Aside 27.1: Rosetta more like Minitta

Aug 21 22:50:44 <Mikhail>	Alright, so you find a bar that matches what you're looking for easy enough.  Polar Opposites.  Has a Magnemite theme to it, but a rather quiet, cozy place.  The sort people go to happy hours for more than to dance or hook up.
Aug 21 22:51:36 »»	Rosetta shows up, still disguised, and immediately goes looking for Mikhail. She doesn't necessarily expect him to recognize her as she is now.
Aug 21 22:52:07 <Mikhail>	Granted, given the fashion tendencies of the town Mikhail seems a bit out of place.  He's already there when you arrive, sitting at the bar and fiddling with his phone.  Just a t-shirt and jeans.  He's obviously not there to try to impress anyone, sitting there sipping a beer while fiddling with his phone.
Aug 21 22:53:26 »»	Rosetta hops about in place a few times until spotting him, then walks over and takes a seat. "Heya."
Aug 21 22:54:36 <Mikhail>	He does a double take as he looks up from his phone.  "Hey.  What's up with all that?" He gestures at your outfit and dyed hair.
Aug 21 22:55:58 <Rosetta>	"It's a disguise. Can't take chances in this city, yeah? Safer to look like you fit in."
Aug 21 22:59:14 <Mikhail>	"I guess, depending on what you're up to around here."  A bartender comes by to see if you want anything.
Aug 21 22:59:44 <Mikhail>	"So what the hell have you been up to anyway?"
Aug 21 23:01:40 <Rosetta>	"Let's see, what've you got on tap...?" Rosetta orders a beer out of whatever they've got. "Oh you know, this and that. Looking into...you know. That's why I'm all joined up with the Guild, yeah? What about you? You sorta fell off the map for a while, didn't you?"
Aug 21 23:04:30 <Mikhail>	"Same thing as you then.  I was gonna join The Peacekeepers anyway, but after that, pulled what little strings I had to get involved with the investigation."
Aug 21 23:05:22 <Mikhail>	"Spent a few months overseas learning under a Ranger Captain who specialized in undercover work, and now here I am."
Aug 21 23:05:32 <Rosetta>	"...You're not gonna pull whatever I tell you into what the Rangers are doin', are ya? Things could get messy mixing up bureaucracies like that, yeah?" Rosetta's taken out her phone now and is fidgeting with it.
Aug 21 23:06:45 <Mikhail>	"Peacekeepers don't answer to the military Rangers here, like you guys also sorta do," he shrugs.  "I haven't the damned clue what's going on on your end."
Aug 21 23:08:16 »»	Rosetta nods, then holds out her earbuds to Mikhail. "Headphones on and try not to scream." She pulls up the video Corbin got of Dandy killing some mofos and getting shhh'd by him.
Aug 21 23:11:02 <Mikhail>	He doesn't seem very phased by the violence, least not until two of the sinews on the mouths of two of the Dandymen rip open like sealed lisps, and start to devour the two Son's hearts.  He grimaces at that, but in the end just seems very confused.  "Is that the masked serial killer we've been told to look out for?  And...where did you get this?  Corbin, what the hell did you get yourself into?"
Aug 21 23:12:52 <Rosetta>	"A mess that's way too big even by his standards." Rosetta fishes in her pocket and takes out one of Corbin's flash drives. "These. He knew he was done for, and he started hiding these all over the region. I've been picking 'em up as I go."
Aug 21 23:14:43 <Rosetta>	"Listen, I'm sorry 'bout last time we met in the city, but I was worried this guy was after us that very moment. You get why I was sorta in a hurry and had to brush you off, yeah?"
Aug 21 23:15:02 <Mikhail>	Near the end of the video, when Yanala shows up, he tries to take your phone to get a better look.  "Rosalind?  No...can't be...looks so much like her though."
Aug 21 23:15:24 <Rosetta>	"Nope, someone else. What happened to her anyhow?"
Aug 21 23:17:30 <Mikhail>	"She's investigating a woman named Ammy Myres.  Figure you've heard of her.  Usually goes by a false identity, Scarlet Proulx.  She's been under probation for a while for being involved in the death of a minor, and seems to be stalking runaways or homeless kids or something now."
