Chadwyck

[Chadwyck]

Chadwyck sat lazily by the front door of his house, his yellow rings around his ears and the circles on his legs and forehead were glowing a vibrant yellow; it made him stand out from the dark night around him. He yawned, checking the time: just after three a.m.

His fishing pole was stuck into the sand in front of him; yes he lived on the beach, the vast ocean expanding like a blanket of salty black. The sounds of the waves were so serene and calming. And he could feel the chill in the air blowing off of the water. He hated it.

"That... horrible Zigzagoon." The Umbreon complained, thudding the back of his head against the house behind him. "He didn't tell me that I'd be in debt to him for the next seven hundred years when he gave me this godforsaken little shanty by the sea." He sighed again, deciding it was just about time to call it quits, nothing was biting and he didn't feel much like hunting down fish silhouettes in the water at this time of night. He'd already stuffed enough fish into his pockets; which always just sounded a bit wrong to him.

He stood up and slung his fishing pole over his shoulder, he didn't feel like taking the time to put it away, he'd just drop it somewhere in his house. He turned around and opened the door, taking a step into the once refurbished house. It was bigger than when he had first moved in, but then, a refrigerator box would have been bigger than his house when he first moved in.

As it was now there was a bit more space, though not a lot of it. He had mismatched furniture, which was fine with him, there weren't any people to buy from at the flea market aside from Sem, and he was quite attached to his Modern Furniture set. He looked at his wardrobe and considered changing, but quickly decided he was fine; he was dressed in a Beatnik Shirt, and while he didn't see how stripes were considered Beatnik-y, he liked the shirt quite a bit.

"Might as well go and pay the shop a visit and get rid of these fish." He muttered as he looked to the corner of the room to the left of the door; it was where he had a glass tank, the tank in which he kept his pet Barred Knifejaw. He could have sold it to Don Nick, or donated it to the museum if the idea so struck him, but he decided he liked the way that it looked and kept it in his house. It had no name, but Chadwyck would come up with one later.

He left his house after flicking off his robo lamp, which he always left on accidentally. He took a nice trek through the town in the brisk night air to the shop, which was at the other end of town. It was a hassle, but it suited him just fine; at least Don Nick wouldn't remind him of his crippling debt quite as often. Not that the Zigzagoon would bring it up, but the sight of him was enough to make Chadwyck dwell on it.

He got to the shop and walked inside.

 

[Chadwyck]

Re: Pick n' Nick

3:55 AM

He got to the shop and said a brief hello to Stocker before he reached into his pocket and dumped the fish out before him. "How much for these?" Stocker sifted through them, they consisted of three dabs, two sea bass and one clown fish.

"All together, I'll give you seventeen-fifty." One thousand seven hundred and fifty bells was nothing to scoff at normally, but Chadwyck did anyway.

"Yeah, all right. Thanks Stocker." Chadwyck took his bells and turned to leave.

"Hey, you hear about those new folks coming to town? Wartimer put out an ad to get people to move in and help fix up the town."

"Great, soon they'll know the joys of living in Charming." With that, Chadwyck left the shop.

 

[Chadwyck]

Looking up at the night sky as Chadwyck stepped outside Pick n' Nick. He sighed a bit mournfully at the moon, being a dark type that owed his current form to the night, he loved to look at the star-riddled sky. Turning his gaze downward, he saw several of the flowers around the shop. Back when Don Nick had him doing his dirty work for practically nothing, he had planted several of the flowers in front of the store.

Chadwyck hadn't done much by way of changing the appearance of the town himself, though he and Sem would have had a tough time of it by themselves. Perhaps with the arrival of these new residents, the town may start to be semi-livable.

Chadwyck laughed at himself as he walked away from Pick n' Nick, "best not to believe in the impossible." He turned to head home and sleep, better to get some rest before the hour became too ungodly.

