Anasui's Hallmark Catch-all Post

[dripdrive]

WHO: Anasui and maybe you! (But definitely Shoka, Maya, Flamebringer, Kris, Parvati, Bigby, III, Cedric and Noelle)
WHAT: Assorted quests and anything else involving the Bay's most fashionable bird
WHEN: Throughout December
WHERE: Assorted locations.
WARNINGS: Anasui's general warnings are here and may come up during some threads.

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Contrary to what his cold demeanour and aggressive behaviour may suggest, Anasui adores the holidays. While he never had been close to his parents or had many friends, Anasui enjoyed the merriment, the atmosphere, and the energy people had throughout the season. Christmas was also one of the few celebrations they were allowed to have at the G.D. Prison, and while they couldn't do much for it even getting that extra bit of pudding at dinner was enough.

But this year was different. Sure, the circumstances weren't perfect by any means, and he has to be a psychic ostrich for it, but for the first time in forever, he's celebrating the holidays (Pawlidays?) as a free man.

And as someone who didn't feel like they were dead.

It's a delight to be able to celebrate. He's already gotten his house a Christmas tree with Dolly's help and decorated the hell out of it but the spirit of the season has given Anasui a quiet yet notable energy. So much so that he spends much of his free time out and about throughout the month.

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The Oran tunnels

One of the places Anasui can be found in is the Oran tunnels. Anasui rarely (if ever) visits despite having friends there but he'll drop by a couple of times this month, slowly and meticulously decorating parts of the tunnel. Shoka likely will see him pinning up garland and mounting wreaths, a small, notable smile on his face. On the other hand, Maya will see Anasui outright pulling down her decorations and moving them elsewhere...

The only time that Anasui will be in the tunnels and not decorating is when he's heading off to to help Akechi unravel the mysteries of the bay. Not having anything to bring but himself, Anasui shows up dressed in a festive hat on top of his usual one and a nice, knitted blanket with Pawliday symbols on his back like a shawl. As he walks, he notices the familiar shape of Flamebringer going the same direction he is. Having nothing against him, Anasui walks a little faster to catch up, though he does tilts his head curiously once he's close enough to see him...

"Where'd you get that board from?"

When he's not inside the tunnels, he's making soap nearby them. By the time Kris arrives to work with him, he's already started the fire and is boiling water. He looks up at Kris and nods to them.

"Told you that you're able to help the clinic in some way," he says plainly, in a way that could be considered a greeting.

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At the Archives

Another place you'll likely see Anasui is at the Archives. It's more common to see him there than the Oran Tunnels but rather than having his face in a tome, he's actually sitting down in front of record keepers, ready to share his stories. Parvati likely will see Anasui getting comfortable on a rather nice pillow. He'll give Parvati a small nod in acknowledgement.

"You come to share as well?"

Bigby on the other hand, will find Anasui already spinning his tale. He's already started explaining how he and a guy called Weather Report escaped jail, but he pauses when he sees Bigby.

"Ah... You..." He seems... super embarrassed. Probably because of what happened last time they were here in the Archives. "... Hey."

He will be much less awkward when III or literally anyone else comes in to the Archives. Mostly because he has a deep, wistful expression on his face as he tries to find where to start.

"Have you ever met someone that brought you back to life? Someone who just came into your life and saved your corrupted soul? A human so, so beautiful that you could mistake for an angel?" He doesn't expect a response but he does look towards his unexpected guests.

He's almost certainly about to talk about Jolyne...

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Out in the forest

But the season isn't all fun and games. Noelle's request to look for a strange Deerling still highlights the weird nature of this place. Thankfully, Anasui is in a good enough mood to deal with things... Enough to agree to working again with Cedric, anyway. Anasui nods in acknowledgement to the Murkrow before he looks towards the North towards the Sporest's Troop.

"Intel says it's this way. Let's move quickly before we lose daylight." Maybe he could have used his manners but Anasui isn't a big fan of those. He wants to get moving already...

Not long after that quest is completed though, Anasui will take Noelle aside and ask her quietly if she wants to help him with a quest to... locate moss (She's a grass type, she'd know about these sorts of things, right?). He still doesn't know what Noelle and Kris' deal is but he's glad that Noelle doesn't dismiss him outright when Anasui mentions who requested the moss. He wants to talk to her about things...

When Noelle arrives to their meeting spot, she'll see Anasui listening to a Leafeon. Anasui looks up as soon as he sees Noelle out of the corner of his eye and leaves the Leafeon mid-sentence, though the Pokemon doesn't notice as he's more than happy to talk to himself about the Eevees and Leafeons' storied history with the rock.

