generic descriptions about the dynamics of the crew. Some couldn't work together because they distracted each other. Others just needed to work alone to focus. That sort of thing. 

As he finished up his notes, Blake was literally shoving a 'disguise' in his arms and blinked, dumbfounded. 

"You...want me to...oh. O-okay..." He grimaced a bit but nodded. "Right. This makes sense. They would wonder why an outsider was poking around and if i didn't have on work attire, they'd probably chase me off." That said, he still felt a little silly standing in those over alls, wearing a hardhat and holding a clipboard and a can of spray air. It would take a bit to get his work belt organized  and for his disguise as newbie here to clean machines was established. 

"I will...uh, go talk to people them." And he would try not to just start pointing fingers. While it would be more efficient to just line everybody up in a room and have them empty their pockets, this would be less...well...open for disaster. Theoretically. 

Flicker phased out of his bag to sit on his shoulder. He nodded to the little candle, "Thanks for the light..."

Then bracing himself, he stepped out to take on the role of new hire. 

He had no idea who was who except for the infamous Dave, so he tried to spot Dave and who he could assume was Quentin. Of course, if there were more people around, that would be great, because he could talk them up all at once, but if not, well, he'd just have to find excuses to move on. 

Once he was sure he spotted his target, he wandered in that direction.

"Uh, hey, you're Dave right? You're also a new guy?" Adrian said, interjecting himself into whatever potential conversation Dave and 'Quentin' were having. "The boss sent me this way, said you and some guy named Conrad might be able to help me find my feet and get settled around here. Since..well, I don't know anyone." He took out the rag and the other cleaning tools he was given. "Talk and work?" An uncomfortable smile. "Oh, and I'm Adrian. What do you guys do around here, if I can ask? How long you been here? Heard we're helping making a path for trainers that doesn't flood when it rains. Is that really a problem here? What can you tell me about the other guys on the crew? The Foreman is kinda...well...intimidating? Dunno what it is about him, but I guess you get used to that in time."

—

Word Count:  834  (+800) | OOC:

Infiltration time!

Notes:
Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter

[Rexman]

"...and so as the outside layer of iron started to twist, the entire right side of the tower started to lean to one direction. Needless to say, very few people were willing to climb up that tower, until the designer came back in and re-tooled the outer structural support,".

As Quentin finished his statement, both of the workers turned to face Adrian as he approached and hailed them. The engineer quickly clammed up, while Dave's face seemed to drop for a second, just long enough to be noticeable before he seemed to fix it.
"Yeah, I'm Dave. Who's asking?" he said, giving Adrian a good side-eye.

Dave let Adrian finish the avalanche of questions, before putting his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, I'm pretty new. I don't really want to be here, if I'm being completely honest with you, just want to go home and play Spyro the Dragonite. You ever play it? It's pretty good."

Well, that was probably unexpected.
Dave continued, answering all of Adrian's questions.

"Conrad is further into the tunnel. You'll find him by some laughter and the echoing of his voice. Foreman was right, though, Conrad is the one to see who will help you get your feet wet down here. I've been given the gopher work lately, boss says that they don't want me near the heavy machinery. I could totally handle it though. Flooding is always an issue around here. This section of Johto sits on a flood plain, and so if it rains for long enough or hard enough, it can get real nasty. We've heard reports of Pokemon washing away and disappearing. Maybe even a trainer or two." he said, downcast eyes showing that he wasn't happy to be telling such a story.

"Hey, you want a cup of coffee? I think the office has a brew goin'"

All the while, Quentin seemed to be looking at the wall, engrossed in something that was not this conversation.

[Pixel]

Quentin sounded like he knew what he was talking about as he explained something about structural stuff to Dave. It made no sense to Adrian, who only caught the tail end of the explanation and was the cause of him going quiet. Yeesh, the cold treatment, huh? Quentin didn't seem exactly happy or interested in another newcomer arriving. Had he warmed up to Dave quickly or were they possibly already working together before— Adrian breathed in. He had to focus and not let himself jump ahead of the plot. Adrian was not good at this interrogation thing or this acting thing. But he liked to think of himself as observant. Good at reading people if given enough time to observe them. Maybe he could loiter a little to get a better read on Quentin as he talked to the more social Dave.

"Like you, Dave, I'm new, though I guess the boss doesn't want me messing anything up so I'm on clean-up duty." He made a show of the materials he was given again. "Maybe your friend here could tell me more about the machine here so I don't mess anything up? You, uh, sounded like you were telling a cool story about something that needed to be fixed? You're one of the engineers right? Did you help fix the problem or—?" He trailed off a bit before returning his focus to Dave. 

Who was talking about Spyro the Dragonite and how he wasn't exactly interested in working.

Adrian wiped the side of the machine absently.

"Why aren't you allowed near the heavy machinery? Something happen?" Pause. "And shouldn't we stay out here on the worksite rather than slacking off at the office?" Adrian tucked that info away. Dave really did not seem like he wanted this job, "If you don't want to be here...why do you stay? I mean, I heard the foreman yell at you...probably could have walked out then." He scratched the side of his head, "And, uh, never played the game. Never...had the money for a console growing up so I never got into that sort of thing. Kinda why I'm here." Adrian needed to build a cover for himself and he shrugged. "I don't know really what I'm doing either, but I needed the work and the cash. The Foreman was willing to give me work in this new tunnel project."

He cocked his head at Dave, "And for someone who doesn't really want this job...you do seem concerned. You hoping to protect people by helping with the tunnel or just need some pocket change for more games?" Adrian couldn't quite pin down Dave—was he a lazy man child who was just incompetent but wanted to do good work, or was he secretly a radical that was messing stuff up on purpose while acting lazy? 

