▽ Subway Boss Emmet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
outbounds) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bottlecaplogs2025-04-18 01:30 pm
outbounds) wrote in bottlecaplogs2025-04-18 01:30 pm
a general April catch-all;
Who: Emmet and you!
What: Fun with Illusion, a question, and W, for wildcard and/or Weird Wet Wdog. If he is not Doing something at all times he will get zoomies. Please provide your local Battle Facility Head with sufficient enrichment lest the zoomies win.
When: at some point during and throughout April (+ potentially early May depending)
Where: Up and down and all around!
Warnings: will be added as necessary, though I'm not foreseeing anything in particular; currently none?
a. zoroark, what zoroark. no zoroarks detected here
What: Fun with Illusion, a question, and W, for wildcard and/or Weird Wet Wdog. If he is not Doing something at all times he will get zoomies. Please provide your local Battle Facility Head with sufficient enrichment lest the zoomies win.
When: at some point during and throughout April (+ potentially early May depending)
Where: Up and down and all around!
Warnings: will be added as necessary, though I'm not foreseeing anything in particular; currently none?
a. zoroark, what zoroark. no zoroarks detected here
i.
[ Along the curving stretches of sand down by the southernmost portions of the coast, there might be some sort of loaf or large ball of mixed dark and cream fur dozing off and taking a nap in the cozy late afternoon sun. It might look pretty familiar, actually: if anyone's seen one before (which isn't hard, given that there's one in residence over at the Oran Berry guild quarters, and especially not so for the Oran Berry members, whose nighttime accommodations mean that they've almost certainly seen a sleeping one before), then they'll recognize the curled up loafball as the ferrety, badgerlike creature that is a Typhlosion. ... Hisuian flavor.
... It might not be the best idea for a fire type to be napping this close to the water, actually, especially if it seems like the tide might be coming in soon. Maybe you should give them a nudge and tell them to relocate? ]
ii.b. what kind of pokemon are you, how do you do the things you do—
[ The definitely-a-Typhlosion-trust seems to be enjoying a nice stroll through town, wandering through and between various stalls and storefronts in what seems to be good spirits, at home in the bustling crowd, and perking up even further whenever something, whether it be a tasty looking spicy treat or a particularly well-crafted and useful seeming good, catches his attention.
To whoever might also be wandering around, and just so happened to stop by whatever stall they're both in front of at the same time as him: ]
It's nice to see all the different things on display, right? How often do you think they hold those drives?
[ A sharp, attentive eye might note a few things if they watch for long enough or are looking specifically for it: he doesn't carry himself like someone unsure of or still adjusting to being newly quadrupedal, but his movements might seem somewhat stiff and a little awkward at times nonetheless. Do his paws always make full contact with the ground when he moves? Do his teeth look just a little too sharp when glimpsed through his smile?
And do the flame collars give off faint amounts of heat even when they're not ignited? That's why there's something like a very faint heat haze clinging around the nape of his neck, no? It's a nice and warm day out, though; maybe fire-types just run warmer than other types? ]
[ Some fine day, you will probably (maybe) be minding your own business and enjoying a respite between missions if you're one of the more involved persons among them who apparently all can't stop Working or Doing, or ... maybe you're just vibing, because you're one of the few people here who apparently knows what a work-life balance is, and how to not overextend yourself into a pile of exhaustion and sore paws from trying to Help. Seriously, what is that. Or maybe you are in fact looking for something to do, restless without something to be actively working on. Regardless.c. general wildcard option + bonus
Some fine day, you might just run into him, or he might run into you, completely coincidentally, but whichever the case is, the white fox is going to greet you with a cheerful grin all the same. ]
Oh! Hello! Verrrry good timing. I wanted to ask you something!
[ Sweep. Dramatic gesture. Point. ]
You should tell me the moves you've learned here so far. The things you've figured out and the things you're still working on, yup.
[ wait which part of that is a question— ]
[ Remix any of the above as you please, or, if not:
Given the nature of the Oran Berry guild headquarters, if you're an Oran Berry member it's not hard to just run into him randomly in some odd tunnel or room at the Spire. He spends enough time in the training rooms that it's a fairly safe bet to try there first if you're looking for him and don't want to do it via Grumpearl, but he can also be found out and about doing odd jobs around the city as well as just outside it, closer to the outskirts of town whether on the edges of the forest or up and down the coast. He's certainly in and out of the forest often enough for the various foraging quests that are a constant part of life in the settlement, so even if someone's not specifically questing with him it's still fairly possible for them to come across each other that way.
Feel free to have your character bump into or find him wherever you like, but if you have questions or want to plot anything specific out you can drop by any of my PMs, DMs, or my plurk over atellipsesinaction! Timing is flexible for all of these, so truly they can more or less be happening Whenever (unexpected exploration results notwithstanding). This is also a blanket "if you want to have your character challenge/be challenged by him to a battle/spar then by all means go for it".
