WHO: Penny (23), Lucy, and Psyduck WHEN: 1 February. WHERE: Near one of the coffee shops. SUMMARY: One of Lucy's windows has been busted out, and Penny stops to help her with it. WARNINGS: None that I can think of?
Penny took a sip of the iced coffee he'd just picked up as he walked from the building to the street, contemplating weekend plans, or honestly even just evening plans. He could travel over to Hawaii for a bit - after all, it was warm in Tumbleweed, but it was Tumbleweed, not Maui, and the sand in Tumbleweed was covered with tumbleweeds and not ocean surf. Maybe he could see if Alice would want to join him, or if she'd be too busy.
Engrossed as he was in this train of thought, it took him a few moments to register the car in front of him with the broken window, and it was a broken window that he could tell from the glass on the pavement nearby hadn't been broken when it was parked.
"Well, fuck," he muttered, slowing and glancing around to see if there was anyone who might be to blame for the issue.
"Psyduck." Psyduck chirped as he waddled alongside her.
"I know. It's possible we need to widen our search criteria. If the symbols are native or if they're portal related, there isn't really a way to tell." Lucy mused as the turned the corner only to see her bright red smart car in its parking spot.
With the side window blown out.
And a guy standing next to it staring at it.
Which really didn't seem like the behavior of someone who had just knocked out someone's window but Psyduck's feathers bristled.
"Psyyyyduck!" He grumbled, starting in after the man at an angered waddle.
Luckily Psyduck wasn't that fast, so Lucy was able to scoop him up in her arms, placing her chin atop his head to calm him. "No need to get a migraine now. I don't think he's the one that broke the car."
"Nah, I didn't - this your car?" Penny turned around and stared at the duck… "Fucking Tumbleweed," he muttered under his breath. It was like being in Fillory sometimes, really. "I just came out of the coffee shop," he lifted his coffee as evidence of this. "Came out and saw this and figured someone wasn't gonna be real happy with it. You want some help cleaning it up?"
Granted he had no idea if this person was okay with magic, but on the other hand, she had a duck, that sort of talked. Sort of. Maybe she was displaced and it'd be fine to use. He guessed he could figure that out as they talked.
"Psyduuuck." Psyducks grumbled, wings sullenly crossing in front of him as Lucy held him. She gave him a playful squeeze.
"See, he's offering to help." Lucy chided gently as she set Psyducks back down. "Watch out for the glass or you're going in the backpack."
A tight, sighing smile put on he face she looked at the man who was offering to help. "Do you carry smart car sized windows on you by any chance?" She teased gently. "Granted im not sure I even know a garage to call. And it's not like a Machamp is just going to walk by the carry it."
"Yeah, I'm cool, duck, whose name I don't know," Penny looked bemused at this whole situation, but he looked back to the human. "I'm Penny, and I don't carry smart car sized windows on me, but I could probably get you to a garage though." One of the displaced had one he was pretty sure. Although he couldn't remember who now. This was the sort of thing one of the Eliots would have been useful for probably. "You from not around here?"
There were a series of basic mending spells, he could probably try one even if it wasn't specifically in his discipline.
"He's Psyduck and I'm Lucy." She offered, pointing to Psyduck and herself as if it needed to be distinguished. "It's nice to meet you, Penny. Well, minus the window."
She tilted her head slightly in curiosity at the emphasis. "No. We're from Ryme City."
Penny breathed out in a small huff of laughter. No one really wanted to have to deal with a broken window after all, and meeting someone just because someone else smashed out the window of your car wasn't probably high on anyone's list. "You think they took anything?" He asked, cause that'd be something different altogether. The window he could probably fix.
Ryme City meant nothing to him. He wondered if it'd mean something to Margo or Eliot or Quentin - probably Quentin would know. He resisted the urge to take out his phone and text him. But he didn't know of anywhere called Ryme City on earth, and obviously they weren't from Tumbleweed.
"Yeah, well I was most recently in Fillory," he said casually, toeing some of the glass carefully on the pavement.
"Is that a region, city, or planet?" She asked with a curious smile. It was something that needed confirmation here, which was exciting in it's own way.