And then there was Quentin. He watched the man a little longer, "You good there, man?" He looked utterly engrossed with the wall. Odd. "Anyway, I should find Conrad? He's that way you said?" He pointed in the direction Dave told him. Flicker chirped on his shoulder and he paused, "I hope it's okay that I have a pokemon with me. Even with the lights being put up, it's really dark in tunnels like these in places." Adrian wasn't exactly sure how to break away from this conversation. Curse his terrible people skills. Maybe he just walked away? But what if they said something interesting? What if they did something that condemned them as radicals looking to stop of the excavation? 

This would be so much easier if he could just line them up and start cross examining them or whatever. Maybe have his arcanine sniff around for like explosives or something. Except, this was an excavation site that probably had explosives everywhere. For now, until he was able to talk to more people, he would need to slowly disengage and talk to the other five men.

Adrian stopped polishing absently and turned a bit, like he was going to walk down the tunnels. He did keep his eyes open and glance discreetly over his shoulder to see if he could catch either of them messing with their pockets, like they might have radios in them or something, or otherwise acting oddly. 

Flicker chirped and flew off his shoulder to light the way ahead a bit better. He didn't want to step wrong and turn an ankle or something. Adrian took the opportunity to pull out the clipboard and jot down a few quick notes about the men and their behavior and what they said so that he could commit the information to memory. This was certainly the toughest assignment he had yet and it was only at the start.

(What would happen if he messed this up? Why did he have a twisting sense of dread in his stomach?)

—

Word Count:  811  (+800) | OOC:

Adrian has realized he is not a detective for a reason.

Notes:

SPOILER: Click to show

Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Quentin seems well informed and talks to Dave eagerly about some incident that required a designer to fix but goes silent when Adrian arrives.
Quentin seems oddly interested in the wall.
Dave is suspect of Adrian at first. Quickly switches topic to a game and coffee. Says he doesn't want to be here.
The boss doesn't want Dave near the heavy machinery and Dave is the gopher for now.
Dave seems disappointedm omentarily when Quentin stops talking, like he was interested in what was being said?
Seems unhappy talking about the bad things that have happened in the tunnel.

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter

[Tiki]

ooc: y'all making me google what gopher is
just dropping more hints to progress plot or we'll be modding this half of 2024
trying to group a few people together to speed up progress

Dave folded his arms after seeing Adrian on cleaning duty. "Uh-huh, so you're the new sucker who's doing the cleaning. I was doing that just a few weeks ago too!" He spoke, sneering at a tone that might remind Adrian of Silver.

Quentin groaned as he had to tell his story again. "I am good! But, you want me to tell the story again? I can wait after you two new Digletts finish growling first! I don't want you to miss it yet again by not paying attention!" He tone went back to a jovial one. "I'm just giving you a hard time," he jested, but passionately, as he set up a small equipment to measure something that would be way out of Adrian's league. "I can work and talk, I would have to start from the beginning when I first started working here."

Dave gave Quentin a side eyes, as the older man actually had some restrained to continue working now. "Uh... it was a few weeks ago before you started, or after I started--" He paused, thinking for words, or reliving bad memory already. "Those damn Zubats, it's not my fault they're so fragile. They're accusing me of inattentive. They said I pressed a button I wasn't supposed to and it knocked out a flock of Zubats. Apparently some of these buttons can make sounds like a Boomburst and knock them out!" He sounded frustrated. "Now if you see anyone making weird hand motions that look like Zubats fluttering and then dropped, is because they're making fun of me."

Quentin laughed as he listened. "Don't worry, Dave. When I started I made mistakes too! I also got lost too!, But I actually walked into a Nosepass cave when the machine was acting weird, and I was panicking for a few hours until my senior got a chance to take a look and tell me to turn on the anti-magnetic settings! You'll see that button in some of these machines." The engineer was gesturing Adrian and Dave to recognize this symbol, in case there's ever a need for such button.

"Uhh, thanks!" Dave casually hummed, and when Adrian was done, he would grab his arm and dragged him to the side. "Uh, have you work this type of job before? After moving and walking all day, I just want to sit down and play Spyro the Dragonite until like... midnight." He then whispered. "--sometimes I stay up maybe way past twelve!"

When Quentin finished tinkering with his little machine or device and got his reading, he remembered to answer another one of Adrian's question. "Hmm.. I was right, this wall is nearby an Aron den, as you can tell by the spikes in iron. And having a Pokemon is fine. Personally, I like to keep my Bronzor away until it's lunch break. I wouldn't want my precious Luster get dirtied in this cave. You're totally right, I should get my daily measurements done before getting coffee. You should come by later and I'll tell you the story later." He smiled like an old man, readied to retell his story next to a warm fireplace when it's snowing outside.

"Conrad is further down, you might Colin coming to him as well. Since we're sharing some equipment, I last heard Dexter was finishing up an equipment on the radio, and Colin would bring it once he meticulously organized and deemed it safe to move it for Conrad to use." Quentin pointed farther down, and waited as his device printed out the reading with a slow and stuttering beeping noise.

[Pixel]

Adrian shivered just a bit at the snide tone from Dave. This guy seemed to be doing all he could to avoid work, even though apparently he wasn't really expected to actually do much aside from not touch the heavy machinery. "Ah...yeah," Adrian mumbled, feeling on edge again. Then the pair exchanged a few stories of their own—Quentin as he worked, Dave as he sulked. Apparently Dave was banned from cleaning duty because as he cleaned he pushed a button that knocked out a bunch of zubats and now everyone on the worksite mocked him.

Quentin seemed to confirm the story as he told his own, about being a new engineer and not realizing that he need to turn an magnetism feature on to avoid confusing the local nosepass. 

Dave, of course, complained again about being tired and wanting to play video games. He really seemed like an overgrown man child living his parent's basement, and was unhappy about the fact that he had to work. Adrian couldn't help but ask, "Dude, why are you still here? Seems like you don't want to be...there's gotta be a Pokemart in town that's hiring if you just need cash..." His attention was pulled again by Quentin making an observation about the wall, seeming to conclude his earlier observations were correct. So that was why he was staring at that wall so hard.