 

[Chadwyck]

Chadwyck rolled over and looked at his clock, it was already past midnight. "One of these days I'll actually find something to do with my life. Of course, that would have to involve moving away from this town." The last word was dripping with sarcasm and disdain, "what am I doing here?" He asked himself aloud as he paced the room.

Not that it mattered, if he wanted to move away from Charming he had no doubt in his mind that the Zigzagoon would hunt him down for his money. He checked on his fish, still sitting apathetically in the corner of his house. Chadwyck sighed as he decided to leave, there was little reason to sit around in his house and feel sorry for himself, especially when there was a wide open world out there just begging for him to complain about it. So he decided to do so.

"Maybe I'll give Sem a visit," he pondered aloud, "he lives close by and we can talk about how awful this town is." The thought brightened him up a little, as long as someone else is miserable with you the world seems that much brighter.

He stepped out of his house and turned in the opposite direction of Sem's house, "I'll get there after a walk or something," Chadwyck decided suddenly. It would just be a few minutes while he got some fresh air, and he knew that Sem would be up until the ungodliest of hours anyway.

He hadn't walked for long when he noticed one of the houses that had been empty. Apparently it wasn't empty any more. He noticed quite the small group gathered around the front door. A Linoone and some fleshy, pink sack caught his eye immediatley; then he noticed Sem. "Fancy that, I ran into him anyway."

He walked over, though he detested meeting new people curiosity had gotten the better of him. He just had to find out what the thing talking to the Linoone was, and why on earth they had moved to Charming.

 

[Chadwyck]

3:52 PM

Chadwyck had forced himself to sleep as long as he could, now it was time to actually get up and be semi productive. The phrase here meaning: to go out into town and try and decide whether or not there was anything worth doing. He knew that somewhere out there, people were still moving in by the bus load, quite literally.

He stood up and threw on a shirt, the Zipper Shirt, to be exact, and looked out the window. "It's raining," Chadwyck said to himself with a grin. The 'poor' weather had already been enough to raise his spirits for the day. Then he remembered the problem with the rain. "Oh gods," he whispered, grabbing his fishing pole, "that fish. I have to find it."

He threw open the door and cast his line into the sea sprawling out in front of his house. If by some miracle fate smiled upon him, though it hadn't been known to happen before, he would find this fish and maybe then Nick would get the hell off of his back.

"Try calling me a slacker after I shove fifteen thousand bells down your throat." He muttered to himself as he sat down and hoped against hope that he would find something worthwhile.

 

[Chadwyck]

10:54 PM

Chadwyck opened his eyes and shifted them back and forth. "Great," he yawned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, "I must've fallen asleep. You win this round, Coelkfjie, oh however the hell you say your name." The dark-type was thoroughly soaked from the rain, but he didn't mind, he quite enjoyed anything and everything to do with the rain. Still, it was probably a good idea to get changed and head into the shop to trade the, well, useless fish he had pulled in while on the hunt.

He stood up and stretched, his legs were asleep so his walk was a bit odd looking, but luckily he was right beside his door. He stepped in and tossed his fishing pole and soaking shirt to the ground, "I'll pick those up later, or something," and with that he threw on a random shirt, Mummy or something left over from Halloween, and took off toward the shop.

 

[Belle]

Midnight

She'd only gone a few steps before it dawned upon her that she was still wearing the rather hideous green uniform that Nick had provided her with earlier. Mortified, she spun on her heel and huddled under the umbrella, tugging it over her head and wringing it out before smoothing out the pretty Nile shirt that she had still been wearing. Smooth, not too damp anymore, flowing the way it was meant to. Okay, that was much better.
By the time she'd righted herself and turned back to the stranger, he was considerably closer; enough so that she could make out the gold of his ears and eyes. Oh this was happening quite quickly alright. It's okay she was totally set. Totally ready. Right on.

"H-hi, hi! I'm Belle, I've just moved into here, into town. Uh." At this point she was kind of uncertain as to whether or not to try and shake his paw or
something
God she made the worst first impressions. She totally wasn't even like this normally what the hell.

