PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

3X level tutors (120 PD) (dragon dance, phantom force --> dragapult, toxic --> mandibuzz)

TOTAL

do come again!

120 PD

maisie's response is a guffaw and a slap of the countertop. "i like th'way ya think!" she laughs. she whirls around and grabs two shot glasses off the shelf behind the bar, placing them on the counter. she carefully pours out a shot of the cupcake vodka for each glass and then puts the bottle away securely this time. she's hoping the low temperature of the drink will make it a bit easier to get down.

lycidas sniffs the glasses, and maisie pushes his nose away. while the combee is busy enjoying its drink, she picks up her shot glass and eyes it with some apprehension. oh well. "down the hatch!" she lifts it to her mouth and drinks it in one go. actually... it's not as bad as she expected. it's a bit too sweet, yeah, but the taste itself pairs well enough with the vodka that she's able to swallow it easily. it leaves only a lingering taste in her mouth.

"could definitely be worse," she says. "prob'ly be better mixed in with something, yeah? bet i can come up with somethin' good..."

[ keiko mori ]

maisie rubs her chin. "i see, i see... well, if she doesn't have what i need, i can still try and help out a bit! only seems fair, since she makes bloody good chews." lycidas's favorites are the sawsbuck antlers infused with peanut butter. she has no idea how you even infuse an antler with a certain flavor, but auntie maymay is apparently a master at it.

she puts the zorua down. he's calmed down a little, but he still eyes tempest's zoroark warily. maisie sticks her hand out. "th' name's maisie maudlin. i run a dive in lilycove, 'cept for the fact that we're a bit flooded out right now. had to take a break from fixin' things up, i did." her poor bar... her poor office... things will go back to normal eventually, but everyone is stressed out right now. it's rare to meet a friendly face who isn't already preoccupied.

and so, they had off to see auntie maymay! lycidas trots after maisie, keeping a safe distance from the stranger and his pokemon.

[ Tempest Quinn ]

within a few minutes she's back, carrying a bag of sugar in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. she opens the door to the staircase, steps into the bar, takes a drag from her cigarette and puffs it back into the stairwell before closing the door on it. before it can close, though, a little fox pokemon comes trotting out, curious as to what all the fuss is about. "here comes lycidas," maisie announces. "think i woke 'im up when i was going through the kitchen."

the zorua hops up onto a barstool, careful not to get on the counter with his dirty paws. maisie goes to grab a regular glass, thinks better of it, and gets a fish bowl instead. much easier for the combee to drink from, she figures.

she pours some sugar in, then adds some water from the tap before swirling it all together. the sugar dissolves, leaving behind a cloudy, sweet-smelling drink that the combee will likely fly right to. "and there we are! the mausoleum's special sugar water."

maisie turns back to the bottle of vodka, and gives keiko a wolfish grin. "what you thinkin', mate? wanna try a shot? if you don't like it, next drink's on the house."

[ keiko mori ]

maisie tilts her head, studying the bee with a smile on her darkly painted lips. muted metal plays in the background of the bar, the volume her own preference since she likes to be able to hear other people when they talk. "sugar water... OH! maybe he wanted this!" she yanks a bottle of something out of the mini fridge and shuts it with her foot, then proudly displays her finding to keiko. it's... cupcake flavored vodka? "i spilled a little around the fridge when i was getting it out, then i had to take a call in my office, sooo... he probably smelled the sugar."

she yanks the cap off and sniffs it, making a face. "ugh. i still haven't had the courage to try it out. smells right minging, it does." she puts the cap back, and leaves it on the counter. "i should have some sugar in my apartment... be back in a tick."

exiting from behind the counter, maisie throws her apron off off and heads for a door in the back. she unlocks it and then disappears into the dark hallway, and keiko can likely hear her footsteps upstairs as she ascends and searches for the aforementioned sugar.

[ keiko mori ]

there's silence in the tower, except for the occasional creak. maisie whistles as she goes. she can feel eyes on her, but it's all pokemon likely too shy to approach her this time. it stays that way for a while, before her whistling appears to attract something's attention...

or maybe it's not her whistling at all. a dragapult appears, and thankfully this pokemon isn't looking for a fight. instead it's sniffing around her curiously, as if trying to locate something. in response, her dreepy wiggles off her neck and out of her hair, showing itself to the dragon type. the wild dragapult's response is sheer glee, or as close to it as it can get. the two start circling each other in the air, and maisie notices the dragapult... doesn't have any dreepy like wild dragapult usually do. what happened to them...?

she feels a lurch in her stomach. dante is playing with the older pokemon. he can't go with it, because maisie isn't willing to let him go, and he probably doesn't want to leave her side either...

"hey," she says quietly. she holds a pokeball out. "you wanna come with us? you won't have to be alone anymore."

the dragapult turns. a moment passes where it scrutinizes her, and then... it comes over and bumps its head into the pokeball.

[ catching dragapult! ]

there's a noise from above, and then a loud bang. maisie looks up in time to see a cofagrigus drop down from a higher level, clearly agitated, waving its phantom arms around. she jumps back, instinct taking over. "OI!" she yells, trying to make herself seem more threatening. "i'm just walkin' along here! no need to get your knickers in a twist!"

sometimes that's enough to scare a wild pokemon off, but not this one. "fine," she mutters. hecate gets between her and the ghost type, just as it sends off a night shade. hecate takes the attack, shuddering but remaining on her feet. "work up!" maisie commands. gone is her usual perky persona, as she focuses on the battle ahead of her. the deino, meanwhile, focuses on making its attacks hit harder. the cofagrigus doesn't like what it sees, and hits the deino with a disable, preventing it from using work up again.

that's fine. one is all we need. "now use crunch!" the smaller pokemon launches itself at the towering coffin-shaped pokemon, and her opponent is too slow to escape. her teeth close around it, and she bites down hard. the ghost type thrashes for a moment, then goes limp. thanks to the type advantage, they were able to end that quickly.

with some effort, maisie drags the fainted pokemon to a corner where it hopefully won't be spotted before it awakens. with that victory under their belt, the two continue onward and upward. she thinks she's seen enough coffins for a lifetime, so she has no interest in catching the pokemon.

[ passing on cofagrigus! ]

"absolutely gobsmacked," maisie talks to her pokemon as they enter the tower. to think that rayquaza itself has visited this tower... she would have loved to have brought her hydreigon here, where the draconids once reigned. all of that is in the past, and she has to make sure to watch her step in the now-decrepit building.

hecate, her deino, walks alongside her. their footsteps, together, echo along the empty tower. it's nothing more than a shell now, maisie thinks. huh. relatable.

it's a good place for training at least, now that it's been exposed. dragon pokemon are still said to congregate here. what better place for her own little dragons to get experience?

the combee's interest doesn't go unnoticed for long. as it buzzes hurriedly around the partially open mini fridge, the woman who's been tending the bar reappears with an armful of bottles. normally she's working on a case in her office, but her usual bartender for this day called in sick, and she hurriedly covered for him. it's usually quiet on weekdays, leaving keiko as the only one currently sitting at the actual bar, other patrons glumly nursing their drinks in the dark corners of the dive.

maisie carefully puts the bottles down on the counter. "blimey, look at him go," she marvels. "must've snuck in through an open window. wonder what he wants?" she moves toward the open fridge, but the combee suddenly buzzes angrily at her, telling her to back off.

she scratches her cheek. "rude." she's not gonna start a fight here and now, not with so many fragile things around them. "maybe he wants a drink? i can hardly open one for him if he keeps chasin' me off, though."

[ keiko mori ]
[ bar ref
[ outfit ref ]