bottlecaplogs | Noelle's Deerlightful February & March Catchall

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Thanks to all the presents she received, Noelle will be more than warm enough for this quest! She arrives with ear warmers, a scarf, and a jacket to protect her from the cold. It's a little dangerous for a Grass-type, but as a member of the Clinic and a Pokemon with Heal Pulse, she feels an obligation to go help those poor Pokemon who were trapped in the avalanche.

They find themselves heading into the storm. She can't help but feel nostalgic, despite the importance of their mission. "Does it snow where you came from?" she asks, all of a sudden.

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Any conversation before the mission is polite, distant, and stilted. Even though she's trying to change, Noelle can't help but feel awkward around Emporio. How should she feel about a strange kid who knows too much-- a kid who, by the way, Noelle blasted directly in the face with an attack last time they met?

All that goes out the window once the Hydro Pump hits him. She screams, and everything goes white.

Earlier, she had been attempting to resolve the situation as peacefully as she can. The next thing she knows, she's gasping for air, the beach is littered with fallen leaves, and nearly a dozen Luvdisc are laying unconscious in the sand.

What did she do? Oh no. No no no-- she can't spiral again. She needs to focus on him.

Running to his side, Noelle uses another Heal Pulse to try and take the edge off his wounds. (Deja vu, she thinks.) "E-Emporio, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

SINTO brought tons of strange and unique gifts, but word spreads quickly around the Spire about a gift very alien to this world: a handheld gaming console, belonging to one Noelle Holiday. By laying it carefully on the ground, she can still manage to play by very carefully manipulating the buttons and directional pad with her front hooves. Since it still has games pre-loaded into it, she doesn't even need to fumble with cartridges. If it runs out of battery, an Electric-type can charge it!

She's been willing to share, of course (though she makes sure to get her gaming fix). Blue light and chiptune music fills the low-tier communal housing in those dreary Winter days.

Maybe word gets to Eleanor and Maya; maybe they just wanted to check in on Noelle. Either way, they both find themselves watching as she explains to them how to play a turn-based RPG called Dragon Blazers II.

"... so you make a party of four heroes," she says, "each with their own talents. Like a fantasy novel, if you've ever read one. There's the knight, and the ranger, and the wizard... stuff like that. You get into battles, and everyone takes their turn attacking..."

She's fully rambling on and on.

It's honestly been a while since Dolly was asked about snow as the small Sylveon looked over to Noelle. "It did, Cheddarburg was a pretty hilly small town, so the snow we'd get was pretty decent sized. We had a pretty amazing holiday display when the season came up too in the Main Street area."

The little booties sunk into the snow a bit as Dolly followed along, the capelet keeping her warm while assisting with the rescue efforts, the ribbon feelers wrapped around like a scarf. The fear those Pokemon must have felt when the avalanche happened is something Dolly couldn't possibly imagine. Periodically Dolly would sniff a bit to see if she can pick up a scent.

Eleanor's been more than eager to listen. This sort of technology is entirely foreign to her - even by The Thinker's advanced standard for computing, that has nothing on the small handheld device. And it has pictures, that move! Like a film! And if that isn't exciting, she'd be boring. Dragon Blazers II's pixelly artstyle and bitcrushed music are perhaps the most foreign to her.

"So it's like The Hobbit?" She asks. It's her only real baseline - she's read that. SHe wasn't supposed to, but her mother is never ever going to find out.

"Really?" Noelle asks, her ears perking up. "That sounds kind of like where I came from, too. It was a fairly small town, and we usually went all out on holiday lights and stuff."

Noelle doesn't let herself forget the mission- when Dolly tries to pick up a scent, Noelle tries to do so as well- but she's intrigued by this strange Sylveon. "Cheddarburg is a pretty... cheesy name. Haha."

"It really is cheesy, right? At least it pairs well with riesling and maybe some crackers." Dolly smiles as she jokes a bit. "It used to have a prettier name though before the surprise name change, it used to be called 'Walden'."

So far with the sniffing, it's what Dolly was worried about, the snow is dulled it down. Alright, what's the next best bet to work with? "Hmm...Think we should listen for sounds coming from under the snow?"

Can someone get the number of that truck?

The battle was going fairly well all things considered, at least for a situation where he's a Ground type fighting Water Types. 'Secret Power', it turns out, is a very handy move when it comes to dealing at least some neutral damage against something he'd otherwise go down hard against.

He still doesn't understand the awkward air between them, though. Maybe it's because of the company he was used to growing up with. Maybe it's just that he's only had company beyond that since coming here, to a place where combat realistically writes so many interactions. Emporio fits in well with the locals, and he picks up a lot from them.

