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Post by Caramell 🍬 on Jan 15, 2024 21:29:50 GMT 11
Further inside of the tunnel, two figures blended into the long shadows that played across the rocky walls of the cave. Quiet voices argued in hushed tones, with one looking skittishly around the area as another slammed something strange in the makeshift place. They covered the charge up and concealed it, ensuring that it blended in with the surrounding terrain. Time was of the essence for Adrian to hurry and uncover the final radicals who may have been helping Dave in their plans. “…in place…only one…then time!” Dave’s radio came through, like broken English, clearly too far away for Adrian to make out the full conversation – or whose voice might have been saying anything.
“Jeff has been with the organization for a while now.” Quentin said with a shrug, peering into the hole he’d been creating with a smile. Small heads prodded about just a ways in, their large eyes and armored bodies quietly observing signs of life through the opening. Happily and eagerly, they gobbled up all the minerals that Quentin and the team managed to break up for them, though the wild creatures still maintained their distance like feral cats eager to accept cat food thrown out into the streets. “He’s got like…I don’t know…a jealous streak sometimes, though.” Quentin mused. “Dexter might threaten you if you touch his stuff, but he’s one of the smartest guys you’ll meet.” Quentin laughed, returning back to his work.
“I’ll admit I’m one to talk. There was this ancient ruin once that was off limits to the public. But the ancient artifacts! Like none you’ve ever seen! Did you know that ancient civilizations made these makeshift weapons that they used alongside their Pokemon’s natural powers to charge up rare gemstones they pulled from the earth? Well…I can wander myself, ya know, if the place is interesting enough. But Conrad seems to always wander off when you need him most. I don’t know…maybe he’s finding cool things too? Dexter’s probably our best engineer, besides myself. But he doesn’t really seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Favorite operator? Scott by far! Have you heard his stories of his adventures on other worksites? If you haven’t, you really should!” Quentin yammered on with a wide smile.
Quentin continued on in his conversations over the wonders of wild creatures and ancient times while working diligently as Adrian pushed off once more, clearly a chatterbox who was hard to shut up. Adrian would return to find Scott scratching his head and pointing to the lights that Conrad hadn’t actually finished placing up. “Come on Conrad, you’re making my work harder than it needs to be. And yours too, if you think about it.” Scott sighed with a shake of his head. “That new juice bar opened up last week. Remember we talked about going there together and trying some of their specials? I can’t do that if we have to work late. You know how my misses gets by now. It’s a wonder she hasn’t showed up to check on me, really! So tell me, Conrad, do you need some help man? It may not be my strongest suit in here, but I’ll lend a hand if it gets us moving again!” Scott laughed, gesturing to the lights, then throughout the tunnel. As Scott talked about his wife, he’d make large gestures as if he were recreating her very figure in the air, and even wagged his finger with one hand on his hip like a woman scolding her husband.
“Oh, hey! Congrats on the promotion, man! What did you do to get it?” Scott asked with his eyes lit up and a wiggle of his eyebrows. “Cozy up to the foreman? I heard if you compliment him enough and let him know just how good of a leader he his, he’ll promote you to just about anything. So tell me…whaddya say? Something like, ‘I bet no one leads a team as well as you’?! Huh?!” Scott would then throw one hand around Adrian’s shoulders to pull him into a side hug – not too personal to be weird – and add, “I’m just teasin’ you anyways. We’re just finishing up here. I was trying to help Conrad out, I think he’s uh…got more work than he can finish.” Scott gestured with a sigh.
Conrad, however, glared. “Dave’s in trouble again?” His eyes searched the tunnel carefully with a shake of his head. “Explains why I can’t find him. I was going to get his help for a second, but I guess that’s out the question now.” He hummed then turned to Scott with a shrug to his machine. “I uh…didn’t ask you because you’re very busy here…with your machine and all. It’s great to see you’re moving up in the company!” Conrad spoke to Adrian with a wide smile. “Scott’s just getting impatient here. Better not interrupt you too long with your important new roll. Though maybe…you’d like to stay and help Scott?” Scott scoffed. “Help me?! Nah, man, you need the help!” He stated a bit more seriously.
