route_1065 | There's a devil on your shoulder

Entry tags:

There's a devil on your shoulder

Who: Jimmy Two-Shoes (

awesmazings) and "Dietrich Jaeger" [Schuldig] (

aufsassig)
Where: Goldenrod City
When: 08/12
Summary: Jimmy has a chance encounter with a stranger called Dietrich, and what he has to say might not be what he wants to hear...
Rating: PG for Schuldig's mouth
Log:

[After the hurricane, things were slowly being cleaned up all around Goldenrod. Thanks to the hard work of the Circus Troupe, the tent itself suffered minimal damage, allowing Joker and Jimmy to plan to leave for Olivine at the end of the week once they were sure everything was in order. Jimmy decided to take advantage of this free time to explore the city a bit more, visiting the department store to pick up a few things in preparation for getting back on the road, and eventually challenging some more gyms as he got to them.

Now he's just walking the streets with no particular place to go in mind, a Houndoom trotting at his left, and a Manectric at his right. The city is large and vast, and there are still a lot of places he hasn't explored yet...but it's still early, so he decides to wander a little farther than usual away from the tent, out towards the outskirts of the city. There are fairly less people here, and a lot more wild Pokemon wandering around, but it doesn't seem to bother Jimmy all that much. He can be heard humming as he makes his way, one hand hanging on to the strap of his backpack, and walking with an almost literal spring in his step.

All things considered, it's just another bright, sunny day. Though it is rather quiet around here...]

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[There are days, sometimes, when Schuldig does normal, social things with a given sort of deliberate quality to his actions; Dietrich Jaeger is a normal guy who does normal things, or at least that's the opinion he wants people to have of the persona. He's friendly, while not exactly nice; he's intelligent without being particularly nerdy or philosophical. He has an adorable cat that he clearly adores, and who clearly adores him as well.

Surely no one able to maintain that kind of relationship with an adorable cat could possibly be a monster.

But then sometimes there are days when Schuldig doesn't feel like being Dietrich, exactly. Sometimes he goes out on the town not trying to stand out; he wears unobtrusive clothes and ties his hair back in a low and sort of jaunty ponytail, and acts about as inconspicuous as he can because he's more interested in watching everyone else than he is in being watched himself.

That's the nice part about spending the majority of your life acting like a showstopper who always holds the spotlight: when you feel like abandoning it, it's really easy to get people to ignore you.

So he's hanging out on the streets of Goldenrod, seemingly alone, in a charcoal gray sweatshirt and a pair of broken-in khakis; his Kadabra team is still practicing, as always, but they're out of sight in strategic positions surrounding where he's paused to sit on a bench and people-watch. It's about time he put their skills to the test, and he's got himself a rubber band ball to toy with while he lounges and watches the world go by.]

Hey. That's a cute dog.

[...And sometimes chats it up with passerby for no apparent reason, um.]

[The Houndoom snorts and lifts his head a bit when he hears a voice call out, stopping short in an abrupt sort of way that gets Jimmy to slow down and look over to see what caught his eye. The Manectric isn't quite as obvious about noticing the stranger, and just looks over curiously with ears perked.]

Huh? Oh- well, thanks!

[Dog...dogs....Jimmy isn't sure which of the two Schuldig is referring to, but both of them are cute- to him, at least- so it doesn't really matter too much anyway. He grins, putting a hand on top of the Houndoom's head, rubbing a bit behind his horns to get his tenseness to ease. Lucius never did seem quite as relaxed as Leader. Especially now, the fire-type finds himself quick to caution and suspicion around even the most unassuming of strangers, especially after what happened in the Ruins of Alph.]

[...The Houndoom, that's a Dark-type, so there's really no point in bothering much with that one; it seems like the more suspicious of the two, anyway, from the way it's acting. The Manectric looks more like the doofy happy type — probably more fertile ground for a little suggestion.

Unobtrusively, he nudges a little bit of friendly sentiment in the direction of the Manectric — nothing too flashy or noticeable, but just a general touch of likeability that tends to accompany the first impression of "well, he seems nice."]

What's that one there? Not the one with the horns, the other one.

[Leader tips his head to the side slightly, his nose sniffing the air. He definitely doesn't seem as wary of Schuldig as Lucius does, who even with Jimmy's reassuring pats is watching Schuldig with narrowed eyes.]

This is a Manectric! An Electric-type. They evolve from Electrike. He's my starter, actually! This is Leader, and that's Lucius.

[He says as he puts a hand on Leader's head as well, gesturing to both of the canines in turn.]

[Manectric. Houndoom. Leader. Lucius.

All of a sudden, the memories spring back at once — this must be none other than the happy-go-lucky kid from Miseryville. That certainly explains the deja vu, and...come to think of it, he'd paused a bit at first, like he wasn't certain about something about his dog, hadn't he?

Don't all dogs have horns?

Well, well. Idly, he directs a lazy thought toward Schlingel, intent on getting her to sync up the Kadabra network and focus in on the person he's talking to. He'd wanted field testing, well — apparently, he's going to get it, and if nothing else he'll get to see how well his team performs in a real-world set of circumstances.]

