Cornered On The Market!
Roleplayers contributing: Jauntier, Greiger and Fennekin210
It's the day of the Summer Festival here in the Pokemon town of Jubilee, a lively event where residents celebrate through all manners of leisurely, friendly, and even competitive activities, but as every business in town knows, the most important activity of all is rampant consumerism! You are an employee working for your demanding, antagonistic boss at a cheap, kitschy little cornerstore. The only competition is a similar cornerstore that sits right across the street from you. Your boss wants a leg up on the competition, so if you want to keep your job, you'll do whatever your they order you to do, even if it's downright shady!
There was a sliver of burning gold on the horizon, the sun not yet peaking to overtake the deep indigo that was still most of the sky. It was cool out, but only as cool as a summer night. On either side of the boulevard were businesses of many kinds, each with their own degrees of decoration. It was the dawn of the Summer Festival here in the Pokemon town of Jubilee, a time for celebration and commercialism. And so, while lamp posts and sidewalk trees were decorated with balloons and streamers by the volunteer public works committee, most owners in town had done their part in dressing up their shop in the spirit of things the night before. Colorful, unlit paper lanterns and wind chimes dangled from rigging under canopies. Windows were decorated with bright flyers that advertised deals and wished a happy festival. In some cases, even doormats were replaced for ones that looked newer and more inviting. Every store on the boulevard had prepped their appearances, except for two.
At the very beginning of the street, directly across from each other, sat two small corner stores, both lacking any decoration apart from their usual set up. To the west was Spirited Away, a shop with purportedly mysterious and mystical wares. To the east was Forget-Me-Not, a shop with a florist's touch. They largely were not unlike the other in their inventory, but their specialties were what set them apart. The only two businesses up at this hour, stashed away in their respective stores, the two owners plotted the day with their crew of employees.
The night streets had a nice breeze flowing through them as Gabriel the Weavile walked along the empty streets. No one was awake at this hour, well, a few were, obviously. He was one of them. There had been times in the past when he had woken up at this hour, sometimes even earlier! It was a past that he left behind when he moved here, but those experience were definitely helping to keep him awake now. He knew that there were bound to be others up at this hour, but for more… ulterior motives than simply heading to work to help their boss out. Most were probably drug runners who would take advantage of the sleeping city to push forth their own agenda. Others were likely thieves who were eagerly slipping into sleeping mon's houses, or were simply those without a home who lived on the streets. He was more than thankful that he was making enough cash to have a small apartment.
Sure, it wasn't the best place in the world, what with the cramped quarters, but at least he had someplace to call his own. He made his way closer to the store that he worked at, but instead of taking the front entrance as was usual, he instead used his natural camouflage to blend into the night. He carried no lights on him as he used his arms to hoist himself over a wall and landed right behind the corner store. He was pretty sure that no one had caught sight of him, so he was quick to open up the hatch and slip inside. He closed it behind him and made his way under the store, soon popping up through the exit that led into the store room.
He had a few good ideas whey they were up so early. It was either related to some sort of new employee training that couldn't be fit in during the day, would be where the boss would go on and tell them about some new shipments that were coming in early today, or that they hadn't prepared the store yet for the Summer Festival. He had a very strong inkling this meeting had something to do with the last thing on that list. He waited patiently among the rest of the employees as and glanced at the candles that lit up the area. He could smell the peppermint quite clearly and had to wonder just how much peppermint was in here.
Metal racks reached as high as the ceiling and leaned against the brick walls, straining under the weight of its overstocked shelves, stacks of stray goods and open parcels from suppliers all atop one another in an effort to save space. The windowless Supply Room managed to accommodate for the Pokemon who were now packed inside, all huddled around the emergency hatch in the concrete floor--the only entrance into the Supply Room from the outside. It was dark. On the ceiling were two panels of fluorescent lights, currently not in use, and so the only light by which to see glowed from large green candles, placed around the hatch in a semi-circular ring. The scent of peppermint was strong.
Levitating just within the candlelight was a peculiar Mismagius who donned a pink cloak, its collar so tall that it covered his mouth like a sleeve. He had a gaze that seemed to be perpetually solemn. As he accounted for those present to the meeting, he glanced over at a little novelty snowglobe clock hybrid that had been tossed onto some high shelf, checking the time.
"Okay, well," Castiel began, his speech smooth and cool. Despite his cloak collar being in the way of his mouth, his words sounded unnaturally clear. "Everyone who's worth anything is here on time, so thank you all for being punctual--it is expected of you. Now, before we begin, you might be thinking to yourself Oooh, is this a seance? Firstly, no, of course not; that's insulting to Ghosts. And secondly," he made a demonstrative gesture with his ghostly appendage, "These are all peppermint candles. Peppermint is supposed to invigorate you and get you focused, and lucky me, I had an entire two extra boxes lying around back here that I have had since last winter, thinking these would be a hot, trendy, holiday sell, but I guess not. I guess people can only handle so much peppermint. So here they are, I lit up like twelve of these. Enjoy."
He cleared his throat, moving on to business. "Now, you may be wondering why I had you all sneak in from the back alley hatch behind the store to meet up here in Supplies. Well, the answer is this:" He leaned forward, his stare becoming intense as the light lit him from under. "Today will be the biggest day of your working lives, and I'm not going to let that flippant, flagrant flounce of a Florges across the street have any way of getting the leg up on us!"