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Post by Pixel on Jan 16, 2024 5:16:21 GMT 11
Adrian watched and listened to the exchange, a creeping realization dawning on him. Conrad wanted help from Dave. A radical. If he needed help, Collin had passed through earlier and he was also new...and Scott mentioned Adrian could help, but he was brushing Adrian off onto Scott. If those two were working together then surely they'd just send Adrian on his merry way and Scott would 'help' Conrad with the lights.
Scott had an arm around Adrian's shoulders now, his voice serious as he spoke to Conrad despite his earlier levity.
"...I don't think I said anything flattering to the bossman. I think Dave just annoyed him so much that I got the promotion to make a point? I dunno. But I can stay here and help Conrad. You go on back to your stuff, Scott, I'll be by when I'm done here to see if anyone else needs help. Maybe I'll even meet the infamous Dexter and Jeff. Heard Dexter is real smart and Jeff's been here forever. Could be good people to learn from."
He slipped free of Scott and clapped his shoulder 'buddy buddy' like.
Then he peered up at Conrad, some dread building in his gut. He wanted to be wrong but...he knew from the crackling on the Radio that he was running out of time. And also, that it was likely that the two rebels weren't next to each other like Scott and Conrad here if they were talking through radios. It had to be one of them...or it could be neither. But...
Gut feeling. He had to act quickly. He couldn't keep hesitating. Adrian needed to be decisive!
He waited for Scott to walk away before moving towards Conrad, as if he was going to pick up one of the lights, "Hey bud...um...could you come down from the ladder? I have one more question..." Adrian breathed in deep and pulled out his badge, "What are you and the other radicals planning to do to this tunnel?" His heart raced. His arcanine turned his head towards Adrian, alert, nose twitching as he saw his trainer making an accusation. Like he was trying to find hints of what was going on.
Unlike before, Heimdal's keen nose was having troubles picking out oddities. Everything smelled similar, like stone and explosives and dirt and metal and grease. But maybe he could find something...anything out of place.
Adrian held his ground. He had to be right. If he wasn't...then there were more radicals further down the cave and he might just be too late to stop them.
—Word Count: 428 | OOC:Accusing...Conrad! (Which sucks because I wanted him to be a cool dude) Note to self: I haven't spoken to Jeff or Dexter. --- Background Boxes update: Moving Nest Balls, Mistletoe and Butterfree from Adrian to Silas. 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave
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Missingno.
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Post by Tiki on Jan 19, 2024 14:20:18 GMT 11
"Yeah, if you say so." Scott replied, sounding a little disbelief still. "Just make it quick with Dexter and keep your hands to yourself when talking to him, okay?" He then gave Adrian a back pat before separating from the undercover man. "Yeeah?..." When called by Adrian, Conrad wasn't expecting the conversation to go the direction that it went. His heart stopped for a second, but he would have to play it cool now. He quickly turned to a smile, a little bit forced. "What are you talking about? Radicals? Do you mean Team Rockets? They're always up to no goods. They wouldn't run around without their big R on their shirt right? Why would I'm just working in this tunnel, just like you!" Maybe redirection would be a great idea, and if that didn't work, he would just have to send out his Pokemon to silence Adrian. "Or did I misheard you and you're asking about Raticates?" He folded his arms defensively, as if holding his breath after stating that.
1 is confess X7B8AQTKp_1-3rng p_1-3Conrad have his (Level 15) Mankey on standby!! 1-3·1-3
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Post by Pixel on Jan 20, 2024 2:18:51 GMT 11
Scott left Adrian with Conrad and that budding sense of dread formed into felt like cold, bubbling realization. He was right. He had to be right. In sharp contrast to the obnoxious Dave that never seemed to do anything right and purposefully messed things up for his peers, Conrad was liked and likable. He and Scott had a camaraderie going on. People liked Conrad. Adrian LIKED Conrad. But it was all an act. A show. He was breaking the law and potentially in a way that would hurt a lot of people. If it was petty vandalism, it might be possible to let things go but there were lives at stake here.
It hurt.
Why did it hurt?
Adrian sighed and stepped back, "Hiemdal, watch my back and ensure he doesn't run." He didn't even sound like he wanted to do this, but he was trusting his gut, even as it twisted inside of him. The arcanine woofed as Adrian pulled out another ball, "Please come with me quietly, Conrad. It's over." Adrian threw the ball between him in response to the mankey appearing, both of them defensive and waiting for the other to make a move. "You are under arrest. Blaise, double kick the mankey if it attacks."
