bottlecaplogs | [closed] while the snow falls all around me

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[closed] while the snow falls all around me

Who: Emmet, Laios, Ingo
What: Play Nice and Exploration: Blue, for now
When: various points in August
Where: Middle Forest, uncharted territory past the Southern Outpost at current
Warnings: Cold weather environmental hazards; to be added if they come up

play nice (for laios)

[ So the guilds are looking to expand! Makes sense. Makes sense if they're intending to scale up operations as the town expands past the immediate area that they've well and mapped out by now. If they are to continue on these tracks then of course they are going to need more members to avoid being spread too thin, possibly on a little more reliable of a basis than 'every other month when strange things start happening.'

That still doesn't mean they know who or what they're looking out for, exactly! What sort of roles the guilds need filled, if there's any specificity in traits or abilities they should be on the lookout for or if they just need to bolster numbers in general. At least that means they have free choice of where to head? ]

It's cleared up a lot here from how it used to be... [ Emmet notes, picking his way carefully across the earth. Every now and then he'll eye the ground a little dubiously, but whatever he's waiting for or expecting to happen never seems to. So, after each of these moments his ears just flick a little as if to dismiss them. ] But anyway. What sort of Pokémon do you want to run into, you think?

exploration: blue (for ingo)

[ Uncharted territory again! It's been a while since they last ventured forth into the unknown. This time ... they are probably more prepared for it? It's a scouting mission, once again, so there is no imminent peril or time pressure.

Being surrounded by trees is familiar enough. What isn't is the drop in temperatures, especially given the season. And soon enough the familiar sight of densely wooded forest begins to give way to thinner vegetation, the few trees remaining growing gnarled and stripped barren. Snow is starting to collect on the twisting branches.

Emmet's ears twitch a little as he tilts his head back to take a look up at the sky above. Snow, huh. Not hail, at least, and not storming, but... ]

Knew it was to be expected, but. I am Emmet. Suddenly I am glad for all this fur.

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Okay. So it works. Don't think I'll be able to do it too much though. [ Emmet says, settling his head back onto his paws. ] Illusions— still aren't the easiest. Limited area and distance only, probably. Maybe just the closest to us. If things get too disorienting.

[ Dizzying, distracting, same difference. The illusion of the plainer ice face isn't the most convincing when examined in closer bdetail, if the intent were for it to appear like a perfectly normal ice wall; the light cast by Ingo's flames doesn't quite catch on it right, and in some spots the surface seems a little more matte than it should while in others seeming a little too shiny. Though the lack of reflected Typhlosion or Zoroark persists regardless. Emmet's aim really was just to get rid of the oddly distorted reflection— everything else was secondary.

To that end, the texture of the ice beneath Ingo's claws, unaffected by the illusion, may or may not actually reflect the image superimposed over it. Maybe the disconnect might be a little strange? Emmet's ears perk as Ingo rises to examine it, though. ]

The ice ... right. Could still try to break some off to see if we can bring it back for examination?

Well, do not overtax your engine! I'm sure we can deal with it for a while - it ought to be easier now that we are not moving around so much.

[ Ingo doesn't love the reflections, but he'll manage! Emmet is already not at full health! At Emmet's reminder, though, he nods and digs his claws more firmly into the real ice behind the illusion. It's thick! He's familiar with ice, but he doesn't usually try to carve into permafrost! It takes a bit of methodical work to break some off.

Finally, a few shards clink to the rocky surface of the ledge. He paws at them, then picks the largest to stick into his bag, on the side with their food. Nothing in there that can't risk getting wet. ]

They can send an expedition, if they want anything bigger!

Just had to see if it would work. You know. Before we actually needed it.

[ He's still kind of curious about what might be further down, even if they couldn't quite see anything when they peered over the edge. For all they know they might send any follow up expeditions straight into a Froslass' collection. ]

[ Ingo nods. The space between them has felt strange ever since they came down here. He cannot quite put his feeling on why, but he settles back down against Emmet's side regardless. Neither of them really needs to huddle for warmth, Hisuian species as they are. Why not, though? ]

I truly hope we do not run into anything else like the forest. Mount Coronet and the Icelands have nearly as many ghosts as the coast does, back in Hisui...though, of course, that is partly the ruins on the mountain.

