Investigator Fic

Change is difficult, sometimes even scary. But sometimes, a change can lead you to something you never knew you needed in your life. All you gotta do is take a chance, and find a way.
After a busy morning, you've finally moved into your new apartment in the big city. It's a pretty cozy place you've got. Not too far from the subway and buses, not too small, just enough space to have everything you need. The internet's not quite set up yet, and you're trying not to use too much of your mobile data, so there isn't much to do just yet. Time to figure out how to spend the day. You could unpack and unbox, but you're a little worn out from just moving everything up there to begin with, so you put it off for later. Couldn't hurt to walk around and see what the neighbourhood is like then.
You glance at yourself in the mirror before heading back out, and it's looking pretty green. A tired, groggy alligator looks back at you. You'd recognize that bastard anywhere, but that bastard did something good for once, even if it was a bit stressful. Despite it all, you made it; you're in the big city now. What does the big city have in store for a curious little gator like you?

After changing into something more presentable, you start walking down the street. Maybe finding a job is in order, huh? You have enough to get by for a while, but there's gotta be something you can do here. A short walk later, you end up at a coffee shop.
You order an iced coffee, nothing special, just something tasty to help jolt you awake, hopefully.  At the back the store is a bulletin board, and an idea springs to you. It's a bit old fashioned, but maybe there's some help wanted ads or something.
As you're walking towards the bulletin board, it's here where you also notice how interesting the cafe patrons are. In the corner, you see an actual skeleton listening to some hip hop loudly on his wireless headphones... which seem to run out of battery right as you walk by. Damn dude, looks like your Beats are dead. The skeleton just places his skull in his bony hands, lamenting at having apparently forgot his charger. Seeing his plight reminded you to check your own phone: thankfully, still a lot of battery left.
As you walk by a few more tables, you notice a chicken, clearly in uniform for another store, apparently on his break, eating a chicken sandwich. You raise an eyebrow as if you're about to ask what the deal with that is, but the guy looks even more ragged than you do. Best to leave him be.
And finally, you see some smaller lads, just chilling on top of one of the tables. One's a little... squid? Octopus? Just drawing in a little sketch book while his even smaller pal, a little shrimp, is excitedly going on about marine life. Surely you'll find something exciting to do soon too. First thing's first though, a job.
You look at what's on the bulletin board. A lot of concerts in town it looks like. Maybe that could be worth checking out, but that's not a high priority right now. After some more glancing, you finally notice a help wanted flyer.

It reads: "HELP WANTED! I need some help around the office and to help me with my investigations! Looking for someone who can help me solve some mysteries. If you're interested, the Amelia Watson Investigation Agency needs you, pleeease?~ " Along with the address and phone number, although taking a closer look, you see that the address is hastily written over another scribbled out address. Wonder what that's about.
Mysteries, huh? You have to wonder just what kind of mysteries. Serious ones, like missing people or murder mysteries? Or mundane ones, like why there's strange sounds being heard in a building when it's just pipes or something. Who knows, but what better way to get to know what's in town than to ask questions, investigate, and explore while you're on a case or something? The idea at least sounds somewhat exciting.
You give the number a call, but after some ringing, there's no answer. How odd, is no one there to pick up at this hour? It's still pretty early in the day. You look up the address, and it doesn't seem too far from where you are, just a bit of a bus ride. Can't hurt to just stop on by. Worst case scenario, no one needs the help, and you just find a job elsewhere. In fact, you start wondering if you're even dressed for the part. You're kind of just in some casual wear, a nice dress shirt would've helped or something, but most of your clothes are still packed up. It's fine, again, worst case scenario, blah blah blah. You try not to dwell on and ruminate on this. Let's just give it a try. Besides, you're already here.