Adrian then tried to round the pair of pokemon to get closer to Conrad, pulling out handcuffs, wanting to close the distance between them before the man had a chance to fully regain his sense of composure and make any commands or do anything stupid.
(Why was it you Conrad?)
(People liked you. People trusted you.)
The black bull he sent out shook his head and snorted, horns gleaming the lights that Conrad himself had been slowly stringing up.
"Please, work with me. Who are you working with? Why are you doing this?" Adrian asked. He didn't have all the evidence he needed but a confession under pressure might have to suffice. (But as much as we wanted to be wrong, he knew he needed to be right) He was trusting his instincts. The ones that had him chasing down that truck the day he was recruited.
Dave had been a much more cut and dry case once his facade started to crack. Conrad's own act held up much better under scrutiny. All until that final interaction where Adrian felt that sense if wrongness about his attitude. And Scott didn't seem to have a clue that his buddy didn't care one but about him.
—Word Count: 400 | OOC:Double kick x2 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave
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Missingno.
Grass Dinosaur
Tiki
ZZ voluntary experimenter/ tester/ QA
Posts: 13,564
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Post by Tiki on Jan 24, 2024 2:33:52 GMT 11
At this point Conrad knew his facade was being seen and exposed. Still, he had fun with this long-term charade. "Come with you and under arrest? Nah. You're in my way. You're in our way!" The radical retorted back, obviously unyielding. He saw the opponent's two Pokemon, but he was unfazed. Sure, the Tauros looked intimidating with its black silken furs and powerful horns, but this was nothing in the grand scheme of things, other than a minor inconvenience and a delay. "Mankey, don't let that bull scare you. Go for a Seismic Toss!"The four-legged mammal charged forward to trample the unsuspecting Mankey, but the simian survived the rampage. Then, the pure fighting type Pokemon gathered all of its strength to pick up the mighty Tauros four times its size. What an incredible feat! Then, the Mankey dramatically slammed the Tauros on the ground. The hardy Tauros quickly got back up and returned toward the Mankey for another trampling news. He returned his fallen Mankey to quickly swap out another Pokeball. "You have a good guy, I'll tell you that. But some of us needs to be the villain to somebody in order to be a hero to somebody. I am doing this for the greater good." He didn't answer Adrian's question and was rather dodgy. "Come on out, Nidoran! We've got ourselves a handful!" He was assure and determined of his goal, and wouldn't let a little single officer stopping his plan.
![](https://johtophoto.com/sprites/pokemon/2d/tauros-paldeablaze.png) Blaise gained 3 levels and is now Level 17! He can learn Flame Charge, delete a move? HP 42/57 after level up ![](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/bw/nidoranm.png) Conrad sent out his (Level 15) Nidoran M next! KIzCUeYtp_1-16p_1-161-16·1-16
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Post by Pixel on Jan 24, 2024 15:05:32 GMT 11
"You didn't have to be the villain. You don't have to put innocent people and pokemon's lives in danger. Anything you do that will 'scare off' the construction crew will have to be big. Big enough to disturb the pokemon that live here. Perhaps even hurt them. How much collateral damage is worth it to you for the 'greater good'?" Adrian asked as he watched the battle unfold, Conrad all but solidifying his confession. It still hurt. It was a punch to the gut that he didn't expect. He barely knew this man but he'd been inclined to like him—especially compared to someone like Dave who had been childish with poor work ethic from the start. The other people onsite seemed to like him. He had a good reputation. He could have been a better person...
Adrian's mouth firmed into a flat line as the mankey tossed the tauros easily, slamming him into the ground. But the bull was soon up on his feet and trampling the monkey again, flames flickering around his dark mane as he defeated his foe.
Out came a nidoran next.
Blaise looked ready to charge again, but Adrian didn't want to risk him starting trouble with how worked up he had gotten from that victory.
"Come back, Blaise. You did good." He sent out Puddles next. "Use mud shot." Then he whispered to his litwick, "I need you to distract him so that he can't run. I'm going to try to grab and cuff him as soon as this battle is over." He just needed a split second of hesitation from the other man.