And he had a bronzor named Luster. Seemed like a fitting pokemon for a construction worker.

"You got any pokemon, Dave?" Adrian asked as he stepped towards the tunnel and— "Maybe you could help make some introductions with the others since you don't seem busy?" And then he committed to going to find Conrad. He'd see if anyone else was with him as well.

"Hello? My name's Adrian, I'm a new hire. I was told to look for Conrad by the bossman? Said you could help me get acquainted with everything."

—

Word Count:  322 | OOC:

Adrian goes to talk to Conrad! And whoever is with him.

Notes:

SPOILER: Click to show

Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Quentin seems well informed and talks to Dave eagerly about some incident that required a designer to fix but goes silent when Adrian arrives.
Quentin seems oddly interested in the wall.
Dave is suspect of Adrian at first. Quickly switches topic to a game and coffee. Says he doesn't want to be here.
The boss doesn't want Dave near the heavy machinery and Dave is the gopher for now.
Dave seems disappointed momentarily when Quentin stops talking, like he was interested in what was being said?
Seems unhappy talking about the bad things that have happened in the tunnel.

Dave comes across as very childish. He keeps mentioning video games, and implying staying up to midnight is 'rebellious'.
Dave used to do the cleaning. He was very snide when pointing that out.
Dave does not seem happy about working here, and he's been working here a few weeks.
If he is an environmentalist, Dave seems more concerned about people mocking him for knocking out a swarm of zubat than the zubats themselves.
(Though earlier he did seem concerned/upset about talking about the cave flooding and sweeping away pokemon (and some trainers).
All that said, Dave doesn't appear to be doing any work and seem to be making any excuse to avoid working.
Quentin seems to confirm the zubat story and jokes around with Dave. 
Quentin has a bronzor named Luster.
Quentin seems friendly enough and jokes about past mistakes as a newbie. 
He tinkers with machines as he talks and he mentions not knowing about the anti magnetism button on a machine when he started. 
Quentin mentions being correct about an aron den behind a wall (the one he was staring at earlier).
Collin was mentioned as being meticulously organized in the conversation (earlier statement made by Blake confirmed, behavior consistent?)

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter

[Tiki]

Dave pulled Adrian to the side, and then stammered quite a bit when asked that question. "Uh... Why? Why can't I be here? You're not my mom and so what if I want to be here? You can't tell me what to do? How am I going to buy Spyro plushies and figures? PokeMart is boring and not my thing!" He somehow screeched in a whisper tone. "And I like being here." He both whined and protested. He felt quite comfortable working with this construction team, despite being a klutz.

"Yeah, I have a Pokemon, everyone needs at least one here just in case of some very aggressive Nosepass or Onix or Zubat." He replied, but stopped at that. When asked about being told to introduce Adrian to others, he politely declined. "I will just stay with Quentin, you could introduce to others yourself. I have to watch-- out for Quentin from talking too much. We've got to finish a report on this section of the cave." He then went back to Quentin and left Adrian alone, unless he was bothered again.

Once Adrian had moved on to find Conrad, he would find the other engineer laying down cables to set up some lamp for this section of the Union Cave work. Once he saw Adrian coming, he got off the ladder that he was halfway on, and happily met the new guy. "Heey! What's up bud!" He tried to fist pump or something. "I've heard about the new guy coming, and you look like the new guy! What did Blake got you working on your first day? Have you meet everyone on the team yet?" He stood in front of Adrian, beaming a bright wide smile as far as his mouth could reach. The undercover cop was now being questioned, albeit in a friendly way.

He saw the cleaning materials on Adrian and cheerily grinned. "Aww, they got you on cleaning duty? I'll tell you what, let me whos you around the site? Since I am waiting for Cinccino Colin to get his butt here when he finished!" He threw an arm over Adrian, as if they're best of friends already, and his feet began to move along and away from the ladder where Conrad was going to hang up a wall lamp. "I don't think Blake tells you this, but since we're so far from the office, we can actually start going to lunch like fifteen minutes early. By the time you finish changing out of the coverall and wash your hands and also the walking distance, it would be just in time to have your meal!"

Suddenly, Colin showed up pushing a cart of equipment with his headlight beaming at them. "Coming through!" The cart rolled over a cable and the metal clanged, except the sound kept on going for a weirdly long number of seconds. "Conrad, what did I tell you about trip hazard? Someone's gonna fall and break their ankles or knees! We're not all Spinda here and we can't just Teeter Dance away!"

---

Somewhere inside the Union Cave where Blake and his workers were supposed to be working hard, a few figures began scoping out some areas with the excuse of bathroom breaks, or their own Pokemon playing or feeding breaks. Either way, Blake felt ominous still while he was waiting in the office, shuffling papers and waited to see what did Adrian found out so far...

[Pixel]

Adrian found himself filled with a deep suspicion as he walked away from Dave and Quentin. Dave was throwing off some weird vibes to say the least. Whereas before he came across as lazy and childish, he was now seeming to be less innocent. He kept talking about wanting to buy Spyro stuff, sure, but Adrian took a look at the piece of paper that detailed the complaints about the environmentalists and what they were possibly doing. One of it was causing pokemon to act oddly or attack the workers to make it seem like the wild pokemon wanted the workers gone. And Dave had upset that flock of zubats...perhaps...on purpose? Even if he claimed it was an accident.

It was hard to tell, but the way he stumbled over his words as Adrian left had him on high alert. He couldn't be 100%, but could he ever be? Adrian decided to keep a move on for now and talk to a few more people before doing anything, just in case he could catch someone doing something suspicious or stupid.

