HokumPocus

The Five Senses

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While it was true that Octavio enjoyed ridiculousness and extravagance, this was too much. Even worse, the man knew his name. Confusing, considering he had given both lynx and himself dozens of fake names over the years. He felt threatened, to say the least.

Alright, so this guy’s not a scam artist or a drug addict and we’re both gonna die. he thought in a baffled tone with Lynx. Lynx continued to coldly stare at the man. I’m not sure about that second part. replied the familiar.

Octavio had planned on travelling to the inn at the center of town, but now it seemed that it probably wouldn’t have much, if anything, of value. Escaping wasn’t an option, since according to Gin their opponents had planned against that. His eyebrow twitched in irritation as he realized he’d have to follow somebody else’s orders and cooperate, two of his least favorite things.

He observed the warriors around the room and concluded them to be the honorable type, which meant that they’d probably spout platitudes of honor and bravery while acting as perfect distractions to use in case anything went too wrong during his new mission. His plans had been drastically changed, but going along with Gin’s buffoonery wasn't as bad as he initially thought it was after reviewing the situation again.

Octavio smiled. “Well, trust or no trust, none of us have a choice do we? I’ll take some candles as well, barkeep.” he said. The way he saw things, everything was to his benefit. He would be well protected from danger and have access to his original destination to boot. Lynx emerged from the sadows to simply lie down on the floor now that all of that was over with. The familiar thought of himself as the smart one of the duo, but it was okay to relax in times like this. Were they in front of royalty he would act the role of the subservient and exotic familiar, but they weren't, so he saw no problem in loosening up for just a bit.

Post-apocalypse Pokemon, now with tetanus

@Sola All of them start at their base evolution. Buizel and shroomish are 100% fine to pick, I think noibat might be a bit too much though

Post-apocalypse Pokemon, now with tetanus

The way I had originally planned the pokemon selection of this rp involved restricting everyone to a list of ten mildly diseased normal types BUT I now realize that that´s too anti-fun. You can pick any pokemon, so long as its a one or two stage evolution and isn´t a legendary obvs. (A one stage pokemon doesn´t evolve, a two stage pokemon evolves once.)

haev fun in mee are pee pls k thx

Post-apocalypse Pokemon, now with tetanus

Hector´s eyes went up and down the clipboard several times while attempting to extract something positive from everyone´s writing. These scouts are… creative! And they´re also… enthusiastic! His diehard optimism wasn´t going to let itself crumble so easily it seemed. The boy wearing a beanie seemed nice, at least.

He then turned to the young man sporting a Mohawk and scolded him. Professor Charcoal was enthusiastically telling the youth over the time he set a tropius on fire, but Hector tried to speak to him regardless, using his best attempt at mustering a "formal" voice.

“Our coalition doesn´t approve of drug use, scout. I will warn you to be wary of your behavior when visiting other towns.” His index finger pointed directly at the fun drawing of a mushroom and tapped it a few times for effect. “And be wary with your pokemon in general. This territory has a pretty lax policy regarding their treatment of animals, but the rest of the land doesn´t.” he said, narrowing his eyes at a zigzagoon nibbling his shoelaces. “Fire types, ghost types, any creature too big and intimidating should ideally be kept hidden while in other areas, due to the fear and ignorance many have of pokemon. If toxicity starts taking its toll on you, consume two refresh tablets and give your body a few minutes to absorb them properly. If someone invites you to huff parasect say no and report it to the authorities.” Hector concluded his speech and began pulling out supplies from a large bag on the floor. The bathrobed professor stepped forward in his place.

“Now it´s time.” he chortled. “Which one of you scoundrels are picking their pokemon first?” He glared with one eye at each and every one of them, another gesture he had practiced tirelessly in front of a mirror. He hoped they´d realize just how good he was at this, but he hoped even more that they didn´t so that he could get even angrier. It was clear that he intended to pair the moment up with a tense silence to ramp up their fear, but the pair of zigzagoon from earlier showed no signs of stopping their, uh, wrestling, and things got awkward fast. Professor Charcoal limped his decaying body over to where Hector had placed several pokeballs on the floor. It was uneven, so they rolled around lazily, settling down only after Hector had steadied them against a rope chew toy.

The coalition he worked for mixed pokemon bred in private farms along with donations and pokemon rescued from harm, so they were a mixed bag in the physical and mental sense. The animals would most likely be underweight, sporting the occasional health related quirk and having much duller colors than their counterparts outside of Kasparc.

