Inbox

[nightyorb]

"You've reached the personal inbox of Riz Gukgak. I currently cannot respond to your call. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you have a time-sensitive call or professional inquiry regarding an investigation, please try contacting miss Jane Crocker.

Thank you."

Comments

text;

[shiro2hero]

Hi,

I don't honestly know what to say here.

My name is Shiro, and - the person you spoke with the other day was not me. Something weird happened, and that was my pokemon, Blue. Who has... no boundaries whatsoever.

So, I apologize. For him, and for having to meet you this way.

text;

[nightyorb]

First, let me say that that was genuinely the worst conversation I've had in this place.
And I've talked to some real assholes.

[Emet.]

But, that wasn't on you.
I figured out what was going on after I had that talk with your pokemon.
It's okay, we're cool. I'm not going to hold whatever your pokemon did against you.
But dude, you are gonna have to go into like witness protection or something now.
Cause I don't think anyone is going to forget about that any time soon.

text;

[shiro2hero]

Yeah that. That's Blue. He's always like that, but - usually he's a Gallade so it's not... nearly that difficult to deal with.

Still, he's my responsibility, and I need to apologize for him, regardless.

And I'm. Probably just going to stick to text messages for a while. That's about as close as we'll get to being in hiding, here.

Delivery, June 26

[heartofalioness]

Sometime after the festival, Riz and Mando will be visited by a delivery Pidgey, bearing an envelope with a single note and two friendship bracelets. One features bright green thread while the other is gray, but both are entwined with a light pink thread not unlike the marks on Allura's cheeks.

Dear Riz and Mando,

I woke up with these under my pillow last night. Keith tells me they're “friendship bracelets,” and I have a feeling these two belong to you. Riz, it's been a pleasure to get to know you and about your world and see you explore it, and I'm very grateful to Mando for watching out for you on your journey, even as I know you're likely watching out for him just as much. Thank you both for everything.

Your Friend, Allura

Soup prep!

[soupguy]

[Boober is of two minds about having Riz's help in the kitchen. It's not a space he's used to sharing! That makes this a little stressful. It doesn't matter that Riz is great, this has more or less been Boober's domain since the group took up residence in the apartment.

But the bottom line is he can't do this by himself. He cannot prepare for the market without help, and it's Riz, so... He's trying to let go of control here. After going over different types of chops and cuts, Boober has unleashed Riz on the vegetables while he, himself, starts measuring out anything else he'll need.

Boober is going a lot slower than usual in the kitchen, though, because he keeps turning to check on Riz. He's trying to be subtle about it, but he does keep almost falling off the footstool he's set up.]

--Ah! [He catches his footing after another stumble. He had his tail back for just a weekend, but he misses it more than ever now.] How, uh, how are you doing, Riz?

[nightyorb]

[The kitchen is absolutely Boober's kingdom, and Riz has no intention of muscling in on his domain. He's not really a cook, after all.

Oh, he knows how to microwave some meals or leftovers to keep himself from starving, but he is well aware that isn't really cooking. He hadn't even needed Boober's crunched up face to tell him that when he had showed him (once!) what he considered cooking.

But despite Riz's minimal kitchen skills, Boober had needed help, and it is not like Riz is swimming in work right now. Goldenrod has little need for a teenage PI -- winter does tend to be a slow season for crime, but honestly, Riz thinks it probably has far more to do with the face that miss Jane already has such an established presence in the city -- and Boober is his friend. So here he is, wearing a spare apron of Boober's (something Boober had insisted on more than Riz who is absolutely fine wiping his fingers on his shirt), armed with a knife and a whole pile of vegetables to slice.

Oh, and Boober's constant supervision.]

Boober, relax. I'm fine. I've got all my fingers still, see.

[He waves one hand, and vaguely indicates a pile of carrots (okay, actually about three carrots; turns out being able to use a sword isn't actually as transferable a skill to a kitchen knife) that he has already sliced. They aren't exactly neat and even slices. But they are functional! And that is fine enough, right?]

