October Catch-All

[0dchess]

Who: Kinger, Cedric, and You (especially fellow Oran Berries?)
What: Kinger coming to terms with being a Pokémon in Bottlecap Bay
Where: The Spire (plus anywhere a Wildcard takes us)
When: Early October
Warnings: At least amnesia? I can't think of any others right now.


1. Right Behind You

Yelling from the training rooms is sometimes par for the course for the sound of exertion and combat. What probably is less common is short screams of varying tones.

Anyone who investigates will find Kinger, circling a training dummy while making short yelps and screams, attempting to Astonish the dummy. He sounds like he's starting to get a little hoarse, but he is singularly focused on the dummy and doesn't notice when you approach.

2. Sea Seeking King

Despite having a body that, for the first time in decades, probably needs sleep, a few nights in to his stay he can't. His newly tiny stature gives him the luxury that few others in Oran housing have, which is to sneak out without waking his roommates. Probably.

He wanders his way outside to stand at the cliffside, feeling the cold spray of saltwater from the ocean. He laughs to himself quietly.

"It's real. I'm not in the circus anymore."

He sits near the cliffside, just enjoying the delicate feeling of salty autumn air that nothing in the digital world could possibly replicate. He lets off a faint glow, making himself visible to anyone else restless tonight.

3. Wildcard

Feel free to hit me up with any other ideas for my little mushroom man! I will also be throwing any prompts we discuss elsewhere under this.

Comments

[0dchess]

"I think I might be four mushrooms," Kinger corrected helpfully, "but it's always hard to tell with fungi."

Kinger looked over the bird in front of him. So many weird birds here, first the perfectly spherical bird, now this bird has a built-in hat! Nature is beautiful.

[cedricthegreat]

"Gah!" Unbeknownst to himself, he did the move Astonish. Sorry, four-mushrooms-that-are-apparently-alive!

And of course, his feathers have puffed up again. Just his luck. At least at home he can just comb his hair or something... or better yet, just do a cleanup spell... oh, if only he had his beloved tower to escape to...

Ehem.

"Right. You, too, can talk. And we can understand each other, for some reason. My... apologies?"

[0dchess]

"You can do Purple Yell too!" Kinger says excitedly. "Me too, look!"

Kinger yelps out his own Astonish, a puff of spectral energy coming out as he does so.

"I'm Kinger, nice to meet you!"

[cedricthegreat]

"Purple what?"

And then the mushroom makes him flinch, more feathers flying off his skin. Molting season, am I right?

After a couple of pants as he gets over the shock, he lets out a sigh to calm himself. "Nice... to meet you... too. Call me Cedric."

[0dchess]

"Oops, sorry. Don't know my own strength yet." Kinger looks over the bird. "Are you new around here too? You seem to have flying down already!"

[cedricthegreat]

"Yes, unfortunately I am new." He lowers his head toward the fungus. "But flight is not; I changed into a bird many times for my work. Transformation is essential for a sorcerer, after all."

He says this with a hint of pride, but his tone is also melancholy. Oh how he misses his workshop.

"I'm guessing you're also new to the... mushroom thing?"

[0dchess]

"Yeah, just got here this last month." Kinger nods. "A sorcerer, huh? So you had magic back home too?"

The word 'sorcerer' probably means that explaining a digital world wouldn't work well, but Kinger is probably going to try!

[cedricthegreat]

"Doesn't everybody?"

Even the most remote places in the EverRealm have it, it's nigh impossible for him to imagine the alternative.

[0dchess]

"Back where I'm from, magic isn't real." Kinger realizes that that's not entirely true. "Well, I guess it is, since that seems to be what brought me here, but normally it's not."

[cedricthegreat]

"Not real?"

Nope. Nope. Does not compute.

"You mean it doesn't exist or you simply haven't seen it?"

trying to catch up on things sorry!!!

[0dchess]

"Depends on who you ask, but 'sorcery' definitely isn't real where I'm from." Kinger explains. "Some people believe in fortune telling and healing crystals, but I don't really believe in any of that."

Kinger wouldn't normally tell anyone from his world that, believing in magic to cope with the difficulties of being a person does help a lot of people, but he wants to clarify that there aren't wizards running around back on his Earth.

