trans_9 | The Vigilant S/Not Quite Toy-Hunting

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The Vigilant S/Not Quite Toy-Hunting

Shoutarou's normal patrols around the ship today are more in-depth than usual. In fact, it's less a general patrol, and more a specific search. The detective is on the hunt for Wakka's misplaced Blitzball. So he's going everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere he has access to, anyway. He's coming into departments and exploring, questioning anyone that doesn't look busy, and he might even knock on a few doors.

_{[So Shou is literally combing all of Stacy that he can to look for that darn Blitzball. Feel free to run into him where-ever you want, just specify so I can edit the tags accordingly.]}

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Fletcher is out in the halls taking Jujube, the space-puppy, for a walk when he notices Shoutarou up ahead. He waves to him. "Hi!"

The detective pauses, noting the boy from the wedding, and his rather peculiar pet. He waves back, stepping up. "Hey, Fletcher. Interesting little dog you've got here." The detective stoops down, getting a better look at the creature.

Jujube looks up at the strange human and sniffs at the air. For the most part he looks like a fairly ordinary little puppy, but his ears have gotten much longer than they ever should, and he's still as tiny as ever despite being nearly a year old now.

"Hi, Shoutarou! He's from a planet called Zokez II," Fletcher explained. "Some crew members rescued a bunch of dogs when the Ohm attacked the planet."

He nods at the boy, and reaches out to try and pet the dog. "Huh. Doesn't look too different from the dogs on Earth, just bigger ears." Animals and him got along a lot better when he wasn't having to reunite them with their owners.

Generally.

"Well, it's been a few months and he's barely gotten any bigger... Oh, his name's Jujube. Jujube, this is Shoutarou."

Not that the puppy would understand. He just yips in greeting and licks at Shoutarou's hand.

"Ah-- were you on your way somewhere?"

The dog's reaction makes Shou grin, scritching him under the chin a bit.

"Well, there's some breeds that stay fairly small. Nice to meet you, Jujube," he answers, then looks up at Fletcher. "I'm looking for something, actually - I don't suppose you've seen a red and black ball covered in blades anywhere, have you?"

"A ball covered in blades?" Fletcher tilts his head in thought; Jujube doesn't seem to care, though. He just sits there getting his chin scritched. "No, I haven't seen anything like that... Um, how big is it? I can keep an eye out for it."

Alas, Jujube's scritches will be interrupted so Shou can mime a rough size for Fletcher - something about the size of a basketball. "About this large, if I recall correctly."

Aw. Jujube would frown, it puppies could frown, but they can't, so he simply retreats to Fletcher's side.

Pretty big, then... "Well, if I see it I'll let you know! Sorry for not being more helpful."

Shoutarou stands up, then shoves his hands in his pockets. "Ah, no worries - you let me know you hadn't seen it, so that's at least one possibility knocked out."

Okay, why was Shoutarou in Hydroponics? He looked like he was searching for something, but what?

"You're looking better," Zouichi said, waving briefly to Shoutarou as he approached. "Looking for another lost pet?"

Shoutarou grins a bit. "I'm feeling better, too. That magic-healing stuff is something else." The question gets a shake of the head. "No, I'm looking for...well. A ball, if you can believe it."

"Ah, one of the medics fixed you up?" He wasn't really familiar with the magic users among the Medical team, but as long as it got the job done...

"You don't really look like the kind of person who would run around trying to track down someone's balls."

"Yeah, Aqua and Soren. Kind of a weird feeling, but it beats laying around and feeling useless for days."

The next comment, however, gets an awkward chuckle out of Shoutarou. "Yeeeah, it is a rather odd thing to look for, but if someone comes to me for help...well, they can't all be novel-worthy." He shrugs. "It's red and black and covered with blades, if you've happened to see it anywhere. Apparently it's a weapon more than a plaything."

Soren? Man, that guy was a jerk.

"It is a little strange, isn't it? Magic doesn't exist on my world. But the last time I got shot, Jr. used a similar ability on me."

He blinked. "A weapon?" Well, there were probably odder things on the ship... probably. "I guess it should be hard to miss, then. Who does it belong to?"

"Yeah, it is." Granted, Shoutarou kind of ignores that the strongest form of Double has some kind of hokey magic stuff tied to it.

He nods. "Yeah - belongs to Wakka. Some kind of relic 'blitzball' thing or something."

"Blitzball? Never heard of it, I'm afraid." Or this Wakka guy, for that matter.

