Purfect Catastrophe!

[timidlyblooming]

If anyone happens to be passing by the library, a very distraught Snowy—Lillie’s Alolan Vulpix—might bark at them, pleadingly, and try to point them in the way of the library, where Lillie works, most often reading to younger children.

The library might be in a state of only somewhat-controlled chaos: it seemed a wild Pokemon had found the quiet (well, it had been quiet up until now….) library a very suitable place to hide her children. Unfortunately, said children happened to be Coinpur, which dashed around, furry and fleet-footed, causing quite the commotion, before they quickly tired themselves out, and promptly went to sleep wherever they found themselves, with no regard to danger…

A - Stranded
Lillie had made a brave effort to climb to retrieve one particularly precariously napping Coinpurr who had chosen a very high shelf to sleep in, but in her attempt to reach it, she couldn’t quite manage on the stairs, which clattered away from her, leaving her hanging off a shelf! The Coinpur continued to dream, stretching languidly, before curling up tight.

B - Roar
A bunch of kindergarteners can be heard inconsolably crying or, conversely, competing in spinning increasinglyfrightening (if very creative) stories about a monster living in the book returns chure. None of them are tall enough to actually peek at what’s inside, of course, so all of the terrible stories seem equally impossible to prove right or wrong. Some particularly rambunctious children attempt to roll up thinner books or magazines to try and reach up and swat at the roaring beast, but all it is, really, is the echoing purrs of a sleeping Coinpur in the metallic, tinny-sounding chute.

C -Type: Wildcard
Where else can Coinpur be found? Could you ever hope to catch them all? There are sleeping kittens on the roof (doesn’t anyone have a Flying type?), kittens in people’s bags, kittens in flyers tangled up like hammocks…

Comments

A.

[radleyslittleevie]

Evie can't ignore cries for help, so she hurriedly follows Snowy inside and surveys the chaos.

"Oh no!" She goes over to Lillie and looks up. "What happened?"

[timidlyblooming]

Lillie kept doing her best to hold onto the shelf, trying to find a place to put her foot before she could even think of trying to let go and reach for the Coinpur again...

"There's Coinpur everywhere and this one's sleeping in a really dangerous spot!"

Snowy explained that they were all little ones brought here by their mother, looking for somewhere quiet to sleep, but they got very excited, and scattered!

[radleyslittleevie]

"That's so sad! We have to help them all!" Evie looks around. "Maybe we can bring one of those rolling ladders for you, Lillie! Or ... maybe Snowy could make ice steps!"

[timidlyblooming]

"A ladder sounds better," Lillie said quickly. "I was on one, oh, but it rolled off to the lef—ugh!"

She nearly lost her grip, just trying to turn hand gesture towards it. "Hurry, please! ... I can't walk on ice! Ice-skating was big brother's speciality, not mine..."

Ironically, despite training an Alolan Vulpix, Lillie had no grace on the ice, alas.

((See unofficial art by head animator Shinohara Takashi, fff.))

[radleyslittleevie]

((OOC: Aww, poor Lillie!))

"Okay!" Evie sees it and scampers over, going on two legs to push it back to Lillie.

C

[red_berry]

[There's a Coinpur on this tall guy's head as he's browsing the magazine section, looking like he hasn't even noticed it up there.]

[timidlyblooming]

O-oh my...
[Well! At least this Coinpur isn't in too much trouble!]

Um, excuse me, sir?
[Lillie politely tried to draw Red's attention, following closely, in case the Coinpur slipped off while he was distracted.]

[red_berry]

?

[Red turns to look at the person talking to him. The Coinpur starts to slip with a startled meow, and on instinct, Red's hand flies up to support it and push it back up on his head. Despite that, he's still just looking at Lillie like he hasn't noticed the Coinpur, waiting for her to talk.]

[timidlyblooming]

Ah!

[Was she mistaken...? Was this actually his Coinpur?!]

Oh, I'm so sorry... I just... thought that maybe your Coinpur was actually one of the little ones that had gotten loose in the library...

[red_berry]

Hm?

[His Coinpur? Oh, come to think of it, the Pokemon that climbed onto his head while he was reading earlier was a Coinpur. So this girl was looking for them?

Red reaches up with both hands and carefully lifts the Coinpur, which meows a complaint and tries to hold on to Red's hair with its claws. It fails, and Red hands the kitten towards Lillie, now with messier hair.]

Here.

[ A... let's make his height useful for something lol ]

[unchcsen]

Volo sees Snowy, and even notices that this Pokémon seems a little unsettled. But the message is lost on him: he was already going to the library! He briefly squats down to say hello to the Vulpix, but since it seems a little agitated, and since books are calling, Volo doesn't stay very long.

