[attr="class","icon"]

Ohhhhh fix, he’d definitely meant fix and had gotten tongue tied. Though…that kinda worked too on the less legal front. He did outfox a lot of systems and snatch stuff for people who had been conned and wanted their data and creative content back. “Its good you have a solid team. Sound tech is a league all its own.”[break][break]

At the explanation, Em nods slowly then slowly increases to a quicker pace in understanding. He’s just a little starstruck, that’s all.[break][break]

“Oh okay. Well…in that case,” he hummed, head tilting to the side as he squinted in thought, “I think going back to your roots is what I’d enjoy. FA>FO really is, uh, pretty golden. I-in my opinion!” Sure, lots of people like to expand their range, but it was something special, if Em was being honest.[break][break]

He smiles back. Still wondering if this is happening as the other starts to say his goodbyes. “Yeah, uh, same! Likewise, Callan” His hand lifts in an only semi-awkward wave as Lolo extends both of her own lil paws skyward

[attr="class","bottom"]Callan Young   [break]

[attr="class","icon"]

“Oh, that’s pretty rad, though!” he replied with a short laugh, creeping out of his shell for a brief moment. He shook his head, “Nah, I don’t care.” Not that Callan waited for much of an answer, but Em really didn’t care. It wasn’t like he never smoked, after all.[break][break]

Wow, lil ol’ him, meeting a member of Teravolt out in the park of all places? Who woulda thought? Not Em! “Yeah, ‘course! Well earned praise. Your stuff is legit.” His face reddened, at the reaction to his own job, which he didn’t really think was all that special. He looked down at the playing mice. “Uhhh, mostly I troubleshoot shit and fox stuff for people, but yeah I guess I’d say I have a handle on all that..too.” And also breaking through firewalls and creating back doors for later manipulation, but that was Em’s little secret.[break][break]

Rust colored eyes snapped back toward Callan wide with surprise at the question asked of him. Brows lifting, he pointed a finger back at himself in a silent, “Me?”[break][break]

Callan Young wanted to pick his brain? Insanity!

[attr="class","bottom"]Callan Young   [break]

“Oh, well then you’ll love Lolo! She’s a little older, but sweet.” He’s had her since he was a teenager, in fact. “But Beignet might be a little sassy. Actually, I found him right here in the city.” Which was sort of crazy, since there had been no local Paldean pokemon in the region beforehand.[break][break]

But he talks all about that in his secret little podcast.[break][break]

While James zeroes in on the cat tree, Em does the same with the coffee pot–setting it up to let it percolate and allow the aromatic scent of coffee fill the small space.[break][break]

Though Warhol is content to climb up to the highest perch on the tree and curl up, his dedenne is not one to be left out–so Dumpling quickly crawls up his back, little claws digging into his shirt. Obviously put out over being left behind during the chase.[break][break]

The pawmi, however, do stir and soon enough one is poking its head out of the hidey hole to blink up at James with sleepy eyes. “She likes cashews, by the way,” he says, pointing to a tin on the counter.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] JAMES BAKER  | m: trapinch who stole christmas [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

[attr="class","icon"]

“Socialism is its name? That’s clever,” he says with a laugh then shakes his head. “It’s fine, though. I don’t mind.”[break][break]

It takes him a moment— you know, for it to click. The weird sense of familiarity that he’d only just registered. “Oh, you’re Callan Callan,” he blurts before he can stop himself. From Teravolt. “I listen to you guys when I’m—“ hacking shit, “er, working.”[break][break]

And that’s right around when Em realizes that he’s completely sidestepped the other’s question. His face is quick to go a bright red that rivals his hair. “Which is, tech-work, I mean! Sorry, IT. I’m in IT.” He points across the park toward the lot where his dumb geek van is parked.