YOU'RE FINE <3

[cedricthegreat]

He's trying very hard to not react to the casual disbelief in things so painfully existent to him, but there's still a distinct wince as he clamps his beak down. After a swallow and a clearing of his throat, he finally speaks again.

"Well, believe what you like, Mr. 'Kinger'. What do you do, then, back in your blissful, magic-free world?"

Don't mind his annoyed tone, he's just coping with the concept.

[0dchess]

"I don't remember!" Kinger says cheerfully. "Before I was here I was in a digital world that seemed a lot more magical, but you know how computers are."

Kinger chuckles at a sentiment that is probably incomprehensible.

[cedricthegreat]

"Digi-what? Compu-who?" Yep, that's pretty incomprehensible to him.

Actually, wait, if he says that out loud, then it sounds similar to... yes, maybe he does have an idea.

"Are you from the same world as the cave troll who used to 'Digivolve' into another form?"

[0dchess]

"Digi-what?"

Nope. Kinger's lost too. The only thing that could be described as a digital evolution back in the Circus would be- well, best not to think about that.

"A computer is uh. It's a machine that uses electricity- the stuff in lightning- to hold information." Even this might need some backtracking, but Kinger presses on! "The computer I was in was advanced enough that it could store the information of human minds and an imaginary world for them to exist in."

See, definitely not magic! Just some metal that was tricked into thinking by using lightning!

[cedricthegreat]

Oh, guess not. Well, now he feels a little foolish.

That being said, this isn't quite that hard to understand. Crystal balls and mirrors definitely can store memories back home. The Amulet of Avalor had at least three people inside of it at varying times, and can summon many more. That Enchantlet Sofia has that he only just discovered exists apparently can contact Mystic Isle residents.

Not to mention he just met someone who claimed she herself feeds off electricity - turns out that's much more common than he initially thought. Yes, he definitely makes sense of this 'computer' thing.

"Ah, of course! It carries knowledge supplied by humans!" Yes, good.

"So how did it trap you inside?" Wait.

[0dchess]

"I don't know. Or at least, I don't know why."

Kinger is speaking with much more lucidity than normal, because even with his memory the mechanics of the Circus are drilled into his head.

"Everyone trapped there put on a headset- like goggles or glasses- that is supposed to just let you see inside the digital world. But instead of just seeing a picture you're transported into the Digital Circus."

Kinger does feel like he probably knew how it worked at some point. But that was a long time ago.

[cedricthegreat]

"Fascinating."

That's not sarcasm, he's genuinely intrigued by the whole concept. But the setup also sounds quite alarming, if he's being honest. They're outside the computer but their minds are trapped in it? Sort of?

By that logic, being here, even if in another body, might almost feel liberating.

"And what role do you play in this 'circus', Kinger? Ringmaster?"

[0dchess]

"Oh no, that would be Caine. Though we don't do a lot of circus activities." Kinger starts cheerfully, and then grows increasingly more anxious in tone. "Mostly Caine just reshapes the digital world to send us on adventures to distract us so we don't go insane!"

The tiny little mushroom man stares off into the middle distance, as if remembering some level of cosmic horror.

[cedricthegreat]

He cocks an eyebrow. It's called a 'circus', so why wouldn't they live up to the name? But he'll let it slide, if only because in that... situation... he can't exactly judge.

"R-right." Subject change, subject change. "Soooo, Kinger, Mightyena sent you here, yes?"

[0dchess]

"Hm?" Kinger perks back up. "Yes! She said the Spire would be good for mushrooms like me. But that doesn't make sense for you, unless you're some kind of cave bird. Are there cave birds?"

Kinger gets a serious expression while trying to think, and then perks up in realization.

"Ah! Wait, no, I'm thinking of bats."

SORRY FOR THE LATENESS

[cedricthegreat]

He frowns. There's nothing wrong with bats, but he still feels weirdly insulted about being compared to one.

"I think she means the company, not the space. I'm not even the only bird here." Or the only corvid, to boot!

"...Then again, she mentioned 'low-tier housing', which can mean anything from closed quarters to one-room shacks. I haven't checked."

you're good no worries!!!

[0dchess]

Kinger looks back and forth between Cedric and the Spire.

"I assumed it would be caves, but maybe it's hollow and there are shacks?" Kinger suggests helpfully. "We should probably go get moved in!"

Kinger turns to scuttle towards the Spire entrance.