Backdated to the 9th

[all_onis_are_true]

[PRIVATE; TO BANZU]

Hey, Mr. Banzu? I got the egg you wanted. Did you want to meet outside the Breeding Center to get it?

[OPEN; ACTION]

[Outside the Breeding Center, Guertena seems none the worse for wear for his brief paternity leave, back to painting thankfully water-soluable murals all over the place. Hiroshi sits, holding the egg in his lap and marveling over it. Strange how there's still no real indication of how or why Pokemon get eggs...[

Careful, Guertena. You know how the guards get if you're too ostentatious about that.

[Guertena snorts. He got 99 problems and guards ain't one. He does paint one on the wall however.]

Comments

[Private]

[outtahere]

Sure. Be there in a bit.

[And a bit later he comes, his Klink following him.]

Hey.

[all_onis_are_true]

[Hiroshi's own baby Klink floats towards the older one. Ooh.]

Hello. This is what you wanted, yes?

[He held up the egg in question.]

I believe this should hatch a Smeargle. I have been assured as such.

[outtahere]

[Banzu's Klink turns to Hiroshi's and gives a mid-air nod. Its Quiet nature is showing itself.]

Yeah, it is. Thanks.

[Instead of taking the egg right away though, he digs in his pocket for a moment and pulls out a few bills, offering them to Hiroshi. Four tens and two fives.]

Here. For the trouble.

[all_onis_are_true]

Ah, thank you.

[He wondered, briefly, if it was okay to be selling eggs. But he's not so squeaky clean morally that he can't accept the practicality of a little quick cash on hand.]

Take good care of it. If Guertena is any indication, they can be rather mischievous.

[And he passes the egg over. Guertena actually looks proud of the accusation.]

[outtahere]

[It's for Hiroshi's time and being deprived of Guertena's assistance for a bit and all that. Definitely not the egg. Banzu's sticking to that. He's not squeaky clean morally either.]

I will.

[He carefully takes the egg while side-eying Guertena slightly.]

Hope I can get it not to be if it is.

action; hope a three-way thread is okay

[wordsidk]

[ As luck would have it a couple of girls happened to be passing by arm-in-arm, as they do at, the same moment Hiroshi had said that name.

It was at that moment - as Ib was thinking about all the hard work it will take training and searching - that it seemed they may have found their first clue. She abruptly stopped at turned to stare.

Just scanning over everything - the painting, the Pokemon apparently named for their ultimate goal, the boy who said the name - with her wide red eyes. ]

[portraitor]

[Mary, upon hearing that name, also stops in her tracks and turns to stare with wide eyes.]

That guy... [Suddenly, Mary is moving straight towards Hiroshi and his Smeargle immediately, potentially pulling along the linked arm of Ib as well--she has to be sure that she didn't mishear that name somehow.] Hey, what did you just say that Pokemon's name was?

[She's looking between him and the Smeargle as she asks, as if to confirm that it really is the Pokemon's name by hearing an agreement from the Smeargle about it too.]

[all_onis_are_true]

[And then suddenly he was surrounded by little girls. ...What?]

You mean Guertena? I seemed to recall seeing a painting by a guy like that once somewhere, and the name stuck, I guess.

[Guertena the Smeargle actually stops what he's doing to look at the two. Uh?]

[wordsidk]

[ After being yanked over to where he sits, Ib pulls her arm out of the link with Mary's. She thinks about what he tells them before responding. ]

Where? [ The painting, if they could find it, it might help with their search. ]

[portraitor]

Yeah, tell us where you saw that painting, and anything else you know about it!

[It almost sounds more like a demand rather than a request coming from her, but it's pretty obvious that this seems like a very important matter to the two of them, especially Mary here, who is looking up at them expectantly...]

[all_onis_are_true]

[What is WITH these two? Hiroshi wonders if they just REALLY like art for some reason.]

I think just at the art museum in the Entertainment District. They had some exhibit on more obscure painters or something.

[wordsidk]

[ They're just really interested in one particular artist. ]

[ Maybe if they talked to someone at the art museum they could learn more.
Ib doesn't say anything. She just glaces at Mary to see if she's thinking the same thing. ]

[portraitor]

Oh! [She turns to Ib, eyes wide with excitement.] Ib, let's go there and check it out! Maybe they know where to look for him!

[Ah, but she hasn't forgotten about Hiroshi and Guertena the Smergle yet, as she turns back towards them. Mary occasionally forgets to thank people for their help in her haste, (sometimes Ib might thank someone in Mary's stead if she forgets to do so) but this time she's honestly very grateful, for a moment actually remembering her manners.]

Thank you for telling us about the painting, Mister!

[all_onis_are_true]

You're welcome, but... why is that name so important?

[Genuinely clueless here.]

[wordsidk]

[ Good job remembering your manners, Mary. Ib is proud of you. She gives quick smile and nod before turning back to Hiroshi. ]

Yes, thanks.

[ As for why... she doesn't want to explain because it should be Mary's decision to tell other people. So she simply says, ] We're looking for him.

[portraitor]

Yeah, it's really important that we find him, okay? So if there's anything else you know, you have to tell us!

[Mary, he's a stranger, he doesn't have to do anything...]

[all_onis_are_true]

[...some sort of art groupies?]

I think the curator of the museum would probably be able to tell you more than I would ever be able to. I am not much of an art historian.

[wordsidk]

Thank you anyway. Sorry if we bothered you.

[ This would be a good time to excuse themselves... ]

[portraitor]

[Probably. Mary is already reaching out to potentially link her arm around her sister's again before she speaks to Hiroshi.]

It was nice meeting you, Mister. And you too, Guertena--your art is really pretty! [She points, indicating the murals that the Pokemon was painting on the walls when the girls interrupted them.]

[all_onis_are_true]

[Guertena rubs the back of his head, in an "aw shucks" fashion.]

No trouble at all, really.