The bus pulls up to the stop outside the building, and on a sign, you see it: Amelia Watson Investigation Agency, fifth floor. More questions start racing in your head. How many people are there in this agency? How many cases have they solved? Would you be of any help at all? What's this Amelia Watson like? You now just realized that she's named after Watson, like from Sherlock. That's a bit too on the nose. Still, you're getting nervous now.
Oddly enough, there aren't a lot of people in the building in general. Maybe no one's around, and that's why no one picked up. At the end of the hall, you approach the door and give it a knock. No answer. You place your cold, now nervous hand on the door and get ready to push it open.
Suddenly, barking. And... what sounds like someone mocking the barking? "Wan wan!"
To hell with it, you open the door, and step inside. What kind of place is this? You need to know.
"Hello? Sorry to barge in, I saw the help wanted ad, and... I also heard barking?"
The first thing you notice is a giant cardboard box in the middle of the room, and a little hunting terrier dog leaning against it, who's wearing a little detective hat.
At the risk of sounding crazy, but remembering that you saw a chicken eating a chicken sandwich earlier so anything's possible, you ask the dog,
"Are... you Amelia Watson?"
The dog just barks at you and hides behind the box. But from inside the box, a head pops up.

"Hiii~ That would be me! That's just my dowg, Bubba."
You turn your attention to the girl who just emerged from a box. All you see is her head, adorned by shoulder length golden locks, capped by a deerstalker hat that any detective would have. She also has a peculiar looking hair pin, shaped like a monocle, with a few gears. Pretty fancy looking. But what caught your attention the most were her eyes; striking, as if you were looking into the bright blue sky itself. You were mesmerized with just one look.
Trying not to stare at your new potential co-worker too much, your eyes quickly dart around to actually look at what the office is like. The office has just one desk, with a golden plate that says "Amelia Watson #1 Detective" on it. The desk is placed in front of the windows, which have some hanging lights in the shapes of stars in front of them. There are some books, jars filled with plants and dirt, what look to be mysterious chemicals and bottles, and a dartboard with various points and pins all over it. That must be an ongoing case, maybe that's what they need help with?
The girl interjects once more. "Aw, kyut, you're a little gator! Soo, who are you, stranger? And what are you doing in MY office, huh?~"
Wait, did she just call you cute? You're sure it was nothing. "Oh, I'm here for the help wanted ad. I'm kind of new around here, and I just thought I could--"
The girl's eyes light up. "Well good! Because... help wanted. Please help, I'm stuck in this box. This is your first assignment, investigator! Solve the mystery of why I'm stuck!"
Investigator, eh? Now we're already investigating. You give her a doubtful look, but you know that she meant that sincerely. Somehow, she is stuck in a box, but you can help her out with that. You gently tip the box over so she can crawl out.

Amelia gets up on her feet, and you can see the rest of her now, and you're just blown away. She's standing at a good five feet, not really that much taller than the box she was in, and she's dressed quite sharply. A nice blouse, a high wasted plaid skirt that stops right below her chest, which also looks quite big on someone with her frame, all topped off with a red and white tie with a logo of a 'stache on it. Must be the company logo or something. She also has a curious looking pocket watch placed on her skirt.
You can't help but take a quick look at her nice thighs too, accentuated by her thigh-high socks, and oddly, there's a strap with some syringes attached to 'em. That's pretty dangerous... and so are the syringes.
"Well ma'am, mystery solved. You, uh, probably fell into the box or something and it was too tall for you to get out."
"Thaaaank you~ Good investigating! I was stuck in there for an hour! I should probably introduce myself now: I'm Hololive's number 1 detective, Amelia Waatsooooooon!~", punctuating her own name with a wink, how cute.
You introduce yourself to her too, and explain what your deal is, and you remind her of the help wanted ad.
"...And that's why I need a job. Maybe I can help you out with something. When I saw the flyer, I thought I'd come by, since no one answered the phone."
Amelia, slightly embarrassed, explains, "Yeah well, that's because... my phone was on the desk and I was still stuck in the box, okayyy?~ I just relocated to this office and I still gotta unpack everything."
"Is it just you here?"
"Noo... I also have my dowg Bubba and my other dowg Miki, and I've also got my kitty cats Wellington and Henry~, and theeen~ I also have little bugs living in my terrariums... I already needed some help taking care of some stuff, so I put up a help wanted flyer, but I had to move offices."
"Is that why the flyer had an old, scribbled address on it?"
"Uh huh. I realized that the flyer I put up a while ago has the wrong address on it now so I came back to the cafe and wrote the new one yesterday! I didn't think anyone would respond so quickly though... if at all."
Out of instinct, you offer reassuring words. "Well, that's why I'm here. To help you out."
She smiles at you, and you feel the warmth from her smile. "Aw, well... thaaank you again. And for helping me out, you're part of my team now, mate. I think I'll call you my teamate!"
What a silly name, you really wanted to think. You just met this girl and she's already called you two silly nicknames. And it's just making you smile.