Deeper in the cave now, he was confronted by the cheerful Conrad who hopped from a ladder to wrap an arm around his shoulder and interrogate him in a friendly fashion. "Oh, yeah. M'new. I'm Adrian." He lifted a rag, "And yeah, cleaning duty. How'd you know I was coming? Did Blake radio you or somethin'?" His thoughts were still a little occupied by his worry about Dave when there was a clatter and Collin scolded Conrad. 

That guy really didn't trigger his suspicions like Dave. He was always described as clean and orderly and here he was acting, well, like a worker. He wasn't trying to avoid work and he seemed genuinely concerned about work place safety. Adrian mentally crossed him off his mental list for now unless he did something odd.

Which left Quentin and Conrad up in the air. Both men seemed to be friendly enough for engineers. Quentin had been focused on work, while Conrad here looked eager to take a break, though he had been described as always eager to help newbies,

Though Collin must not have deemed the area clear for Dexter like Quentin mentioned because he didn't see anyone else here.

"I've only met about half the team. You, Quentin, Dave and I suppose now Collin over there. Quentin mentioned Dexter would come through when Collin was satisfied the path was clear...and I haven't heard much about the others except from Blake." Adrian paused a bit, shuffling a little awkward. "Shouldn't...you be finishing whatever you were doing on the ladder? Maybe tell me about the others a bit." He was feeling a little suspect of Conrad despite wanting to like the man. Maybe he was just friendly, but... "I'll be wandering around, helping clean equipment all day. So I'm sure I'll meet everyone. The machine operators are further down the tunnel, right? And Dexter." A pause. "Huh. Is it true that Scott and Jeff tend to distract each other? The bossman mentioned he tries to keep them 'the hell away from each other' or they do. They argue or do they goof off?"

Adrian, not comfortable being, touched, shrugged out from under Conrad's arm. Which was for the best, because Flicker had moved over and looked ready to set some fingers on fire for touching her (even accidentally).

"Since I'm just on cleaning duty and nothing important, maybe make sure that Collin here gets through this part of the cave without running over any more cables by accident. Team work, yeah?" He moved over to Collin to help put the metal rod back onto the cart. "Uh, see you around, Conrad?" And then he made to 'help' Collin.

Quietly, as they walked, he would ask, "Hey, Collin, right? Don't want to get in your way or take up your time, but mind telling me any thoughts you have about folks around here? I don't want to make a bad first impression, even if the bossman mostly just has me stayin' out of the way and cleaning." He would try to wheedle what he could out of Collin before spotting Dave and Quentin again, "See you at the office for lunch? I just realized I dropped something when I was talking to Dave and Quentin."

He would then leave that worker alone to go back over to Dave. That feeling in his gut that something was wrong was...worsening steadily. So once Collin was out of earshot, he'd call out to Dave, "Hey, I changed my mind about that coffee. Come with me, yeah?"

Adrian would wrap an arm around Dave like they were friends to try to move him away from the usually preoccupied Quentin (who he hoped was more invested in that wall than his not very helpful helper), and then once they turned a corner...

"Hey Dave...you're not really here to work...are you? You're here to cause problems. On purpose. To stop this tunnel from being built."

—

Word Count:  841 | OOC:

A little more talking to Conrad...
And now...

I will double back and try to accuse...DAVE!

(watch me be way off base)

Notes:

SPOILER: Click to show

Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Quentin seems well informed and talks to Dave eagerly about some incident that required a designer to fix but goes silent when Adrian arrives.
Quentin seems oddly interested in the wall.
Dave is suspect of Adrian at first. Quickly switches topic to a game and coffee. Says he doesn't want to be here.
The boss doesn't want Dave near the heavy machinery and Dave is the gopher for now.
Dave seems disappointed momentarily when Quentin stops talking, like he was interested in what was being said?
Seems unhappy talking about the bad things that have happened in the tunnel.

Dave comes across as very childish. He keeps mentioning video games, and implying staying up to midnight is 'rebellious'.
Dave used to do the cleaning. He was very snide when pointing that out.
Dave does not seem happy about working here, and he's been working here a few weeks.
If he is an environmentalist, Dave seems more concerned about people mocking him for knocking out a swarm of zubat than the zubats themselves.
(Though earlier he did seem concerned/upset about talking about the cave flooding and sweeping away pokemon (and some trainers).
All that said, Dave doesn't appear to be doing any work and seem to be making any excuse to avoid working.
Quentin seems to confirm the zubat story and jokes around with Dave. 
Quentin has a bronzor named Luster.
Quentin seems friendly enough and jokes about past mistakes as a newbie. 
He tinkers with machines as he talks and he mentions not knowing about the anti magnetism button on a machine when he started. 
Quentin mentions being correct about an aron den behind a wall (the one he was staring at earlier).
Collin was mentioned as being meticulously organized in the conversation (earlier statement made by Blake confirmed, behavior consistent?)

Dave avoided the question about why work here and not the Pokemart beyond it being boring.
It could be that he's very childish and serious about just wanting money for games and toys, but he's acting twitchy, like the games are an excuse and not a reason.
He didn't say what his pokemon were and he stumbled when explaining why he wouldn't join Adrian despite wanting to goof off and get coffee a minute earlier.
Conrad is very friendly and asking lots of questions. He readily left his work to talk to Adrian and offered to introduce him to everyone. 
He did leave the work area cluttered/a little unsafe and Collin ran a cart over something left in the way, causing stuff to fall out of his cart.
Collin has the most consistent behavior so far—hard working, serious, likes things to be clean. Polar opposite of Dave.
Conrad suggests they can take their lunch early and that by the time they've made it back to the office it'll be lunch time anyway. 

Need more Conrad info.

Collin seems innocent.

ACCUSING DAVE.

