[closed] may quest round-up + other closed prompt(s)

[outbounds]

Who: Emmet and ... I am not listing out everyone he's questing with! and others.
What: Cry for Kelp, Scattered Bug, and the get-along sweater (may or may not feature an actual sweater. or: Oran (?) does an intervention) for now
When: May, At Some Point,
Where: Various (Coast, Northern Forest, Spire at current)
Warnings: Animal/Pokemon death, the general implications of the food chain, Teenagers™

cry for kelp (for conrad, ring-spirit, laios, shoka)

[ Tangela was said to have disappeared somewhere along the coast, so that's where they'll go. the coast, though, is ... a pretty long strip of land, all things considered.

... honestly, it's probably best if they just start at one end of the bay and work their way to the other until they pick up on Tangela's trail? ]

The coast is a lot of ground to cover. Could be anywhere along the cliffs or the beach. Or below it, even.

Think most of us can move pretty quickly if we need to though. [ it's ... probably just Conrad who wouldn't? ] Or if we can't, then we can just couple ourselves to someone who can.

[ if you're here for tangela rescue, please tag in under the subheader for it! no real enforced tag order, we'll treat it like a general mingle open for threadjacks i think, is probably the best way to do it when there's five of us and they are presumably going to tackle it in slightly separate ways up and down the beach because imagine corralling that many of us into a strict tagging order. couldn't be me. ]

scattered bug (for siffrin)

[ the northern end of the forest is the part of it that Emmet has the least amount of personal experience with, as he wasn't on any of the previous trips to explore and map it out, but he's been paying attention to the chatter over the grumpearls. ... and maybe certain other sources that might be prone to talking about it in shared public spaces, but that's neither here nor there. regardless, in the end, he suspects he knows the kind of general thing to expect.

dark, overgrown. mushrooms and strange plants everywhere. vines that will probably try to tangle you up and trap you and who knows what else. the kind of forest that will eat you, straight out of the stories and movies. agitated grass types all over, apparently, and those are definitely a type you'd have to be careful around for all the different ways to incapacitate or otherwise inflict status they have access to. an odd growth, a heart, that probably indicates the work of some sort of experienced, firmly entrenched grass type ... or just a powerful one.

(life energy into the ground, a twisted mass of bark and vines in one clearing ... an insistent sense of familiarity in another. hmm.)

all in all, a great (?) place to work out restless energy and put it towards something productive, disregarding the various tendencies of the other ends of the woods. that's what brings Emmet and Siffrin both out here after meeting at the questboard, at least. probably. ]

... Have you been through this part of the forest before?

[ they have some of dr. denne's medication for the spores, of course, but. just to make sure they're both on the same page? ]

the get-along sweater (for akechi, shoka, ingo)

[ Akechi and Shoka are fighting. or something like it, anyway. all of Oran's probably noticed by now, not just their motley group of offworlders and newbies to the guild, mostly on account of Akechi's continued and quite literal case of ruffled feathers and the fact that the space they're all sharing isn't exactly that big or that private. it's been several weeks and yet the Rookidee has not seemed to simmer down in the least. the Mimikyu doesn't always help, either, even if she honestly isn't acting that different from usual.

(mostly. a.b.a's absence ... probably weighs heavier on some of them than others, huh.)

anyway, it's well into the evening one night when two of the resident ghosts of the group receive a visitor. one bearing... a package (???) of some sort?

"Hey," says the Umbreon through a mouthful of cloth, punctuated with a yawn as they drop it. the Moonlight Pokemon's gaze is somehow no less piercing for it. "You two are some of the new arrivals, right? Or, well, not the newest batch, sure, but you all showed up in that storm a while back?" ]

I am Emmet. We did, yes?

[ the Umbreon nods, before rolling the swaddled fabric in their direction. it wiggles (wait. nope, that's definitely Struggle) as Emmet approaches it with realization dawning on him. "Right, so. Do something about them, will you?" a roll of their eyes as they jerk their head sharply to indicate the bundle, which is... now shaking indignantly? before they start to walk back off. "Before they go and get themselves hurt, or something."

congratulations, Akechi and Shoka, you have apparently discovered what baby jail looks like here. also minor congratulations to Ren for dodging it by way of not constantly riling up the other two in earshot of some of the higher ranked members of the guild. ]

Comments

cry for kelp

[outbounds]

[ just to keep us in one place for organizational purposes ]

[conradachenleck]

Yeeeaah, this could take awhile.