"Me either, until he brought up the name." He shrugs.

Tim, for his own part, was wandering still, through the halls, for once without the costume (it needed to be repaired anyway), as Tim instead of Red Robin. He was injured and, in theory, should be taking downtime, but he wasn't one for actually idling. In fact, he was basically about to head back to the city, in order to get back to some private work, if he couldn't do much in his departments right then.

Tim will soon find himself with another detective at his side.

"Hello. I'm going to ask you a rather strange question, if you don't mind."

Tim, being himself this time, showed some surprise at that. This was someone he didn't know terribly well-- so he was going to watch this conversation closely. "Go for it," he said, flashing a small smile.

"Weird as this sounds - I'm looking for a ball. A red and black one, covered in blades. I don't suppose you've seen it."

He's just going to let that sink in, yes.

Tim rose his eyebrows slightly at that. Admittedly, whether acting as Tim or as Red Robin, it was a pretty strange request. And he wasn't entirely convinced anyone owning a ball covered in blades was really to be trusted.

"Can't say that I have," Tim said, slowly. "Should I ask?"

Well, that depends on how you feel about Wakka - Shoutarou personally feels that if they're crazy enough to actually want to use it, they're either a maniac, or just damn good. He hopes it's the latter.

"I...uh. I'm a private detective, and this is the first case I've gotten here." He doesn't sound terribly enthused.

A 'private detective,' huh? Tim allows his curiosity to show on his face for once, interested in anyone who might consider themselves that. Of course, it also doesn't take the observation skills of someone trained by Batman to notice the complete lack of enthusiasm.

"I take it this isn't exactly the kind of gig you were hoping for?"

"Not exactly, no. Granted, given the situation we're in, I wasn't expecting much, but a lost ball..."

He's trying not to laugh, really.

"Fair enough," Tim concedes, with a smile. At least this guy seems more or less okay with it. "I guess there's only so much you can do, here, as far as that goes."

Shoutarou nods, then smiles in return. "Yeah, which I guess is better for everyone as a whole if all I'm doing is chasing down pets and possessions. We've got bigger things to worry about without people causing trouble for each other."

"Right," Tim agreed, and he did see the logic in it. "Can't complain if the biggest problems are lost objects, right? As opposed to investigating each other or something. That'd just be breeding mistrust."

Another nod. "Yeah, definitely. I know everything can't be perfect all the time, but whatever I can do to help keep it that way for folks." He chuckles. "Even if that's tracking down some weird blade ball."

"Right," Tim said, with a laugh. "It's still nice that you're doing something to help at all, even if it doesn't feel like much. Clearly it still matters to someone."

Shoutarou smiled a bit, then nods. "Yeah. Sometimes it's the little things that are the most important in protecting people's smiles."

Well, at least this guy was positive. "I guess so," he said. "Every little thing helps in this situation, I'd think."

"Oh yeah. Especially with all..." he motioned to the ship at large. "All this going on, it can be the little things that keep people going. Which can be kind of silly if you think about it too much..." He shrugs, then smiles. "People are silly things, though, so it fits."

Tim nodded, and his expression did sober up a bit, for a second, but then he was right back to the small smile. "Right. People might not make sense-- whether human or not-- but what can you do? This is a tough situation."

He hesitated for a moment, then extended a hand. "Tim Drake, by the way."

There's a nod. "Yeah, definitely." He took the hand, shaking it firmly. "Hidari Shoutarou - guess I should've done that first," he answered, chuckling a little at his own expense.

Tim nodded, but he smirked faintly at Shoutarou. "Hey, no worries. I'd probably have forgotten, too, had I been distracted by missing sports equipment covered in sharp implements. Decorum can slide sometimes."

That got a chuckle out of the man, and he nodded. "Yeah, get too caught up in something and basic things like that just go 'woosh'," he answers, making a shoo-ing motion with his hand.

So was this a case of someone being both on the ball and not on the ball at the same time...?

Tim smiled properly that time. "No worries. You were just trying to help someone out, so I think I can forgive the transgression." He nodded, then said, "I guess you'll want to get back to looking for your not-quite-deadly-weaponry, then?"

There's another chuckle, then he nods. "Guess I should," he answered, adjusting his hat, and starting to turn. He pauses, though - "If you're ever in the neighborhood, drop in at the agency sometime."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tim said honestly, then smiled faintly again. "I'll see you around then."

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The Vigilant S/Not Quite Toy-Hunting

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Late-ass tag is super late. D:

there is no such things as late! B)

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