Hunt for a Thief (Crytic)

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A chilly, postwinter wind whistled through the bare, thorny branches of Pecha Forest.The sky was gray and overcast, and Jeremy could feel it in his bones that by later tonight, rain would pour down. Heck, it might even snow or hail if it got cold enough. With the weather's fluctuating patterns the past few days, the male snivy could believe it.

Now, he was here at Pecha forest with a female sneasel. It was a different female sneasel this time, but the similarities and the simple presence of this area was enough to bring back less than happy memories.

His first mission with Kuro almost became a disaster. Both pokemon came close to losing their lives, and the Grass Snake Pokemon spent a week cooped up with injuries before he could take missions again or even just leave his room without wincing in pain. The medicine provided by the guild and his natural regenerative processes allowed him to make a relatively quick recovery. However, the danger was still very real... Jeremy still had the scar on his tail from where a goon bit him, and no outlaw hunters have reported the bandit leader's capture.

They had a job to do though. Jeremy needed to see how well he could work with Crysel and THEY also needed to find the trapinch and retrieve what was stolen. Still, the tension was obvious in his rigid form, amber eyes never leaving the forest's entrance.

"Well, thats a relief... Up until the part when we learned we had to cart this one..." Jeremy frowned. "I don't do grunt work... Bah. Hold on." The male snivy quickly rushes over to fetch the watmel berry and reviser seed. He nods to Crysel as he stuffs them in his pack, carefully securing the food stuffs. "Might as well take this stuff. Heh... Reminds me somewhat of Kuro and I's first mission... Though this one is going much smoother."

He fastens the pack back on before staring at the harness with a furrowed brow. "I think I'll use my own vines. They are much stronger and not dependent on my own body strength..."

Crysel shook her head. "No, use these. What if we get attacked later and your best means of attack is occupied with that? You would lose precious time untangling the vines to attack rather than just attacking. One thing you should learn that if possible, never use your own supplies in the wild. If you can, use others in order to leave yourself in a better condition. Besides, grunt work is good for you. Strengthens the body and lets you appreciate the little things.

Crysel started pulling, thinking a bit as she did. "So Jeremy now that we aren't busy, what were you worried about before? It seemed like something was bothering you about me..."

The male snivy sighed. For all intents and purposes, he couldn't really find a way to adequately argue against the female sneasel's logic. Truly, if they were attacked while carting around this outlaw, it would be important to be able to fight them back. His vines were the best for the job, at least as far as he was concerned.

With a sigh, Jeremy slowly nods his tapered head in grudging affirmation. "I suppose I can't debate that point. Very well..." Frowning, the snivy walks over to attach the harness and starts to pull with Crysel. He grits his teeth while he does so, both in distaste and in exertion. To be fair, the male snivy wasn't out of shape per say. He trained his body to fight, and the past months in Grassveil had really tested his mettle. However, continuous, extended pulling seemed to be difficult for him... Different muscles being trained and all that.

Huffing, he turns to Crysel somewhat at her question, blinking his amber eyes as he did so. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" He grunts as their frozen target scrapes/slides across the forest floor, leaving a small rut in its wake.

It was obvious he was somewhat distracted earlier.

Crysel may have been raised in the wild, but she was not a fool. Sure, Jeremy had the edge on knowledge, but reading others was an important skill to have when living out there on your own. You never knew if someone was going to attack and the faster you could read their body language, the faster you could react or get away from the situation. "Jeremy, you have been stealing glances at me, nervous glances. You are worried about something. I'd rather get it taken care of now before it becomes a problem. If we are gonna work together, we need to trust each other. That means no secrets. It goes both ways. Now tell me Jeremy, what is troubling you about me? Did I do something wrong?"

Jeremy raised a yellow brow at Crysel's declarations, and eventually sighed. "You know Crysel, if you had official training as a courtier, you would be deadly in the field of politics and intrigue. Just need to work on your tact." He smirked at this for a moment before composing himself once again.

The male snivy turned to face, slackening the pulling slightly. "I suppose I was musing on your species' biology somewhat. With Kuro also a member, I suppose your comments about the way you expel heat caught my attention. You would think one would try to keep heat in for someone who lives in the colder environments... I suppose your mastery over heat and ice changes that."

"I wouldn't call that being bothered though..."

Crysel shook her head. "The reason we expel heat while our gems generate cold is to make our ice type attacks stronger. The colder we are, the better. I suppose it has gotten so instinctual that we do it even without any moves that are ice type. Its what we have become really, just like your kind is stronger in direct sunlight. Everyone has certain traits... but this is not about that." She narrowed her eyes. "Obviously you have some mistrust about me and I can't trust you if you won't talk to me. We are a pack, a team. Keeping secrets is something you can't do when you trust someone to watch your back." She was referring to when Jeremy worried about if she ate meat like most her kind.

He would furrow his scaly brow, idly noting that if she wanted to, the female sneasel had a real knack for pushing things. It wasn't even that big deal of a deal... At least thats what he told himself as he paused to fix his reptilian eyes on her. "I wouldn't call it mistrust..." He admitted. "I wouldn't come out here with you alone if I had enough that warranted such things."

