bottlecaplogs | March Catchall

Who: Firoza and YOU! With a private toplevel for Firoza and Shoka
What: Firoza Istus has plans, and has things to do. You're super welcome to join her as she goes about on her own personal MSQ
When: The month of March
Where: All over Bottlecap Bay!
Warnings: Shouldn't be any, but I'll put them here when they come up.

[Well! After a stamp of approval, some advice on how to put some things into motion, and a month under her belt of living in this new world, in this new form, Firoza has some things about town she's focused on taking care of over the course of...what seems to be the Second Astral Moon? One, two, three...yeah, that'd be Second Astral.

(The Eorzean calendar can be a bit rough to remember when you don't grow up with it. But anyway.)

The Questboard is checked pretty often, and while her eyes linger on the exploration or rescue missions, Firoza knows her limitations. She needs practice in combat before she can effectively contribute to any of those. So, for now, the supply missions are what she's taking on. While she goes to gather berries and twigs with Emporio and Junpei on two separate occasions, she also goes back down to the Mines to help get some more cool rocks with Shoka. If you'd like to thread something out during those explorations, or even just meeting up outside the questboard to talk about joining up for that, you're absolutely welcome to! And you're super welcome to notice how pointedly Firoza's eyes linger on the other kinds of quests.

When not out gathering materials, Firoza can be found in one of two places. The first? A clearing in the Canopy, where a tired old stump has been left to be reclaimed by the earth. Must've been a big tree that fell over in a storm, by the looks of how the top is splintered, but some Pokemon probably tugged that huge fallen log away to use for construction long ago, because it's nowhere to be seen, and there's no beaten down path of grass from a recent effort.

But it's perfect as it is, this stump. After all, this is clearly a Level One Training Dummy.

Firoza's cries as she lashes out at the stump ring out from the clearing, as she launches herself at the wood in Scratches and Double Kicks, and even the occasional attempt at Poison Sting...but only if she's still and aiming very carefully. We don't need errant poisonings here. She works on lashing out on all fours, on rearing up on her hind legs, maintaining balance...it's all simple moves, more to train herself on how to move rather than building strength in her blows. That can always come later. If you want to smack a stump for a while, or are concerned when you hear yelling somewhere in the Canopy, you're welcome to come over! Absolutely critique her form if you know what you're doing, she'd appreciate it.

The other place Firoza often lingers is at a shop run by Spinarak, specializing in producing things made from extremely strong thread spun by the proprietress in question and other Bug Pokemon. They're all very bemused by this gentle-voiced Nidoran fumbling with a wooden sewing needle in her paws and her unrelenting persistence, and are very welcoming, considering her greenlight to namedrop Ribombee as the one who pointed her this way. Anyone can come and see her here...but Shoka is the one person who gets a personal invitation to come along one day, if she's interested.

Other than that? Firoza's staying at the Cheri Berry base, so her fellow guildmates are welcome to find her there! Feel like chatting? She's happy to listen! Think of this as your Wildcard option.]

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[Muffled,] Got it!

[She'll chew for a moment to just. Pretend she's really into biting the crap out of her "opponent" before backing off, filing that information away for later. Now let's try...hm. Kicking twice? Her brain is telling her kicking twice is a thing.

So let's Double Kick the stump! It's not really the most graceful of movements, but if Ingo's watching he can get the sense that Firoza's understanding her limbs and weight distribution more and more as she goes for it, first just kicking at the stump, then running and kicking at it, then trying a jump before kicking...she stumbles and kicks the dirt around the stump a fair number of times, but doesn't seem deterred in the least.

Battle is all in how you practice.]

[Ingo does watch for a moment. His practice is a lot less physical, after all; his attention goes inward for a moment when he goes back to his own work. This time he shoots some purple flames.]

Ah! That is what it looks like!

[Just imagine when she gets to less physical stuff to practice with

She pauses when he shoots out the flames, and her eyes light up in recognition.] Whoa! Yes, that's a lot like what I've seen before!