His little ghost companion vanished from his shoulder and re-appeared behind Conrad. With a ghostly giggle, she phased through his hazard vest and began to rummage through his pockets, tossing everything she found onto the ground. That spare pocket change? On the ground now. And she didn't temper her flame either. So Conrad now had a very warm (flame body) pokemon snuggled up against him. It didn't burn him, but it would no doubt be uncomfortable.
Puddles, oblivious to the greater situation, cheerful spat mud at the nidoran.
<Heya pal. Nice day for a battle! Why's it so dark? Oh, we're in a cave. Neat. Been a while since I've seen a cave. I grew up in a muddy marsh, myself. Lots of sunshine and other woopers.> Puddles kept rambling. Chatty.
—Word Count: 400 | OOC:Switching to Puddles and using Mud Shot. Flame Charge over tail whip. 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave
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Post by Rexman on Jan 29, 2024 8:02:44 GMT 11
"Pft, what do you know about the way the world works? You're just some kid, traveling around on a Pokemon journey. Meanwhile, us adults have to work for a living and try to do our best in a rotten economy." he muttered, his attitude poor and projecting that onto the younger trainer. "Nidoran, get ready for a good battle. Pump yourself up!" the trainer cried. Closing his eyes for a second, the purple rodent seemed to glow slightly as his horn sharpened, all the better to stab at critical spots in an enemy's anatomy. Unfortunately for them, due to Wooper's slimy body, those critical points would probably be hard to find and poke at. Conrad's focus and attention was quickly taken from the battle as items from his pockets were lifting of their own accord, falling onto the floor of the cave. Blinking in surprise, he scratched as his neck before bending over to pick them up. How did that happen? Did he have holes in his pockets? And why was he warm all of a sudden? Wasn't it cool down here? Conrad was starting to get a little freaked out and the distraction was good enough that he didn't even see his own Pokemon get walloped by a big ball of mud. Not only did the mud cause damage to the poison type, but now that he was totally covered, it was harder for him to move around. This was definitely not going in the favor of the radical and if he didn't do something soon, he was in deep doo-doo. Radical Fight Weather: Clear [attr="class","qkt-bkgd"] [attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"] Nidoran M LV 15 HP 44% [19/43]
[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] ![](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/ani/nidoranm.gif) [attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"] Puddles LV 18 HP 100% [53/53]
[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] ![](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/gen5-back-shiny/wooper-paldea.png) Nidoran M [Rivalry]: +1 Crit, -1 Speed Puddles [Water Absorb]: Healthy SP24 Nidoran used Focus Energy, +1 Crit SP15: Puddles used Mudshot, 24 damage Nidoran -1 Speed
Nidoran attack QuL8lcomp_1-4
Mud Shot Crit: p_1-16
1-4·1-16
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Post by Pixel on Jan 29, 2024 8:58:10 GMT 11
"I understand how the world works better than most," Adrian countered. "I understand what it's like...to feel desperate and wronged." He understood and empathized with people who did the wrong things out of boredom or spite or for a sense of purpose. For a moment he was back to being just a teen with a useless drunkard of a father that got his jollies from smacking around people smaller than him. Back when he just wanted to feel something other than hopelessness, even if it was spite. Back when there was an aching void that his mother left behind when she was gone.
His fingers twitched from recalling the first time he accepted a cigarette from an older teen who stole them from a store. The way the lighter felt flimsy in his hand but as he rolled his thumb over the wheel it began to spark and soon a tiny flame formed. That flame turned the stick into something more and he inhaled, coughing on his first lungful of smoke. The older boy laughed and smacked his back, mocking him for not knowing how to smoke right. But Adrian figured it out. The nicotine helped ease the twisting in his stomach on those days he went hungry. The act of smoking helped busy his hands and clear his whirling thoughts.
Of course, smoking turned to more troublesome habits. Though one could argue that many teens drank before they came of age to do so. What was a little fun? And shoplifting? It wasn't harming anyone right? It was thrilling. It filled a void. A vacancy. But it carved new wounds—made his paranoia worse. Would today be the day he was caught? Would he go to jail? Did he care? Was his life worth living?
