Three Strangers Blow Into Town
By Kiyo-Anon
"Clover guild? Sure, I know ‘em. Sometimes they’re a bit odd, but if you need a job done there’s no one more… passable… to do it.”
“Oh, yes! They’re among my best customers! Don’t be taken aback by their strange mannerisms, I’m sure you’ll find them perfectly reliable!”
“Those guys are total sweethearts! I’d sing for Sneasel and Booker anytime! In fact, maybe I’ll sing right NOOOOW~!”
“They’re… weird.”
“Oh, they’re wonderful. Such fine folk! Especially that Meowth fellow. Do you know what a ‘lootbox’ is? No? Oh, well, let me tell you…”
“The Guild? Yeah, they’re okay. They mostly keep to themselves.”
“I trust ‘em about as far as I can throw ‘em. I mean, look at these muscles? I can throw pretty damn far! Haha! …to be clear, I do trust them. It’s just, I could throw all of ‘em so far, you know? Most of ‘em are tiny. Anyways, enough about them. Let's talk about us.”
"I dunno. I heard they burnt down an entire forest. I don't feel any safer with them around."
“Clover Guild? Sure, they’re alright. I’ve never seen anyone drink more than that totodile. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, well, I’ll leave that up to you.”
“Yeah, we got a Guild. It’s up the road, on the outskirts. Be careful, though. Those, eh, ‘enthusiasts’, love to get riled up. I’d know. Now, you gonna get some drinks, or what?”
Kiyo is just about to order himself and Bean a drink, when he spots Cassie leaning on a staircase in the corner of his eye with a bulging burlap sack. She winks.
The snow white fox quirks his lips in disappointment. “Not… yet. How about a room?”
The crab guffaws. “A room! Forgot we sold those, seein’ as how most everyone comes here to get wasted and stain my floor. Sure, sure, a room’s just 100 poke a night.”
Kiyo pays. It’s a great price. Room one. He climbs the steps as quickly as he can, though he’s careful not to fling Bean, the tiny fletchling, off his back. Cassie, a sandshrew, is waiting beside the door, with a smug look and a bag of goodies.
“Well?”
Kiyo scoffs. “Remind me why Bean and I had to interrogate the town while you went boutique shopping?”
She puts a claw on her chest, “It’s simple. I’m the only one with any fashion sense. Besides, you love talking to people!”
Kiyo grimaces. “Oh, right. I must have forgotten.”
The door to room one swings open. There’s a big cloth sack of a bed lying in the corner, loose cloth curtains covering a window to the town, and a low table with two pillow seats. Bean hops off Kiyo’s back and plops down on a pillow.
Cassie pulls the curtains open and relishes the view, which could be described as, the wall of the tree-building next door. “Not bad. How many nights did ya get?”
“Just one, for now. We shouldn’t be here long.”
“Tsk! You know how these things go. I betcha one-thousand poke this ends up more difficult than expected.”
Kiyo frowns. “You really think I’m that dumb?”
Cassie shrugs. “Just making a point. We’d better settle in for however long it takes to…” She glances to the door of their room, currently shut, “do the thing we’re here to do. And speaking of settling in-! How’s about y’all’s new disguises!”
With giddy glee, the sandshrew flips open the sack and starts digging around.
Bean treads over, expectantly. Kiyo slumps onto the ground. “I’m already appalled, just thinking about it.”
Cassie beams, not a word of Kiyo's naysaying heard. "Okay! For Bean…. I got you a dodge scarf!" She holds out a thin, appropriately small red ribbon. "It's super light, super fashionable, and it's even supposed to help you dodge attacks! I got it at a great price, so try it on!"
With due care, Cassie wraps the scarf around Bean's head and ties a firm knot to keep it in place, with plenty of breathing room. Bean can't really move his head down far enough to look at it, and there's no mirrors in this inn room, so he stares into Cassie's eye, which reflects his image quite well.
He's satisfied with the look. In one swift movement, Bean jumps and flaps his wings to launch himself onto Cassie's shoulder. Then, he whispers into her ear an affirmation of his approval.
Cassie grins towards Kiyo, who looks like a vulpix on death row. "He likes it! See? I'm fashionable! Now you!"