[attr="class","bottom"]Callan Young   [break]

[attr="class","icon"]

Emerson’s head tilts, glance shifting around the park with sudden, nervous suspicion. “Oh. I guess I…hadn’t thought about that. No problem.” Would someone really yoink the little guys in broad daylight? Would they even be seen, given how tiny they are? Em definitely wouldn’t have noticed them, if Lolo hadn’t started playing with them.[break][break]

He’d never considered it, but he also doesn’t go out of his way to socialize too often, either, sooooo…[break][break]

Lolo herself is clearly enjoying the attention, though. The pawmi chirps when the high five is returned, and then curiously sniffs at the little mousey family one by one. When the candy is offered, she turns it in her paws, ears twitching as the wrapping crinkles with each movement.[break][break]

“Ah, Sorry, I’m Emerson,” he fumbles to set his lunchbox to the side and hastily stands to return the handshake. “Nice to meet you. Lolo definitely seems glad to have, as well.”

[attr="class","bottom"]Callan Young   [break]

Emerson only perks up further at the clarification, “Ah! That’s so cool. I wish mine were chefs, I’ve learned everything from hobby.”[break][break]

So, maybe it can be a joint task.[break][break]

“Have you met some before?” He asks as he finally lets them back into his apartment, warm immediately beginning to thaw the chill on his face.[break][break]

A short look is tossed over his shoulder. “Yeah, kinda put two and two together. There’s some neato ones in Paldea.” He points at the cat tree in the corner of his living room, close to where the open kitchen is separated from it by the bar counter. “They’re probably in there. They like to nap together.”

Actually, a lot of his rodents are probably inside some tier or another of the structure.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] JAMES BAKER  | m: trapinch who stole christmas [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

[attr="class","icon"]

He wasn’t sure where the little mice had come from, only that they had shown up. It wasn’t often that Emerson could be see in broad daylight out in the park, but his pawmi had seemed more antsy than the dedenne who usually accompanied him at work.[break][break]

So lunch in the park it was.[break][break]

The next thing he knew, Lolo had trotted back up to his bench with the mice in tow: not a tandemaus, but a smaller pair. “You must be split up, huh? Where’s the rest of you?” Lowering his sandwich, Emerson looked around to find no one particularly frantic— not until a voice came from behind minutes later.[break][break]

“Oh! Are they yours? I don’t mind, it’s okay. Lolo probably distracted them a bit, so sorry about that!” he babbled the response nervously, though his own hand flapped dismissively at Callan Young ’s own apology. Lolo, at the mention, lifted a friendly, plump paw in greeting.[break][break]

“I’m just glad they were found. It’s never nice to see a maushold broken apart.” The poor parents were probably beside themselves until now.

[attr="class","bottom"]Callan Young   [break]

A hand tapped his shoulder, and both climbed up to his ear—startled. The familiar voice soothed the surprise that rattled through him, though. How had kieran gone from in his semi-line of sight to behind him?[break][break]

Emerson whirled, some of his hair smacking him in the face before he peered up at Kieran. He’d tried to tie it back a bit, but it seemed like some had come loose.[break][break]

It was difficult to avoid turning a bit pink as that megawatt smile was leveled at him. At him, of all people. It made his knees feel wobbly. But Kieran, he’d decided on evaluation (and also maybe a little pokegram creeping,) was nice to just about everyone.[break][break]

So this wasn’t, like, special treatment or something. So his face could kindly cool it with the blushing, thanks. Oh. He hadn’t replied yet, had he?[break][break]

“Yeahhh, that was me. Mhm,” a nervous laugh garbled some of his words, “I didn’t think I was very easy to find.” For a variety of reasons. Small…quiet…forgettable.[break][break]

For right then, he didn’t sense anything that might be amiss with the taller man, though maybe that wouldn’t be the case if Em wasn’t wrapped up in his own social anxieties and could calm down for a moment. But this was good for him. It should be fun. He was excited, even.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kieran Roth       | eep [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

Gratefully, James doesn’t call him out on the social faux pas. Em even finds it in himself to smile back— shyer and a little wobbly, though, of course.[break][break]

“I guess if they were that hungry…it’s okay.” Not really, but when James agrees to his offer, he perks quickly.[break][break]

“Oh, do you like to cook? I mean, I’m not gonna make you cook in my house. That would be sorta rude, wouldn’t it? I mean, I do have groceries, and I can cook and stuff, I just like take out, but uhhh…yep!” Em swivels away as he babbles on, a rapidly speeding train wreck, hot-faced mess.[break][break]

He’s cold and shivery and should just get them back inside and they can argue over a frying pan or a wok if James really wants to insist.[break][break]