... Oddly enough, sometimes it's difficult to find him at all. Wonder where he goes. He might show back up dripping wet and completely soaked through, though, depending; surely he's not just out taking a swim? ]
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[He really has no idea, of course! But even if he doesn't like it much, Ingo understands why Emmet wants to master this so much; it's a great advantage that Zoroark hold. He should try to be helpful!
(He's not sure why Emmet is particularly focused on imitating Ingo in particular? But it's. Fine.)]
The first time, you were trying to become a human, were you not? Maybe that is just more difficult.
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[ Now that the moment and confusion both have passed, the odd wake-up has left him wrongfooted. It's clear it's not meant to be heard. Leaning on instinct for battle is one thing. This, though...
Emmet shakes himself out, the motion rippling through his fur and leaving it swaying in the breeze. Wouldn't it be nice if that were him. Instead he's got an abundance of jittery energy he doesn't know what to do with now. ]
I was. But, mmm. I don't know. I think it's different. It doesn't hurt when I don't get it right with anything else. Just that time.
Maybe I really am just trying too hard. It should be natural, right?
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I suppose so. Zorua can do it from when they are quite young, though I'm told that their illusions are not generally as convincing as a Zoroark's.
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[ And he flinches from Emmet, sometimes, without meaning to. He'd accused him of doing— something, when he didn't know him from any other stranger he might have come across.
(Why is he so thrown off by what occurred just now? It's silly. It's verrrrry silly. Nothing actually happened, and it's not like Ingo actually means it.) Maybe he should continue to let it be, and they both can continue to try to slowly adjust. And maybe sometimes the easiest way out is through. ]
Answer something for me? Please be honest.
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Very well?
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[ ... ]
If you had a bad run-in with Zoroark. Easy, simple fix, I thought. Just have to not act like one. Just have to stop looking like one.
At least, that's what I thought. Yup. But now, I just don't know. [ he sighs, huffing a breath as he settles back down onto the sands. ] I don't know what to do. If this current track terminates at the wrong station, there is no point in following it. So ... What do you want me to do, Ingo?
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I - you should do whatever you like, of course! It is not your problem to fix!
[He doesn't much like admitting that a problem exists at all, but...he said he would be honest. There is one, and it rests with him. He never should have allowed it to bother Emmet as well!]
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[ He is trying to keep this light. Emmet knows he's too direct at times— a lot of the time— and often ends up on the brutal side of brutal honesty if he isn't reined in, but time has forced him to try to temper himself some. Mixed results, in the end, but he's trying. ]
So ... is it the Illusion? Is it looking like you? Or was it because you could tell it wasn't real?
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...when Zoroark hunt humans, they do so by imitating someone a person knows. Someone they care for, ideally. Some of it is probably observation, and some of it is...some ghost matter of their own, perhaps. For me, though, they have always looked like - myself. I suppose it is because I first met them quite soon after my arrival in Hisui, before I had formed any significant bonds with anyone in particular. I behaved foolishly, at that time.
[It was really his own fault. It's not as though he hadn't been warned. But so soon after losing everything, even himself, the sound of someone calling his name was too much to resist. He certainly should have known there was something wrong when it looked exactly like him, though.]
But that has nothing to do with you! You should not have to restrict yourself because of any of that! Illusions are quite useful!
[He's not even all that sure, himself, whether it is the illusion or the illusion of him specifically. Probably a bit of both? It's still his own problem either way.]
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[ He manages to hold back the 'kind of does have to do with me, when it's related to what I am and what I do', but his filter isn't quite good enough for him to refrain from the question.
Which he regrets asking almost immediately after doing so. Like Ingo would know the difference, when it's a Zoroark wearing the guise of someone he doesn't actually remember in order to lure their prey into a trap. Whether it was himself as he was or Emmet, the end's the same, isn't it?
(Still... oh. That's...) ]
... If it makes you feel better. If you want me to be honest. Fair is fair and all. I already had my own feelings about Zoroark too?
[ Especially the supposed ghost of one, simultaneously clinging to what they were and yet irrevocably changed all the same.
"Are we who we think we are?" What a funny question to collectively hallucinate. Or have a psychic, or ghost, beam into their heads. Who knows. What he does, what he says, always the same. And yet. ]
So do not feel too bad, is what I would say. If I didn't know feelings weren't that easy, anyway. It isn't all because of you.
[ How he does and doesn't feel about what he is, that is. ]
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[He says a little off-handedly, like he hasn't given it much thought, because really he hasn't. He saw it; it was his own face. Who else could it have been? Ingo's attention is more on the rest of Emmet's words anyway. He turns to look at him again, at that confession.]
....you did? I thought that the Unovan ones were supposed to be...kinder. Not - not that it is the species' fault as a whole, really! I know that it is not - like that.
