azume | Week 8.

Week 8.

WEEK 8

Snowpoint City remains as cold and unforgiving as ever, through no fault of its residents.

The city itself doesn't seem to see much change in the passing days; there's something you'll all become rather aware of on Sunday as the day goes on, and after so long with no incidents along those lines it's likely an unpleasant thing to deal with. There's also the fact that the changes to the world seem to be slowing; though the one alteration that's immediately obvious is a major one, it seems that things may be beginning to stagnate again. Will there be a slip back into apathy again, if this continues? Or will the changes you've affected already continue to hold?

Only time will tell, really.

That doesn't mean that nothing has changed, however - thankfully enough, the slugs seem to be settling. Or...well, more accurately, once in a while they stop huffing at each other long enough to drive up piles of snow with their heads and stare at them like they're trying to work out what they're attempting to create, but at least it's a collaborative effort. Are they attempting diplomacy? It's difficult to tell; after all, they are just slugs. But at least there seems to be a little less open hostility. Improvement...? Perhaps.

The local ghost Pokémon also seem to have taken an interest in you lately, though precisely...how is a little mixed. They don't seem overly mischievous or malicious - they seem about as odd as the rest of the wild Pokémon in the region - but they do seem more inherently trusting of you and your traveling group. They've taken to following you from time to time, and taking a general vague interest in what you're doing. So that's...new.

CURRENT LOCATION: SNOWPOINT CITY
POKEMON AVAILABLE: WITHIN CITIES

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY
[OOC: Welcome to week eight of Azume; feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Those who come by the Pokemon Center that day might find a funny little poster taped to its door. Copies of said poster seem to be slapped around town, too, in places that would theoretically be centers of activity. The gym, the center of town, even at the temple door. For some reason.

All of the posters seem to be hand drawn with almost childish handwriting on them, and the drawings on them are...well, they look like doodles of Pokemon fighting each other, but. Um. The artist tried their best, okay? If you're up early in the morning, you might just catch them in the act and have them explain themselves.

Anyways, what's more important is what's written on them, which seems to be an invitation for a Pokemon Battle Team Practice Session at the outskirts of town in the afternoon.

Heading over there early will have one find Sena clearing out a large area of snow with Monta. He's done this before for his own personal training, so this isn't a surprise. The real surprise is that it's a larger area than normal, clearly intending for company. There's even a small contingent of ghost Pokemon crowding around with interest, and Sena doesn't seem...well, he at least seems used to them.

Whenever he's got a sizable amount of people around, though, he'll finally explain himself.]

Uh, thanks for coming! Anyways, with everything that's been going on, and all of us are starting to get more used to battling and stuff, and Team Galactic's starting to get more involved with us and everything, um...I thought a group practice would be a good idea!

[Anyone could guess that much if they saw the posters or talked to Sena ahead of time. His actual reasoning for it, though?]

I thought that our group was kinda like our football team back home...like, everyone has their position to play, so they all have different skills they have to practice, right? So everyone practices the skills that they either need to know or are the best at, but we also have to practice together as a team too, or our individual tactics won't work together on the field. And so, um, I thought that like...we all have different ways of training our Pokemon and stuff, so, we could help each other...?

[He laughs nervously.] So if we could, um, share our own methods for training, and maybe we could figure out how to battle with each other, or teach each other things? We could start with just our starters for now, since there's a lot of us, and once we figure out a system or separate into groups or whatever we decide we can take out our other team members? I-I don't really have any big ideas, though, since I'm not sure on how we all battle yet...

[Silence. He seems to have been slowly shrinking as he talks, as if the longer he goes on about it the more he's convincing himself it's a bad idea. Still, there's some kind of determination in him. He hasn't darted off in embarrassment yet, and he's still looking everyone directly in the eyes.]

If you, uh, don't think it's a good idea or anything, you can leave! I won't keep you! But if you wanna stay, uh, then we could...um. Talk?

[Ahaha.]

[ooc: so basically y'all can have group mingles with ppl anywhere, either talking at one of the posters or volunteering ideas at the meet. tag in and interrupt each other like a regular meeting post or whatever. yay? yay.]