[soupguy]

Mmmm. [Clearly he's not exactly amused by the joke, but any lectures about kitchen safety can wait for now. He appreciates the help, and he's sure Riz is doing his best! But...] Can you get the slices closer to the same size? Then they won't need to be cooked for different amounts of time.

Text

[nevercaught]

I did not want to interrupt your conversation with the young lady who was inquiring about the ocean, but I must say that it is a pity we do not have light bulbs back in Faerun (to my knowledge), for many of my men would find your joke quite hilarious. Though I was wondering, what does 'edge-case' mean? It is not a term I am familiar with.

Text

[nightyorb]

[It takes Riz a moment to figure out what exactly he's being asked here. His mind gets pretty focused on things, and to suddenly have to divert his attention isn't the easiest. After the moment passes though, and it all clicks together, Jarlaxle gets his response.]

Oh that.

Uh, well, some people say those sorts of jokes are racist, and some people say they are fine as long as you aren't using stereotypes that are completely over the line. So, you know. It's kinda on the edge.

Text, February 5

[heartofalioness]

[It's a couple days after the disastrous announcement. Not only has the magnetism calmed down, but so has Allura's temper... mostly. She's still plenty angry at Riz for his remarks that day, but ironically, she held onto a grudge against Keith in the past and almost lost him, only barely coming to her senses in time to apologize before he went off on a suicide mission. She's not going to make the same mistake here, especially when there's no predicting when people are sent back home.]

I hope you're well, Riz. I'm ready to continue our discussion if you are. Name a time and place that's convenient to you, and I'll be there.

[nightyorb]

[There is no response. For however long Allura waits or however many texts she sends, there is no response from Riz. Oh, the texts are delivered all right. It's not that he is gone. He just isn't responding. Even calls just click over onto his voicemail.]

[text, february 4th on]

[soupguy]

[At first, Boober actually wasn't worried about Riz's absence. The letter about going undercover just seemed like a very Riz thing. He was probably spying on the Officer Jennies, and Boober still thinks that particular suspicion is probably unwarranted.

But one night, the anxiety sets in. Perhaps because Riz is gone. There's no one else in his room to talk to as he tries to fall asleep. His mind can really start racing late at night, and he's gotten so used to conversations with Riz distracting him. The problem is that when Boober starts worrying, he doesn't start small. If Riz is doing something sneaky in an actually dangerous situation, Boober shouldn't call him, right? That could get Riz caught! But Riz also might need help, and how will Boober know where to send Mando to do that if he doesn't get in touch with him? (Not that Boober wouldn't help Riz out of danger. He just doesn't see how he could.) Boober agonizes over things, and ultimately he sends Riz a text. ...Actually, he sends Riz a few texts, the first sent barely after midnight. It should be fine; Riz basically never sleeps anyway.]

Riz, are you in trouble? Where did you go?

[And later, that night:]

What happened? Do you need help?

[One more text, along the same lines, is sent early on the morning of the 5th. Now that Boober's anxiety is riled up, he's having trouble sleeping, himself. But shortly after the last text, he pretty much passes out. Unlike Riz, he's used to getting rest, not that the sleep that follows is particularly restful.]

[Text -- the sixth maybe? Seventh? Eight? Riz is so sorry.]</small>

[nightyorb]

[The last few days have been... a lot. The fight with Allura, the days of spiralling deeper and deeper into work because that, at least, was something he could deal with and not fuck up, then being dragged bodily from said spiral by the aforementioned Allura followed by a far too emotional and honest conversation and then about sixteen hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Not anywhere near enough to fully allow him to recover from the exhaustion he had pushed his body into but... better. Somewhat.

Well, until he finds the unanswered texts from Boober on his gear.

Shit, he hadn't meant for Boober to worry about him. That's why he had left him his cool undercover letter. Of course, when he had left him that letter, he hadn't exactly been able to predict exactly the sort of bender he'd be going on in the near future.