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter

[Caramell 🍬]

The work in the tunnel definitely moved at a slower pace, something that caused some of the workers to be disdained while others seemed to be less bothered. Conrad’s smile remained in place as Adrian, in turn, began to question him. It was all fun and jest and helped the engineer to understand some of his fellow workers better, which helped build comradery between them all. “Nothing like that, I’m afraid.” He laughed with a shake of his head. A team that worked closely together with each other, managed to find their tasks running much smoother, right? “I just…like to make sure even our newer members are finding their way about. If you need anything that I can help with…why don’t you give me a holler, alright?”

Adrian insisted that Conrad finish his work on the ladder, which caused the lovable engineer to glance along the steps to his own handiwork with a nod. “Remember what I said about lunch, though?” He added with a knowing wink. Conrad hopped back on the ladder and scaled a few paces along, teasingly poking the wires in place after Colin had moved on. “See? It’s alright, really! I’m starving after all, aren’t you? Plus, I heard that Scott’s wife packed an extra special meal and he’s going to have plenty to share. Are you SURE you’re not interested in that?” He added with a wink. As though he were summoned on cue, Scott popped up not that far away and pushed his hardhat farther up his head with wide, curious eyes.

They blossomed as though a thousand explosions lit up their gaze when they landed on Adrian, though. “Conrad, you old devil!” He laughed with a shake of his head. His hand, soiled so much from dirt caked over it that it was hard to distinguish his actual tone, along with nails so caked with dust that some was crusted along the edges, pressed against a ledge as he chatted away. “Now you know my wife’s famous Smoked Honey Barbeque Rib and Garlic Butter Mashed Potato Bake Casserole is not something I bring enough to feed all the newcomers with, right?” He then nodded expectantly to Adrian, perhaps after Adrian had already taken off though? “But you’re welcome to a bit of it if you want. Careful it can be addicting. Say, where did you say you cam….well, I’ll be?” Scott shrugged, and returned back to work all the same.

Dave turned to Adrian with an almost sour expression that immediately cleared up as the newcomer approached him and agreed to take him up on that coffee. He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets and shifted his eyes further away, staring off into the distance. “I think I’m on my last strike…and coffee makes me go number two like you wouldn’t believe. We could be chatting just like we are…ya know? And BAM! There I went! I…want to say…the foreman warned me to lay off the stuff on the clock.” He pulled out a small piece of paper from one of his pockets, though nothing of note was written on it. Some small scribbles about consoles and chicken noodle soup at best could still be made out. Dave growled with a quick frown and nodded. “Know what? I’m an adult! I’ll have that coffee with you, screw scrooge! He just better have my check! That’s all I care about, so I can get back to my games!”

When they turned the corner, Dave’s face paled as Adrian confronted him. He flared his nostrils, backing up against the wall and fumbling around in his pockets. A couple beads of sweat lingered along the sides of Dave’s face, caught in the middle of a strange game of ‘whose the real criminal’ and unknowing of how he got looped into the midst of it all. “Listen man, it’s true that I don’t care about the work.” He half smiled, wiping away the bead of sweat. “I’m made to work to support my habit or whatever the misses claims I need to do. I’m tired of the charade, if I’m being honest. But…stopping the tunnel from being built? Really? Me?” He laughed with a quick shrug. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. Maybe that’s the kind of legacy you wanna leave? As a fellow worker? Act like you’re a cop or something, I swear!”

As he spoke, Dave pulled out a small ball and unleashed a small and somewhat cute looking steel-and-fairy type, who stood near Dave’s feet and stared up at Adrian curiously enough. “This is my partner who is only hear to help me make sure I stay safe. Her name is Miss Mavel, and we’re both very hungry. Now…are we free to go to lunch or not, newbie?” Dave asked with a smirk, folding his arms over his chest expectantly.

Worker Dave disagrees with Adrian's findings!

He just wants to eat lunch with his Level 17 Mawile named Miss Mavel. Can he go now?

[Pixel]

Adrian mentally tucked away the information he gleaned as he left Conrad and his buddy Scott rambled a bit about his wife's cooking. Conrad and Scott both at least had signs about them that they were working diligently. Scott especially had dirt caked under his nails in a way that suggested he was diligently working away on something in the cave. Whether that was a good or bad sign, he wasn't be to discern, but he was too focused on Dave right now.

Dave who seemed eager enough to leave with him to get that coffee. Dave who went on another childish rant about video games. Dave who pulled something out of his pocket and it was just a sticky note of consoles and chicken soup.

When confronted, he looked nervous, but was that because he was a radical backed into a corner or because he was actually an innocent man who felt like he was being accused of a crime he didn't commit? Adrian liked to think he was a good judge of people, and well...at this point, regardless of whether or not he was a radical, Dave was probably better off not on this job site anyway.

"I'm acting like a cop because I am one," Adrian deadpanned as Dave pulled away and put a mawile between them. Flicker chirped and burned brighter but he didn't send her out to fight. Rather, he took out a ball and put his arcanine between them. Maybe if he was a detective, he could start poking holes in his story with practiced ease and mind games, but Adrian had to admit, he wasn't that clever. He was new to this, and honestly, he was getting antsy. He needed to do something before things went south, so ending this battle quickly was due.

"I was going to take you to the office and ask you to empty your pockets, but I guess we're doing this the hard way," Adrian said. "Heimdal, use flamethrower." Dave was pretty well cornered at this point, so once they cleared the pokemon standing between them, Adrian could move to cuff the guy and check him over for evidence. And probably escort him to the office after taking his radio. 

Because even if he was innocent, he didn't need him complaining about cops into the walkie-talkie and alerting the radicals about the newbie being the brass. 

"Please put your hands against the wall. I don't want anyone to be hurt."