Of course.

[Since Emmeryn's finding herself somewhere to sit, Duma plops himself down butt-first in the middle of the ongoing game so he can figure out what's going on here. Yes this is very simple, but Duma's about as dumb as a sack of bricks. Game? Play? Play???]

Is that so? What a treat. Tea is a small comfort, but a reliable one. [almost a little conspiratorially:] I know it isn't the best use of space, but I brought along quite a few different kinds—teas to recover, teas to rejuvenate. You are welcome to share my supplies anytime.

[Michael starts counting a smaller pile of money out of what he has, having apparently decided on what his administrative fees will be. He has no real idea how much he freaks Sena out on an existential level.]

Yeah? What happens at home?

[Bucky has a "friend" of his own following him pretty close by. Flora doesn't look bothered, but Bucky keeps looking back at the Gastly like he's expecting it to attack him.]

Maybe they think we're going to feed 'em or something.

[Do ghosts need to eat? That's probably a question worth asking.]

No, I know. I'm not saying I'm gonna turn around and murder you all in your sleep or something. Wouldn't get me anywhere anyway, just - man, it's crazy to think about. You spend your whole existence fulfilling your one purpose, and then you look up, and you're just off in the weeds going native. I don't actually have any idea what the hell I'm doing.

[fun fact, this existential spiral was prompted by the realization that he spent part of Monday trying to get his Gastly hooked on phonics like a kindergarten teacher]

[Maybe that's for the best.]

Well, at home, it's not so simple either, right? There's good people and bad people everywhere, and we all do our best to reach our goals...some of us fail, and give up, or they keep trying and succeed eventually, some succeed at the first time, some of us find new dreams and succeed there...and we're all connected by that, right? 'Cause we're either working together to reach them, or taking down whomever's in our way to get there...

[Sena stops for a second, sticking his tongue out to draw out a particular line on the posterboard. Vee paws at it.]

Us working together with our Pokemon and each other is the same thing, right?

Is that so?

[Emmeryn absolutely does not even trust herself a little to be on the ice, so she comes forward to get a better look but not...too far forward... Don't fall down over there, Kiryu, she doesn't have a rescue plan??]

Wasn't it much the same for our first Pokémon as well? They started with small, strange things before they found themselves again... I think this is promising.

[Cat Janet's the only one here who's quite emotionally present enough to realize that an explanation's needed. See, you have to get all the cards with the numbers in order.

Meanwhile, Michael rocks forward a little himself; he is always here to be conspiratorial.]

I can't really judge you on use of space. Look at what I'm wearing. [Michael's aware on some level that continuing to wear these suits is not, maybe, the most practical decision.] To be honest, I don't know a lot about them. My friend who introduced me, she mostly cared about how fancy and expensive the blend was.

Mhm! I am.

[ He takes one with a smile. ]

Maybe you and Noctis should open up a bakery sometime. I'm sure it'll be pretty popular.

[......Michael bursts into laughter as well.]

Oh, Bucky, well done! You had me trying to figure out when "phantom limb" was coined! [Is that a phrase that was introduced during that seventy years you were out of commission, he literally has no idea]

[He thought we were talking about home and its rituals around ghosts, tbh, but this is good too.]

I suppose. [.....] You know, you get a bit cut-throat when you talk about competition. It's unexpected.

[Just like, making an observation.]

Sure! Wait, what are we all best at? I know my team seems to be pretty good at running away... or rolling away.

H-huh?

[Sena turns red to the tips of his hair, clearly flustered.]

R-really? I mean, I don't think...I mean...

[He glances over at Michael hesitantly.] Shouldn't I be...?

Yeah, actually.

[ He holds out his Pokeball and from out said Pokeball comes his Munna. ]

Not hers, but...I have my own. He came out of the egg awhile ago.

[ And finally, he begins to peer into the mart, hoping to catch sight of the girl. ]

I don't know when it was coined, but it was a term when I was growing up, heard it about the guys who came back from the first World War every now and then.

[He motions to his left shoulder.]

You know what they don't tell you about phantom limbs is that they hurt? It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it feels like my arm is on fire. The one I don't have anymore, I mean.