[There's no such thing as a Pokemon that is just uniformly, from birth, bad. That's not true of anything. Zoroark are not even the only kind that will actively hunt people! They're one of the most likely to do so, yet given their supposed history, it's difficult to entirely pin that on them. Ingo knows all of this. But...well, feelings aren't that easy.]
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[ Emmet lifts his head a little, then cocks it. ]
... Ingo? What do you think I look like? Answer freely. Guesses are okay.
[ There's a correct answer here and Emmet is realizing that ... he suspects Ingo will not quite arrive at it. His grin stretches a little wider.
(It's kind of funny. Kind of funny in the way that you'd rather laugh than think about how it hadn't crossed your mind to mention a key detail because you'd just kind of taken it as a given, for granted, for so long.) ]
Because I am starting to think there is something I forgot to mention. I will get back to the Zoroark thing in a moment. It is related, sort of.
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[Ingo's never really thought about it before! At least, not since actually meeting Emmet. Imagining new faces has never been a talent of his - he's no artist - so he really just thinks of him the way he sees him now.
But, of course he isn't really a Zoroark. Ingo thinks for a moment.]
I suppose we must have some family resemblance! That is an impression I always had - that is why I had thought we must be related, even if I was not quite sure how. But why do you ask?
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[ What a thing to overlook when you're (re)introducing yourself to your amnesiac brother. Whoops. ]
I am Emmet. One of two. Used to be, I started saying that because people couldn't tell us apart otherwise. They would always mistake me for you. Because we are identical twins. I look like you.
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[His voice is absent, gaze suddenly elsewhere. He might not have been able to call it to mind consciously, a second ago. But now that it's been brought up - yes, of course. He knew that.]
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[ Okay, that's kind of funny too. ]
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[Though Chandelure has become relevant to him, and he still can't picture it in his mind. For once, though, Ingo doesn't feel like interrogating his memory.]
I am not sure I would have concluded that, anyhow. It's rather rare, isn't it...?
[Is that why he was so focused on looking like a Typhlosion? It must be, mustn't it? It must be something important - such an unusual trait probably would end up being so, one way or another, but that makes it very clear that it's important to Emmet.]
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[ He's said that much though, right? "I favor my left. You favor your right." ]
You wouldn't have concluded it, and I didn't think to mention it. Haha. What a pair that makes us. Now I am just wondering what else I haven't thought to say.
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[Ingo does remember their opposite-handedness, but that seems like too minor a thing to be all a "mirror twin" means.]
Ah, well. I...suppose if there is anything you feel is very important...? You cannot be expected to recite my entire history!
[Ingo doesn't know what would be important to him. He doesn't feel like he even knows enough to ask.]
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Mostly for us it is just the handedness. Doesn't really matter here, anyway.
[ As everyone involved has noticed by now, they are different species. ]
Nothing specific you want me to start with? ...I don't really know what to say anyway. You used to do most of the talking for us. [ ... ] I can probably finish explaining the Zoroark thing. Not really that important but since we are already on the subject, might as well.
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[But, yes, he supposes it's irrelevant now. They aren't mirrors of each other in the least! Though, perhaps a second ago, they were...]
Well, I - yes, very well!
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Let's see. Hisuian ones hunt. Unovan ones are ... shier. Timid. Zorua are, anyway. They use illusions as protection. They will wear a disguise more often than not. Almost always unless they feel safe. [ an ear flick. ] Sometimes they will go into the cities to look for food. They may pretend to be humans when they do. This is known. The fact that Zorua do not speak when they do, also known.
[ it's all said plainly, matter of factly. ]
You used to do most of the talking. Up until I was ... seven, eight? I didn't really talk at all. With most people really but especially not to strangers.
[ so. ]
I look like a copy of you. I didn't speak. Children like to say things.
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[Yes. He sees. Of course he does; it's obvious with a little more context.]
...people probably would have said things in Hisui as well. It is far less common for them to try and sneak into human settlements, but the rest is generally true of Hisuian Zorua also.
[Often disguised, and extremely unlikely to try imitating human speech. If they do, it's usually not an excellent imitation; even Zoroark aren't especially good at it.]
...I'm sorry.
[His personal experiences with Zoroark have always seemed cruel. He just hadn't realized how particularly cruel it was towards Emmet.]
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[ Before this, anyway. It's been a constant fact of life here, though— which lends another, odd sort of perspective to the entire affair. ]
But I figured that already. [ That people would say things, that is, those things not necessarily welcoming. ] Or. Well. I thought about it, a little, at the beach. What might have happened if I had ended up in Hisui with you, back then.
I just figured I probably wouldn't have been found in the snow. But. Maybe. If they'd found you first, and then crossed tracks with me after.
I think I can guess some of what might have happened.
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[For any number of reasons! But - well, Emmet is not incorrect. Zoroark in Hisui also do not imitate human speech with particular accuracy, and it would be rather strange for one of them to use the shape of a man nobody knew. But certainly it would be a much more logical conclusion than the stranger having an identical twin out there in the Icelands, too.]