No matter how many times Hector did this, it never stopped being a nerve-racking experience. He was now ready to write down any important details over the pokemon they´d soon pick to follow them on their journey. They have more experience around pokemon compared to the other areas, so this should be straightforward. A new start, it seemed, was about to come. Like the zigzagoon.

The Five Senses

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Fairies made for… interesting familiars. The right word to describe one would be… compact? They had entertaining personalities and were easy to carry around in other words. It was typical to spot many during gatherings as entertainers. The occasional trickster fairy being used for scamming was a normal occurrence for anyone who frequented these events, and so, Octavio saw the energetic fairy in a negative light. Really, a scam this obvious? Well well, this part of town must be worse off than I thought!

Lynx said nothing. He was silently trying to predict the outcome of events. Octavio was going to eventually agree to taking part in a game a little too enthusiastically and would end up bolting as soon as they tried pulling a fast one on him. Or maybe the game would be legitimate and he´d lose a chunk of his funds. Or maybe…

The big cat mulled over the thoughts in his head and was brought back to reality by his owner´s voice. “Oh, spaghetti?! How exotic! This sounds interesting, I must say.” said Octavio, a little too enthusiastically. Lynx smiled to himself. Hmph, thought as much. He got close to the humans, but not too close.

Octavio´s enthusiasm was stored for later at the mention of cults and whatnot. He entered the inn with the hopes of learning about the other, better inn, and was now aware of how dangerous it could be. Octavio had the tendency to weasel his way out of physical conflict, but if these competent looking men and women were to all conspire against this mysterious cult, well, the looting would be priceless. He was thinking too fast for Lynx to keep up with at this point.

As the reckless rogue walked towards the others the space around him distorted. Most of the inn´s patrons were frozen in place, and to the disappointment of Octavio anyone that appeared to have loot on them was unaffected. And as if things couldn´t get any stranger, a mischievous man was now talking to the ceiling and going by two separate names. Lynx walked at a brisk pace to the bottom of a table, following procedures. Octavio stared in astonishment. The man´s magic was impressive, but there was no way he could go up against every unaffected person in the building and live. So he raised an eyebrow and looked gleefuly at the disorder unfolding right in front of him.

“Well Gin, welcome to our humble inn. Using magic irresponsibly and treating wine as if it were nothing at all is such a scandalous and over the top way to introduce yourself to a crowd." said Octavio, pausing his words intentionally for his next bit. “I´m impressed!” Lynx poked his head out from underneath the table, analyzing every move the strange man made. Isn´t anybody here normal? thought the familiar.

Into the Dark Blue Under | Sola & HokumPocus

SORRY 4 DA WAIT FAM

Into the Dark Blue Under | Sola & HokumPocus

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“Nikolai.” he said, as she helped him with equipping his diving gear. He thought about the clumsiness of putting on the gear and wondered how many times they´d repeat the process, gradually becoming a monotonous task propelled by sheer muscle memory alone. Assuming we survive that long.

The sight of Natsumi wearing a rebreather reminded him of all of the training manuals that he was exposed to throughout his time as a recruit. All of the diagrams would always show typical drawings of men and women in rebreathers doing whatever the text was explaining, all in perfect form. It made him feel more professional. "So, are we ready?"

“Right, we´re both ready.” Nikolai kneeled beside Natsumi and watched the hatch open itself after a simple turn of the handle. And from this, he witnessed the bottomless ocean.

It was blue. Impossibly blue. There was no discernible end to the color. It was a powerful entity, neither human nor animal, with an incomprehensible size and depth. It had the power to take both of their lives a thousand times over without ever acknowledging it.

A small fish flittered past the circle of ocean that was visible to Nikolai, piquing his interest. A couple more followed like black streaks. Questions over how common fauna was in this planet came to his mind, buzzing with anticipation as he recognized the easiest way to get answers. The curious, thinking part of him quashed the slightly clueless and even somewhat nervous side of him from earlier. He edged closer and closer to the exit. A muffled “I´m going in.” was all that could be heard from his mask. He recalled every diving tip he was given and entered the dark blue under. (AYY).

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Hector fiddled around with some of their supplies with no real goal in mind. He already knew the ins and outs of these materials, but inspected them regardless, a mixture of old habits and keeping his hands occupied. The man organized all of their materials into neat piles on the floor after being satisfied with their findings. It was all done while displaying the same surprising dexterity as with navigating the fabricator earlier.