 

[Chadwyck]

Chadwyck took his time walking in the rain, it was one of the few types of weather that didn't cause him to apathetically stay at home. Sunny days were enough to keep him in bed until the moon had fully risen. He definitely needed to get a better sleeping schedule worked out, it probably wasn't good to sleep as much as he did.

On his route he spied a silhouette in the falling rain, huddling beneath an umbrella. "That'd be a smart investment," he muttered as he approached the figure. They were apparently fussing with something, he couldn't quite see too well with the weather being as it was. Still, his vision at night was better than most, suppose it paid to be an Umbreon.

Getting closer he noticed it was a Vaporeon standing in his path. She introduced herself as Belle and explained that she had just moved into town, albeit a bit awkwardly. At least she appeared to be as awful at social interaction as he was.

"Ah, another one for the pretty...ify...ing... project." That sentence certainly got away from him. Good work thus far into the conversation, it was definitely working out to his advantage. Probably. "I'm Chadwyck," he decided to just push past the failure of a sentence he'd just spat out, "but please, call me Chad."

He stood still for a moment, listening to the river nearby and the rain falling. He should say something. He extended a paw in greeting, this is a normal thing to do, right? He thought as he waited for her to shake his paw, oh gods, why didn't I listen to my mother and learn how to be less of an embarrassment... "So," he started, "how are you enjoying the town so far?" Looking around at the weeds and other hideous scenery, he could guess the answer. She probably hated it. He certainly did.

 

[Belle]

It took a moment for any real progress to occur, and as the time passed and they shared an awkward handshake greeting, the small smile on her face grew at the sheer thickness in the air. Putting a paw to her mouth to try and hide her grin in a vain attempt to not appear rude, she nodded a greeting as he introduced himself as Chadwyck. When he spoke again, this time in the form of a question, she could do little to resist the bubble of laughter that rose from her chest. Just taking in the situation now, standing in the rain in the dead of night, and the messes she'd encountered since arriving in town, it had been a long time coming.

"Sorry, I don't mean to laugh at you, not at all, it's just.. This town, and the people, and, and, here." She managed to stifle her giggling long enough to dare to take a step closer and offer some of the cover provided by the umbrella to Chad.
"Sorry, it's raining, I'm not exactly sure why I stopped you. But to answer your question, well, it has been something of an adventure since I got here."

 

[Chadwyck]

Laughter is good, right? He thought to himself as the horror of complete and utter failure became apparent on his face. This is generally why I don't talk to people, he sighed inwardly as she giggled at his stumbled words.

Half expecting her to run away from the awkwardness he exuded from any attempt at normalcy, in this situation, a conversation with another living soul, he was entirely surprised when instead she stepped closer so that he wasn't entirely open to the assaulting raindrops.

"It's quite all right," he replied to her apology about laughing, "that wasn't the best enunciation on my part." He scratched the back of his head, "no need to apologize about the rain, though. I actually really like it. Better than sunshine, at least. Plus," he shrugged, "it's not like you caused it." He looked around again, "I'm glad you stopped me, though, beats sitting around at home. Plus, I'm always being told I should be more social, so there ya go. Plus, Nick would have had you knocking on my door sooner or later." He shrugged again, "welcome to the wonderful world of debt. So what's your adventure been like so far?" He asked out of curiosity. The word adventure seemed far too interesting for this town.

 

[Belle]

Shaking her head with a small smile still on her face, she let her gaze wander to the weeds and patchy grass and thought for a moment on the events of the day. Getting into the town itself at some silly hour of the morning, her encounter with the pelipper, later meeting the two keepers of the town's only store, the law enforcement duo at the gate... And the sudden acquisition of an outstanding debt to the zigzagoon that was no doubt going to make her life hell.