Still, you got to be composed. You seem to have made a good first impression, so you try not to blow it. "Well, teamate, or investigator, either works for me. I'll help you out, Ms. Watson."
"Ms. Watson? What am I, a teacher? Ms. Watson, I don't know the answer to this oooone!~ Ms. Watson, is it recess time yet?~"
You both share a laugh at the idea; her bubbly energy is pretty infectious. You find yourself smiling a lot talking to her, a big ol' goofy gator grin on your face every time she says just about anything. "So... what should I start with? I noticed the cork board. What's going on there?"
A picture of a green haired girl with plants in her hair, and a red haired girl with... rat ears? They're both crossed out. There's also a picture of some Japanese business man, and what appears to be a smaller version of Amelia, as well as a smaller, but more muscular version of her?
"That's top secret! Part of an on going case~ But maybe with you around, I can get to the bottom of this case too." She smiles at you again, and it just feels so comforting and sincere. "First things first though, you do need a proper uniform. You gotta look like a proper investigator!"
And she was right, although she didn't seem to mind that you weren't exactly dressed for a job interview. Not there really was one, all you did was help tip over a box and bam, apparently now you're a detective.
"Right... where should I get that?"
"Welllll, there's probably sites where you can buy a detective coat just like mine! And then all you'd need is a detective hat. But don't worry about that too much for now, okay?~ I'm just glad to have someone here to help me out now! Sometimes Bubba gets restless, and Henry's a little shit, and I gotta do this and I gotta do that and I still gotta unpack and I just adkjghaskjdgasdkjgadfjkgh"
How she managed to replicate what a keyboard smash sounds like verbally, you have no idea. It was however, very cute. You agree to help her unpack her boxes however, that's the least you can do.

"What are these... jars with plants inside?"
"Ohhh, those are my terrariums! I put dirt and rocks inside, and theeen~ some of them have little bugs that I caught from outside, and I also like decorating them a lot. Look at this one! It's got like a little mini computer inside, isn't it cute?~"
As she was talking about her terrarirums, you could feel the excitement in her voice. This must be one of her passions or hobbies, and seeing her talk about it was like watching a flame ignite in her eyes.
You also got to know more about her pets. "Are your pets, uh, investigators too?"
"Nyooo, they're just my dowggies and kitty cats!~ You've already seen Bubba, he likes to bark a lot." Which prompts Bubba to do exactly that.
"Wan wan!~ Bubba please, we have company! And theeen~ there's my other dowg Miki, she's kind of a little goblin sometimes. Then you haaave Wellingtooon~, he's kind of a shy kitty cat, but my other kitty cat Henry helps him get out of his shell and likes to play with him. Speaking of which, Henry, he's like a baby, he's so kyut~ but he's also a little BRAT!"
And right on queue, a little cat hops up on the desk and knocks over Amelia's gold nameplate, as if to go, ha, my city now.
"What did I just say?! Grrr... What the heckuhh, Henry!~"
She scolds the troublemaker, shooes him off the desk, and props her name plate back up.
After another hour or two of unpacking and just chatting and hanging out, the sun has began to set, and it's time to call it a day.

Seeing as how you should be back again tomorrow, you decide to share contact information. It'll also be helpful if any new information for any cases come up... but you also feel like you could just listen to her or talk to her about anything. You still don't feel like jumping the gun just yet though, so you still try to keep it all formal.
"Thanks for having me, Amelia. Here, why don't you give me your number? That is... for when we're gathering information on cases or whatever."
You enter in Amelia Watson as a contact, and hand your phone to her to add her number.
"Of course! I can also text you any sites that sell the proper detective gear, uh, if I rember."
She writes in her number, and hands back your phone.
But instead of Amelia Watson, you just see Ame :) written instead.
She notices you looking at the change, and as you look back up at her, she just flashes a toothy grin at you.
"Please, just call me Ame! Okayy?~"
A simple plea, but you just can't help but obey, especially with a smile that lovely.
"Heh, alright. I'll see you tomorrow then, Ame."
You gotta say, today was a good day.