bottlecaplogs | [OPEN] Dreams & Ghosts

Who: Mayaka & you !

What: 2 open prompts (reviewing dreams from last month + attempting to get over her fear of ghosts) and wildcard option

Where: Around Bottlecay Bay + Skull Town

When: Beginning of Feb

Warnings: none atm

a. dream review

Perhaps you're passing through the Archives, or the living hall in Skull Town when you spot a Sneasel sitting at a table furiously scrawling out various drawings on paper. Mayaka's gloves have been set aside neatly beside her for now, because she finds it easier to hold onto the charcoal pencils using her bare claws. She's experienced some weird dreams from last month. Though she doesn't remember the exact details, she's been dutifully drawing out the images that lingered in her mind upon waking up. Now, it's time to try to make sense of them. On the table you'll find the following drawings:

1. What appears to be a spaceship, though Mayaka's drawn it to look more like a truck with four wheels underneath.

2. A primordial-looking fish creature. She has given it a pair of cute, anime-sized eyes to make it look more approachable.

3. A black cat with an extra pair of eyes on its stomach. More cat-like than Mimikyu at this point.

4. The drawing she's currently working on, and struggling to capture. She's trying to remember what the alien beings in the final big nightmare looked like, though the large and erratic shapes on paper may not look recognisable to anyone. Mayaka is finding it difficult because she doesn't have an image in mind to associate with what she saw in the nightmare.

She's too caught up with this to notice if someone were to approach...

b. how to deal with ghosts

If you're wandering around Bottlecap Bay, you'll find Mayaka outside her house in the Lum Berry housing area, rooted on the spot.

Her attention is focused on a small clay sculpture she's placed in the garden of her front porch. It's a little handmade ghost figurine with a hairbow on its head. While it might look strangely cute, the more you look at it, the more you'll notice that it's two eyes seem to be gazing directly at you with an unblinking Stare™.

This is the ghost that's been chasing her in her dreams, but she's too scared to get rid of it! (Also, the fact that it was a gift to her from Catrina doesn't help!)

The Sneasel is shaking a little, and it's not from the cold weather. She's standing a safe distance away from the figurine, muttering to herself: "It's just a doll... it's just a dolll..."

(Dolls are creepy too, though??)

c. wildcard!
for any other threads or ideas that come up!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Roza-chan...! That's a new one!!]

Ah, alright, thank you.

[Oddly enough, the Nidoran doesn't seem terribly bothered by the cold - it's not an innate trait of the species, just an innate trait of Firoza.]

Mine can come from the horn on my head and barbs on my body...wherever they are specifically. I try to be careful not to bump into others, just in case.

[Mayaka leads Firoza through the front door, into the humble sitting room of the townhouse. She leaves the Nidoran's side for a moment to quickly close the door of her room so that her pink study desk and manga drafts are out of sight.

The fireplace is already lit, so the Sneasel just needs to busy herself with putting some tea leaves and water into a pot.]

That's a lot of keep track of, [Mayaka says as she places the pot over the fire to boil. She thought she'd had it bad, having to pay attention to her claws.]

Have you ever poisoned someone before?

[If the pink and the manga catch Firoza's attention before Mayaka closes the door, she doesn't show it. She probably would be kindly curious rather than judgmental, but still. They have a topic and need to stay on it.]

...On accident, yes. [Sorry, Siffrin.] And in battle, on purpose - or at least, attempts were made. If I'm to fight, I would rather not try to do that, but it's a tool I happen to have, and if push comes to shove...

[She's got to protect herself and others. If her opponent falls ill from her poison in the process, so be it.]

I've done that before too! [She's relieved, and perhaps a bit too eager, to know that someone else has gone through the same as her. Poison-type solidarity!]

But I'm not much of a fighter. Before this I was... I am a high school student. It's weird that fighting is such a big deal here. And I know I need to be able to defend myself and help others. Ume-kun is helping me with some training, but I haven't figured out how to control my poison yet.

Mm...I wouldn't say I can control it either - I just try to keep it to myself. But when you're in battle, using it feels natural. It's hard to explain.

[Ability: Poison Point]

Is a high school different from a normal school? Is it...[No, she wouldn't know the Studium, but what's a good comparison?] Is it similar to some sort of academy?

[Oh, Firoza doesn't have high school where she's from? Perhaps the education system is structured differently, since academies still exist.]

It's the school you attend after you graduate middle school. Which is usually for those aged fifteen to eighteen. We focus a lot on studying subjects like language, science and math. There's no Pokemon or monsters, so fighting isn't needed or necessary, except if you join a martial arts club in school. [Mayaka explains, trying to be as thorough as possible.] ... Or well, if you're in a gang, [she says with a disapproving tone, remembering that Umemiya admitted to being involved in such fights because his school has lots of delinquents.

Seeing that the tea is ready, Mayaka gets up and pours it into a ceramic cups for both of them to drink from. She places the tea in front of Firoza.]

I'm sure you had to go to school too, right? To learn how to read and write, and about the world.

My mother taught me to read and write enough to get by. And arithmetic, too. Enough to mind my funds properly, at least.

[Enough to know that she definitely goes near broke on new materials for weaving...and will admit to it, 'tis an honest flaw.]

Schools...in many parts of where I'm from, it is reserved for the wealthy. In others, schooling is integrated into daily life, and in yet others it is the foundation of their society. I think there was a makeshift sort of school I could've gone to, but it was a far trip from my childhood home...other reasons aside.

[She's gonna sip that tea, closing her eyes as she makes a pleased hum. It's good!]

[OPEN] Dreams & Ghosts

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

fyi im going on hiatus for a bit! ok to wrap / handwave the rest of this

Yeah no problem! Sorry I'm tagging back late.......that's on me orz