—

Word Count:  412 | OOC:

Heimdal + Flamethrower x2

Notes:

SPOILER: Click to show

Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Quentin seems well informed and talks to Dave eagerly about some incident that required a designer to fix but goes silent when Adrian arrives.
Quentin seems oddly interested in the wall.
Dave is suspect of Adrian at first. Quickly switches topic to a game and coffee. Says he doesn't want to be here.
The boss doesn't want Dave near the heavy machinery and Dave is the gopher for now.
Dave seems disappointed momentarily when Quentin stops talking, like he was interested in what was being said?
Seems unhappy talking about the bad things that have happened in the tunnel.

Dave comes across as very childish. He keeps mentioning video games, and implying staying up to midnight is 'rebellious'.
Dave used to do the cleaning. He was very snide when pointing that out.
Dave does not seem happy about working here, and he's been working here a few weeks.
If he is an environmentalist, Dave seems more concerned about people mocking him for knocking out a swarm of zubat than the zubats themselves.
(Though earlier he did seem concerned/upset about talking about the cave flooding and sweeping away pokemon (and some trainers).
All that said, Dave doesn't appear to be doing any work and seem to be making any excuse to avoid working.
Quentin seems to confirm the zubat story and jokes around with Dave. 
Quentin has a bronzor named Luster.
Quentin seems friendly enough and jokes about past mistakes as a newbie. 
He tinkers with machines as he talks and he mentions not knowing about the anti magnetism button on a machine when he started. 
Quentin mentions being correct about an aron den behind a wall (the one he was staring at earlier).
Collin was mentioned as being meticulously organized in the conversation (earlier statement made by Blake confirmed, behavior consistent?)

Dave avoided the question about why work here and not the Pokemart beyond it being boring.
It could be that he's very childish and serious about just wanting money for games and toys, but he's acting twitchy, like the games are an excuse and not a reason.
He didn't say what his pokemon were and he stumbled when explaining why he wouldn't join Adrian despite wanting to goof off and get coffee a minute earlier.
Conrad is very friendly and asking lots of questions. He readily left his work to talk to Adrian and offered to introduce him to everyone. 
He did leave the work area cluttered/a little unsafe and Collin ran a cart over something left in the way, causing stuff to fall out of his cart.
Collin has the most consistent behavior so far—hard working, serious, likes things to be clean. Polar opposite of Dave.
Conrad suggests they can take their lunch early and that by the time they've made it back to the office it'll be lunch time anyway. 

Need more Conrad info.

Collin seems innocent.

ACCUSING DAVE.


Conrad and Scott get along swimmingly.

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter

[Caramell 🍬]

Dave’s eyes widened at Adrian’s admittance of his true position. They sent in spies among the workers to try and root out all of the troublemakers within the group? “Your kind are all alike, you know.” He scoffed, kicking a small piece of granite across the rocky terrain. It skittered across the rough ground and hopped over a ledge, cascading down into a small tunnel to another level below their feet. Clearly, they weren’t in the safest or most stable place, something that Dave smirked a little too much about as his eyes glanced towards the open hole in the ground, leading to another level below. “Always there to serve the greater good of whoever’s pockets you’re lining. You don’t even care what kinds of damages you’re causing to the wilderness around, do you? Huh?” He threatened.

Somewhere in the distance, two men scampered through the dark cave work and only paused to exchange a heated conversation. They were missing their team member for the moment and had the company boss literally breathing down their throats. Lunch was approaching – in all its splendor and glory of everything that this meant for everyone involved, and not just the food they would be able to eat – but there was a long wait before that moment. Antsy, they pressed back into the fold, feigning lackadaisical work as was their custom while taking notes – both of whom was present and working, and of who was missing.

“Miss Mavel, use your Bite and really sink your fangs into your opponent. Let’s show this cop who he thinks he’s dealing with.” Dave spat on the ground with a harsh glare. Heimdal’s hot breath would come shining through first and foremost, singeing Miss Mavel so surely that it instantly knocked her flat out on the ground. He recalled his Pokemon and immediately backed up against the wall with a harsh glare. “You’re making a big mistake! When my friends find out about what you’ve done…you’ve all but sealed everyone else’s fates!” Dave hissed threateningly as he prepared for Adrian to handcuff him and try to cart him off to jail.

---

Heimdal gained 2 levels.
Heimdal increased to level 21!

Dave cannot deny it any longer!

Better watch out for his friends!

((Division Performance Noted))

[Pixel]

"You're blaming me for the damage you're planning to do to the innocents here?" Adrian said softly as he approached the cornered worker and cuffed him. He quickly took his radio and tucked it into his overalls for safe keeping. Just in case he heard some chatter over it that was useful. He patted him down briefly, before escorting him to the office where he could better search him for clues.

"Heimdal, sniff him over," he said. He recalled how that keen nose helped him determine who was guilty and innocent when the Dig house was broken into and the Rocket pretended to be the home owner. "I might have you with me to determine if you can smell anything on the others similar to this guy." Like explosives. Then again, they were in an excavation site, explosives were common. Adrian felt sweat bead on his forehead. Just because he found one didn't mean he'd be able to suss out the others in time. But he was trying.

"Hey Blake, sir, I've got one. He's confessed. All the issues you've had with him have been because of sabotage." Adrian made Dave sit down. "I assume you have a pokemon like everyone else, sir? Keep an eye on him so he doesn't run off. I'm going to try to figure out who he is working with. Though if he would perhaps like a reduced sentence in court, maybe he could tell us who he's working with? Yes? No? Jail means no time to play Spyro."

Adrian then looked over what he found in Dave's pockets, hoping for some more answers. Then with a refreshed sense of urgency, he left the office and looked around for a good cover. He saw one of those carts that Collin had been hauling around earlier and quickly make shifted a 'pull harness' for Arcanine.

"There. I can use the excuse of bring this cart back to the job site for why you're out bud. Remember, keep your nose alert for anybody who might be one of the trouble makers."