He was a useless, unguided creature. Angry. Hostile. Prone to angry outbursts. He heard the warnings from teachers. He was old enough that if he hit someone too hard...it was game over. It was a endless spiral—a whirlpool that sucked him in and refused to let go. It pulled him down, deeper and deeper, until he was choking. Drowning. He was helplessly resigned to his path. Even spitefully determined to follow through. To be as worthless as his father claimed him to be. (Look at him, the mirror of the man who made him.)
But things change. People change. His rapid descent into a life of crime beyond repair was halted by the traumatic realization that death was indeed real and permanent. That friends died young—they died even faster when they lived hard and reckless and dangerous. And somehow he managed to turn himself around stand a little taller these days. The mistakes of the past shaped him but did not define him.
And thus, he wanted to keep being better. To help people.
But he understood that sometimes...people were too far along and too caught in the whirlpool to bother taking an extended hand. Adrian knew what he had to do.
When Puddles spat another mud shot at the nidoran, Adrian decided that now was a good time to do something a little stupid. Conrad looked startled and distracted, Flicker's invasion of his pockets making him take his eyes of the battle and more importantly, off of Adrian. Taking in a deep breath, he rushed Conrad and, well, tackled him. He had other means of disabling the man, but this felt more natural. More instinctive. If he could get Conrad on the ground, he could cuff him.
"Who else is working with you?" he would demand as he engaged the other man.
Flicker, just happy to be included, kept emptying out Conrad's pockets. Everything. Onto the floor it goes!
—Word Count: 600 | OOC: Mud Shot again 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave, Conrad
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Missingno.
Grass Dinosaur
Tiki
ZZ voluntary experimenter/ tester/ QA
Posts: 13,564
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Post by Tiki on Feb 1, 2024 14:43:51 GMT 11
Was he nervous and cracking his façade? Conrad thought internally as the battle went on. He thought his acting and performance had been great. Why would he be sweating and feeling chills all of a sudden? He quietly gulped down to clear his throat before speaking again at this pretentious officer. "No, you don't know the world! Why would you say that? You're like a baby!" He hollered, since technically he was quite a bit older than Adrian. "Nidoran, use Fury Attack!" He pointed at the Wooper as he spoke. The purple hare skipped forward, and went after the amphibian Pokemon as he used his sharp horn to jab at Puddles furiously. Some stabs made contact with the opponent, and some didn't. They stopped until Puddles was able to give himself some space and fired a volley of muddy balls at the opponent, some splat on the ground as they missed. The Nidoran was struck hard, and yelped one last time as he fainted and fell on the ground. "Shoot!" Conrad returned his Pokemon and threw his hardhat on the ground dramatically, and then tried to make a get away but of course he would be surrounded by Adrian and his Pokemon. He was hoping the last remaining radical knew they're in trouble and under watch by an undercover. He was hoping, the plan would still work as their numbers dwindled. Radical Fight Weather: Clear [attr="class","qkt-bkgd"] [attr="class","qkt-wild-pkmn"] Nidoran M LV 15 HP 0% [0/43]
[attr="class","qkt-wild-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] ![](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/ani/nidoranm.gif) [attr="class","qkt-trainer-pkmn"] Puddles LV 18 HP 75% [40/53]
[attr="class","qkt-trainer-imgbox"] [attr="class","qkt-pkmn-img"] ![](https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/sprites/gen5-back-shiny/wooper-paldea.png) Nidoran M [Rivalry]: +1 Crit, -1 Speed Puddles [Water Absorb]: Healthy SP24 Nidoran used Fury Attack! SP15: Puddles used Mudshot!
fury attack number of times: gXUGQwJRp_2-5nidoran crit p_1-8p_1-8p_1-8Mud Shot crit p_1-162-5·1-8·1-8·1-8·1-16
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Member is Online
Pixel
Posts: 10,476
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Post by Pixel on Feb 2, 2024 2:15:50 GMT 11
He was not a /baby/.
Taking in a deep breath, Adrian rushed Conrad and, well, tackled him. He had other means of disabling the man, but this felt more natural. More instinctive. If he could get Conrad on the ground, he could cuff him.