[Conrad tries to not sound too grumpy, as he did sign up for this. But there is a lot of coastal territory. It'd be helpful if they had a more specific, smaller area they could search.]

... Wait. What do you mean couple ourselves?

[He's sort of had his fill of riding on other Pokémon, if that's what he means... But then he knows he is not fast. He wouldn't want to hold up the group, even if he doesn't want anyone else to carry him around or anything.]

[improvking]

Of course, if we move too fast, we also risk missing possible clues...

[ The Ring-Spirit trails off as Emmet mentions that most of them are capable of increased speed... Hm. He eyes Conrad more closely and just a little too thoughtfully. Hmmm. ]

So... you think it's possible to drag a passenger around via Shadow Sneak?

[ Because that's the only method for Mimikyu like him and Shoka to keep up with bigger pokemon like Emmet and the newbie - at least that the Ring-Spirit's aware of. ]

...Should we test it?

[telewarped]

Hell yes we should! It'll be a riot.

[Truthfully, Shoka can be surprisingly agile and quick when she wants to be... But right now she's also eyeing Conrad a little too closely and thoughtfully, just to mess with him a little.]

[dunchies]

[ At this point, Laios knows better than to mess with one Mimikyu, let alone two. He's oddly quiet, but he's very much giving the Jigglypuff a look.

Conrad. Buddy. Listen. Maybe piggybacking on one of the dog things might not be such a bad idea after all. ]

[outbounds]

I meant riding along with me or Laios if it was needed. [ He's just going to address this now before the Mimikyu get too eager to bully something for funzies. ] Might not be, though. Actually.

Since you— [ meaning Conrad, ] —should be able to float. You might be able to see some things better than us. Can you? We can all spread out and signal the others if we spot something. [ Beat. ] Maybe go in pairs actually since we don't know what happened to Tangela.

[conradachenleck]

[He makes a huffy disgruntled sound as everyone is looking at him and his ears twitch when Emmet brings up the notion of floating.]

Uhm. I can, sorta, I'm just not that great at it. [Because he has a real fear of heights. Floating very high isn't something he's tried before.] But... I can give it a shot, I guess.

[He turns away from everyone, as he really doesn't like being watched, and he takes a deep breath. He does a fine job of puffing up and begins to float, but he only gets about six feet off the ground when the wind catches him and he starts to drift higher.]

... Uh-ugh! [Yeah, he seems to be in a bit of distress.]

[improvking]

[ The Ring-Spirit ignores Conrad's obvious discomfort and just continues to watch with interest. Well, would you look at that - he wasn't aware some pokemon could just. act like balloons if they wished... but then the wind kicks in. That could be a problem... ]

Hm. Don't suppose anyone brought a rope? If he blows away we'll just be another rescue mission that ends in needing a new rescue mission... I think Tangela was already looking for someone else as things stand.

[telewarped]

Oh, wow. There he goes.

[... And there he keeps going. Up, up, and away.]

... Oh, wow. See you, space cowboy. [Not terribly worried for his safety (yet; at least he's just gone straight up rather than out to sea), she snickers. At the very least, by her standards, it's a restrained sort of snickering. Don't suppose anyone brought a rope? asks the Ring-Spirit.] Not me. But no worries—I've got backup.

[She grasps her tail-stick in her claws and holds it at the ready, its narrower end pointed up in Conrad's direction—like a dart, or maybe a harpoon. Does she mean to pop him?!]

scattered bug time! :>

[loopsiedaisy]

[Siffrin is already bristling slightly - not fully poofed up like a scared cat, but with the fur down their spine standing out in little clumped spikes. Honestly, though, they've been that way to at least some degree since as far back as the questboard. At any given moment their tail's either practically dragging behind them or lashing furiously, too. They haven't aimed any of Whatever All That Is at Emmet, but...]

[They just generally seem very ruffled this month! (You know. As opposed to unruffled.)]

[After a little break where they weren't talking as they walked over, it takes them a long moment to parse Emmet's words and scrape together a response.]

...yeah. Not as far as I've been into the middle section, but I've run into the spores here.

[They had a fun little misadventure with Firoza!]