He trails off, dragging the trapinch a little further before glancing at Crysel again. "I suppose a part of me is wary of your species' dietary requirements. Which, is silly when I think about it. Plenty of closely related kin of mine partake in meat, and are not as merciful about it with a clean bite or slice to the neck."

He lets out a small exhale through his slitted nostrils, his chest failing slightly as he does so. "See? Really not that big of a deal. Now can you stop prodding?"

"I see why you worry..." It wasn't unwarrented worry. Her species was well known for taking the eggs of flying type pokemon and eating them. Quite a few soon to be parents had given her dirty looks, as if to dare her to even try. Though she felt the urge to eat such things, it was very easily controlled by her willpower. No meat, only berries and such for her diet.

"You don't have to worry. Such behaviors left me when I joined society. I just... I guess it just feels wrong. Maybe because getting other edible things are easy enough to where eating meat isn't needed? In any case, you don't have to worry. If you have small concerns like that, you are free to voice them. I do not mind answering questions. I do not take offense to them at all Jeremy."

Jeremy frowns as he reorientates himself, tightening his vine ropes as they prep to drag the outlaw yet again. "Don't worry about it." Jeremy stated softly as he averted his amber eyes, a membrane covering them for a split second as they continued to drag their quarry.

"It won't be a problem anymore, you said so yourself. Besides. I know what I am. I won't fault others for being what they are."

Crysel nodded and kept pulling keeping her strength steady to avoid tiring out too easily. She could tell that Jeremy was not too used to being open to others. She hoped that changed while he spent time with the team. They would have to be open to trust each other and work well together. Today was a good start, but you couldn't be a team just by fighting well together. You had to go further than that. You had to actually care about the ones you were with. "So Jeremy, I never really asked. What are your main goals with making Team Magna?"

He blinked at her question, actually pausing in his pulling as Crysel would suddenly take on all the slack. Noticing this, the male snivy composes himself again as he grunts, pulling with her yet again. For a while he did not speak as he pondered her question, not only the basic answer, but also what was the truth and what she would probably want to hear. The forest around them was becoming thinner and thinner... It would not be longer before they were out of it entirely, and the pond behind them was now forgotten.

Eventually, he would speak, careful attention being put into his tone and voice as he did so. "I suppose several things." He admitted. "I want this team to be successful. Get a reputation for its reliability and efficiency. I want it to strive for the best, and then I would know I have helped guide and shape it. I want it to be successful, and I want to leave my mark somehow. Know I have gotten stronger to move on to the next step in my life. If it becomes profitable, well... All the better."

His reasons were definitely different than the standard, stereotypical guild mate. Heroics and adventure were not his reasons... If anything, he treated Team Magna as a business opportunity. A means to an end.

Crysel could tell that the question had caught the snivy off guard when he paused for a second. She had patiently waited for him to come up with an answer. She wasn't disappointed by the answer. Jeremy always seemed to be the type to place value in his legacy. He believed that if pokemon remembered him in some positive way, he had a good life. Crysel could partly understand that even though that wasn't the way she thought. Maybe it was his upbringing that led him to what he was? To be honest, she didn't know much about Jeremy's life growing up nor the family he grew up with. He seemed a little uncomfortable from what she had seen to delve too deep on the subject. So she let it go until she was sure he felt comfortable enough to tell her about it.

She had noticed the trees thinning as well and was happy to see it. Lugging a frozen pokemon around was not a fun task. She looked back to see that its legs had thawed out and it was wiggling them in the air. "Won't be long now. And he is starting to defrost too. Perfect timing."

He would tilt his head back and narrow his slitted, amber eyes when Crysel points this out. Humming thoughtfully, the Grass Snake Pokemon cranes his slender neck to study the thawing trapinch, a smile of bemusement on his face. "Ah... The joys of type advantage." There is a pause. "I believe our client desires the capture of the outlaw... He did not specify that we needed to retrieve the actual things that have been stolen. Perhaps we might be able to interrogate him... Or her. I don't know. Regardless, that little trap before won't work here, and we clearly have our prey."

He would smile somewhat eerily, a set of long, thin fangs present in his maw... Likely from his father's side of the family, not his mother's.

"How long before our friend thaws out you think?"

Crysel slowed a bit at the suggestion to take the stolen goods for themselves. It felt wrong to do so. And Crysel didn't want to do it. "Jeremy, we can not start taking stolen goods. Besides the fact that its wrong and probably against the law, do you really want the team to have that over our heads? If you want to be known as a great rescue team, you can't go off doing things like that. We are not taking the stuff at all. If they wish for us to go out and find them, we can get paid that way. We won't steal... I won't be a part of such acts."

"What? Steal it? No you misunderstood me." Jeremy actually looks amused, if somewhat mortified by Crysel's suggestion. "I am no simple bandit. I am a nobleman of Blackwood. No..." He seems to muse over something. "No... I was actually getting ready to suggest your idea. Get a location from this guy and be the first to offer to go look for it. We would have another, (hopefully) easy job lined up, and can get a little bit more guild rank, prestige, and poke out of it."

The male snivy huffs. "Honestly Crysel, I expected you to know me better to at least come to THAT conclusion."