Kiyo pads over to Cassie cautiously, though not cautiously enough, as she whips around and slams a tan paperboy hat onto his head. Miraculously, his ears slip right through the precut holes without any trouble.
“Hey! Fuck!”
Next, she holds out a cloth vest that’s clearly supposed to go over his torso. He squints.
“Is that a shirt? Aren’t we overdoing it a bit here?”
“I might have said yes, if not for the soon-to-be-scarred stab wound on your belly. That’s what the authorities call an ‘identifying mark’. Besides! This is made for quadrupeds like you. It should be easy to get on or off, and you can wear your bandanna under it. Or over it. Whatever floats your boat.”
Cassies passes off the garment, and Kiyo manages to slip it on without too much trouble, despite his grumbling. He moves around, testing its feel. “It fits, I guess… Are these pockets?”
She smiles smugly. “Yup! Now you can help carry our stuff!”
Kiyo’s face sinks. “I knew you had an ulterior motive.” He uses Cassie’s eye like a mirror, something she’s used to. “Couldn’t you have gotten something a little tougher? I look like that fucking paper boy from Pokemon Square.”
She smiles fondly. “That paper boy was adorable. And, no! Of course not! The whole point of a disguise is to hide your true identity. You look like a little detective! That’ll be our story. You’re a detective and I’m your muscle. And Bean’s the wayward witness we need to protect!”
Bean tilts his head.
Kiyo sighs. “Detective is a stretch… But, fine. I still think the shirt is too much, but you’re right about the scar. Whatever. I’ll live. Barely.”
Cassie claps. “Great! I feel truly appreciated. Now, for the main event…”
Last but not least, Cassie unveils her own ‘disguise’. She whips a long blue scarf around her neck, and plops a new messenger bag over her shoulder. Then, she strikes a sassy pose.
“Tada! What’dya think?”
Kiyo and Bean tilt their heads synchronously. Kiyo speaks up, “I thought you said you’d be ‘the muscle’. That’s just a scarf.”
She hocks out an exaggerated, upper class laugh. “Just ‘cuz I’m the muscle doesn’t mean I’m not a lady! Besides, this is a defense scarf. It’s what you’d see any sort of bouncer wearing. And the bag is new too! It’s pretty tough looking.”
Kiyo and Bean raise an eyebrow. Or, more accurately, they raise the area of their respective faces which would have an eyebrow if either of them had visible eyebrows, which they do not. “That’s a stretch.” Bean jumps to Kiyo’s shoulder, and Kiyo turns his ear instinctively to listen. After a whisper passes, he nods. “You’re right Bean. A long coat would have been more fitting. And a pipe.”
Cassie deflates. “Uuuuugh!! You dorks have no passion for fashion. We all look stunning! You should be excited!”
Kiyo deadpans, “On the inside, I want to kill. I want to bathe in the blood of my enemies. But on the outside, I want to peddle Pokemon Daily.”
Cassie stares through him for a few moments. Then, she breaks, and giggles, drawing a small smirk from Kiyo. She continues, “Yeah, it’s innocent, but that’s the point. It’s the complete opposite of our last outfits. Nobody’s recognizing us with these duds.”
Kiyo waves a paw appeasingly, contradicting his unamused look. “I get it. Let’s just get our plan straight already, we’re burning daylight.”
Cassie nods. “Right! We need an excuse to scour the entire guild building, for an uncertain amount of time, so…. I'll say we’re investigators here to… Uh… Investigate... something... at the guild.”
They sit in silence for a moment, until Kiyo coughs. “...Is that as far as you got?”
She huffs. “Look, I don’t know anything about this guild. You two did the interviewing, remember? Do you have any better ideas?”
Kiyo looks to Bean, who gives him a simple, done-easy look. Then, he looks back to the slumped, unenthused sandshrew. “Cassie, what’s stopping us from joining the guild?”
“...” The gears in her head start to move, surely clearing away cobwebs. “...Oh yeah. We could just, straight up, join the guild. It’s not like we can’t fight.”
“Yeah. And when we’re done, we skip town. Simple, right?”
Cassie looks to Bean, who flays his wings out in a bird-like shrug. She scratches her chin. “Huh. Yeah. Okay.”