[outbounds]

[ apparently it is now Also Drizzling permanently here since the rain is not letting up after the 10th, and presumably Siffrin has not shown back up to do quests before then. so. upset wet cat vibes intensify. ]

Then you know what to expect and what to avoid.

[ on the one hand, the rain probably means the spores aren't being scattered too far from their point of origin by wind or anything. on the other ... wet and muddy conditions. not fun to deal with at the best of times and probably doubly not so when you're both electric and a cat.

he'll set a decent pace, accounting for siffrin's shorter limbs hopefully without being patronizing. ]

... We will try to be in and out quickly. Still should be careful though.

[ goodness knows Emmet's going to look ridiculous if they're out here long enough for him to get soaked through. ]

[loopsiedaisy]

[It's true... they are at maximum scrungle. Despite that and the mud, Siffrin trots along at a pretty good clip, and has no compunctions about speeding up to a run for a few lengths if that's what it takes to keep up. Emmet might not have to slow down as much as he'd think.]

[The tradeoff, of course, is that the slick ground below is occasionally making one of their feet slip out from under them. They haven't actually fallen yet, just grimly used their other three legs to stabilize and kept going, but it might be only a matter of time... or maybe not? They've recovered from some pretty big slips.]

[After a moment they seem to realize that they should respond. They nod.]

[Focus, Siffrin. Be present.]

...who's carrying silver powder out in all this, anyway? [They don't meant the rain so much as... the darkness, the overpowering scent of decaying plants, the spores... just. Why would you.]

[outbounds]

Vivillon, apparently.

[ Who even knows why, especially with the amount of times this quest seems to have shown up on the board? He's a little reminded of the search for Phantump a month or two ago, and the oddities involved there, actually.

Emmet does glance over his shoulder to check on Siffrin every so often to make sure the Shinx hasn't tripped over a root or fallen behind or something (those slips are looking a little concerning...), his own gait more or less maintained at a steady trot and only slowing to a slightly more leisurely if still somewhat brisk amble if the smaller Pokemon does fall behind somehow. There's no reason or need to push their engines too hard just getting there, considering they still have to bring it back and also don't entirely know what they will or won't run into on the way. Safety is the first and foremost concern; injuring themselves slipping on slickened earth is not planned for in the itinerary today.

Also, rushing too much means probably missing it. While the rain hasn't gotten to him too badly yet, Emmet attempts to scent the air a little as they trot through the woods together, and ... Wow! Petrichor! Moss! Neat. Useless. ]

Keep an eye out? Silver Powder should be prrrretty shiny. Meanwhile. The spores are... orange?

Should be hard to mix up with each other, at least.

[loopsiedaisy]

[Right. "Orange." A thing that they can definitely see and detect, like a normal person who isn't totally colorblind,]

[On the bright(?) side, it means Shoka hasn't spread that around... but is there actually a reason to care, or are they only doing it out of habit? (Hiding that they're missing so many things that make someone a person?) It feels like the latter.]

[It's fine. They can handle it. "Shiny" should be easy enough to pick out.]

[They nod:] I'm looking. [For that, and while they're not in deep yet - for spore-aggravated Pokemon. They scan from side to side, having to turn their head much further to the left to cover for their bad eye.]

Did the quest say if it's in a container? Otherwise we might be bringing back a lot of mud with it...

[outbounds]

It did not. Usually it is wrapped up in a cloth or sachet. But if it is lost in these woods then I do not know if it will still be that way when we find it.

[ Especially in these conditions. He's a little leery of it himself, but historically, the worst of the fog has been in the central region, with some in the south, so northern... should be relatively okay.

In and out, quick and simple. Search and... not rescue, just retrieve.

Emmet keeps an eye on the higher boughs of any bushes or foliage they pass by; Vivillon are flying Pokemon, after all. It would be just their luck for them to scan the ground exhaustively and miss that it was sitting in the crook of a tree branch somewhere.

At least the rain today isn't excessively heavy. ]

[loopsiedaisy]

[Not too heavy... yet. :)]

[But for now, they're left (relatively) safely drizzled on. Siffrin keeps on splashing through the mud, shaking one of their paws out when the fur gets especially water- and dirt-logged.]

[Still no shiny things - aside from light reflecting off water, which draws their eye enough times that they start flicking their tail in annoyance. Or satchels. Eventually, though, there are... what Siffrin initially parses as just tiny potholes, but shortly after registers as footprints. Oval shaped, weirdly toe-less, but definitely footprints. (A lot of Pokemon are weirdly toe-less.)]