Aug 21 23:18:01 <Rosetta>	"You know much 'bout that investigation?"
Aug 21 23:18:25 <Mikhail>	He shakes his head.  "Explains a few things, that video and how you were acting.  Specially given your company."
Aug 21 23:19:10 <Mikhail>	"Not much more than I just said.  Rosa seems to keep falling into some pretty cartoonish traps and is rather pissy about it, so doesn't like talking about it."
Aug 21 23:20:15 <Rosetta>	"Right, well, she's probably heard some crazy story about how Ammy...ah, you know what..." Rosetta goes and finds the video Chase brought up showing the pokethropes when the whole issue with Ammy came up in the first place.
Aug 21 23:20:46 <Rosetta>	"I'm...just gonna share this whole Dropbox with you later, alright? If you find any flash drives like the ones I've found, just pop the videos in there too."
Aug 21 23:21:18 <Mikhail>	He seems more interested in this girl that shows up again than the kid up until the end.  "What the shit. Hey!  Another round over here!" He yells to the bartender.
Aug 21 23:21:25 <Mikhail>	"Rose, the fuck is going on here?"
Aug 21 23:21:52 <Rosetta>	"Man, I wish I'd made a chart or something of all this shit."
Aug 21 23:21:59 <Mikhail>	"Cause if you know half as much about the situation over in The Drift as I do, this would explain so much bullshit."
Aug 21 23:23:48 <Rosetta>	"I've got no idea what's going on there. Okay, so crazy masked murder man. Name's Dandyman. He finds lost kids and turns them into...that. You don't wanna mess with him. He's...eaten Legendary Pokemon. Yeah sounds crazy I know, I know. Just keep this shit to yourself though, Mikhail, alright?"
Aug 21 23:24:29 <Mikhail>	He leans in rather close and inspects your eyes. "Are you high?"
Aug 21 23:26:08 <Rosetta>	"Oh c'mon, watch a few more of the videos and you'll start believing me. I'll wait if I have to. Or I can keep going or you can explain to me what's going on in the Drift."
Aug 21 23:26:19 »»	Karsten is now known as Kain
Aug 21 23:29:19 <Mikhail>	"You're telling me this guy whose like some sorta demigod or something is giving kids the power to shape shift.  This is sorta crazy talk."
Aug 21 23:29:39 <Mikhail>	"Not to mention all these guys like you and your cousin all over the place."
Aug 21 23:30:58 <Rosetta>	"Look me in the eyes, Mikhail." Rosetta waits until he's doing so. "Those guys with the tattoos are teleporting in tanks from Russia to the region, and that's how they pulled off the attack on the train a while ago. Look, I'm not high or anything. Shit is really just that crazy. Got it?"
Aug 21 23:31:44 <Mikhail>	"...Christ, you're serious."
Aug 21 23:32:38 <Mikhail>	"Okay, look.  About a year ago a Russian gang moved into The Drift and started recruiting for a cult promising a new world order.  They didn't really do anything outside of The Drift, and it even curbed crime there so The Peacekeepers sorta let it slide."
Aug 21 23:32:58 <Rosetta>	"A year ago? So it's been going on that long."
Aug 21 23:33:32 <Mikhail>	"Around the time Corbin...I guess ran into this guy, another group moved in.  The Skull Kids.  None of us have actually seen them, and we only got a handful of living witnesses of their shit."
Aug 21 23:34:31 <Mikhail>	"The witnesses described them as monsters.  No Pokemon or anything.  Just monsters.  And some sorta weird mechanized things that roam around at night there on the hunt."
Aug 21 23:35:06 <Mikhail>	"We don't really know anything about them beyond their graffiti.  Claiming rapture is near and stuff, repent or perish.  They seem to target this Russian Gang."
Aug 21 23:36:02 <Rosetta>	"Yeah, sounds like the same things there. Listen, when you kill them, they turn back, look just like kids again. That's probably part of why they were picked. So that's probably why Rosa's gotten such a hard time making any headway on her investigation."
Aug 21 23:36:59 <Mikhail>	"You're sayin' what Ammy Myres did was actually kill one of them, and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time huh?"