After stashing their valuables away in the inn room, it takes the three just a few minutes and a couple asked directions to find their way to the Clover Guild. Kiyo leads the way, confident indifference plastered on his face. Cassie’s just behind, a small skip in her step. Bean is standing on her head, balancing well despite her energized movements.
Cassie checks behind her, as though she’d be followed. She isn’t. Bean leans down and speaks something of calming comfort to her. She huffs, “I know, I know... But it doesn't hurt to check!” Bean half nods, half shakes his head. It gets the message across.
The guild itself is built within a lightly forested area just a short walk away from the town. Cassie spots and appreciates a fledgling garden nearby. It’s a quaint, quiet chunk of land. Still, it's unsettling how quiet it is currently. They don’t come across a single soul on their trek.
They reach the door and pause. It’s wide open. Kiyo looks around sheepishly. “Uh… Hello? No guards? …Okay.”
The inside of the guild is a bit of a mess. Cassie feels puzzled by the dozens upon dozens of odd writings and drawings nailed to the walls. Ancient relics? Research notes? This was certainly the least conventional guild she’s ever been in. Still, it doesn't take long to find the job board, and more importantly, the adjacent bounty board.
As expected, the three have bounties, and hefty ones too. The portraits aren't too off model, but compared to their current look, it’d be hard to recognize the three. Mission accomplished, Cassie thinks to herself.
Kiyo, standing on his hind legs and holding himself against the board with one paw, takes a look at the backside of his own poster. He finds more details about his characteristics and personality, including his incoming scar, as well as a return mailing address and more information on retrieving the bounty. It’s more complicated than the average bounty, but that’s just how it is, when copies are hung up across every guild in the world at once, he assumes.
One particular note on the bottom of the poster
reassures him;
"Location: UNKNOWN"
Kiyo smiles, before quietly removing the three bounties, checking their value once more, and stashing them. In all honesty, he’s proud to be worth so much poke in the eye of the law.
Cassie, who’d been watching their back, looks back to Kiyo. “So… How’d we look? Good?”
He almost laughs. “Better now, though I’ll miss Bean’s hat.”
Bean nods, slow and mournfully.
Although the room was, by some fortune, empty at the moment, the three hear rambunctious chatter coming from the nearby dining hall. Dropping from the board, Kiyo inches closer to the large shut door and leans his ear towards the noise.
“Hear anything?” Cassie asks, dutifully watching their back.
He squints, focusing. “Uh… Yeah. A lot. There’s, like, seven different conversations going on… Uh… !!!!” He flinches back, blushing.
From what Cassie and Bean can hear, there’s a gradual decrease in noise, followed by uproaring sounds of disgust, and a few boisterous laughs. It sounds like a plate breaks too.
Cassie looks up to Bean, who looks down at her, equally confused. “What was that?”
Kiyo shivers, and slowly turns to face them, with a grim, hazy look. He whispers, “The most vile sentence I've ever heard… I couldn’t repeat it.”
Cassie is about to ask Kiyo if he's alright, but he suddenly jumps, and backs away from the door with haste. He straightens himself up, prompting her to do the same.
A phanpy pushes the door open, allowing the noise to be heard at full-volume. The small round elephant is dragging along a dazed, perversely smiling cyndaquil with his trunk. Muttered insults and curses can be heard coming from the former, while the latter, despite their satisfied expression, has a fresh bump on their forehead.
The phanpy stops when he notices the three strangers. He seems to study them for a moment, before speaking. "...are you lost?"
Kiyo starts to speak, but Cassie cuts him off, "Nope! We were hoping to join the guild, actually."
To his credit, the phanpy seems a bit off-put but the three, but ultimately he doesn't challenge their intentions.
"Talk to the guildmaster. His office is upstairs." He tilts his head, motioning towards the upwards half of the staircase.
Cassie smiles as big and wide as she can. To phanpy, it just looks like she closed her eyes. "Thanks a bunch!"
He nods dutifully, and continues on his way, cyndaquil still in tow. After a few moments, the three recover their wits. Cassie whispers to her friends, “Is that… A good sign? Or a bad sign?” Bean leans down and whispers a theory. Cassie nods, “That’s fair. It can be both.”