"It's been interesting to say the least. I didn't quite expect to have everything thrust upon me so suddenly, and I'm not even sure how I'm going to manage paying off so many bells, or for that matter finding the money to afford a bed that won't wreak havoc on my spine." She laughed again at the sheer weight of what she'd burdened herself with before nodding slightly, as if to acknowledge who exactly it was that brought this forth.
"To be fair though, I did this to myself. And this opportunity for a fresh start was exactly what I needed, oddly enough. Go figure." She grinned a little and shrugged lightly, brushing it off like another bump along the road.
"What brings you here, then?"

 

[Chadwyck]

"Yeah, Nick likes to keep the whole mortgage thing a surprise. Much easier to trap your soul that way, I guess," Chadwyck sarcastically commented. "You'll probably spend a lot of time fishing, the shop will buy the fish off you for whatever reason. I never really try to question it, it's the only way I earn money most of the time." He shrugged, "and yet Nick still calls me a slacker."

He laughed slightly at her question. "You know, I couldn't tell you." He shook his head as he thought back to leaving home, "I guess it was just the fact that everybody needs to leave home at some point, and I decided that the point had come up in my life."

He scratched his chin, "heard about this town when I was in the city looking for available rooms and decided I'd check it out. The city is a bit too noisy for me, and it's difficult to write with all the hustle and bustle. So paid Charming a visit, and the rest, as they say, is history. Even if I hadn't wanted to move in, I didn't have much choice, Nick sprung that mortgage crap on me too." He laughed again.

 

[Belle]

"That blows. It blows. I'm learning this, gradually." A laugh, and she continued.
"I figured that's how it was going to play out after he sprung it on me this afternoon, which was just..." She couldn't help but smile at the mess she'd gotten entangled in. Nick's strategy was no doubt a staple in the town, and evidently no one had gotten the opportunity to warn any newcomers of the trap. Quite the method he had, there.
"Peachy. Though I hear you with the whole leaving home thing." A sympathetic grin stretched across her face as she tried to take a moment and imagine what it must have been like being one of the pioneers in the town, and having no one but the employees in the various stations to talk to.
... yeesh.

Drawing back to something she thought she'd heard slip out momentarily, she refocused on the Umbreon.
"So, backtracking a bit, did you say you were a writer?"

 

[Chadwyck]

"Well," Chadwyck started at her question, "I try. Though this town does much worse for my imagination than the city could have. But I enjoy it. Nothing's ever been published though." He stretched. "What about you? You have any hobbies that occupy your time?"

OoC: It's so short

 

[Belle]

Though she laughed, it was mixed with a groan that made it sound shaky as she rolled her head onto her shoulder.

"Oh noooo, it couldn't be that droll could it?" Another laugh, lighter this time as she shrugged.
"I'm something of a writer myself; though I'd be more productive if I could settle on a genre. Fictional fantastical stories, Journalistic articles, Scholarly pieces... Really quite eclectic unfortunately. And that aside, my other interests are equally as unreliable in the pursuit of success." Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes at her own path in life and settled into one hip, spinning the umbrella lightly and sending a sheet of tiny raindrops flying in a broad circle around the two eeveelutions.

 

[Chadwyck]

"Really? That's cool." Chadwyck liked meeting other writers, it made him feel slightly less isolated, though only slightly. "I hear ya, I write pretty much anything that comes to mind. Though, I tend to stick to fiction, there's just so much within fiction that I write whenever I feel like it." He shrugged, "hey, success or not, you do what you love, right?" He smiled at the Vaporeon, "I wouldn't write if I didn't love doing it, regardless of successes or failures."

He remembered something she had said earlier and reached into his pocket, "since you're new, I figure I may as well give you a house warming gift." He pulled out a clover and handed it to Belle, "it's nothing spectacular, but I figure maybe it'd be better than whatever Nick stuck into your tiny shack. It's a Blue Bed, like I said nothing fancy, but I don't need it; I've got a bed already." He gestured off in the general direction of his house meaninglessly.