One of those things is how often Pokemon just brawl.

But ah, it seems he wasn't quite as careful as he thought, because one minute he hears the sound of gushing water and the next he's hearing the faint and watery sounds of Noelle's voice.

"Mnhn..." Heal Pulse has helped at least. A little, anyway.

"N...Noelle..?"

Edited (MY ICONNNN) 2026-02-17 03:37 (UTC)

Really, she just meant to check in, and maybe talk a little… But there's something about a game that just draws you in! Besides, this is the one Noelle talked about before, right? She's intrigued. "This kind of game seems to be getting pretty popular back home!" Admittedly, she hasn't played much of them herself, but Coolest has run some articles.

"Hm… in broad strokes, I'd guess? It depends on how the story goes! What part are you up to now, Noelle-chan?"

The joke gets a laugh out of her. "Um, the place I came from was just called 'Hometown', so... you had us beat on originality," she says.

Sure enough, she can't really smell any missing Pokemon, either. Noelle nods and sets herself to listening. "I know my way around, so let's start looking around the most common areas and branch out from there."

Soon, they both hear the sound of someone struggling underneath the snow. Noelle does her best to start digging them out.

She uncovers what looks kind of like a boxing glove. Just as soon as the arm connected to it is freed, it throws a punch that knocks Noelle back.

The Makuhita manages to fight its way out of the snow. Confused and upset, it seems ready to attack again.

"Yeah, it's kind of like that!" she says, nodding at Eleanor. "Old fantasy books like that directly inspired tabletop roleplaying games, which inspired the original turn-based RPGs. Isn't that cool? It's a long history of a bunch of people making stuff out of things they like."

She's glad Maya decided to stick around, too. It's good to see she didn't disappear again! And now she can share some gaming memories that aren't scary stories.

"I just got up to the point where the heroes have to find a way to beat the dragon. You think that would be the final boss, but actually, you can get the dragon on your side depending on the choices you make! I love that about these games."

Noelle feels her face getting hot. She's been rambling so much! "Umm, you can take a turn if you'd like," she says, offering the console to Eleanor and/or Maya. "So they didn't have games where you're from, Eleanor, but they did in your world, Maya?"

She lets herself breathe again. He's going to be okay. He's talking.

"Th-thank the Angel," she says, "I just saw you go flying, and I totally panicked, and I..."

Her knees are wobbly, either from exhaustion or panic. She sits down in the sand near him. "Sorry. This is all my fault. I thought I could handle this by myself. Make them see reason, you know? But it wasn't working. I wasn't thinking about how you could get hurt. I should have been protecting you."

"Hometown sounds incredibly cozy though, like a good place to sit down for a cup of hot chocolate to enjoy the cooler weather with." Dolly smiled before nodding in following Noelle's lead.

Noelle knew the area better than Dolly having not been up there as often. Plus, it was a really good idea to check the common areas and work from there. Sure enough, the sounds of something struggling to escape the snow were pretty crystal clear.

Joining in with the digging, Dolly helps Noelle out with aiding the Pokemon trapped in the snow, the moment that boxing glove looking hand came out....

"SWEET MAC LIR!" Was all Dolly could say when Noelle got punched by the very upset and confused Makuhita.

Okay, it's okay! Deep breath in....To hell with it, use the Dazzling Gleam! It was definitely better than standing there in shock.

Dolly's fur starts to sparkle up in softly shifting iridescent colors before slowly intensifying...hopefully this works....

"Computers are a relatively young technology, where I'm from." She leans in closer, still mesmerised. The fact that it's in colour is what's really impressing her. She hasn't even seen a TV in colour! So Dragon Blazers' vibrant colour palette is mesmerising. "And they're nowhere near this small. The ones I'm familiar with can take up entire rooms, or even buildings."

And they print punch cards!

But, getting the dragon on your side, huh...? And choices. Not having to kill it. Choosing mercy. That's like... him. Eleanor shakes her head, turning to Noelle when she offers the console. "Uh, so what buttons do I press?"

Thinking about it, like a long chain of people building on each other's joy… It's very encouraging!

"That sounds exciting! Having a dragon on your side sounds like a true boon."

She's happy to let Eleanor take the first turn. They're all enjoying it together, whoever has the controls! And since it's completely new to Eleanor, that seems fair. "Huh… that sounds like the computers of maybe… thirty, forty years ago? But you can get personal computers now, and even ones you can carry around with you!" Sure, they're still pretty heavy, but you can. "Right! You can go to the arcades, or you can get one at home… But a lot of those need to be hooked up to your TV. This seems a lot more convenient!"

"Mngh...it's..."