"Who else is working with you?" he would demand as he engaged the other man. Adrian got out the cuffs would cuff Conrad's arms behind him, looking around to make sure nobody else saw them. He needed to get Conrad back to the office before anybody else poked around and saw what was happening OR Conrad alerted his allies.
Flicker, just happy to be included, kept emptying out Conrad's pockets. Everything. Onto the floor it goes!
Adrian picked up what Flicker dumped onto the floor and put it into his own pockets. He would look the items over later. Look for hints of who else was involved and what they were planning. He got Conrad to his feet and into the back of the cart Heimdal was pulling.
"Back to the office," he told his companion. Then back to Conrad, "How many others? Who else is involved? What were you trying to do here exactly?" Flicker popped out of Conrad's pockets, having relieved them of all their treasures. She cheered at her own victory. Adrian shushed her quietly and returned his other pokemon to their pokeballs so it was just Flicker and Heimdal out.
He sighed.
"People look up to you here, Conrad. People trusted you. And you're willing to hurt those people to promote your ends." Adrian said. "I may be a cop or whatever, but...even I could see plain as day that you were liked. Even when you weren't doing the best work, they still liked and spoke well of you. When....did they stop being people and start being casualties in your mind?" Adrian shook his head and hurried Heimdal back to the office where he escorted Conrad into the office.
"Hey Blake, found another one...confirmed as well."
Adrian didn't even look happy about it.
Once Conrad was subdued and detained in the office, Adrian went through his pockets to look over the items Flicker took. Were there clues? He swapped Dave's radio for Conrad's on his person and turned it on briefly just to listen.
And then...
"There's still a couple people I have to speak with, sir...Deep in the tunnels. Jeff and Dexter. Is there anything else you can tell me about them before I go back down to try to find them?"
—Word Count: 421 | OOC:Conrad and Dave detained. I have not spoken to Jeff OR Dexter. 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave, Conrad
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Post by Rexman on Feb 4, 2024 2:43:44 GMT 11
Blake couldn't help but look at Conrad and sigh. "What were you thinking? So being a good worker for me for all that time was just an act?" he asked, arms crossed. Conrad said nothing, eyes firmly planted on the floor. He wasn't going to talk at this point, and it would take hauling him off to jail to get anymore out of him.
The foreman's face was red, mad at himself for allowing the charade to go on and at these workers for being so deceptive. They needed to tighten up the hiring process down in HR.
Turning to face Adrian, Blake scratched as his face, trying to think for a second. "Jeff and Dexter....hmm." he said, making that face many people do when they are really trying to think hard, but not much is coming to them and they don't want to disappoint the person that is asking them the question.
"Jeff is one of the machine workers, I think we went over that fact a bit earlier before you got started. He's been here a decent amount of time, but for some reason the company keeps promoting people over him. I think it's starting to weigh on his mind, making him ornery and angry. I probably would be upset too. You put your time in and still don't get the benefits, it's screwed up. He doesn't really talk to too many other people on the crew." he said, raising an eyebrow.
Picking up his coffee cup, he took a long drag, before continuing.
"Dexter is one of the engineers. He is like, crazy smart. But you know how when someone is really smart, they tend to be a little....off? Yeah, that describes him to a T. If someone so much as goes near his equipment, he practically starts barking and growling at them. He isn't very well liked, but he does such a good job. He gives the vibe that he hates being here, but everytime I have asked him why, he doesn't answer and just goes back to work."
Blake looked at Adrian for a second. "You're doing really well, I know this ain't easy. Just try to finish it up so that we all don't die down here in an explosion." Very helpful, thank you mister foreman.
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Member is Online
Pixel
Posts: 10,476
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Post by Pixel on Feb 4, 2024 6:02:33 GMT 11
Adrian listened to the foreman and took out his notepad, scribbling some notes and looking over what others had told him. Tried to puzzle together what he learned about these two men so that he could try to act fast. They likely were running out of time. As soon as the final radical figured out they were alone, they'd probably expedite the plan if it was still possible to execute. He'd been emptying everyone's pockets for signs of what they could be doing, but the foreman's comment about explosions had him shivering. He had suspected that as well. Had he found a detonator among Dave or Conrad's things? He wasn't sure. He didn't even know what those looked like.