Riz never really means to worry any of his friends, it's still just... hard to remember that people care about him like that now.

He's half-way through composing a text to Boober when he stops. A text... doesn't really feel sufficient. If Boober had dropped off the face of the earth for a few days, Riz wouldn't be happy to only receive a text days later. Especially when the reason for being incommunicado wasn't something badass like 'I was kidnapped by an evil organisation and needed a little bit of time to fight free and dismantle it all' and instead something more along the lines of 'I am six horrible coping mechanisms masquerading as a person in a trench-coat and things went a little bad'.

Gritting his teeth against the impulse to drop his gear and retreat back into work again, Riz closes the half-finished text, switches apps, and selects Boober's number from his very (very) short list of 'favourite contacts', and hits the call button.]


... Boober?

[voice, july 11th]

[soupguy]

[Boober had already called Gobo, as soon as he saw that video about something mysterious spotted in the tunnels. He hadn't even called to try to stop Gobo and Riz from going down there, because he knew there was no point. But he could at least find out if either of them had met one of the many gruesome fates playing out in the theater of Boober's mind. And when that turned out not to be the case, he'd emphasized the importance of being careful to Gobo, and that was that. For a while.

It still wasn't enough to truly calm him down, though. Boober managed to keep himself busied in the kitchen for a couple hours, but eventually he found the anxiety returned, leaving him right where he'd started - just now with vegetable fritters to snack on, a nervous habit which didn't really help ease his anxieties... What hopefully could do that was checking in. So it was time to call Riz, who'd pick up to some ongoing nervous mumbling, made rather unintelligible by Boober's mouthful of fritter.]

[nightyorb]

[So far, the exploration has mostly been a bust. It wasn't the company --Gobo was maybe a little more chatty than Riz was used to, but he seemed genuinely interested in solving the mystery at hand-- but rather that the tunnel they had been exploring had been... mostly that, honestly. Just a lot of tunnel. No cool traps, no mysterious pokemon. Not even a single precarious ledge or sudden hole.

Of course, Riz knew very well that sometimes what solved a mystery was patience. He had been on enough stakeouts to learn that. It just... would be nice for something exciting to happen.

Something more exciting than his gear going off in any case.

Spying Boober's name on the screen, he bit down on a smile, and dropped several paces further back behind Gobo to give himself just a little bit of privacy. He could still see Gobo ahead of him. It'd be fine!]

Hey.

[Except all he could here was crunching. Was the reception that bad down here?]

Can you hear me? I think the reception is super bad here.

[Action]

[gobetween]

[When the tunnel investigations popped up while they were on their travels, Gobo knew exactly what he had to do. No one knew tunnels and things better than him, right? (Well, Boober probably did too but he wasn't here, was he.) And Riz liked investigating things and figuring that out, right? Right! So this was perfect for them.

Lifting his torch up, Gobo paused to examine the side of one wall of the tunnel, running his fingers over the soil. So far nothing noteworthy had happened, but who knew what was around the next corner?]

Hey! You know if we're lucky, we might find some pretty neat rocks to take back.

[Action]

[nightyorb]

[Riz is no stranger to saying 'love you' on the phone. That's how he ends calls with his mom all the time, and he refuses to feel ashamed of that. If you think that is embarrassing, well, that sounds like a you problem, honestly. Riz, meanwhile, has the coolest mom and he loves her. So why wouldn't he say it?

So yeah, Riz doesn't have a problem with saying 'I love you' on the phone in general. What he does have a problem with is the fact that he just said it to Boober, completely by force of habit, and oh gods, he had never said those words to Boober before.

Riz had done enough romance research to know that saying those words was always a big deal. And you weren't supposed to do it too quick (needy, puts pressure on things) but also not wait too long (comes across as uninterested or unemotional). Had he said it too quick? Would Boober feel pressured? Or like Riz was being too much and needy?

Fuck, why had he decided to become a rogue and not a chronomancy wizard?

