[Solo] Partners help with work.

[Reoakee]

Theo hissed as he pulled his hand back and started to suck on the newly welling blood. A darn nail had gotten him. Four hours of feeding wires today through buildings for some terminal relays. He was tired, sweaty and dusty. Now he was bleeding and annoyed. The air outside might be cold but inside he had stifled conditions as the power was off to the hall and rooms he was working in. Not for the first time of the day, he was complaining in his head that he was IT support not a construction worker but the fun part about IT work was that anything that even remotely looked like it could belong in the same catalog as a computer part the bigwigs assumed fell under IT work. So he was cable management, an impromptu electrician and had a messy toolbox of growing tools when in truth he just have to work form a keyboard on programing. Still explaining that was like pulling teeth. So he just kept working after fishing out a band aid from his pocket and putting it on. Mouse was sitting on his bag keeping an eye out waiting for her commands. He sighed looking for end of the cable that had disappeared into the black of the abyss. “Mouse fetch.” He pointed down the hole, and she shot off like a dart diving into the wall hole to grab the end of the cable he was working on that had a shiny silver ribbon he tied on the end and would remove once everything was in place. He had trained Mouse to fetch the shiny silver ribbon for treats, and she would drag the rest of the cable with her. She was very useful when it came to running wires through walls long as he had a planned path as she would follow his knocks on the wall from one hole to the other. She was also good at chasing other small Pokémon out of walls. She did have a small habit of gathering every shiny thing she could find so he had a growing collection of screws and nails that had gotten lost in construction. He gave her a treat for every ten of those she brought him just to help keep her encouraged but a full treat for every time she brough him back that ribbon. It didn’t take long until he heard the telltale scratching in the walls that signaled Mouse was on her return trip. Soon enough a chipper expectant face popped out with a silver ribbon held in her mouth and the end of the cable behind her. “Good girl.” He took a treat out his pocket and held one hand open while the other took the end of the cable. She was quickly in his hand and nibbling and once done she went back to her post on his bag while he kept working on cable management. He was glad she came back without any injuries he was a bit worried about that nail that got him earlier but thankfully she was nimbler than he was. Once the cables were placed. He picked up the panel and had to make several small fixes to it for the wires before he could place the panel on the wall and screw it into place. Secured he wanted to test it but had four other ones to set up before he could turn the breaker switch back on and test them out. He picked up his bag and Mouse readjusted to hold onto a strap while he walked his other hand holding his toolbox moving on the next set of holes that he needed to fix.

 

[Reoakee]

Once the panels where in Theo had to move were around a corner and he had to bend down to get at the cables. He set his bag down to hear a disgruntled noise from Mouse. He pulled out Mal’s pokeball and let the Bulbasaur out. He flipped open his toolbox and pulled out a flashlight. Clicking it on he patted Mal’s head and then gave it a command. “Hold.” It used it’s vines to hold the light and then Theo positioned it where he need it so he could both hands with his other tools. Every so often he had to reach back and have Mal adjust the light a bit. He didn’t have to use Mouse this time as the cables he ran before were still in place and didn’t fall into darkness. He was glad he did the running earlier so now all he had to do was go through and adjust the connections and panel interfaces. He had to carry up another whole load of cable while running the wiring before and he liked to have that running done before he got into assembly mode as he liked to consider it. Once he was done with his adjustments to the cables, he fitted the panel back and screwed it into place. With that one done he turned back and took the flashlight back from Mal and gave the Bulbasaur a treat and took some time to pet both him and Mouse for being so good and helping him out with his work today. He couldn’t trust Mo not to be an unholy terror and zap all the electronics and Bug would just be clinging to his face rather than being helpful. Squish was just… Squish, so tiny and grumpy. Theo fanned himself and thought he really needed to get a bird Pokémon who could help fan him off. But with Bug being well Bug… he might be better off with a water type or an ice type. He considered his job and vetoed the idea of a water type right away. Ice type. Just someone cool who he could snuggle up next to help him cool off a bit. He took time to fan Mouse and Mal too just in case they were warm in the hallway. They didn’t seem to mind though. Just three more sets to do and then he could turn the power back on and check things out. He stretched out before he put Mal back into his pokeball and picked up his bag and toolbox again. He walked briskly to the next site which was straight forward and easy. Mouse kept an eye on him waiting for his command and treat that came with it. He chuckled whenever he saw that. She was really a glutton for treats and pets. His last panel he did have to have Mouse play “fetch” again for him it took two tries as the first time she brought back someone pen that was sparkly and seemed fairly girly to him. He would toss it into the lost and found latter. With that done he headed back to the breaker to turn on the power so he could test out the panels. It was a hike and a half down the stairs and back up. He took his time, not for lack of motivation but because he didn’t want to die since in the back of head he reflected on an article about stupid ways to die and he didn’t want to be known as that guy who died at a half put together location because he decided to rush and for some reason stairs got his lizard brain going that way. Not the voltage he was playing with that could kill him regularly but the stupid things like pulling a printer from a high shelf or rushing down stairs that got him. On the way back he checked the panels. Open/close/lock. Lights worked. All systems checked out. He used the sample keycard and once he verified all the doors worked he went into the rooms themselves and started to pull out and plug in the system set ups. Now he got to set up the computers. His actual job. He let Mal out to play with Mouse while he worked on the computers. The pair seemed more interested in dosing now that it was clear he was working on computers properly their possibilities of treats was much smaller.