"So, we should probably get to searching, huh?" said Amari. “Yes, of course!”, replied Hector. He mirrored her and also picked up some diving gear, glad that both of them were on the same page. He was taller and bulkier than most, but wasn´t a freak of nature, so the odds of the gear being a poor fit for him were low. It was a worry that didn´t even come to mind to the jolly man.

He walked over to Amari and her gear. “Let me help.”, he said kindly. A regular middle aged man might have been hesitant to help a teenage girl with the task, but Hector came from an enormous family with no boundaries, and like most things, didn´t even register how it could be misinterpreted. None of the gear was difficult to wear properly, but he struggled with it initially. He was critical on the details like a fussy parent would be.

At long last, Amari was ready for the most part. She´d have to move some things around here and there to adjust for personal comfort, but the fundamentals were over with. Hector was satisfied with this and congratulated her. “Yes, like that! Good!” He had a bad habit of slapping people in the back enthusiastically a little too hard, but Amari´s gear saved her from it. For now. He settled on a peppy thumbs up.

Exalted: Lullaby of a Dying Realm

You can´t rush perfection baby!!!!

Post-apocalypse Pokemon, now with tetanus

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After exchanging polite greetings, Hector surveyed the three youths in front of him and hastily took notes on a battered clipboard. “Only three this time around, eh?” he remarked, as if they somehow knew who was going to arrive. One of them appeared to be under the effects of drugs, yet the government official shrugged it off for later. It felt dirty and wrong to ignore it, but he was in a losing battle against the mysterious old man behind the door and had to act fast if he wanted everything to go smoothly. A pang of shame struck him as he saw one of the teens sport messy, putrid clothing. Hector added up the context clues and was now aware of just who received the organic invitation. Helena and her recklessness...

“Well, I guess that´s all of you for this town, er, village. No sorry, territory.” He rested a gnarled pencil against his chin and glossed over his clipboard one more time. After the disaster, etymology had been thrown out the window and it was commonly thought that Kasparc bigwigs were determining names via spinning a giant wheel. These accusations offended them greatly, in part because they weren´t true and in part because they used dart tossing, which they insisted was far more elegant. Hector´s data currently listed Slopadelphia as “An ambitious train station.” The report went on to state several warnings over not drinking the water or coming into prolonged contact with the residents. He gulped.

“Well, names are just names. What´s important here is the great new journey all of you are going on, starting today.” said Hector nervously. Had this period of waiting continued, he would have forced all of the teenagers to engage in absolutely horrible icebreakers. Fortunately, the door swung open.

“What is all that racket going on?!” yelled professor Charcoal. He looked like a sandwich meat that had gained sentience and decided that despising all of life was the best possible course of action. He wore a soft mint bathrobe that had been gnawed at from every edge possible. When he spoke, it swayed around as if it was just as angry as he was. The old man stared long and hard at every one of the ruffians in his yard, something that he had practiced earlier in the morning. He was quite proud of his scowl and hoped that the others would recognize just how superb it was. “Well?? What are you all just standing around there for?? Aren´t you all gonna come inside???”

The professor´s house was every bit as decayed as he was. Half a dozen zigzagoon were scampering around the wooden floors, save for a pair furiously mating in a corner. A large hickory shelf stored every toy that the impish pokemon had stolen from children over the years. Professor Charcoal limped towards the far end of the house, where a bare folding table accentuated the stained yoga mat right below it. He dragged his body across the house slower than usual, taking things slow so he could savor the moment. He hated every single person that was with him right now, and yearned to let them know. If everything went according to plan, he´d even get to shake his fist at them a couple of times. It had been awhile since he had done that, he thought.

Hector neatly placed a sheet of paper and a snapped pencil on the table and cleared his throat. “Well, to start off, I want all of you to write your name down, as well as a few more tidbits about yourself. Don´t worry over what to write, the point of this activity is to have a clear example of your handwriting. If you can´t write, draw something.” He clasped his hands in satisfaction at having more or less restored order to the activity. “After that,” he added, “ you´ll decide amongst yourselves over who gets to pick their pokemon first.”

Professor Charcoal held his hands behind his back and closed his eyes in pride. “Back in my day, we just tossed a handgun in the middle and whatever happened happened.” he said, beaming. Hector chuckled nervously. “The only right way to solve a problem is peacefully, professor." Hector had a warm grin and spoke with a slight edge in his voice. He may have been just a bit nervous over the new wave of scouts and their, uh, free spirited personalities.

Post-apocalypse Pokemon, now with tetanus

Next IC post will be up tomorrow bbyz