[ There's some older structures in the north as well, but Ingo doesn't think the ghosts cluster around Snowpoint Temple like the ancient graveyards near the summit. As he speaks, his eyes are down - not looking at the ravine, but at Emmet's bloodied paws. ]

... I did not really think Sinnoh was known for its ghosts. Or that they were so widespread. Lost Tower, I am aware of— it is like Mt. Pyre in Hoenn, or the Celestial Tower in Unova... [ So is that just a difference between the present day and back then? Have the unquiet spirits moved on, or are there just fewer ones made? Have the resting sites Ingo's talking about been disturbed, after so many years of development and urbanization?

In any case, Emmet glances over, follows Ingo's gaze down towards his paws and— oh. He still noticed, huh. Maybe he should have made an effort to clean them off (with ... with what, his tongue? that's really the only option, isn't it,) or hide them better, extend just a minor illusion for it if only he'd thought to earlier while Ingo was occupied.

It really is a decent match for the red elsewhere in his fur... ]

Looks worse than it really is. You know.

[ The white just makes everything look very stark against it. ]

Hrm. I suppose.

[ He's right. Ingo can see for himself that they are not terrible injuries. Probably a fair trade for getting out of that hole. But that does not stop him feeling bad about it!

Still, they've already talked it through. He should try not to dwell. He goes on, tone a bit subdued. ]

I am not sure if Hisui is known for ghosts...but they are certainly there. I do not live terribly close to any ruins, but I see lights often at night, up closer to the summit. There is an old burial ground up there, very near the path to the Temple.

[ Now that he's pointed them out it feels awkward just leaving his paws as they are, but really, what is he supposed to do about them. It's hardly an injury requiring bandaging, and neither is it bleeding all that freely. Just enough to be noticeable in the white. He barely even feels it unless he's specifically focusing on it, considering.

So Emmet just follows along with the current subject, but not before bumping his head against Ingo's. ]

Well. On the bright side. Wet have not yet run into any ruins here. [ Like in the Southern Forest, or apparently up near the summit of Mt. Coronet. ] And I have not seen an excess amount of bones.

[ Like in the Middle Forest. Yet is the key word in all of this, but... ]

So maybe it will be different here than it was in the forest? [ ... ] The old burial ground and Temple, though...

[ Shouldn't something of that last, though? Emmet might not be a scholar of its history, but he'd had the impression that Sinnoh as a region was pretty proud of its ties to it, or something like that. At the top of Mt. Coronet... ]

Oh. You are talking about ... Spear Pillar?

[ Ingo hums, leaning back. The comfort is appreciated, even if he'd been trying not to solicit it. Spear Pillar, though? What is that? ]

The...temple on top of Mount Coronet?

Mmhmm. Think it is called that because the broken pillars up top look like...

[ Beat. ]

... Oh! Is it not broken yet for you?

[ Oops, spoilers? ]

Oh! No! It is, but only just! That happened when Akari was up there battling Dialga!

[ Ingo sobers a little at his own mention of Akari. ]

Dialga. Who was frenzied, right?

... Wonder if. I would make a historian cry if I ever told them any of this.

[ Or at least shake him down and demand from him how the hell he knows some of it. ... Well, that would depend on how much of this survived in any written or oral records to the present day, wouldn't it. Maybe a question for Champion Cynthia...? She does vacation in Unova from time to time, friends with Caitlin of the Elite Four... ]

[ Ingo frowns down at the darkness below. ]

How can they possibly not know? It was a quite significant event!

[ Surely someone or other is going to, you know, remember? Write it down? Ingo hasn't really questioned Emmet's lack of knowledge - he's from all the way in Unova, and he mentioned not being a student of Hisuian (Sinnohan?) history. But is it really that obscure? ]

Well! You know how it is. The legendaries being directly involved, that many of them— that might be hard to believe for some! You know.

So maybe some people might think, over time, that maybe the telling was. Exaggerated? Made bigger by retellings?