Then back into the cave he went. He kept an eye out for Quentin, who he knew he should pass first down the tunnel, supposedly examining one of the wall's for an aron nest. After him he should see Conrad or possibly Collin. He had briefly encountered Scott, so perhaps he'd still be there with Conrad talking about lunch. Which meant he still needed to find Jeff...who was likely at the deepest end of the tunnel.

Adrian kept walking, nudging his arcanine as they passed people, "Hey Quentin, how's that aron nest situation going? And do you need anything from the guys in the tunnel? I've been promoted to mover and getter."

—

Word Count:  412 | OOC:

Taking Dave to the office and checking him for clues.

Notes:

SPOILER: Click to show

Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Quentin seems well informed and talks to Dave eagerly about some incident that required a designer to fix but goes silent when Adrian arrives.
Quentin seems oddly interested in the wall.
Dave is suspect of Adrian at first. Quickly switches topic to a game and coffee. Says he doesn't want to be here.
The boss doesn't want Dave near the heavy machinery and Dave is the gopher for now.
Dave seems disappointed momentarily when Quentin stops talking, like he was interested in what was being said?
Seems unhappy talking about the bad things that have happened in the tunnel.

Dave comes across as very childish. He keeps mentioning video games, and implying staying up to midnight is 'rebellious'.
Dave used to do the cleaning. He was very snide when pointing that out.
Dave does not seem happy about working here, and he's been working here a few weeks.
If he is an environmentalist, Dave seems more concerned about people mocking him for knocking out a swarm of zubat than the zubats themselves.
(Though earlier he did seem concerned/upset about talking about the cave flooding and sweeping away pokemon (and some trainers).
All that said, Dave doesn't appear to be doing any work and seem to be making any excuse to avoid working.
Quentin seems to confirm the zubat story and jokes around with Dave. 
Quentin has a bronzor named Luster.
Quentin seems friendly enough and jokes about past mistakes as a newbie. 
He tinkers with machines as he talks and he mentions not knowing about the anti magnetism button on a machine when he started. 
Quentin mentions being correct about an aron den behind a wall (the one he was staring at earlier).
Collin was mentioned as being meticulously organized in the conversation (earlier statement made by Blake confirmed, behavior consistent?)

Dave avoided the question about why work here and not the Pokemart beyond it being boring.
It could be that he's very childish and serious about just wanting money for games and toys, but he's acting twitchy, like the games are an excuse and not a reason.
He didn't say what his pokemon were and he stumbled when explaining why he wouldn't join Adrian despite wanting to goof off and get coffee a minute earlier.
Conrad is very friendly and asking lots of questions. He readily left his work to talk to Adrian and offered to introduce him to everyone. 
He did leave the work area cluttered/a little unsafe and Collin ran a cart over something left in the way, causing stuff to fall out of his cart.
Collin has the most consistent behavior so far—hard working, serious, likes things to be clean. Polar opposite of Dave.
Conrad suggests they can take their lunch early and that by the time they've made it back to the office it'll be lunch time anyway. 

Need more Conrad info.

Collin seems innocent.

ACCUSING DAVE.


Conrad and Scott get along swimmingly.

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter
Radicals: Dave

[Tiki]

"No, I am just making sure the Union Cave stays the same!" Dave mumbled and protested. Then, he looked as if he got spooked by the Arcanine sniffing up close, since he hadn't been this close to an Arcanine before. He also refused to tell the undercover cop of his accomplices.

Blake spoke after Adrian's report. "Good, good. Keep up the good work. I certainly have a Pokemon to keep an eye on Dave. I am sure he wouldn't want me to send it out." He remarked snidely, without mentioning what his Pokemon was, but it certainly made Dave worried if Blake sent it out. He didn't make any comment to Adrian continuing his cover and went back to the cave, as he figured the officer knew what he was doing. The foreman only needed to keep an eye on Dave for now.

---

When Adrian met up with Quentin again, the jolly man seemed to be deep into his work until the "new guy" showed up again. "Hey, Adrian! The Aron den? They'll be fine even if we drill through it. They're quite a casual Pokemon. Heck, I've been here long enough that I can tell you the Arons don't mind at all. If anything, they'll actually prefer us drilling through the iron deposits making it easier for them to chew through any minerals they less preferred or don't even preferred at all. They can't climb or jump too high obviously, and there's some deposits up in the wall too! I've seen some Aron happily lick and slurp up iron powders like it's matcha powder or something. Some Aron even wait for us to drill through the tunnel and race for the loose iron gravels coming off. If they don't have such stubby little feet, I am sure they would be moving faster for those free treats. Who wouldn't mind someone sorting out your favorite food for you? They're kind of like little toddlers waiting for their parent to mush and to crush their food." He spoke, as if a professor talking to his student in a lecture room. While he wasn't a Pokemon Professor like Professor Oak or Professor Elm, he surely was knowledgeable about cavern dwelling Pokemon.

"To answer your question, I am fine. I don't need help. You can probably check on Colin and Dexter and Conrad. I've last heard Dexter calling Colin to bring in another equipment. I've also heard Scott asking Conrad to hurry up with the lights, since he's wrapping up his current task. I wonder how that goes." He paused to think. "Hmm.. I don't know if you've met Jeff, but he's not talkative. He's somewhere repairing one of our 'older' machine models. Things have been breaking down lately. Initially I thought it's Makuhita training their body, but I found out they actually get up even earlier than we get up for work! They'll leave Union Cave to train on some tough sturdy trees and also get food along the way, and then go sleep somewhere in the cave preferably undisturbed to rest up after a long training session. They would have been great for those marathon trainers but I don't think Makuhita runs." He laughed at his own joke at the end.

OOC:
plot continues, moving around some people's positions and possible pairings.
once again anyone but pixel feel free to pm for radicals if you're confused by the mod/ RP.