"We have a lead on the Mossy Rock - Apparently this guy knows where it is. Ready to go?"

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[OOC: If there's anything/anyone I forgot, please let me know! As always, NPC Pokemon can be controlled by anyone!]

Comments

at the archives

[wolfcut]

"... Yep. Me."

His lips press into a thin line. One would think the sheriff would have something to say about a prison break, but all he can focus on is looking at anything but Anasui. He takes a seat with some distance between them, even if he knows he'd be a lot warmer closer to those feathers. As if his intrusive thoughts couldn't sink any lower.

It's a good thing his cheeks are a permanent rosy pink; otherwise, he'd be running bright red. At least the feeling appears mutual.

"Go ahead. I'm listening."

[dripdrive]

In the same vein, Anasui is fighting the urge to get up and warm Bigby up because he is a good father, damn it. However, he refrains and manages to gather his composure, or at least enough of it that he can turn back to the record keepers as if nothing was wrong and not totally awkward.

"Mm... Where was I? Right, I was describing what a truck was to you people. Well, Weather Report and I were riding in the back of the open truck, going... somewhere. I don't know, I was just following Weather to Jolyne. The trip was long, so while I was waiting around, I took one of the magazines the man had in there. It was a Disney amusement park guidebook but for some fucking reason there were no Disney characters in it. Completely shit. I tossed the book but when I did so, I noticed something scurrying in the car with us.

I grabbed it, of course, and it was a fucking wooden puppet. And not just any puppet, it was from Disney, a character called Pinocchio. I recognised him straight away but him being real meant that something had gone really wrong. I asked him if he was working alone and he lied and said he was. The reason I knew he lied was because the fucker's nose grows when he lies, and it stabbed me right in my cheek. It was then when I noticed the apple on the floor of the car and then I saw Seven Dwarves. From Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Ugh, that's another Disney story I have to explain to you soon enough. And what the fucking Big Bad Wolf is too because he also attacked us. Damn it."

Wait a minute-

[wolfcut]

He folds his arms, making it a point to fully tune in and not think about how much cozier he'd be cuddling next big bird over there. At least the story seems to be moving right along to the good part. It makes for a good listen, one he can easily follow along and picture in his—

Hold on. Bigby mouths Pinocchio's name with some confusion, almost too stunned to actually speak. It only gets worse from there. His ears start to flick rapidly at hearing Snow's name, which is immediately followed by his. Suddenly, he's uncomfortable all over again, and he can't even begin to explain why. Sure, he's heard all sorts of mundy retellings at this point, but this feels like something else entirely.

"... Anasui," he murmurs, trying hard to keep his voice down. "What the hell kind of story is this?"

A flicker of annoyance crosses his expression, nose scrunching up too while he's at it. Even if Anasui is making up some random bullshit for these Pokémon to listen to, there's no way Bigby can let this slide: "Also, they're fairy tales, not Disney characters."

at the archives

[edgewater]

"Oh, I dunno. Mostly came to listen."

Parvati shrugs, arms folded across her chest. She shared stories when holed up during the blizzard, sure, but she's not really sure she has much to talk about. Her own adventures, maybe? Her shows? She takes a seat on a nearby cushion, wiggling a bit to get comfortable. "Just seemed fun."

She frees a hand to briefly adjust her goggles -- she really needs to find a replacement for her bandana one of these days -- as she settles.

[dripdrive]

"Hmph. Fair enough. I came here to talk - all the things that happened to me before coming to the Bay are so goddamned bizarre that it'd be... a shame that no one heard them. I wouldn't blame you all if you think my true stories were fictional."

The Record Keepers said they'd be happy with any story but Anasui was struggling to figure out where to start. He looks over at Parvati, hoping his new-found audience would give him some direction.

"What are you interested in hearing? Adventure? Fighting? Weird stuff? Something unique to my world? More personal stories?"

bizarre you say.

[edgewater]

Parvati bites back a grin at the notion she could find anything unbelievable. Believe her, she's probably seen things far more ridiculous, and far more difficult to believe. She is from a space dystopia, after all. Plus, the folks doing the recording seem easy-going enough. Strange things happen here all the time, too.

"From the way you word it you have multiple that mix all of those," she offers, tilting her head forward slightly, "maybe start with something fun. Adventure's always a safe bet, I like those."

oran tunnels

[positivestars]

Oh- and she'd been just about satisfied with that section, too! Maya gathers up her fresh bundle of decorations and hurries after Anasui- is this the Pokemon who was going to assist her…? "Hello- wait, hold on!" Ugh, she needs a moment to make sure she doesn't trip on a loop of leaves… "Was that the wrong position for them?"