[They slow down and lean down to sniff at a clump of them. Still mostly smells like mud and decaying plants. Helpful! But maybe it smells of decaying plants even more than before...?]

...grass types? [They mutter aloud.]

[Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to be around here now.]

[outbounds]

[ Yet!

Though Emmet's already noticing his thoughts being a little more prone to wandering, if he doesn't focus, but right now he is, so it's fine probably. They're here for one specific thing so that is what they're going to do.

Though when Siffrin's attention is caught by the footprints Emmet slows down to take a closer look too ... and twitches his nose. Ergh. Grass types probably, with a secondary of some sort. Decaying, a little sweet. Poison? Doesn't narrow it down much, there are a decent number of grass types with poison secondaries. But it is something to watch out for. ]

Probably. No defined root structure in the footprints though. Means it is probably not Bellsprout, at least.

[ With his attention this close to the ground, though, the gleam of water on wet earth out of the corner of his eye looks just a bit off, somewhere a little further away. It takes a moment to figure out what exactly he was seeing and why, but in one of the puddles there's a faint scattering of shining grains that reflects light independently of the puddle they're in. Spillage, probably; there's nowhere near enough to be any real portion of the bag or sachet or whatever Vivillon might have had it in, but it's something. ]

This way probably?

sweater...

[truthdecided]

[The thrashing only intensifies, with pecking and little talons kicking at the sweater, and that's not all.]

Damn it! This is extremely unnecessary!

[telewarped]

[The other prisoner of baby jail is less eloquent, hissing and snarling like a wild animal as she tries to tear at the material keeping them both hostage with frantic swipes of her claws. To her credit, however, she's somehow managed to avoid clawing Akechi in the process.]

Get—off'a me!

[outbounds]

[ oh, this'll be fun, huh. let's see, Shoka, have you learned anything to hit him that isn't Wood Hammer yet? which is to say, firmly but gently he's going to place a paw atop the bundle to try to get them to settle down a little.

(honestly, it might be easier to get free if they weren't both thrashing so wildly and getting even more tangled up in it.) ]

Obviously not. Since the other guild members are getting involved now.

[ "What he said," follows up Umbreon from somewhere down the tunnel. "Be glad it isn't Mightyena!"

to which Emmet just gives an ear flick because sure, okay, but what,,, exactly, did you expect them to do with this, ]

[truthdecided]

[Those feathers are puffing up even more, which is likely all the more awkward for poor Shoka, given the tight quarters.]

This wouldn't be a problem if Shoka-san would stop lording what happened in the Northern Forest over us!

[Yes. That's what this is about.]

[telewarped]

[Unfortunately, the sudden weight placed atop the bundle only prompts Shoka to growl and struggle more fiercely, as if she's fully expecting that weight to increase and crush her at any moment—but the sound of Emmet's voice at least gives her pause.]

E-Emmet? Get us outta here!

[Then Akechi squawks something directly into her ear. Lording over—? Is that why she's currently stuck in sweater hell?]

What the hell are you talking about?!

[outbounds]

[ oh, little Detective Rookidee. Emmet just glances at Ingo for a moment like do you see this, are you hearing what Umbreon basically dumped on our doorstep. the weight of his paw on the bundle lessens but doesn't pull away entirely. ]

Okay. So you admit there is a problem. [ that's a first step. even if the way Akechi's seeing it is a little,,, ] If I detangle the two of you. Will you remain at this station and attempt to resolve it?

[ mostly aimed at Akechi, but also, this is a trick question. only one answer will be accepted here. ]

[offtracks]

[Ingo peers down at the bundle, frown a tiny bit deeper than usual. He wasn't really aware that these two even had an issue with each other. What on earth happened?]

You are guildmates! You must be able to cooperate, at the very least!

[truthdecided]

[Akechi grumbles. Curse Ingo being so much larger. Why did Akechi have to be so small? Why can't he just evolve already?

Of course, this is a difficult situation. His arm's been twisted, metaphorically speaking.

Deep breaths. Composure is important here.]

It would be far easier to cooperate if Ren and I didn't get reminded of our failings! We should have succeeded! We had a personal stake in that mission! And then she was the only one unaffected by the Effect Spore during our last mission in the Northern Forest!

[Which hardly helped!]