He seems really friendly. I guess you must really like dogs, huh? Did you have one back home or something?

[Jimmy, being who he is, is none the wiser. He doesn't seem to recognize Schuldig at all, much less recall any previous conversation he might have had with him. So he nods with a crooked grin, revealing a missing tooth there. Either he's had an accident recently, or....well, something else explains that oddity there, because how often do you find teenagers still losing their baby teeth?

He nods in agreement and runs his hand over the top of Leader's head, pushing his ears back as his hand travels down the back of his neck. As usual, he can feel static popping between his fingers as he parts the hair there, but he doesn't get shocked or anything beyond that.]

Mhm, yeah! I hope he's doing okay, now that I think about it...I don't think I've ever left him home alone this long.

[Cerbee's a good dog, really, but he can get...destructive, if left to his own devices.]

[Gently now, Kadabra team. Get into position first, then reach out and touch someone. And by god, you better not let yourselves be noticed or he's going to fuck you up so fast and so hard —

Right. A little more chatter while they get into place, and then we'll see what comes of it.]

Yeah? How long's it been?

[Move, Dummköpfe, he snaps out at them, and smiles inwardly as they hasten to do precisely that.]

Umm...'bout six months now!

[So....waaay too long for a dog to be left alone, um.]

I think he'll be okay, though. I think someone told me something about, like...time doesn't really work the same here as it does back home. So maybe it'll be like I never left!

[At least, that's what he hopes. Though he doesn't really want to pack his bags just yet. ..That might mean leaving his new friends behind, and he just started to get to know them good.]

I sure hope so! I bet he's a nice dog.

[And — there, that's the familiar signal that the psychics are positioned and ready. Good.]

Six months from home, though. You must really miss being there too.

He really is! Kinda wish he was here with me. I think he'd like it a lot.

[He wouldn't be that out of place, that's for sure.

Jimmy nods a bit, taking his hand from Leader's head so he can rub the back of his neck.]

Oh...yeah, I do. I've been hoping some of my friends would show up here eventually, but I haven't heard anything from them yet.

[His smile never seems to falter, though, even as he talks about being homesick.]

It's not too bad though. I got lots of new friends here, and I just keep telling myself that whenever I get back home, I can just tell them all about it!

Well, sure. It's not like you've replaced your old friends with your new ones, obviously, so I'm sure they'll be more than happy to hear all about it.

[He leans back against the bench, slinging one arm casually over the back as he relaxes.]

Yeah, exactly!

[The longer they talk, the more Leader seems to relax. He's definitely not as loose and energetic as he was as an Electrike, but he's not trying to function with a stick up his butt like Lucius is, who still watches Schuldig with his tail slowly flicking.]

I guess you probably miss your home and friends too, huh?

Eh, something like that. It was all right, but it had its ups and its downs.

[With the hand that's not slung over the back of the bench, he continues playing with his ball in an idle, nonchalant sort of way.]

I'll tell you one thing, though, it sure was a lot cooler than it's been around here lately.

Yeah? I hadn't really noticed...

[Jimmy blinks, glancing up at the single sun shining in the clear blue sky up ahead. It's practically chilly outside in Jimmy's perspective, especially after the recent bad weather. In fact, it feels rather nice out. Nicer than than the norm he's used to.]

Oh, yeah? Is it hot like this where you live?

[He tips his head, smiling pleasantly. Which is actually rather pleasant, considering it's also completely fake.]

Hell, I don't envy you, if it is.

Oh, um- sometimes it gets reeally hot. Especially around the beach. It's not quite so bad up in the forest and mountains though, but I don't really go up there too much...

[He shrugs a little, chuckling.]

I don't think Johto gets quite as hot, actually, so it's...pretty nice, I think! It gets a lot colder here at night though...that's gonna take some getting used to.

So you live on the beach, then? That must be pretty nice.

[Don't mind him just joining you in the chuckling, Jimmy.]

I mean, unless you have hurricanes loaded with sharks, like we apparently have around here.

[He shakes his head at that.]

Oh no no, I don't live on the beach! It's a little dangerous. 'Sides, my house is in town.

I don't think we've ever had a hurricane with sharks before, though!

You know, that's probably not such a bad thing.

So it's pretty quiet there, I take it. You know, in the places that aren't...dangerous.

Oh no, not at all! Town's always usually really busy, no matter where you are.

[Even in dangerous places, because- well- just about everywhere is either dangerous, or barely livable half the time. Not that it bothers him particularly.]

Busy and dangerous? Or just busy?

Well, uh...

[He pauses, shrugging his shoulders in a bit of a so-so kind of gesture.]

Usually just busy!

No wonder you like it a lot.

[He flicks a glance down at Lucius, mildly gauging the dog's temperament.]

I'm not holding you up, am I? Seems to me like I'm interrupting your walk.

[He just remains still where he is, no less unsure, but not particularly agitated by Schuldig's presence, at least. He seems friendly enough...and of course Jimmy's going to be nice to him.]

Not at all! I was just heading to a few places around town before we hit the road again.

Oh, yeah?

[Well, then.]

Heading off on a trip, then?

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