[dripdrive]

Anasui looks behind him. Then, after remembering many Pokemon are much smaller than him, he looks down at Maya by his knees. He huffs but nods and gently puts the assorted decorations down, out of his mouth.

"Hmph... Obviously. These decorations are slightly smaller than the other ones around it. We should swap these with the ones on the other side of the cave, see?"

... Unless Maya could see a 0.5cm difference in diameter, the objects look exactly the same and it really looks like he's taken down Maya's decoration for no reason!

[positivestars]

She's getting used to the differences in size,but… it would be nice if things were a little more equal.

"Ah… Really?" Maya peers at one side, then the other. "It's hard to tell," she admits. "Will many of the others be able to tell?" She wouldn't have thought so…

oran tunnels

[heartonachain]

When they accepted the clinic's request they weren't thinking about a conversation that happened a month and a half ago. Now that Anasui's pointed it out, though... they allow themselves a scowl, if only for a moment. They hate that he's right.

"... just soap." They can trust the Soul not to fuck up soap, probably.

[dripdrive]

"Well, soap is important. Keeps things sterile, which is good especially when there are literally sentient trash bags and slime puddles running amok."

Anasui doesn't smirk at Kris' scowl but there does seem to be an air of vindication that hangs around him as he uses his powers to grab the tools he's collected. He offers them all to Kris: One is the strainer that they'll need to get the lye out of the ashes using the hot water. The second is a press for the plant oil and the third is a big spoon.

"Take your pick. What do you think you can do competently?"

out in the forest

[holidaygirl1225]

"Yeah, um..." Noelle still hasn't stopped feeling guilty since hearing that her quest led Anasui down such a dangerous path. Ever since their last encounter, she's joined him for training a few times, and she knows he's absolutely able to handle himself... but, still! "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

[dripdrive]

Anasui tilts his head to the side, as if that would help him understand the question better. It doesn't.

"Why would I not be okay?" Anasui asks, genuinely confused. "Leafeon isn't that much of a pain. I just often walk away from boring conversations, and it's more important for you to be informed of where we're going."

By now, Noelle has probably picked up that Anasui can be a bit thick when he's hard-focused on another task.

[holidaygirl1225]

"... nevermind, faha." Why bother explaining? He really does seem fine. "Let's find that mossy rock!"

If he departs after that, she'll follow closely along, trying to mark their trail every so often by blooming certain flowers from the snow with Grassy Terrain. (It doesn't seem to grow moss, though.)

at the archives / holiday hotpot (Anasui & Emporio)

[sharpjustice]

Mayaka is almost done going through the tablets on this shelf. She's made good progress since she first entered the Archives a few weeks ago. The thing is, she's been avoiding reading the books from the top shelves because she can't reach them, and she can't be bothered to find the stepladder. And so, she has strategically decided to read all the materials on the lower shelves first.

While the Sneasel scans the row of tablets, she notices that someone has lazily placed the wrong tablet on this shelf! She has pride as her high school's librarian and cannot ignore this. It belongs on the top shelf.

Maybe if she gets up her tip toes, she can reach it herself?

So that's what she tries to do, even though the top shelf is more than a head taller than her. No dice.

Next, she tries jumping high enough to reach the shelf.

She's so small, one would easily miss her struggling between the shelves, but anyone lingering nearby might overhear the sound of her becoming out of breath as she hops to the top shelf.

crawls here from retail like i want hotpot...

[seacub]

Emporio had been all set to craft a good argument for making Anasui come with him to a hotpot get together. The main one is that he's never tried it of course, and honestly Anasui probably hasn't either, but somehow it went from trying to convince the bird all the way to 'trying to convince the bird to bring less food'.

Anasui has opinions. Good opinions, but expensive if left unchecked in this situation.

That aside, such discussion and argument falls to the wayside when he hears...a sound.

Breathing?? What?

Emporio looks up. "Uh....is someone up there..??"

He's on the other side of it, so he can't see Mayaka...though, given Anasui's height, the Espartha may likely be able to with just the tilt of a head.

ditto

[dripdrive]

Look, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. If he doesn't pick good ingredients, Emporio, he'll end up deconstructing the soup and no one wants that. Anasui's about to talk about maybe making an alternate broth when he hears the same noise.

The Espathra looks up and raises an eyebrow as he sees Mayaka. He's seen the Sneasel in the library before but hadn't bothered with her. What's happening now?

"The library isn't your personal jungle gym, you know." Wow, Anasui.

The Oran Tunnels!!

[indifferentinferno]

Anasui's questioning tone stops Flamebringer in his tracks, glancing over his shoulder and up at the bird Pokemon. He's hauling a medium sized spare wood board with a leather strap through the Oran berry hallways, making steady progress back to his quarters.