When he enters the building, there's a buzz in the air that isn't usually there. So far, coming to the library has been an engaging but peaceful experience. But he doesn't mind it, and doesn't realise that anything is amiss as he makes his way to his favourite section, the area where books on history and mythology are kept.

Along the way, as he passes by another section of shelves, Volo catches sight of something from the corner of his eye. It's enough to make him stop and backtrack - literally, walking backwards - to get another look.

Is that girl climbing the shelves?

The toppled-over stepladder on the floor beneath her suggests otherwise, and Volo hurries over to pick it up, or help her down, whichever's best!

"Ah, miss...? Do you need some help there?"

[thank you!!!]

[timidlyblooming]

"Y-yes, please!" Lillie managed, voice strained, gripping the shelves with all her rapidly dwindling strength. "I can't... hold on much longer! Th... the Coinpur!"

The sleeping kitten simply rolled onto its side, head between its fore-paws.

[ hope it's ok that he catches her like this! ]

[unchcsen]

Volo would help with anything else in a minute, but for now he was more focused on Lillie. There was no time to get the stepladder and set it up beneath her. He only just managed to grab her as her grip failed, locking his arms around her waist and then setting her back down safely on the floor.

"I don't think you would have been terribly injured, miss, but I couldn't just let you fall!" Thanks to his height, Volo barely had to stand on tiptoes to see the Pokémon dozing on the top shelf. "Ah, so that's a Coinpur? And you were trying to get it down, were you?"

[no problem! + she only feared touching Pokemon in the past, no issues with humans!]

[timidlyblooming]

Lillie sighed in relief at being on her own two feet again. Straightening out her skirt, she then bowed deeply in gratitude.

"Thank you for saving me!"

It looked like a bad fall to her, but any fall on hard floor or ground seemed like a bad fall to her!

At his question, Lillie nodded. "Yes, that little one's sleeping there and it could fall and be badly hurt!

[unchcsen]

Volo returned the bow for the sake of politeness. "No need to thank me! I'm glad I was passing by just at the right time! Now..."

After taking another glance at the Coinpur, Volo decided to pick up the stepladder. He might not have needed it, technically...but it would help him to see better. He didn't just want to reach up and blindly grab the poor creature!

Once the steps were in place, Volo only went up a couple. Then he paused, resting his hand on the shelf close to the Coinpur, feeling reluctant to disturb it.

"It looks so happy, but I do see your point. We don't want it rolling off the shelf in its sleep!"

Moving as gently as he could, Volo tried to scoop the sleeping Pokémon into his arms, hoping he could just cradle it like a baby and bring it down without any fuss. Maybe it would be that easy, since the Pokémon here seemed so much more docile than the ones in Hisui, but he was prepared for something to go wrong!

[ B! Bashou will hate this (and so will the kids, probably)... ]

[bashou]

Bashou would usually avoid the sound of children, since he prefers not to be around them, especially when they're being as noisy as this. He waits for a few minutes, hoping that the ruckus will die down whenever the kids lose interest in whatever is making them so vocal.

But when the noise only gets worse, Bashou sighs, slams his laptop shut and bundles it back into his rucksack. Then he walks towards the noise, moving with long and angry strides. He misses the peace of the inn right now, but he'd needed to come to town for shopping.

Should have just gone straight home instead of trying to work here.

The children seem to be congregating around the book returns chute. Bashou looks around to see who's in charge, but there don't seem to be any adults in sight. He makes a loud hissing noise to cut through the din, then speaks in a low but irritated voice.

"Do you understand that this is a library? Why all the noise?" Bashou nods sharply at the chute, since that seems to be the focal point of their attention. "Did one of you crawl in there and get stuck?"

[this is hilarious, thank you--have some brats]

[timidlyblooming]

The kids swiftly fell silent at Bashou's tirade.

Then, one boisterous child cried out, "See?! I told you the monster eats kids! That's the sound of the last kid it ate!"

A little girl pushed him. "You're always making stuff up! Like... like the time you said the teacher was an alien from outside space."

"I SAW the U.F.O.!" he grumbled, then looked at Bashou again. "Hey, uncle! You're tall. You aren't scared or anything, are you? Instead'a talking from so far away... why don't you come over and see for yourself? The monster's true face!"
Big attitude and an even bigger mouth on this kid, huh?

The skeptical girl crossed her arms.
"We don't have aaaany idea what's stuck inside, uncle," she said in a high voice that sounded polite, while shooting glares at the loud boy. "Hiroshi just likes to tell tales."
"Shut-up, bakeneko Yoneko."