He placed the items on Blake's desk and spread them out, "Sir, I'm out of my depth when it comes to construction equipment. You'd know better than me if any of this is related to making explosions. This is all stuff from those two's pockets, minus their radios." He was keeping those on him for a reason. "I'm going to go back into the tunnel. Jeff and Dexter were in the deepest parts of the tunnels, and at least one of them is innocent." Meaning that if an explosion went off, then it was possible one of those two men could be a casualty if there wasn't an evacuation... "Maybe you should start trying to get people out of here? Or at least near the front of the cave if you're suspecting explosions."
Adrian then turned on his heel and hurried out. Heimdal followed swiftly, dragging the cart behind him. He had to get to the deeper parts of the tunnel. He looked around for anyone acting oddly amongst the people he already talked to and decided likely were innocent. But in his chest, he had a terrible feeling about one of the workers in particular.
Sure, Dexter wasn't exactly social, but people seemed to confirm he was smart, which meant he was competent at his job, something none of the rebels so far were, even if they were likable like Conrad. Sure, people said he snapped at anyone who touched his stuff and that he hated being in the cave, but nobody dismissed his work. Jeff, on the other hand, was always described as jealous, asocial and now ornery. Maybe his attitude was because he was trying to get into a higher rank in the construction crew to get better connections or means to sabotage the plan beyond possibly...breaking the very equipment he was supposed to be operating?
Anyone he saw, he'd ask, "You seen Jeff? Got somethin' for him from the foreman." He had to find him quickly...
—Word Count: 000 | OOC:Conrad and Dave detained. Have not spoken to Jeff or Dexter. Going to investigate...JEFF! 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Dexter is consistently described as very smart by anyone who mentions him, but best left alone. He also has repeatedly been mentioned to hate working in the cave and refusing to explain why. He hates it when people touch his machines. Nobody seems displeased by his work and are generally tolerant of his behavior.
Jeff is consistently described as likely having a jealous streak though the foreman doesn't blame his attitude. People keep getting promoted over him despite him behind here the longest. He isn't easy to get talking and is often seen fixing the machines that have been breaking down often. He is one of two machine operators.
Scott earlier tried to help Conrad set up lights, but was turned down and Conrad was a rebel. Scott is likely innocent, as the both friendly natured men shouldn't have had issues helping each other out to keep Conrad's cover if Scott was also a rebel.
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave, Conrad
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Post by Rexman on Feb 9, 2024 10:57:55 GMT 11
Blake looked at the collected items that were sitting on the table and unfortunately, nothing really stood out to him. Nothing seemed like a detonator or any kind of handheld device that would be associated with the bombs that were planted. To be honest, most of it just looked like random junk.
Maybe the items were designed to look that way? "Yeah, I'll quietly start pushing the people to head out. Give everyone a half day for cooperation or something. I'll figure it out, you head off. Hopefully when you come back out everyone is gone and we have the three yahoos taken care."
Blake watched Adrian ride off deeper into the cavern, whispering a prayer for the young man.
The worker who Adrian was talking to looked around for a second, looking like he was worried about being caught. Maybe he thought he was being a snitch? Leaning in real close, the worker whispered to Adrian that Jeff was all the way in the back of the tunnel and had been there for a while. Periodically, the man laughed to himself, which was a sign that either he was cracking under pressure, or he was a straight up psychopath.
If Adrian continued to follow the path down the cavern, he would eventually find Jeff exactly where the other worker had said. The possible radical had his back to Adrian, doing something that was making his hands and arms move. His body was just in the correct position that it blocked Adrian's sight, but it seemed really shady.
How would Adrian approach this? He had to be careful, what if Jeff was playing with an explosive device?
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Member is Online
Pixel
Posts: 10,476
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Post by Pixel on Feb 9, 2024 13:36:00 GMT 11
Adrian tried to play it cool. To keep is head. The foreman didn't seem to find anything amongst the arrested individual's inventory as odd or related to explosives, but that could just mean Adrian was too late and they'd already planted things. Did that mean there was a detonator still out there?
And then when he spoke to one of the other workers he passed, he just mentioned Jeff had been by himself at the back of the tunnel for a while talking and laughing to himself like a weirdo. That...uh...didn't align with what he heard about Jeff from anyone else at all. He was expecting a surly, quiet man, not someone who was laughing like the Joker.