[Pixel]

"Dexter? I haven't met him or Jeff yet. Only saw Scott briefly when I was coming back up the tunnel this way. He talked to Conrad about his wife's cooking? Seemed friendly." Adrian mused aloud, a little awkward still, but Quentin seemed happy to do allll the talking, so Adrian nodded along to his nerd talk. His mouth quirked at the corners. "I can tell you love pokemon. I guess that's why you're not too concerned about disturbing that wall after you found the aron them...smart choice in where to make a hole." Pause. Wait. 

Quentin mentioned how making the hole in the cave wall seemed to make the pokemon happy. He observed the pokemon while working enough to know he wasn't disturbing the local population of aron with his work so he chose a wall with a nest behind it. That sounded less like a radical wanting the tunnel to not be built at all costs...and more like someone who enjoyed their job and was considerate of the pokemon at the same time. There were no sour mentions about destroying the tunnel, just him seemingly happy that the aron would watch them drill and gobble up the ore deposits that were dropped.

Like Collin...Quentin felt...innocent. Maybe. Hopefully. He liked to think that there were workers here that cared about pokemon as well as the fact their work would help keep trainers safe.

"Does Conrad usually have to be told to hurry up? Since I'm new, I don't know who's usually on task and chatty, and who gets off task or wanders off." Pause. "He seemed friendly and was working when I saw him. But I also don't know how long it's supposed to take to hang up lights. C'mon, Heimdal, let's get this cart of stuff moving. We've taken too much time ourselves." He patted the arcanine's side, glad his excuse of 'mover and getter' was bought. "Quentin, one last question before I go..." He made himself smirk. "Who is the best engineer here and who is your favorite machine operator?" A playful jab, before he went down the tunnel.

"Nose on the goal," he murmured to Arcanine. The hound kept sniffing around, still searching for smells. They reached the part of the tunnel where he saw Conrad and Scott last, "I'm back. Got promoted from cleaner while I was gone. Apparently I need to take this stuff to the end of the tunnel. Pretty fast paced down here, and Dave's no help." A pause to judge reactions. He was good at reading faces. Reading people. At least. That's what he always thought. "After I left Collin to his job, I saw Dave in the office. Looked like he was getting another talking to...so, I'm your gopher now. Need me for anything before I take this cart of stuff down the tunnel to where the others are?"

—

Word Count:  000  | OOC:

Back down the tunnel to Conrad.

Note to self: I haven't spoken to Jeff or Dexter.
Only saw Scott in passing.

I did not find anything on Dave, but I did take his radio.

Notes:

SPOILER: Click to show

Colin and Dave are new
Dave has a strike against him for something unspecified
Colin is very detail oriented? (Better for inspection department)
Machine operators Jeff and Scott can't be kept together because Scott distracts Jeff
The Engineers are Conrad, Quentin, and Dexter
Conrad looks out for the newbies
Quentin and Dexter are 'smart but best left alone to their work'
Dave has been assigned to help Quentin.

Quentin seems well informed and talks to Dave eagerly about some incident that required a designer to fix but goes silent when Adrian arrives.
Quentin seems oddly interested in the wall.
Dave is suspect of Adrian at first. Quickly switches topic to a game and coffee. Says he doesn't want to be here.
The boss doesn't want Dave near the heavy machinery and Dave is the gopher for now.
Dave seems disappointed momentarily when Quentin stops talking, like he was interested in what was being said?
Seems unhappy talking about the bad things that have happened in the tunnel.

Dave comes across as very childish. He keeps mentioning video games, and implying staying up to midnight is 'rebellious'.
Dave used to do the cleaning. He was very snide when pointing that out.
Dave does not seem happy about working here, and he's been working here a few weeks.
If he is an environmentalist, Dave seems more concerned about people mocking him for knocking out a swarm of zubat than the zubats themselves.
(Though earlier he did seem concerned/upset about talking about the cave flooding and sweeping away pokemon (and some trainers).
All that said, Dave doesn't appear to be doing any work and seem to be making any excuse to avoid working.
Quentin seems to confirm the zubat story and jokes around with Dave. 
Quentin has a bronzor named Luster.
Quentin seems friendly enough and jokes about past mistakes as a newbie. 
He tinkers with machines as he talks and he mentions not knowing about the anti magnetism button on a machine when he started. 
Quentin mentions being correct about an aron den behind a wall (the one he was staring at earlier).
Collin was mentioned as being meticulously organized in the conversation (earlier statement made by Blake confirmed, behavior consistent?)

Dave avoided the question about why work here and not the Pokemart beyond it being boring.
It could be that he's very childish and serious about just wanting money for games and toys, but he's acting twitchy, like the games are an excuse and not a reason.
He didn't say what his pokemon were and he stumbled when explaining why he wouldn't join Adrian despite wanting to goof off and get coffee a minute earlier.
Conrad is very friendly and asking lots of questions. He readily left his work to talk to Adrian and offered to introduce him to everyone. 
He did leave the work area cluttered/a little unsafe and Collin ran a cart over something left in the way, causing stuff to fall out of his cart.
Collin has the most consistent behavior so far—hard working, serious, likes things to be clean. Polar opposite of Dave.
Conrad suggests they can take their lunch early and that by the time they've made it back to the office it'll be lunch time anyway. 

Need more Conrad info.

Collin seems innocent.

ACCUSING DAVE.


Conrad and Scott get along swimmingly.


Quentin seems innocent.
Jeff is finally mentioned again. Not talkative. Fixing older machines. Apparently the machines have been breaking down a lot lately.
Dexter calling Colin to bring in another equipment. 
Scott asking Conrad to hurry up with the lights. Conrad has been working on those lights a while and he has a cluttered working space (as per an earlier note).

Still haven't spoken to to Jeff or Dexter.

Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter
Radicals: Dave