His question was well meaning. Lots of people left things in their cars. He didn't know that the drive with all the research she had done with Lois and Jon was encrypted and around her neck. Her phone was securely on her. Her car didn't have much room for anything. But she probably would need to let them know it had been broken into. While she hadn't spotted a tail didn't mean there wasn't one. "And I don't think they'd have gotten much. Well unless they took Psyduck and Pikachu's car seats but that would be a little weird."
"It's a world," Penny responded easily, figuring the planet part put that into easy perspective. So she was displaced. He might be able to just put this back together without her having to go into a dealer unless she wanted to do some sort of report. He turned to look at her.
The duck had a car seat. But of course it would. He glanced to it and gave a bemused smile. "If you want to file a report, we'd best leave it as it is but if you don't think anything was stolen, I might be able to fix it for you."
World. Huh. It was so interesting that there were people whose societies had them think on a planetary level. Maybe she'd even get to visit one of those places one day. After all, action was the best research.
A report could be useful, but if her suspicions were correct there wasn't much the tumbleweed pd could do. Instead she leaned in a bit conspiratorially. "and how would you do that?"
Penny glanced over, and then following her cue he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially: "Magic."
"What kind of magic?" She asked, curiosity more than peaked. 'Magic' as she was familiar with was just scientific principles that Pokemon often interacted with that humans might not understand yet. But other places, other universes, she was learning didn't follow those rules necessarily. Or they expressed them in a different way. That people could have powers similar to pokemon, without the megalomania that had happened in Ryme City, was fascinating.
“My kind?” Penny quirked an eyebrow, wondering how to explain it. “It’s not like wand waving shit,” he added. “But I’m a magician and physical magic isn’t my specialty but I could give it try.”
"Oh, you have kinds?" That made sense. Much closer to pokemon, which she was more familiar with. "Physical magic, is that like a ground or fighting type?"
"Psyduck." He chimed in.
"Yes." Lucy smiled down at him and then back to Penny. "Psyduck's a water type."
"Yeah," Penny said slowly, and decided that worked as much as anything. "There are different specialties, most magicians have one that's theirs and they specialize in. But physical is like dealing with physical objects more. Might be fighting, but could also be other things - mending, that sort of stuff." He wasn't certain he was explaining it the best, but it wasn't like she was going to need to go do it either.
"Anyway, I can give it a try." He glanced over at Psyduck. "I'd kinda gathered that. The water bit." He considered the window and the glass for a minute. "You've got other types then? Land types, sky types, that sort of thing?"
"Mending. Makes sense I guess." It certainly wasn't something that fit easily in the types she knew, but then again it was very unlikely the man before him was a Pokemon. He definitely didn't have ditto eyes.
"Psyduck!" Psyduck answered and Lucy nodded along.
"There are all sorts. But we'd love to see you try and see what you can achieve." She translated with a perky smile.
Well. That seemed to be a go ahead, and so Penny raised his fingers, considering the glass, and performed the tut to try to pull the glass back into place. For a moment, it shimmered, and then it pulled back together, seamlessly sliding into place unbroken again.
He held still for a moment, as if waiting to be sure it would be fine, and then he took a step back. "You could get it looked at, but that should uh, work for you."
It was fascinating to watch. A human who could manipulate matter like a Pokemon. Yes that was more common here but it still made it a marvel. It was a talent, maybe even a calling, and that should be lauded and encouraged.
"Thank you very much." She beamed towards Penny. "I'm not sure how I can repay you. Well. Unless you'd want money."
"Psyduck."
Lucy giggled slightly. "Don't be cheeky, Psyduck. But if that's not on the table. And since you already have coffee. We will take you to dinner!"
Penny's lips turned up with a smirk as he considered Psyduck. "Yeah, dinner'd be alright."
"Well then! Would you like to schedule now or should I look you up on the network?" She asked with a head tilt.
"I was headed to work, but um, why don't you message me and we can set up a time. I'd like to know a bit more about where you guys are from."
"It's a tentative date then!" Lucy chuckled with a wink as she leaned down to pick up Psyduck. "Now to get this guy buckled up!"
Penny's expression turned bemused as he realized that Psyduck got buckled. Would wonders never cease, really? "Sounds like it. See you around then," he offered a wave, picked up his coffee cup once more, and headed off to the Bureau to meet Alice.