Of course, there was the potential that Jeff was just stressed and thought he was alone, so he was...well, talking to himself. Maybe he was laughing in that creepy way to entertain himself. There were logical ways of explaining his behavior. Unfortunately, with the clock running out, Adrian didn't have time to pick apart that behavior.
(He also couldn't risk startling the man into blowing this whole tunnel up.)
He shifted back and looked at his arcanine, who cocked his head back at him, waiting for an order.
Flicker floated back into sight, peering up at him as well.
Adrian suddenly had an idea.
"Flicker, I need you to distract him. Take whatever is in his hands if you can. Cause mischief." He told her softly, earning a flicker of delight from the impish ghost. Adrian then took that walkie-talkie he pilfered from Conrad and, after making sure it was on the same frequency as the one he took from Dave earlier when he heard that muffled radio exchange where he heard two people talking, he turned it on. All he hoped for was to hear the static feedback nearby of the other walkie-talkie receiving the signal. A sign, perhaps, that he was in the right place.
It was all he had to go off of right now. So he listened.
And as he listened, Flicker zoomed off to go be the playful ghostly menace she was always meant to be. Time to whisk her way through his clothes (a little too hot for comfort) and try to snatch whatever it was in his hands...assuming it was swipeable.
—Word Count: 400 | OOC:Flicker used...thief? 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.
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.
Jeff has been with the company a while and has a jealous streak. Conrad always seems to wander off when you need him most. Dexter doesn't seem to enjoy his work inside the cave. Scott has big stories about other worksites that seem to impress Quentin. Conrad should have those lights done by now and he reacted rather poorly to Dave being missing. He seemed to stumble on that fact. Scott offered to help but was turned down. Scott seems innocent and Conrad is a rebel trying to hide the fact he's delaying progress?
Accusing Conrad!
Dexter is consistently described as very smart by anyone who mentions him, but best left alone. He also has repeatedly been mentioned to hate working in the cave and refusing to explain why. He hates it when people touch his machines. Nobody seems displeased by his work and are generally tolerant of his behavior.
Jeff is consistently described as likely having a jealous streak though the foreman doesn't blame his attitude. People keep getting promoted over him despite him behind here the longest. He isn't easy to get talking and is often seen fixing the machines that have been breaking down often. He is one of two machine operators.
Scott earlier tried to help Conrad set up lights, but was turned down and Conrad was a rebel. Scott is likely innocent, as the both friendly natured men shouldn't have had issues helping each other out to keep Conrad's cover if Scott was also a rebel.
Jeff is acting oddly? Laughing like he's cracking under pressure. He's working on something but Adrian cannot see what it is. He is acting oddly/shady.
Potential suspects: Colin, Dave, Jeff, Scott, Conrad, Quentin, Dexter Radicals: Dave, Conrad
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Post by Rexman on Feb 12, 2024 3:41:32 GMT 11
"Come on, you stupid thing. The wires are attached correctly...." the man mumbled, still fumbling with the item in his hands. Since his back was still turned, it would be hard for Adrian to see exactly what it was. However, since he had found two radicals already, odds were good that it had something to do with the charges that were being placed. The walkie talkie at the man's belt burst to life, surprising him. Grumbling, Jeff unhooked it and held it up. "Go ahead, over," he said, releasing the tab so that the other person could speak. But no one did, just static. "Hello? Go ahead, over," he repeated, but when no one answered he shrugged and put it back into its loop. Jeff suddenly felt a chill run through him as Flicker phased through his body and then the device seemed to lift on its own accord out of his hands. Eyes wide in fright, the man took a few steps to the side and turned, now seeing Adrian. "You..." the man mumbled, his face now turning to pure rage. "We were all set up. Everything was going on plan. Then you happened." he growled, before reaching into his side pocket and pulling out a poke ball. Throwing it, the latch unclasped and a Poochyena appeared, growling with its hackles raised. "Mud-Slap!" Jeff called, and while his Pokemon did that, the worker attempted to snatch the detonator device away from Flicker as it floated by. ![](https://johtophoto.com/sprites/trainers/worker-gen4.png) Jeff attacks with his Level 15 Poochyena, select a Pokemon for battle
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