Aug 21 23:38:03 <Rosetta>	"Yeah, sounds to me like that's what happened, there's no evidence of them being those...things after you kill them."
Aug 21 23:39:18 <Mikhail>	He shakes his head. "Well there's been no dead kids in the killings they are suspected of, so they must be damned good at what they do."
Aug 21 23:39:42 <Mikhail>	"This is absolutely fucking bizarre.  Figures this was the last place Corbin was seen alive."
Aug 21 23:40:08 <Rosetta>	"The Drift?"
Aug 21 23:40:25 <Rosetta>	"But they found him all the way at uni."
Aug 21 23:41:15 <Mikhail>	"Yup.  A store front's security camera caught him dashing there in a hurry one night, and the next night he was found on that flagpole."
Aug 21 23:42:28 <Rosetta>	"So he probably got killed here, then brought over...Shit, I don't 'spose that investigation's found the actual murder scene or anything here, have they?"
Aug 21 23:42:44 <Mikhail>	He shakes his head.
Aug 21 23:43:20 <Rosetta>	"Well, too late now to get anything useful if they did find it."
Aug 21 23:43:25 <Mikhail>	"This is so fucked.  If these two groups are even half as capable as you say they are, there isn't shit the Peacekeepers can do to stand up against it."
Aug 21 23:44:43 <Rosetta>	"Yeah, tell me 'bout it. By the way, don't contact me on my cell phone anymore til I reach you some other way, alright? Just found out it's bugged, and I gotta take care of that later tonight. Or else I'd be having a lot more than this right now." Rosetta gestures to her half-drunk beer.
Aug 21 23:46:30 <Mikhail>	"Just how deep does this Buneary hole go?"
Aug 21 23:47:31 »»	Rosetta shakes her head. "I still feel like we're just starting to dip below the surface after seeing just the tip of the iceberg for months."
Aug 21 23:49:00 <Mikhail>	He clenches his fists.  "So what the hell can I even do here?  God damn it."
Aug 21 23:50:58 <Rosetta>	"Calm down dude. Look, it seems pretty bad, yeah? But for example, the more of these flash drives we find, the more we'll know about what's going on and the more we can do, right?"
Aug 21 23:52:58 <Mikhail>	"Like he'd of hid them anywhere I could go," he sighs.  "I appreciate you least filling me in on this."
Aug 21 23:54:03 <Rosetta>	"I dunno whether what I'm doing myself is helping much..." Rosetta nods. "Yeah, no problem. But yeah, little struggles gotta add up at some point, I think."
Aug 21 23:55:26 <Mikhail>	"How's life been outside of all this for ya?"
Aug 21 23:55:39 <Rosetta>	"Those guys with the tattoos are doing something again really soon. Just -what- it is I've no idea, but I'll try to let you know if I find out."
Aug 21 23:56:00 <Rosetta>	"Well, uh, I dunno, it's kinda cool being an Explorer. Hell of a lot cooler than staying couped up at home in that stupid little library."
Aug 21 23:56:59 <Mikhail>	"Sounds fuckin' terrifying to me if you're just tripping over this stuff." he chuckles.
Aug 21 23:57:00 <Rosetta>	"Earning gym badges, raising a lotta pokemon, it's fun, and the Guild's filled with some pretty cool people." Rosetta takes another sip of her beer.
Aug 21 23:57:39 <Rosetta>	"Yeah, I've stopped counting the times we've nearly died or whatever. I'm telling you, coming back from Johto, Visiwa's wilds are rough."
Aug 21 23:58:31 <Mikhail>	"Asteri wasn't much better I guess.  This just another year experience for you then?"
Aug 22 00:00:12 <Rosetta>	"I hope this mess doesn't end up lasting more than a year. If it does..." Rosetta shrugs. "Yeah, I don't even know where I'd go after this though. I mean, where -do- you go after 'stop a god-eating serial murderer and a crazed unown cult'?"
Aug 22 00:00:30 <Rosetta>	"...That's sorta assuming we all manage that though, isn't it?"
Aug 22 00:03:29 <Mikhail>	"It'd be jumping the Sharpedo, that's for sure."