Everything hurts. The healing is definitely doing the job, but it can't fully remove the numb sting of having been blasted. "It's okay...I..."

He tries to sit up, rubbing his head. "It's not your fault. I knew about the water weakness...but I still came anyway, right?"

Unbeknownst to Emporio, this sends her on a long train of thought. Because she doesn't think it's his fault for getting hurt. Maybe he could have tried to be more cautious, but it was still the Luvdisc who ultimately attacked him. And he thought he was doing the right thing. Maybe he was-- maybe she would have gotten badly hurt if she had come alone.

Later on, she might reflect on this and have a revelation. But for now, she has to take care of him. "It's okay, Emporio, really." For what it's worth, she sounds more genuine and open towards him than she has in a while. "We'll talk more after this. Just stay behind me for now, okay?"

With that comes the matter of the remaining school of Luvdisc. After her Leaf Storm attack, she's starting to feel pretty exhausted. That gives her an idea.

Strangely, grass and flowers start to sprout from the icy sand. Her Grassy Terrain move will not only heal both her and Emporio, but also boost the power of her attacks. She fires off another Leaf Storm attack, knocking out a large number of Luvdisc.

There are a lot of what-ifs. Too many to count, perhaps. It would drive anyone to the brink, if not back, just trying to comprehend them all.

Emporio, it seems, genuinely thinks nothing of it. Perhaps because he hasn't quite associated the blow with something life threatening, or perhaps just because he's hearing a voice that feels more open than it has for a good number of weeks. It's that trust, his eyes shining, that has him nod and do exactly as Noelle says.

"Okay," he agrees, nodding. "I..." He trails off. Grassy terrain sprouts around them, and he looks around in wonder at a meadow in bloom in the snow. He watches as Noelle sends off her Leaf Storm, and with wide eyes beams. "...Woah-!! ...That's amazing..!"

Fortunately, the Dazzling Gleam makes the Makuhita stop and cover its eyes. Noelle uses the opportunity to use a Heal Pulse on it, ignoring her own aching jaw.

The wave of calm healing energy is enough to make it come to its senses. The Makuhita bows down. "Sorry. I thought you were that ice monster trying to finish me off. Thank you for saving me."

"It's okay," Noelle reassures. She's shaken off worse. "Is there a dangerous Ice-type Pokemon around here bothering you?"

Makuhita nods. "There was one... even my punches couldn't hurt it."

Noelle does her best to patiently explain which buttons to press and withholding the 'just let me do it' feeling. The best part of these old turn-based RPGs is that they don't require quick reflexes or anything, so they can be played with hooves and/or flippers... usually. Sadly, it's still easy to accidentally press the wrong thing. But the joy of gaming is enough to keep Noelle trying.

"It's kind of like if we had one of those big Dragon-types on our side... like Courier Six," she says, with a little laugh. Their daily lives are kind of like an RPG, she thinks. "Maya, did you ever play games in arcades or anything? Did you have any favorites?"

She wants to see what type of party configuration Eleanor might make if she starts her own save file. There's plenty of classic archetypes to choose from- fighter, thief, mage, priest- but also some odd choices including 'clown' and 'zombie'.

With that last attack, the Luvdisc start to scatter. She's taught them a lesson... for now. And not a moment too soon; once the last one seems to have swam off, she collapses to her knees.

"Phew!" It's like beating the dungeon boss with 0 mana remaining! "Th-thanks, haha. I don't want to fight unless I really have to, but..." She doesn't want to think too long about if any of the Luvdisc were seriously injured or even killed. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Oh! Careful..." He's not too worried, but for anyone with four legs it sure would suck to face plant...he comes over to help her up if he can, grinning under his helmet.

"Y-Yeah! I'm feeling alright at least. It makes sense not to want to fight most of the time...it's sometimes a little confusing with how much the Pokemon here build their lives around it, huh..."

They're just really into it. He's honestly pretty glad Polteageist scouted him these days...

Eleanor wouldn't object if Noelle took the system off of her and explained it to her like a child. She's never used a computer before. Any technology she has experience with is analogue, for the most part. She's seen a television, but that's as fancy as her personal experience gets. Everything else would be archaic to Maya and entirely vintage to Noelle. Tape recorders, now those are where it's at.

She doesn't want to interfere with Noelle's save, so she's made a separate one and is presently flicking through the various class choices she has. She doesn't have too much to say, really, instead more focused on reading the descriptions for each class and weighing in on the differences in stats mentally.

Noelle's Deerlightful February & March Catchall

Quest: Total Whiteout (with Dolly)

Quest: Tough Luv

The Spire's Gaming Club (with Eleanor & Maya)

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