♠ long road home [mod]

[kitsune]

He was nervous, but he hid it well. Rain hid pretty much everything well. He'd come this far with a well-meaning chaperone: a juvie shrink that thought he had potential for something more than grand theft and lies, lies, and more lies. Rain would argue that there wasn't anything grander than grand theft--it was kinda already built into the name, but he didn't want to stay stuck behind bars forever. He'd played along.

Hell, maybe he even agreed. A life of crime wasn't a life for the future. A kid with the mind and drive to orchestrate a tidy heist might just have it in him to become one hell of a trainer, if given the chance--or maybe not. The police tracker cuffed around Rain's ankle wasn't exactly a vote of confidence.

"Thanks for the ride, sir,"

[/color] Rain said as he slipped out of the passenger seat of the car, grin too toothy to be proper, but he was polite enough. He liked the man, in the end. A part of him wanted to ask him to come inside with him, like a parent on a kindergartener's first day of school, but Rain had too much pride for that. "I'll keep in touch--and if I don't, I guess you'll know where to find me, huh?"[/color]

Rain pulled his hood up over his ears--or rather his one ear and a nasty mass of pale scarring on the other side (bad fight, long story, short version: Rain lost). He made his way to the entrance of the laboratory, and somehow the front door was more unassailable than the highest security vaults. Opening a door really shouldn't be so hard. It was only the start of a whole new life.

To his credit, Rain only seriously considered breaking and entering followed by a healthy dose of robbery for half a second. How much were battle-worthy pokemon worth on the black market anyway?

Rain knocked before entering, two sharp raps on the wood and then he pushed the door open to step inside. He hadn't shown any sign of nerves before, but now he purposefully shuffled his feet, a practiced sheepish smile on his face. Rain became a slightly lost teenager, no one more noteworthy than that. "Um, hello? I'm looking for the pokemon labs--is this the right place?"[/color]

ooc i swear my next replies will be A LOT shorter. i have no idea how this one ended up so long[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[JENNI *]

It was utter chaos in the back.

Behind the closed door of Professor Lief's back room was utter and complete disaster zone. A Metapod had gotten loose from its Pokeball and was spraying the top right corner of the room, trying to find itself a small nest to hatch safely in. With the Metapod was also an aggressive Totodile, snapping at the Professor's ankles.

If it weren't for the knocks on the door and the obvious sound of it opening, the Professor would be stuck chasing himself around his office, trying to get the damn starter to stay still. "Be right there!" He hollered, jumping into his desk to wrestle a Pokeball out. Recalling the aggressive Pokemon back into its ball, he kneeled down and caught his breath.

Damn.

Leaving the Metapod were it was, the Professor headed out into the main section of the lab, wiping the sweat off his forehead, slapping a smile on his face. "Hi! Here for your starter, young man?" He really needed an assistant!

[kitsune]

Seemed like there was some commotion going on in back, and when the Professor came in, Rain swore he saw some string shot madness going on in the back rooms.

"Yeah, here for my starter. That puts me at your complete mercy, sir. You can give me the pokemon of your worst nightmares, and I'll walk out happy," Rain joked, sheepish smile still firmly in place. He glanced towards the back and his expression turned concerned. "Is this a bad time? If you're busy, I can go out for a walk and come back a little bit later..."

[/color]

Going out for a walk and putting this off for even later was pretty much the last thing Rain wanted to do. He wanted to leap right into this overhyped pokemon journey, not idle around. Idling around was bad. He'd get himself into trouble again no doubt, just for the sake of having something to do.
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[JENNI *]

"Oh no, I'm not that bad!" Lief laughed heartily, easily at ease with the young man. He sighed with a smile, before looking over his shoulder at the room he had escaped from. "Oh, no. it's perfectly fine! Just ... just a small mess back there. It can be controlled later." He chuckled again, before embarassedly pointing to the platter of snacks and water he now routinely set out for the new trainers coming in. "If you would be so kind as to sit over there, I'll be right back with your choices. The water bottles are yours to take if you wish, same with the cookies. Pack 'em away!" Without another second to waste, the professor left and headed into a different back room where he could grab the thing the trainer would need.

[kitsune]

Rain breathed a genuine sigh of relief. Two fears put aside: 1) that the prof would offload whatever creature had been giving him a headache onto Rain (because that's exactly what Rain would do in the professor's position), and 2) that he'd have to come back later. All in all, that was a good weight off of his shoulders.

Rain nodded to the professor, and he watched Professor Lief leave for the back rooms again. Another wave of apprehension set in, and Rain stuffed it down, hiding it as much as he could. A part of him was annoyed at how normal this felt. Somehow, he'd expected rolling thunder or maybe fireworks to usher in a new life. That thought was ridiculous, especially because Rain of all people would know that life is pretty normal, and waiting around was roughly the normalest thing possible.

He hadn't realized he was thirsty, but he twisted open one of the water bottles, and the water was refreshing. Reflexively, he looked around, trying to appraise the value of everything he could easily pocket without drawing unwanted attention.

[JENNI *]

Lief came back a few minutes later, carrying what looked like an arm full of pokeballs and a small starter pack that they were all given. He was sort of the oblivious type who would miss a few things if Rain decided to pocket something. He wouldn't miss it until he needed it, and even then, he had the money to replace it should he believe it was misplaced or never bought. He smiled when he saw Rain drinking the water, and place the things he brought over on the table. "Take some of the cookies too, heaven knows I dont need them." Being a bigger man, he chuckled and pointed to the p'balls on the table. "There's your choices, son." Each ball had a picture with it.

(ooc; woah thats a lot of water types..)

[kitsune]

The professor had only been gone for a few seconds when Rain decided there really wasn't much worth taking with him, but he'd hate to leave empty-handed. Moving nimbly, he leaned over a desk and filched a flash drive and a laser pointer, because, well, no reason, really. What the hell was he ever going to do with a laser pointer? He should really just take a pen.

By the time the professor returned, the water bottle was half empty and Rain was busy looking innocent hovering over the cookies. They weren't tempting, but at the professor's suggestion, he took one anyway. "Thanks,"

[/color] he said, and then turned his attention to the pokeballs. He nibbled thoughfully on the cookie.

"I think the torchic... I mean, I'll take the torchic, sir, if that's okay."[/color]
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[JENNI *]

"Sure! He's all yours, take good care of 'im." The Professor gave the young lad the Pokeball that held his starter and smiled, before reaching over to snag a cookie himself. "Shh. It'll be our little secret." He winked and stood up, stretched, and walked away to munch on his cookie in his room, where he could hopefully coax the Metapod from its roost and back into its ball.

name up to trainer, male pokemon
level 5 , scratch , growl

x 5
x 1
x 1
Dex
Map

[kitsune]

For a tiny, brief, and embarrassing moment, Rain had no idea what Professor Lief was talking about. His smile didn't waver, but Rain blinked--what secret? The cookies, right? Obviously? Certainly. Right. ...Okay then.

"Thank you,"

[/color] Rain said, remembering his manners as he dumped most of the items into a plastic bag (he'd have to go shopping for a respectable manpuse later). To the professor's retreating back, he called out, "Good luck with mess."[/color]

With that, Rain left the lab, new pokemon in hand and hopefully a good adventure ahead.
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