He pauses for a minute when he realizes Anasui didn't ask why he had the board, just where he got it from.

"I asked around 'bout scrap materials. This wood is soft, its not great for buildings. But it can be used for other purposes."

He squints at Anasui's rather... festive outfit. Not sure what to make of that just yet. "I don't think I've seen you at this guild before." There had been a lot more foot traffic in and out, a lot of people were invested in decorating the halls for the season he supposed.

I AM SORRY FOR THE LONG DELAY

[dripdrive]

"Hmph... Sensible. I need to procure one for myself - mapping out the fucking Archives is the only way to find anything there." Anasui clicks his tongue irately, thinking about how poorly the Archives store files ('If you have multiple storage methods that clash, you may as well not have one at all'). Thankfully, a rant is averted with the question.

"You probably haven't. I've only been coming to decorate the tunnels and even then it's only the public areas. Before that I came here maybe once when I first arrived, for an 'escape room' type training exercise. I'm only down here now so I can have a talk with Akechi about the shit happening here. Because, oh boy, there's a lot."

Its okay! I got hit real hard w burnout anyways lol

[indifferentinferno]

He hadn't been to the Archives yet. First hand experience was his preferred way of learning, but some things weren't accessible in a physical sense. He's sure he'll end up there someday. But Anasui's diagnosis isn't promising. Here he'd been imagining the obsessively well maintained files at Rhodes Island... guess its time to give up on that thought.

Anyways. Anasui provides him with answers. "You celebrate this holiday?" He hadn't assumed Anasui was much the type, since they both seemed to be on the same page when it came to superfluous activities. Although maybe he was only doing it on request. There had been a posting for doing so after all...

He's quickly distracted by the second point, "What a coincidence. I've been planning to do the same. It only seems practical to compare experiences in a large group. I'm not hopeful it will provide answers," He felt like if there were any to be found, someone would've gotten excited about it and spread the word by now. "But it'll be useful to have a more complete picture of what information we do have."

oran tunnels

[telewarped]

At first, Shoka is a bit surprised to find that Anasui is clearly having a holly jolly time decorating. But then she remembers that she was surprised to discover his skill for sand sculpting, too, and figures that sure, this makes perfect sense for him actually.

Skittering over with her own armfuls of decorations, Shoka announces her presence by remarking with obvious amusement, "Well, someone's feeling the holiday spirit!"

[dripdrive]

"Can't help it though. It's been a long time since I celebrated the holidays outside of prison and when other people actually want to get into it, it's too infectious not to join in." Anasui's never been one to be embarrassed by his hobbies, and liking the holidays is the least weird of his interests.

He tosses his hair back and turns to look at Shoka diva behaviour, though there's a smile on his face as he does so. "I could say the same as you, Ms. Mew. Didn't think you'd be decorating. You always gave me that 'too cool for that' vibe," Anasui muses.

[telewarped]

"I'm not doing this for free, y'know," Shoka reminds him with a snort. She is getting points out of this, after all. That said, as she looks over the partially decorated tunnel awash in color and smelling of sweet pine, her voice softens. "But I guess I know what you mean... About it being infectious."

... Ugh. Did she really just admit that out loud? Embarrassing! A certain holiday-loving Deerling must be getting to her...

She tries to move on quickly.

"Not that other stuff you said, hah. Even though I've never really celebrated, actually..."

EHEM

[cedricthegreat]

As soon as he heard Noelle was looking for help, Cedric practically jumped at the chance. If anyone noticed, they could easily mock him for it - after all, he just met the Deerling, why is he so quick to please her?

His enthusiasm was promptly curbed, however, the moment he was paired with the Obnoxious Ostrich again. Ugh. He'd better not ask about the Psychic thing, he hasn't learned anything yet the time for such nonsense right now.

Instead, he's going to move forward with his beak held high and pretend he's got as much competence as if he were holding the Family Wand. For Noelle's sake, he will deal, dammit. "Just worry about yourself, Mrs. Peacock. I can see in the dark, after all."

He's already flapping off the ground as he speaks.

Helll yeee

[dripdrive]

Anasui will not notice Cedric's eagerness but he wouldn't mock Cedric for it, even if he did. Ironically, it would probably make Cedric more relatable to Anasui. Anasui knows what it's like to be utterly taken by someone (romantically or platonically) at first sight.

But Anasui does not notice. All he sees is a very irate bird, and he rolls his eyes at the response.

"Hmph. You won't need to. I can illuminate things well enough with my psychic moves - light is simple enough for me to conjure up." Anasui will toss his hair dismissively before he starts walking North. "But like I said, I'd prefer to get this done quickly."