[ Though maybe it shouldn't really be all that hard to believe these days, considering. ]

But I am only guessing. [ Joking, really, if not with all that much levity behind it, given. ] I do not actually know what they say about what happened. Maybe all the history is accurate, and it is just the name that has changed.

[ He does pause a bit, before adding more quietly: ]

... She really did do a lot, huh.

Edited 2025-09-19 02:46 (UTC)

I suppose...

[ Do you really think people would do that? Just go in the history books and tell lies? ]

.....she did. Far too much, in all honestly. I would not have said so to her - I do not think she would take my meaning. But such responsibilities should not have been placed on her shoulders.

[ It's true that very few people in Hisui could have done what Akari did. There simply weren't enough trainers; of those who existed, most only had one companion, or they were the very members of the Jubilife leadership who forced her into those duties in the first place.

Though. That does leave one person, doesn't it? He flexes his claws, watching them scrape against the stone. The dried blood blends in well enough there to nearly be invisible, except where it flakes away. ]

...I have...wondered, before, if I was sent there to do that work first, and she was only sent afterwards because I did not.

[ Who's to say how he got there, or what directions he may have been given? Certainly not Ingo. ]

... Years ago. A couple before you— you know. There was an incident at the League. Involved a great castle rising up from the earth, and a group who wanted to separate humans and Pokemon for good.

The Gym Leaders showed up to help. They are— something like Wardens, sort of. Maybe. And they did. There were a lllllot of people involved with the group. But in the end. It was still the ones the Dragons chose who battled against each other to determine things. When Zekrom was awoken by one, Reshiram appeared to Hilbert to face them together.

[ So what is it with teenagers and young adults, really. ]

Akari knew what she was supposed to do. Right? So Arceus had a safer way of getting someone there. Than whatever route you took. And ... If Arceus asked you to do something. You didn't tell me. And you didn't tell Chandelure.

[ And maybe there simply was no time or opportunity to, but something about that sounds wrong. If it is truly what happened then Emmet is going to have words for Arceus should he ever meet it next, whether he's human at the time or not. ]

But she has lost memories too! Just not that of her mission!

[ Maybe it found some way to protect that much? Or it just told her after? ]

I am not sure I truly believe that is what happened. But it does not seem entirely out of the question to me.

Okay. So that still means that if Arceus wanted you to know what Arceus wanted you to do. It had a way of making that happen.

Perhaps it was a practice run! How often does it do things like that, really?

[ Huffs a little bit of a sigh. ]

No idea! Not exactly documented, or if it is then it is not publicized.

Would it make you feel better? To think it happened for a reason, even if you forgot it?

.....no. I think it would make me feel much worse.

[ If only for Akari's sake. But it wouldn't even just be that, would it? Maybe he could have gotten himself back to Unova a long time ago, if he'd known what to do. Is that...something he would have preferred...? ]

... if Arceus wanted you to know. It could've tried harder.

[ Practice run or not, if it only managed the second time with Akari then the least it could have done was go back to the first and explain, if only for efficiency's sake. ]

Sounds like it would have been easier. Than being lost in the cold.

[ Or bringing in a teenager to shoulder what sounds like it was way, way too much of a burden for one person alone. ]

Hm, yes. I suppose.

[ None of it really matters now, he supposes. At least, there is nothing he can do about any of it. ]

I only...wish that I could have made it easier for her.

The legendaries ... do what they want sometimes. Don't have to be happy about it but it just is.

[ Probably isn't even malice or lack of care, is the thing. What are they to beings who operate on that scale? ]

I am unhappy you both had to hurt because of it, though.

[ 'It' being how things are, that is. ]

...ah, well. That is simply how things are at times.

[ He leans companionably against Emmet. There's nothing to be done - he doesn't want Emmet to worry about it all too much. ]

... Could always take me back. And let me at them.

[ It would not actually solve anything— probably make them worse, honestly!— but it would be cathartic. ]

Many legendaries are not allowed in the Subway. Would be a fun chance to have a serious battle we couldn't find otherwise.

[ Emmet no— ]

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