 

[Belle]

She grinned once more, predominantly because it seemed as though any reason or justification for writing or even coming out to this town in the middle of nowhere was shared by this encounter-in-the-dark, which in and of itself was just oozing with the literary cliches that descriptive writers absolutely lap up. "'S a good mantra to live by, I agree. Better to do what you love than to do what you think is necessary."

In the next moment, where she had just begun to really mellow out and find her comfort zone, he was presenting her with a housewarming gift, and she was left speechless. It was just.. Just so nice, and kind of out of the blue; no pun intended. "I.. I'm at a loss for words, really. But, thank you, so much, I don't think I'd be able to adequately express how much this means to me." She concluded with a shaky laugh, almost unable to contain herself at the thought of sleeping in comfort for the first time in days before hugging the clover to her chest and beaming at the umbreon.

 

[Chadwyck]

A housewarming gift may have been overdoing it, yeah? His subconscious nagged him. But that was the sort of thing that neighbors did for new neighbors, right? Sure it was. It was all over TV, it must actually happen somewhere. Honestly, enough people watched TV to emanate these sorts of things. Plus, he was just being nice, she said she needed a bed to sleep on. Not to mention, Nick wouldn't have offered him much for it anyway.

"It's no problem, really. Like I said I don't have a use for it, so I'm more than happy to hand it over. You need a place to sleep, after all." He sat awkwardly for a moment, it was about time for him to get on home. He didn't want to keep her any longer and his ineptness at this sort of thing would only increase the longer he drew it out.

"Well, I should let you get going, yeah? I'm just going to head home and get some sleep myself." He wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands, so he just shoved them in his pockets, "I'll see you around though, I'm sure." He smiled as he started to walk away.

I think that went well. Probably. No, I made an ass of myself. Yeah. He tended to argue with himself after such social interactions were over, but on some level he hoped that he hadn't made a total fool of himself as he finished the walk home.

 

[Belle]

Realizing that she'd probably kept him out for too long, and in the rain no less, she felt a bit foolish but smiled nonetheless.
"Yeah, of course, it was nice meeting you, and thanks again."
She couldn't help but gush a little, still a bit overwhelmed. She managed to keep her head high and waved back over her shoulder as they parted ways, making a beeline for her home and bedroom.

 

[Chadwyck]

It had been a day of glorious inactivity. Chadwyck had sat around at home, played his Arcade Machine, read a few books, tinkered at his Writing Desk. All in all it was the kind of day where he didn't really want to do anything, so he didn't. And better yet, none of the new neighbors had come over and disturbed him from his relaxing day. It was the sort of day that he was sad to see go, but lord almighty it was already three in the morning.

This being the time of night that he usually became active, it didn't particularly bother him. He needed to pick up a few things from the shop, and he needed to check on the status of his lottery ticket. He stretched, setting aside a few sheets of paper and turning off his stereo, ZZ Bolero coming to an abrupt end on his boombox.

He threw on a shirt, his Cyan Argyle Top since it was the first thing he dug out of his wardrobe, and headed off toward the store.

 

[Chadwyck]

Re: Pick n' Nick

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Chadwyck." Stocker said as the Umbreon lazily made his way through the store, the familiar chime of the bell greeting his ears. "Don Nick was looking for you again today, he thinks you need to get out during the day more."

"Yeah, well, that would increase my chances of running into him, now wouldn't it?" The dark-type shared a chuckle with Stocker. "Why was he looking for me, exactly? Hopefully he's not foreclosing my house or something awful. Actually," he thought for a moment, "maybe it wouldn't be too bad, then I could get the hell out of this town." He grinned.

"No, no, nothing like that. Then he wouldn't own your soul anymore, remember?" Chadwyck sighed and nodded, "but I have some good news." Stocker continued, making Chadwyck raise an eyebrow.

"Which would be?"