[In the Sirensong Sea, the fire was blue, which. Well, she's biased towards blue. But the purple is cool.]

Can you control them after they are expelled?

No...I might be able to learn, but I certainly cannot now!

[Has he seen a Typhlosion do that? It's really never come up...but ghost-types can certainly make little ghost lights, so it stands to reason.]

There is a move called Will-o-Wisp that is a bit more of a small, controlled fireball, but that is actually a fire-type move in spite of its name! It is only used to inflict burns.

These moves are truly fascinating...

[Kind of like a whole new set of weaponskills, really. Yeah, it makes sense if she thinks of it like that.]

So it would cause damage over time, then? Very clever.

Damage, yes, and it also weakens an opponent's physical attacks! That is often its most useful function!

[Chip damage is never a bad thing, of course, but weakening a foe protects yourself as well!]

There are a great many Pokemon moves, and I would not claim to know about all of them. New ones are developed often, even!

So it's much like a martial art, then!

[Not like specifically kung fu, karate martial arts, but arts of martial practice, where you fight people in general.]

That makes it much easier to understand.

Quite so! Pokemon battles are a popular sport in my world!

[Well, "popular" is stretching it for his world, but he's also factoring Emmet into things.]

Interesting...

[Only a sport, huh? Feels like...well, either full potential is not being used - which is a good thing, Pokemon are living beings and shouldn't be used like she's seen tools of war be used - or where Ingo and Emmet are from, society has moved past such things.

Which would be preferable. War sucks.]

But it's different here, clearly.

Battling still seems to be common! But yes - I do get the impression that Mightyena's training is for actual fights against wild Pokemon, primarily. Of course that happens in my world as well!

[But it's rather different from the sport of Pokemon battling, even if there's certainly some overlap.]

[A thoughtful pause.]

Do you suppose that happens often here? Even when the Pokemon have an established town...maybe it would be more like the quarrels of men.

[Not that she wants to think of these interesting, nice creatures waging war against each other...]

Perhaps so.

[He pauses in his attacks, tone sober.]

But when I have fought wild Pokemon out in the forest, on missions, they have seemed...aggressive and strangely unintelligible. As if they were speaking another language, or perhaps could not speak at all. It may be some sort of frenzy.

Here, they were like that?

[There's a touch of...not quite sorrow or sympathy to her tone, but something sad nonetheless.]

I wonder why. I would understand, if some chose not to live in their own towns, but to act so differently as well...

[Is something influencing them to act that way? Does something influence the Pokemon of Bottlecap Bay to act the way they do? There's always a cause, but the true nature of the issue could be on either side.]

[Ingo hums thoughtfully. It has been a little disconcerting. Even used to wild Pokemon attacks as he is, the whole thing feels a little different when he is a Pokemon.]

In my world, some Pokemon were affected by a strange light from the sky that caused them to go into a mad frenzy. But I haven't seen anything like that here...

[Oh that's terrifying]

No, we haven't seen anything like that while we've been here...would it only occur when the light was, um, happening? Or did it have lasting influence?

It was like a bolt of lightning! It only struck once, but the Pokemon would remain frenzied after that, until they could be pacified!

[So theoretically it could have already happened...but to so many Pokemon at once? He can't imagine it wouldn't have been seen.]

They came from the great rift in the sky, and we do not seem to have one of those here. But I do not know if it can happen by other means!

Well, if it is a possibility, we ought to keep an eye out for it.

[Rifts? Lightning? Thal's massive blue balls, now she's big concerned.]

Quite so! I assure you, it was not terribly subtle - I am sure we shall all notice if it happens.

No, I can't imagine it would be.

[It's like if a primal dropped an aoe on you, that shit ain't subtle either.

Anyway. Firoza gives a nod, turning back to the stump and pacing in front of it a bit. Hm, what's her next move here...what to try next...]

March Catchall - Goals and Quests

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