[Action] What do I do? What do I do?

[scardy_dog]

Courage didn't want to get up He was quite comfortable where he was... at least until a box fell down and clonked him on the head. He yelped managing to catch the box, rubbing his head.

"Where Am I?"

A peek inside revealed the standard fare. Money, a phone, a pamphlet. He took it out, giving it a once over. "Genessia?" He peeked his head outside the pod, glancing down as something jingled. He was wearing his collar with his name-tag and some sort of amulet attached. He didn't really like wearing it but decided to leave it on for now, sticking the entire box into his pocket before hopping into the water and paddling to the shore.

The hologram of Weiss wasn't any help. The pamphlet wasn't any help. He had to find Muriel and get home!

***

It was just past lunchtime now and any passers by may notice a little pink dog, still quite damp from the the bay, shivering and wandering around, looking very very lost. He was very nervous, jumping at every little thing and shying away from passers by.

Comments

[youfool]

Ted hummed to himself as he walked in the rain, no umbrella to be had. It wasn't so bad, being unemployed. It allowed him plentiful free time to run errands for maidens in distress. A peculiar distress owing to a lack of newspapers, but distress nonetheless. "Bringing in the paper from the rain. What am I, a faithful hound?"

The sheer pinkness of the irony caught him off guard. Seeing a shivering dog in the winter rain aroused his compassion. A towel and an umbrella came out from his bag as he gingerly approached the shivering mutt. "Well aren't you a curious thing. One of those toy breeds, I suspect. Some old maid must have forgotten you." He offered his hand to sniff and lick, as Courage had need. It'd be a while before he noticed the necklace marking Courage as an alien in his own right.

[scardy_dog]

Courage didn't expect some person with an umbrella to come along, much less offer him shelter from the rain. He leaned away from this new person, but didn't really run. This was the first bit of help he had gotten after all.

Maybe...?

Courage did not sniff the offered hand, instead, rummaging around in a pocket and pulling out a wallet, removing a photo from it and offering it to Ted. It was of an older heavyset woman and her scowling husband in front of a farmhouse, windmill, and truck surrounded by absolutely barren farmland.

The little dog whined softly, staring, waiting for a response.

[youfool]

Ted studied the miraculous wallet. "Hmm...I haven't seen those two, much less that environment. Maybe the serfs in Fayren?"

Ted put his logic to work. The vast majority of people who looked for someone were new, and about to be disappointed. How to convey that gently to the...dog. The dog that was trained to produce a wallet and the picture therein. What?

Ted's eyes widened as the wildness of the situation finally revealed itself to his delayed brain. He should've known. There's no way a pink dog would be normal. The only parallel Ted could think of were his pokemon, who were near that kind of intelligence. Was it a pokemon? It ticked the boxes. Too smart for the average beast, and yet near it in likeness. Combine that with the pastel coloring, and all the pieces came together. Now he just had to verify his theory. He rummaged around for his own pokemon, for it takes one to know one. He'd use his diplomatic, silver-tongued devil to begin negotiations.

"Hold on, I have someone who could explain this better than I can." One flash of light later, out he comes.



"Ta-da! About time I get to open up a can of whoop-butt on some mutt!" Gengar cracked his ghost-knuckles. Somehow.

"No, Gengar, that's not a proper greeting. This one's lost and looking for someone. New, too. I need you to convey the, ah, lay of the land."

A pause as the grinning ghoul reconsiders his mischief.

"Oh yeah, I can do that. C'mere, buddy ol' pal. Lemme get you up to speed. Name's Gengar." He extended a stubby arm.

[scardy_dog]

Courage seemed disappointed when Ted declined to have seeing the figures. He reached up and took the picture back gently, stuffing it back in the wallet. He seemed... frustrated. And very sad. The wallet vanished back into his non-existent dog pockets.

His ears did perk up when Ted suggested someone to help explain. Help was always good. He was a little puzzled at the ball though. Now wasn't the time for fetch or other games. He had to find-

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The sudden flash and appearance of... SOMETHING sent the little dog scrambling. By the time Gengar manifested Courage was gone. At least for the moment. A pink snout and a pair of eyes were peeking out from under a trembling newspaper.

[youfool]

Ted's hands reflexively went to his ears. Boy can these small dogs holler! Gengar thumbed at Courage. "Heh, can I tell him? I won't scare him. Much."

"My apologies! I keep forgetting how scary he can be." A comment that would make Gengar's head--well, torso--swell. Back in the ball he goes. That fact that he chilled whatever area he appeared in probably wouldn't help in the rain.