Snapped from their reverie, they ascend the stairs and enter a cleaner room than the last, albeit not by much. The guildmaster’s door is clearly labeled, once in the language they understand, and once in strange indecipherable symbols.
Cassie raps on the door lightly. They hear a muffled, "Come in~!
Opening the door reveals a small mountain of papers, mostly on the guildmaster's desk, with some piled up to the sides, or overflowing from a rubbish bin. Behind the stationary is a male meowstic wearing the emblem of the guild pinned to a black cloak. He perks up when the three present themselves.
"Oh-! I wasn't expecting new faces!" He hastily stacks a few papers to clear his view, leaning forward to examine the newcomers. "I'm Lliam, the guildmaster. And you are…?"
Kiyo bows his head, very slightly, “My name’s Kiyo. This is Cassie, and Bean. We want to join your guild.”
Lliam pauses to study the newcomers. There's a tough-looking female sandshrew, the white vulpix who spoke earlier, and a fletching so inconspicuous, he was almost missed. They shouldn't be suspicious, but Lliam can't shake the feeling he's seen these three somewhere in the past... How troubling...! Luckily, the guildmaster has a backup plan.
The guildmaster nods, “Well… What are your qualifications? What kind of experience do you have?”
The fox starts talking, but the guildmaster immediately tunes him out. Hopefully they’ll yap long enough to get some good reads. Lliam isn’t one to absue psychic powers, but there’s something irksome about this trio. Why are they here? What do they want? Do they realize everyone here is a human? Or, humon? Are they humon themselves? This is where his psychic abilities come in.
First, he looks at the aura of the alolan vulpix. Or, Lliam thinks to himself, would it just be ‘keo keo’? Since there’s no alola here…? He doesn’t spend any more time questioning the correct way to refer to this creature, instead scanning their aura. It’s purple, and sharp, like a protective shell made of secrets and false faces. As to what’s underneath, well, that’s anyone’s guess. Maybe he’ll take another look later, but for now, the guildmaster is certain the fox is a native pokemon, and not a particularly honest one.
Lliam nods passively, looking now to the sandshrew, who begins to spew her life's story, or something. Who knows. He’s not listening. Her aura beams out a wonderful yellow. It’s outgoing, and adventurous. Kind yet mischievous. And there’s a violent streak too. Is she a friend or a foe? Can she be trusted? Lliam isn’t sure, but regardless, she's also a native.
He’s about to give up hope when he scans the tiny, silent, expressionless bird atop the sandshrew’s head. His aura is viridian. It projects very little emotion. There's thought, no doubt, but it lies underneath a placid, unreadable soul. For once, it's like reading a book in a language he doesn't know.
Still, to Lliam’s surprise, the fletchling’s aura is undoubtedly, unquestionably, undeniably human.
Lliam doesn’t turn his back on any humans. No matter who they are.
The guildmaster claps his hands, interrupting Cassie’s long-winded, rambled speech. This is to Kiyo’s delight, who’s been resting his head miserably on the floor, with his ears held down by his paws. Then, Lliam smiles, “I’ve heard enough~! I think you three will be perfect additions to our guild. I can’t wait to see how you contribute!”
Kiyo looks up to Cassie, bewildered. How this guildmaster accepted Cassie’s obviously contrived and ridiculously verbose story is beyond the fox entirely. Cassie is side-eyeing him with a loose shrug and a nervous head of sweat, evidently not believing it herself. He stands, shakes himself off, and offers a loose smile of gratitude to the guildmaster. “I’m sure we won’t disappoint.”
Lliam winks at Bean, who doesn't openly respond, then continues, “Great! Now, we've got some details to iron out: Where you'll sleep, and what role you'll assume!"
"That's simple," says Cassie, with an enthusiastic poise, "We can do any sort of job around the guild! Cleaning! Rescues! Construction! You name it, we're on it! And, don't even worry about a room for
us! We've already got a place at the Blue Claw Inn!'"
Lliam seems impressed, if not a bit overwhelmed by Cassie's kecleon-worthy sales pitch. "You're quite energetic, aren't you~? Eheh…" It's a bit of an awkward laugh, followed by a pause.
The guildmaster hums, and strokes his chin, "I suppose you're all set then. In that case, are you ready to meet some more humans?"
All three of them blink, and glance at each other, entirely confused.