Re: [this is hilarious, thank you--have some brats]

[bashou]

"If it's a child-eating monster, it sounds hungry." Bashou glared at the boy with the loud mouth, the one who seemed to be challenging him. Hiroshi, is it? "Why don't you go and be brave, for the sake of your friends? I'm sure the monster will be more interested in you than me."

Bashou considered just leaving the library and going to wait for the next ferry home, but he had a head-torch in his backpack, as well as the one on his phone. Suddenly, the prospect of putting this cheeky teller-of-tall-tales in his place didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Bashou swung his backpack around and opened the front pocket to pull out his head-torch. The kids could laugh if they wanted, since it made him look like an out-of-place miner, and his hair tufts stuck out above the straps - Bashou knew, but he didn't care.

He switched on the torch's light, which was surprisingly bright for something so small, and ushered the children out of the way so that he could go take a look. As he got closer, he could hear a faint rumbling noise, as though someone had left a little motor running somewhere.

With his head more or less inside the chute, Bashou tried to look up. It was still difficult to see in such a small space, even with some light, but he thought he could see something sticking out near the top of the tube.

"Well..." Bashou backed away from the chute and switched the torch off. "There's definitely something up there. Could be a monster, I suppose. It has a furry tail, whatever it is. But I don't think we'll reach it from here. Unless I send one of you crawling up there. Someone skinny. You can borrow the torch."

He glanced over the children as though he was seriously considering it.

"Does anyone know where this chute leads to?"

[timidlyblooming]

"I—can't reach, obviously, 'cause I'm not as tall as you..." Hiroshi said, defensively. "Besides, I'm too big! You can use Yoneko, she's a stick."

Most of the kids were amazed by the head-torch, actually, and "uwaaah"ed at the sight, although there were two giggles and whispers of "Cute..." and "Like a Vulpiii!" at the tufts.

"It's for returning books, uncle," the girl named Yoneko answered, matter-of-factly. "So probably... somewhere with books, for the librarian to return. I don't know if it actually goes to another room, though... if it can't be opened up there, maybe there's some kind of trick to it? Or it's open on the other side?"

From where the Coinpur slept, it would seem, the chute was quite narrow and the bottom of the box quite high... or that it adjusted in height with the added weight of the books to accomodate them.

[ bad suggestion buuut he doesn't actually know what it is yet... ]

[bashou]

Bashou rolled his eyes at Hiroshi; other than that, he would purposely ignore what the boy had said. At least Yoneko was here; she seemed to have a sensible head on her shoulders. If any of these kids were going to be helpful, it would probably be her.

"For returning books..." Bashou took another look at the chute. Though he could only see its exit, he tried to follow where it might go. "So, what if someone just drops a book or two into the other end? That should be enough to startle whatever-it-is into moving."

He looked around again, searching for anyone who might look like a staff member. But he hadn't spent enough time in this library to recognise anyone, and he couldn't see anyone who clearly looked like a worker. The nearest desk was empty.

"Do you know anyone who works here? It will be a lot faster if we just ask them, I think..."

A

[tworo]

The library is somewhere that Turo has ventured in the past several weeks, but only very briefly. He's had enough of study and research for a while; shouldn't he have some time to just explore now? Still, he's familiar with it, and quick to follow the little Vulpix's directions after a bit of barking.

There's a lot going on in here. But the girl dangling from a shelf seems to be the most urgent! "One moment!" he calls out, quickly moving to right the staircase and push it back towards her. If it's a little heavy to be picked up and set back right-side-up like that - well, who's watching?

[timidlyblooming]

Lillie was just happy to have something to properly stand on and rest on for a moment, sighing in relief... she didn't consider any of that yet.

"Thank you so much!"

If she could see him just be looking down, she might, but turning back around... was a little too scary right now. She didn't want to fall or get dizzy!

[tworo]

"Are you alright?"

He doesn't think to step around so that she can see him better. If anything, he's taking a moment to scan the rest of the library. There is...a lot going on in here! "What happened here?"

[timidlyblooming]

"A Persian came in, looking for a place to hide her Coinpur, but they got excited and went exploring, until they got tired—"

She clung to the ladder, feeling a bit faint, after trying to look at him. Oh, dear...

She took a moment to recollect herself, then continued.
"And fell asleep all over the place!"

She tried again to reach for this one... and managed to catch hold of it.

It gave only a small mew in protest, but curled easily into her arm.

She sighed and began her trek down...

[tworo]

He turns back as she speaks, watching her descend. She seems a little afraid of heights...not much to be done about it now, he supposes. Still! "Let me help search for them, then! It will be easier with two."