bottlecaplogs | 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

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.
[ 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? ]

b. what kind of pokemon are you, how do you do the things you do—

[ 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.

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— ]

c. general wildcard option + bonus

[ 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 at ellipsesinaction! 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? ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just checking something. Because yep. I did forget. Silly of me but it is what it is.

[ 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.

....identical?! That can...no...no, that can happen, can't it. I think I did know that...

[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.]

... You forgot that it could happen until it became relevant to you.

[ Okay, that's kind of funny too. ]

I suppose that's sort of what happens with the Pokemon I've forgotten, too.

[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.]

Pretty rare, yep. Something like ... three or four for every thousand births? Sounds about right. Mirror twins even rarer, since they are only a portion of those three or four.

[ 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.

Mirror twins?

[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.]

Mirror twins. Means we're identical but flipped. So you get one with say, a freckle on the right cheek and the other with one on the left. Hair parts to the left for one, the opposite direction for the other. That sort of thing. Not that big a deal.

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.

Oh...goodness, how strange!

[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!

[ Strange, huh. ]

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.

Ah.

[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.]

It's okay. I just hadn't been reminded about it for a while. That's all.

[ 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.

...yes, it's for the best that you did not.

[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.]

[ Not even the slightest attempt to deny it, huh. ]

Anyway. ... It is only Pokemon here. And we do not look alike anymore.

[ 'Right now?' 'Anymore?' ]

So maybe there might be superstitions still. But they are not the same. So ... it shouldn't matter. Not outside of how it affects other people, anyway.

No, I do not see why it should!

[The other new arrivals wouldn't know of any superstitions about Zoroark, anyway. Nobody needs to go and tell them. Ingo's not sure how things like that might stand among the local Pokemon, but...well, it hasn't seemed to be a problem thus far.

...he would have noticed if it had been, right?

Either way, they don't look alike anymore. It seems like a problem that could have been easily solved by different haircuts or something, back when they were human. So - maybe it wasn't fully a problem?]

Did you...prefer looking alike?

a general April catch-all;

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