Riz is so busy freaking out --which mostly translates to him staring at his gear with a haunted expression-- that he doesn't really hear what Gobo is saying. His ears pick up on the fact that he is being addressed but the actual content? Nope.]

Huh? What?

Mabosstiff Bath-time

[soupguy]

[Boober has found himself immediately taken with Riz's newly-stolen Mabosstiff. Of course, he'd felt sympathetic towards him before Riz even brought him home, and he's such a tired old pokemon - too much so to be scary or troublesome. He's got a sad-looking face no matter what, doesn't make a lot of noise, and Traveler already adores him... There's a lot of positives, but one Boober does have one complaint: He stinks.

Boober has wasted no time, of course. He has everything prepared: the tub is filled, soap stands at the ready, and the surrounding floor has a carpeting of towels and washcloths. All of that awaits in the bathroom as Boober - wearing a pair of rubber gloves - finds Riz and Mabosstiff.]

Is he still doing alright?

[nightyorb]

Yeah.

[Riz looks up from where he is squatting in front of his new Mabosstiff, one hand buried in the pokemon's slightly rough, slighly oily, yet somehow very stinky fur. It must have been a while since he last had a bath -- or any sort of personal attention, really, but that's okay. They can fix that now.]

I think he and Trav are gonna be good friends.

[Trav had looked very happy to have another dog in the house and Mabosstiff -- Chief? Sarge? He's still noodling on the name -- had seemed quite curious as well. Not as energetic about the whole thing as Traveler, but that was probably a good thing. They did not need two high energy dogs in one small apartment.]

Come on, big guy. Lets get you cleaned up.

[The pokemon is sizable enough that it is going to need both him and Boober working together to get him in the tub and cleaned. They could probably wait until Mando gets back, have him toss some Mandalorian strength at the whole deal, but the way Boober's nose had scrunched up when first meeting Chief-Sarge had told Riz that Boober was absolutely not going to deal with the stink any longer than he strictly had to.

Giving the big dog a friendly push, Riz starts guiding him towards the bathroom, hoping that he isn't one of those dogs that is going to zip when he spots the tub.]

Tea Ghost (backdated)

[soupguy]

[There's been a new addition to Boober's pokemon team today. At least... He's pretty sure this pokemon - a charming little spirit residing in repaired porcelain - is sticking with him.

He simply found them in the kitchen that morning, repairing the chips in Boober's favorite tea cup: one found secondhand and decorated with paintings of mushrooms and mossy rocks. The little pokemon was using their green... ghost stuff? To seal the little cracks.

And yes, at first Boober had been a bit wary, of course. But the little fellow - who he's been calling "Doozer" due to them being a green pokemon who he'd encountered fixing something - was quite endearing; perfectly polite! Talking to pokemon despite their inability to speak had never really felt strange to Boober to begin with, but chatting with Doozer was particularly natural. They were just such an attentive little listener! So much so that Boober finds himself still in the kitchen well into the afternoon, talking away.]

[nightyorb]

[Riz was up until late -- or is that early? -- last night, so it is no surprise he doesn't rise until somewhere in the afternoon. But hey, after conking out, he got at least six, perhaps even seven hours of sleep, so everybody should pre-emptively get off his back!

So when Riz finally does wander into the kitchen, he's still sleep-mussed and pyjama clad, cracking a huge yawn --not covered, of course-- as he drops into one of the free kitchen chairs, his elbows on the table.]

S'there coffee?

Futuristic 4th Wall

[soupguy]

[Boober isn't having a good time. But he figures that's on him, for jumping too quickly to hope and optimism when he woke up as a fraggle that morning. These weird weekends are great for a break from being a silly creature, but it's never just that simple. This weekend was no exception. As soon as Boober left the bedroom, eager to find Riz and (hopefully, if he could be tracked down) Gobo and share in the excitement of being their normal selves--

Well, things got weird, of course.