Aug 22 00:04:55 »»	Rosetta sips at her beer and thinks a while longer. "...I've got a girlfriend now too. Dunno what that might do to the 'thing a year' routine. What about you? All Ranger stuff for you? You gonna stick with it after all this?"
Aug 22 00:05:49 <Mikhail>	He chokes on his drink at the 'girlfriend' bit.  "Wait, what? Since WHEN?  Man you need to keep in touch better..."
Aug 22 00:06:06 <Rosetta>	"Since like...not very long ago." Rosetta's bad at time.
Aug 22 00:09:03 <Mikhail>	"Shit, bet even Corbin didn't know you swung that way.  Your life is way to fast paced for me.  I dunno, I'd wanted to be part of something like this ever since I was little, investigator in a big conspiracy.  Now though?  I just feel insignificant.  Dunno how much of my motivation is just wanting to see this guy who did this to Corbin put down.  Beyond that..."
Aug 22 00:09:19 <Mikhail>	He shrugs. "Maybe traveling's the right idea."
Aug 22 00:09:42 <Rosetta>	"I wasn't really sure about it myself." Rosetta says quietly after Mikhail's first sentence.
Aug 22 00:10:33 <Rosetta>	"You should head to Johto, by the way. Great scenery. Lots of birdwatching."
Aug 22 00:13:36 <Mikhail>	He laughs. "Some things don't change huh?  Something to think about later I guess..."
Aug 22 00:15:19 <Rosetta>	"Yeah...You talked to Norina recently? You know she's hooked up with some Russian dude over at the gym she's training at, yeah?"
Aug 22 00:18:19 <Mikhail>	"Who are you people and where did your originals go?"
Aug 22 00:18:47 <Rosetta>	"She still punches really hard though." :<
Aug 22 00:19:26 <Rosetta>	"...My girlfriend's the gym leader at that place, by the way." Rosetta returns to her beer to let Mikhail take in the web of fuck that is this gossip session.
Aug 22 00:20:43 <Mikhail>	He puts two and two together. "Your girlfriend is Gabriella Hernandez.  Isn't she like, way older than us?"
Aug 22 00:21:53 <Rosetta>	"No, she's like..." Rosetta thinks a moment. "...okay, she's off on the half age plus seven rule, but only a few months or something. Why?"
Aug 22 00:23:36 <Mikhail>	"Just wonderin how the hell -that- even happened.  This is almost as mind boggling as what you actually came here to show me."
Aug 22 00:25:16 <Rosetta>	"The thing with Norina's a lot funnier though. Here, take a look at this." Rosetta pulls up the video with the megcua costume prank Gabby did.
Aug 22 00:26:13 <Mikhail>	He laughs, but then has a terrifying thought. "What if she actually...wears that?"
Aug 22 00:27:56 <Rosetta>	"I don't think she'd do it even if Ymir asked for it as a birthday present or somehting. She looks mortified, doesn't she?"
Aug 22 00:30:03 <Mikhail>	"I think it's better if I don't think about it."
Aug 22 00:30:28 <Rosetta>	"...Yeah."
Aug 22 00:30:50 <Mikhail>	He waves the bartender over to pay his, as well as your tab.  "Thinking I should probably head out and think over this some.  Can see why you didn't want to go into details a few weeks ago though."
Aug 22 00:31:47 <Rosetta>	"Yeah, glad you understand. And...thanks. It's been a while since I've gotten to talk with anyone I used to know about just casual things like this. Almost makes me forget I'm currently workin' one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, yeah?"
Aug 22 00:35:25 <Mikhail>	"Can't really relate, I spend most my time throwing drunks in the tank.  But glad we got a chance to catch up either way." He nods.
Aug 22 00:35:53 <Rosetta>	"Right. Take care Mikhail. Also, I was supposed to pick up the tab this time. So, next time then."
Aug 22 00:36:47 <Mikhail>	"Eh.  It all goes around in the end, yeah.  Stay safe out there." he puts down a tip for the bartender as well and starts on out.
Aug 22 00:37:36 <Rosetta>	"Right, off I go then." Rosetta pulls up her hood and heads off to meet with the rest of the Zodiac Braves.
Aug 22 00:39:32 <Rosetta>	(/mini?)
Aug 22 00:40:51 <Mikhail>	yup!