Noelle's Deerlightful February & March Catchall

[holidaygirl1225]

Who: Noelle & Dolly, Emporio, Eleanor, Maya, Kinger, others to be added
What: Quests (Total Whiteout, Tough Luv), and the first meeting of the prospective gaming club?
Where: Icefall Lake, the coast, the Spire
When: February through March
Warnings: Violence (canon-typical, including battling, and maybe beyond), others TBA

Comments

[holidaygirl1225]

As much as she reasonably knows she doesn't "gotta hand it" to daytime!Kinger, maybe there is some type of triangular anomaly on the map. Coordinates lining up, for example... it would be just like a real life version of that one anime.

"... Bottlecap Bay is here," she says, pointing with a hoof. She traces a straight line to the outpost, Death Blood Murder Skull Town. "And here's, uh, Skull Town. Logically any third point could form a triangle, but maybe there's something in particular at points that would form a perfect equilateral?"

The two most likely spots then are in the middle of the Northern Forest (aka, the Sporest's Troop) or the Southern Forest (the Hallowed Cemetree). Those spots have been well-documented, so she doesn't think there would be anything that hasn't been discovered before...

... but the initial explorers weren't looking specifically for triangles there. Maybe they can find something new.

"The Northern Forest has the Forest's Heart in it." As far as she's heard, it's a weird tree that pumps some kind of energy into the air. People who have gotten close have reported their hearts matching the rhythm. Very anomalous, but not necessarily a triangle. "The Southern Forest has... lots of ghosts."

She imagines Gastly, but as a pyramid instead of a sphere.

[0dchess]

"An EKG is a bunch of triangles?" Kinger suggests. "Ooh! Or a ghost in a sheet is like a round triangle."

Either way, the forest is dark! Dark sounds nice. Those triangles aren't ready for this decisive duo! ...Now which way to go?

[holidaygirl1225]

Noelle considers her options. Kinger already has enough trouble keeping a grip on things-- no need to add ghost tricks and hallucinations on top. Northern Forest sounds promising, and she's never seen this 'Forest's Heart'. Plus, with the thick canopy, they won't have to go out too late!

"Alright! The Sportest's Troop..." She stops speaking mid-sentence. Who named it that? "Uh, the Northern Forest it is! We'll just have to keep an eye out for Bug-types, though most are probably hiding from the snow."

She decides to start packing right away.

[0dchess]

"Ooh, I'd love to keep an eye out!" Kinger says, already starting to walk north. "Bugs are great! Did you know there's not really a consistent definition of what a 'bug' is? Any arthropod could be a bug!"

Kinger doesn't know exactly where he's going, but: BUGS! He continues infodumping to a Noelle who he assumes is following him.

[holidaygirl1225]

"Wait up!" She comes running after him a few minutes later, her hastily-packed satchel spilling a few miscellaneous berries out. She definitely didn't hear most of his infodump.

Once she's caught up, she does have questions. She imagines that the more they get under the forest's canopy, the better luck she'll have getting answers. "Did you study bugs or something like that? You sound really fond of them for a Grass-type."

[0dchess]

"Oh, I've picked up some things here and there," Kinger answers vaguely. "Do you think we'll find some triangular bugs?"

Kinger continues pace towards the canopy. He wants to be in the dark as much as Noelle wants him to, but in the meantime his brain is nothing but distractions.

[holidaygirl1225]

"Some kinds of beetles are sort of triangular..." But she doesn't know if that extends to Pokemon. "Maybe a particularly-shaped spider web?"

Soon, the shade of the canopy is upon them. She can see in the dark just fine thanks to her crepuscular nature. And Kinger is... well, a mushroom that can glow, so he's probably fine.

"I just didn't know if there were any bugs in a digital world besides, well, ones in code."

[0dchess]

Kinger's eyes contract quickly as they enter the canopy, and everything starts to seem a little bit clearer.

"Caine, our ringmaster, usually put in some insects when he made a digital space." Kinger wonders if Caine did that because he knew he liked them. Caine is usually much less subtle than that when trying to impress humans, though. "My wife was the one who was really into entomology though, everything I know I learned from her."

[holidaygirl1225]

'Digital space'... that's right, he said he was from a world like that. She also remembers him mentioning his wife in regards to saying goodbye to her spirit during that festival, back when he helped save her life.

It's funny how she owes a lot to Kinger already, but still doesn't really know him that well. Now that they're in the shadows- and not in the middle of a crowded party- maybe she can try to correct that. "You said you were from a digital world run by this, umm... omnipotent ringmaster? Who made adventures so you wouldn't go crazy? I can only imagine what that must have been like..."

light implied TDAC episode 8 spoilers?

[0dchess]

"Yeah. Caine's job was to entertain us, but he didn't really understand humans enough to do it right all the time."

Caine really did try, but he wasn't programmed for... all of that. He was being asked to do things that weren't really what he was meant to do, but being told that that was his purpose. Being torn in so many directions... no wonder he didn't want to take suggestions after all that, they were never suggestions for one clear thing.

"As for going crazy, that's sort of right. When we got to the point where we couldn't take it anymore, our minds just broke and we Abstracted into giant monsters."

[holidaygirl1225]

Sometimes Noelle thinks she didn't actually understand humans- people in general- either. She's gathered that the ringmaster must not have been a biological being, though-- maybe the computer they were trapped in or some extension of it? Kinger seems to feel bad for this 'Caine', despite everything.

"Not like the monsters we are now, I take it," she says, softly. "That's... really horrible. I'm so sorry. I'm... glad that didn't happen to you."

[0dchess]

"Me too. I still hope that someday I can help them." Kinger says wistfully, then changes the subject. "Anyway, we've got to look for those triangles, and the Forest's Heart seems like a good place to start!"

Kinger isn't as confident in his EKG idea now that he's thinking clearly, but his brain has been trained by carefully crafted adventures, and Caine would absolutely put the goal somewhere like that.

[holidaygirl1225]

She has more questions, but he's ready to move on, so she'll do the same. She hopes she can help the people she left behind eventually, too.

"... I wonder if this world does have any bugs that aren't, like, at least rat-sized," she muses, as they pass by a Caterpie. "Could there be, like, Poke-microorganisms?"