By way of answer, Stocker held up a bag of bells with a smirk, and tossed them on the counter for Chadwyck to grab. "It's all there; eight thousand one hundred bells."

Chadwyck stood still for a moment, eyeballing the bells sitting out on the counter. "You don't mean..." Chadwyck couldn't help but feel... happy. It was one of the few good things that had ever happened to him. He never won anything. Ever.

The Umbreon walked over to the counter and embraced the Sneasel, "I can't believe I actually won something." Immediately his happiness faded away, however, "fffffffffffffffffffff-- I have to go put this toward my mortgage."

"Funny, you and Sem had pretty much the same reaction to receiving money." The Sneasel laughed a bit awkwardly. "But don't tell him that I told you."

"Not a word," Chadwyck said, too preoccupied with heading off to the Town Hall to even question what money Stocker was referring to. "I'll catch you around, man."

"See ya, dude." Stocker waved as Chadwyck walked out and headed over to the Town Hall.

 

[Chadwyck]

Re: ABD Machine

"Oh hey, Pepper." Chadwyck said cheerily, which caught the Pelipper by surprise. Her glare was enough to burn the fur from his face. He felt it starting even now.

"What's wrong with you? Why do you have that stupid expression on your face?" She rolled her eyes as he approached the ABD machine.

"This would be a smile, my dear. I know you don't see one on my face often since I live in this town, but I have been known to be happy on occasion." He shrugged as he reached the machine.

"Oh gods, a smile. I'd forgotten what those looked like. Now I remember why they make me feel sick."

"I'm just paying my debt a bit with the money I won from the lottery. I'll be out of your, uhm, feathers in just a moment." He deposited the eight thousand bells and watched very little change on his remaining balance. It was enough to make him lose his cheery mood altogether.

"Wow, you still owe that much?" Pepper chimed in, no doubt trying to make Chadwyck hate life all the more.

"Yeah, I guess I do. I'm just going to go cry myself to sleep now." He turned to leave.

"Good, maybe you'll drown in your own tears," Pepper sighed as the door closed behind the Umbreon.

 

[Chadwyck]

9:45 PM

Chadwyck stepped outside of his house and realized that the sun had long since set. It had been yet another day of boring lay-about-the-house-ness that he had brought upon himself. Still, it wasn't as if there were a lot for him to be doing. The idea of fishing for anything worth while to chip away at his crippling debt made him cringe. Tomorrow, he decided, would be the day for that.

He noticed for the first time all day that his mail box actually had mail in it. Who knew that he would actually receive letters, from actual people. It was odd, seeing as he lived in the same town as most of the people who sent him letters. "Hopefully it's not from the Home Rating people, I'm tired of them telling me that my house isn't nice." He sighed as he opened up the mailbox and withdrew two letters.

The first was from Rex, and it was obviously a Don Nick inspired letter. He opened it and skimmed through the words. Yup, the general "shop at Pick n' Nick" letter that the Zigzagoon had all employees send out. Chadwyck remembered with much disdain and loathing when Nick had made him send a letter out, even though Sem was the only other person in town.

The second letter, which Chadwyck immediately took a liking too because he could tell there was something inside, was from Sem. He opened it up and pulled a coconut from the envelope. It was tempting not to eat the item, since the Umbreon hadn't actually eaten in several days. It was as if he didn't even need to in order to survive. He read the note and felt even more obliged to eat the gift simply because Sem said not to. Still, a tree was more desirable than a full stomach. "I'll need to find something to send him, otherwise he'll never let me forget his generosity." He laughed quietly at the idea of Sem being generous.

He pulled out his shovel and dug out a hole in the ground, dropping the coconut inside of it and watching as immediately a sapling sprung forth from the earth. He nodded appreciatively at the beginnings of the coconut tree and then headed back inside. Maybe later he'd head off to the Coop, but for now he'd go inside and plot his one-upping gift for Sem.