These weekends always disregard the rules of space, and that's already plenty frustrating, but the place where Boober ends up... This is a new kind of stressful. Everything in this city is blindingly bright, even the streets beneath his feet. Buildings taller than Gorgs are scattered all around, and bikes zoom by without even touching the ground.

Boober just woke up, and he had a moment of optimism that immediately disappointed him. So while what he's seeing scares him, he just doesn't have it in him to panic. He just heaves a heavy sigh.]

Sure. Yeah, of course.

[nightyorb]

[For once, Riz is already up and out and about before Boober. And while the scene around him isn't really his scene --definitely better than all nature stuff, but he's more of an old fashioned city guy than this gleaming chrome-- being a goblin again had left him in a good enough mood that he wasn't going to fuss at how things looked around him. Besides, the tech was kind of fun to experiment with. It certainly did feel something straight out of a Fantasy Bond movie, bequeathed on our illustrious spy by that ever clever Q.

So, yeah, Riz managed to get a hold of a small jetpack and he's been testing it out, imagining daring high-rise infiltrations and airborne chases.

When he spots Boober, he goes into a dive, barrelling at the poor little Fraggle, catching him in his arms and immediately swooping up with him, his voice swept way a bit by the rushing air.]

Boober, this is so cool!

Rizday!

[soupguy]

[For Boober, the hardest part of planning this birthday scavenger hunt for Riz didn't start until after the sleuthing started. To be fair, this was entirely because he'd had a lot of help with the scavenger hunt itself. Boober had remained involved all throughout the process - stubbornly so - but others had contributed a great deal.

But now, it was all in Boober's hand, leaving him with the great challenge of timing Riz's likely return with his birthday cake being perfectly ready. It was not a feat to be taken lightly! The cake had to be baked and out of the oven long enough to cool appropriately for being frosted, and Riz could certainly be unpredictable in situations like this. Would his detective skills mean he finished quickly, or would his attention to detail - some might call it overthinking, but (as someone who could relate) Boober disagreed - slow him down? Who could say!

A poke to his shoulder disrupted Boober from his thoughts, and with a start he looked over at Doozer who in turn gestured toward the chocolate cake. After checking it, Boober smiled at his Poltchageist.]

Oh, yes, it's ready. Thank you! [Doozer bounced in midair towards the fridge, but Boober shook his head.] No, you know you have to go now. You've been trying to get your tea dust into the food this whole time!

[Doozer rattled loudly in response, and Boober sighed - albeit fondly - and made a shooing motion with his hands.]

I'll keep an eye out for elbows on the table, now go on.

[Reluctantly, Doozer headed off, leaving Boober to prepare and apply the coffee (he might come to regret that) frosting, humming to himself so softly as he did so that he didn't even notice it himself.]

[nightyorb]

[In the end, Riz ends up setting a pretty decent time. Could've been faster, certainly, but he did fall victim to overthinking a few of the clues here and there, not quite sure how many layers deep he should be searching for the answer. Once he had solved a few clues though, and he had more or less gotten a handle on how wrinkly his brain had to go, the rest of it had been a breeze.

A fun breeze! Even while solving the riddles, he had recognised the hands of Boober and their friends in the clues. It had left his chest feeling warm as anything, even out in the cold January weather. Nobody had ever put together a scavenger hunt for him. The fact that Boober had gone through the trouble, even if he wasn't, exactly, much of a detective himself, made Riz's throat go all tight.

Eventually every mystery had to come to an end though, so Riz wasn't too surprised when the final clue directed them right back home again. Some people might be disappointed by that -- the idea that they did all that work to end back up where they started, but to Riz, doing the work was the fun part. Solving the clues had been the gift and he hadn't even thought once about those pesky Unown the whole afternoon.

Riz slips into the apartment very quietly, more out of habit than anything else, before he realises the opportunity this presents him with. Shedding his coat and shoes just as quietly at the door, he sneaks to the kitchen, until he spots his target, carefully lining up his sights, before he suddenly wraps his arms around Boober from behind.]

Gotcha!