With a great flourish of his cape, he turned around, back to them. He continued, sternly. "We can't leave anything up to chance here, which is why you all voluntarily got out of bed so early--to beat her to it."
When he said the word voluntarily, he tossed a look back over what would have been his shoulder, as if to say If you wanted to keep your job, that is. He turned right back around with a leering look in his eye.
"That little nymph would do and has done everything in her power to copy me and use our own plans against us, stealing our potential profits!" There was a mischievous glint in his stony eyes, now. "Well not today. She has her unfortunate little crew of workers huddled up in their own store across the street as we speak--I saw her. And since she is such a blatant poacher of everything I do, I'm going to give one of you a very important Mission."
He looked over his lot with a scrutinizing eye as he gave a second to let the word sink in. "Do I have any volunteers?"
The last word of Castiel's speech snapped up Gabriel's attention. So far, his efforts to please Castiel hadn't been too successful, but he knew that he could use this opening of a mission to definitely get in the ghost's good graces. Without any hesitation the Weavile's hand shot up. "I volunteer, sir!" He said quickly. Okay, one little mission. Perhaps to do something to distract the competition, or ensure that they wouldn't be spying on them? Either way, Gabriel was yearning to see if he could please his boss. He had heard that good employees often got raises, but that was usually because they spent a lot of time in their workplace or proved themselves capable of any task. Well, he would do that today!
A Braixen raised her hand, and said in an abrasive, husky voice, "Yeah, ya got a volunteer. Anything to liven things up around here, y'know? Not like I get out of bed at 4 am every day or somethin' just to blow it on not making myself useful 'round here."
Gabriel couldn't help but hold in his breath when the other employee raised her hand. He wasn't fast friends with any of the others, so it took him a while to remember the fox's name. Blair. The Weavile couldn't help but twitch a bit as she too asked to be placed on the mission. Gabriel wondered if two people would be allowed to go on this mission. If that was the case, then what if he did amazing during it and Blair just stole his credit? He had seen that way too many times in the past, and the mere thought of stealing his hard work caused the dark-type's hands to curl up into fists.
And then something amazing happened.
Castiel looked to be glaring at her. Gabriel's heart caught in his chest. He couldn't quite tell what the ghost was thinking. Was he angry with her? Was he just looking her over to see if she was capable of fulfilling the task he had?
The Mismagius leered over at the Braixen in his midst when she had the gall to nearly interrupt his speech with some kind of wail like gargling gravel in her gullet. A poor impression to be made, and so blatantly. It did have him make it a point to remember her name: Blair, as in, 'I honk like a blaring mess.' When he asked for volunteers, the Weavile punched the air first with a commendable eagerness. He met the stare of Gabriel, exchanging with him a solid look of acceptance before the Braixen piped up, acting so nonchalant in her own initiative. A Lucario with a red squared scarf around his neck knew he had missed his chance and voiced his content in staying behind, doing the job he was hired to do, anyway.
He addressed the volunteered position. "Well, at least I have some willing employees--for the most part," he chimed. "Gabriel here, wide awake and eager to work, and Blair, in need of a lozenge, what with her groaning from earlier." He glanced off to the side at that, his tone flat as he tried to hide a cheeky look in his eyes.
He straightened his posture and gave the two a firm look. "You two don't even know what it is I want you to do yet, so everyone, listen here. The Mission is a crucial one: Infiltrate Forget-Me-Not. Yes, spy on them and find out their big shtick for today. We have to be one step ahead of them, and that means getting as much intel as we can get before we open the store at 8 AM. To whom I send out, you will have three hours to get what we need for us to succeed. You all understand?"
He shut his eyes for a moment as he let a thought drift. All this peppermint is giving me a headache...
"Gabriel," he said, peering back at the Weavile. "You will carry out the Mission by your one. You seem... capable." There was an odd glint in his eye at that. "As for everyone else, this is what we will be doing for today:"
Castiel had everyone huddle in as he told them the plan.
He backed off as he dismissed him, only to remember something. "Oh, and one last thing: keep the lights off in the store for now. One, we have to keep a low profile while that boutique banshee is openly scheming against us over there, but more importantly--these candles. No, seriously, please use them, I ordered too many."
His tone perked up a bit. "Okay!" The orange gem on his chest began to glow a with a bright purple aura, and a candle in front of him began to be lined in much the same light before it lifted itself up off the ground and levitated before him. "We're all clear on everything? What's that? Yes? Good!"
He turned toward the door with a big swish of his cape. "Now, get to work!"
That was his cue. Gabriel just gave a small nod toward Castiel and opened the hatch, soon disappearing into it. He had a mission, so best to use every second he had to complete it. Right before he made his way back into the alleyway he gradually raised the hatch to peer out, just to make sure no one was around to watch him. It was best at the start to leave as little evidence that he was snooping around Forget-Me-Not, including that of witnesses. Even if the other store discovered that someone had broken in they wouldn't be able to figure out WHO had infiltrated. Starting at this point, he was going to be an invisible Weavile.
](https://i.imgur.com/8t8pLGd.gif "Cornered On The Market! [T](OOC)")