Though he’s also now convinced he’ll keep making an idiot of himself, even if the other doesn’t seem wholly bothered. Glancing back over his shoulder, he adds, “If you’re interested in paldeans too, I have some pawmi.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] JAMES BAKER  | m: trapinch who stole christmas [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

Someone slid into the booth across from him and jarred him from his line of thought. Immediately, all of his notions of progress fell out of his head as red crept across his skin to match his hair. And hers too, actually.[break][break]

“Uh, er,” he stammered, fingers curling tighter around the glass he was nursing. “Yeah, um, I’m fine.” Why was his voice so squeaky?[break][break]

His focus remained on the contents of his drink, but snapped up at her last comment, “Oh! No thank you, no biting.” She didn’t mean that literally– of course she didn’t. Well, maybe in another way, which was why an added shade of red deepened across his cheeks.[break][break]

In his awkward pause, he tried to busy himself with downing half the zombie in one go. But it was so sweet it made his nose wrinkle and his face twist as he swallowed it down. Why him?[break][break]

“Why me?” Blurted out as soon as the thought crossed his mind. The woman across from him was pretty– she could probably hold the attention and interest of other people way, way cooler than him. She looked exciting, adventurous. Just from a quick glance.[break][break]

Emerson looked like he sat at home alone all day when given the chance.[break][break]

Which, true.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] thalia black | bar crawl / burning maw [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minccino"]

What was he thinking? Okay, yeah, so it’d been fun when Kieran had come over and they’d shared that dumpling package. And okay, yeah, it’d been kinda really fun to text Kieran after that. Maybe he smiled at his dumb rotom phone whenever a message popped up more than he had any right to. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to hang out with his new, er…friend.[break][break]

But a festival? Full of people?[break][break]

Emerson hugged Dumpling closer to his chest as he looked around the crowded park. The smell of traditional festival foods wafted toward him and made his mouth water, but he couldn’t focus on that. With a petulant squeak, his dedenne scrambled loose from the vice grip and clambered up to his shoulder. Why couldn’t he find Kieran?[break][break]

He’d definitely texted him, and Kieran had definitely said he’d come. Had something come up? Was this what being ghosted felt like? Oh god, he was gonna have this burned into his memory forever and he was never gonna go outside again, and oh—[break][break]

Maybe he was just too short to see through the sea of people because he could just barely make out the top of a familiar head with tufty white hair. But he was moving in the opposite direction..[break][break]

Maybe he was being ghosted. Kieran took one look at him from a distance and said nope, he wanted none of that. Not exactly something Em would blame him for. “Kieran! Hey, Kieran!” he shouted, unbidden, before his hands both clapped over his mouth at the outburst. Now he’d see if the other had meant to avoid him.[break][break]
 
But it also meant that the others around were giving him odd looks, and on sight Em seemed to shrink smaller than his already short stature.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kieran Roth       | eep [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]

“I’m Emerson.” His face goes red as he blurts the introduction out, because James is obviously talking to his pokemon, and Emerson has no thoughts in his head whatsoever. And obviously the other would know that because it’s on his five thousand routine gyoza orders.[break][break]

“Er, here,” he shifts his shoulder to the side so that the grafaiai can hop over to the taller man’s shoulders, patting his head in the proper greeting being given. “That’d be a mess, huh?” he manages a short laugh of his own until jelly bean returns despondently.[break][break]

Emerson takes the empty box from the elgyem and stares down at it with wide, pitiful eyes. “Aww..” Guess he’s gotta cook for himself after all. “How’d they eat all of that so fast?”[break][break]

Though he’s disgruntled, it’s neither James’ or his elgyem’s fault, so he looks up and tries to make light of it. “The real crime here is that they obviously didn’t take the time to savor these.”[break][break]

He’s cold, though, and still hungry, so– “Guess I should go back up, thanks for trying, though..”[break][break]

As he turns to go, however, he turns back, “You got any immediate orders you gotta deal with?” He shifts foot to foot, nerves catching up with him. “If you want, like, coffee or something. Since it’s cold. And late?”



[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] JAMES BAKER  | m: trapinch who stole christmas [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-dedenne"]