Wait, Ted was being dumb. Pokemon could understand people, couldn't they? One way to find out...

"Listen; you can understand me, can't you? If so, I'm afraid I have some bad news. The people you're looking for, in all likelihood, aren't here. Most don't have the fortune to arrive in the company of their fellows." That's a little depressing. Better spruce it up.

"Oh, but there's good news too! There's all sorts of new helpful fellows around." Darn, if only Ted watched more Dog Whisperer, he'd know how to calm a wimpy dog. Wait! What he lacked in television, he could make up for in his library. He dug around in his own hammerspace for a book that would help. Eyes scanned rapidly across the page, hungry for answers.

"'Allelomimetic', eh? There's a tongue twister for you. Aaaaha!" So comforting was the wrong thing to do; it rewards the dog for bad behavior in the moment. Instead, he'd have to act assertive so that the little scoundrel could imitate his behavior. It was time to do what Ted did best: roleplay. He took a confident pose, keeping an open body posture as he faced The World.

"Yes, that Gengar sure is one breezy pushover! Who in the world would be afraid of him? Not I! In fact, I'm so eager for this brave new world that I'm not afraid of anything whatsoever! Especially not the loss of my left behind loved ones, of whom I have no doubts are hunky-dory in absentia. I shall cast aside my cares and my worries. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Ted then marched stridently in placed, looking to see what this was doing for Courage.

Action

[skilledwithwords]

Levy had more than a few books in her arms when she spotted the dog. He looked cold so she carefully approached pushing her books awkwardly under one arm so he could see her clearly.

She crouched down to his level and tried to speak in a soothing tone. "Hey, are you lost? I can at least take you somewhere dry if you want."

[scardy_dog]

Courage jumped when he was addressed, looking around, turning in a circle, before looking up at Levy. He looked down at himself once and then back up, nodding several times.

He was starting to feel very cold.

Before they set off though the little dog seemed to reach into a pocket, pulling out a wallet, and then an old photo of an old, slightly run-down farmhouse with a couple sitting out front. An elderly man and woman. He offered it to Levy.

[skilledwithwords]

Levy looked at the picture curiously taking it carefully in her hand. "I'm sorry. I don't know either of these people." She looked back down at him.

"Are they your family?"

She wished that she could do something to reunite them.

[scardy_dog]

Courage whined loudly, nodding his head. He was wringing his paws a little, making a small distressed sound once the picture was returned. He stared at it for a moment, placing it back in the wallet and the wallet in his pocket.

He sighed, sitting back on his haunch, his front paws back on the ground. If not for what she had just seen Courage appeared to be a normal dog. Albiet a pink one.

[skilledwithwords]

"I'm sorry."

She didn't want to see the dog looking so sad. "I'm sure they are safe though."

[fragrantic]

A pink... dog... That was so weird. He had heard this place was weird (and had experienced a little of those weird stuff) but a pink dog. He's not hallucinating, right? It's not like he has eaten anything bad or is sick. "It's not been dyed or anything, right?" Because that would be cruel.

[scardy_dog]

The dog was sure enough real, walking around and doing his best to avoid getting stepped on. The tags on his collar were even jingling with each step. He didn't seem to be dyed, as he had a very natural looking brown spot on his back and brown ears.

He was growing increasingly frustrated it seemed, sitting down on a patch of grass apart from the sidewalk, watching people go by. Probably looking for his owner.

How did I miss this?

[lookprofessor]

Luke loves animals. He loves all of the animals--so of course, he wouldn't ignore a shivering pink dog outside in the cold. When he saw Courage, who he did not know was named Courage, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned, frowning.

"Oh--oh, hello there. It's all right." The apprentice crouched, frowning. Koishi's death is still weighing heavily on him, leaving him far more somber than usual. But he's not about to leave a poor dog alone in the cold. He extends one hand to the dog, patiently. "My name is Luke. Do you need help?"

[scardy_dog]

Courage jumped a little, leaning away from Luke for a moment before calming down quickly when Luke introduced himself. At least this person had been polite enough to do so.

"Oh... Hello. I'm not sure how I got here." He looked once more before focusing again on Luke. "I need to get home. To Muriel and the Farmer before something bad happens."

He reached into his pocket and rummaged around before pulling out an over-sized wallet from which he pulled a picture, offering it to Luke. It was of an older couple in front of a shabby farm house in what could best be described as 'the middle of nowhere.' Literally.

"Have you seen them?"