⇨ ALOLA

[ringleaders]

Who: EVERYONE.
When: Day 73 - Day 87
Where: The islands of Alola.
What: The Carnival arrives at its next touring location, a series of tropical islands inhabited by a species of animal called Pokemon and their trainers!
Warnings: Pokemon is pretty PG-rated.

IT'S A POKEMON WORLD↴ Alola is broken up into four different islands, with a number of unique points of interest. Boats can easily be rented in order to get between the islands, or you can just pay for the fair of a scheduled trip. If you can prove you have the skills for it, you can also call on a "Ride Pokemon" - that is, either a Charizard or a Lapras that will fly or swim you between locations. ► POPULATION: Though the islands appear very small as an abstraction in the actual games, that doesn't hold over into the actual reality of it. When interacting with the different locations, imagine that they are about as big and spread out as they would be in real life. It's about on the same scale as Hawaii is on earth. Ignore any wikis that say the population of each island is like 200 people, because that's just adding up all the scripted NPCs, and there are realistically more than six houses per town. ► AMENITIES: Even if they aren't overtly listed on island maps, it can be assumed that all towns and cities will have basic amenities - that is, places to eat, place to go to the washroom, places to buy souvenirs, and the other things one would expect in a tourist heavy area. You can also buy malasadas pretty much anywhere. ► POKECENTERS: You'll be able to find a Pokecenter in pretty much every town - a Pokecenter is a public building in which Pokemon Trainers can rest and get their Pokemon healed. Think of it like free international Pokemon healthcare. You can also buy Pokeballs here, as well as potions and other healing items for later use. ► AETHER FOUNDATION: A peace keeping organization that shelters Pokemon from harm and abuse. If you kill/maim any Pokemon or otherwise act violently in public, they will come to try to take you down with their Pokemon. They also are the main force working against Team Skull. MELEMELE ISLAND↴ [MELEMELE DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU KOKO] [WIKI LINK] ► TRAINER SCHOOL: A full fledged for young, aspiring Pokemon Trainers! Students go here to learn about Pokemon care and battling before setting out on their own journeys. It would be sort of weird for an adult to show up here, like it would for an adult to try to attend an elementary school, but you can probably learn some of the basics just from touring the facility. ► HAU'OLI SHOPPING DISTRICT: The biggest shopping district on Melemele, you can do a lot here, from eating out to getting your hair dyed. A lot of shops are, unsurprisingly, completely Pokemon focused - but there are some that aren't, too. There are also some very nice beach fronts nearby. ► BERRY FIELDS: Berries come in a lot of different types and have different effects when used. Mostly, Pokemon love to eat them, regardless of what type they are. This is a big field of them, most of which are free to take if you catch them when ripe. ► TEN CARAT HILL: The secluded interior of a small mountain, filled with some rare types of rock Pokemon. You have to be able to bypass the left overs of some recent rockslides to get in. ► TRIAL SITE: There is only one trial on this islands, which is the Normal type trial. All you have to do is fight a bunch of Pokemon ferrets, and then fight an even bigger Pokemon ferret that thirsts for your blood. It's not so bad. AKALA ISLAND↴ [AKALA DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU LELE] [WIKI LINK] ► TIDE SONG HOTEL: A big ass hotel near the port - if you want to stay on Alola overnight, this is a pretty good place to go. It isn't too expensive, and is also rather nice. ► DIMENSIONAL RESEARCH LAB: Alola, on occasion, has been the site of various dimensional breaks (haha) in which extraplanar creatures called Ultra Beasts have crossed over. There isn't much information about these beasts, but they are something that are being actively studied. Characters who are nerds might find some of this information interesting. ► HANO GRAND RESORT: The inevitably big, fancy resort that tends to take route in touristy places like this. If you actually pay to spend some time there, you can enjoy all the things you'd expect to find in a fancy resort, except with way more Pokemon. There is also a fancy, secluded beach for resort goers only. ► BATTLE ROYALE DOME: A battle area in which 4 trainers fight each other all at once, with teams of there Pokemon. The trainers here are mostly quite expert, and you need a team of three Pokemon to play, so player characters probably won't be able to participate. However, you can still come to watch, if you like seeing a bunch of colourful monsters slapping each other around. ► PANIOLA RANCH: A large ranch that keeps a lot of Pokemon that resemble earth farm animals. You can leave Pokemon here to stay for a while if you need a break from the strains of trainer life. Quite often, however, your Pokemon will end up getting knocked up and leave you with another egg to care for. ► TRIAL SITES: Brooklet Hill is a lake filled area that contains the Water Trial. You have to fight a bunch of schooling Wishiwashi, and then an even bigger schooling Wishiwashi to win. Wela Volcano Park contains the Fire Trial, where you must climb to the top of the dormant volcano, and spot the difference between a series of ceremonial island dances. Then you gotta fight a team of Marrowaks and a giant Salazzle. The Lush Jungle contains the Grass challenge, in which you have to find a series of rare organic ingredients in order to brew something that will lure out a giant Lurantis. ULA'ULA ISLAND↴ [ULA'ULA DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU BULU] [WIKI LINK] ► MALIE GARDEN: A nice big garden to hang out in and chill. Also, there are Pokemon there... and also, Pokemon battles? There's really no end to it. ► MOUNT HOKULANI OBSERVATORY: Up at the top of the local mountain, you can go see a space observatory. Like most things in Alola, it's like a regular observatory, except with more Pokemon, since some Pokemon just straight up come from space. You can take a bus up here, but you can also hike if you want. ► HAINA DESERT: A shitty desert in the middle of the island. Mostly only good for if you want the kinds of Pokemon that live in shitty deserts. ► ABANDONED THRIFTY MEGAMART: A Megamart, but haunted. Extremely haunted, filled with the kind of ghost Pokemon that would actually kill you. You have to take a bunch of pictures of ghosts on your way through here if you want to beat the Ghost Trial. ► PO TOWN: The ramshackle remains of the town that Team Skull have taken over. It's completely walled off from the rest of the world, and is pretty terrible. No point in going in there unless you're fighting crime, in which case you can expect to get challenged to Pokemon battles by a lot of Team Skull knuckleheads. ► LAKE OF THE MOON: A huge, round temple thing in the middle of nowhere. It's used to praise a legendary Pokemon that existed years ago, but there presently doesn't seem to be anything around except cool architecture. ► TRIAL SITES: The Observatory contains the Electric Challenge, during which you have to fend off various kinds of electric grubs, before eventually taking on a giant Vikavolt. The Abandoned Megamart must first be cleared before challenging the Ghost Trial officially, at which point you will have to defeat a powerful Mimikyu. PONI ISLAND↴ [PONI DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU FINI] [WIKI LINK] ► SEAFOLK VILLAGE: A village made of nothing but houseboats and other water fairing homes. It's the only major town on Poni Island. ► ANCIENT RUINS: Most of Poni Island has been reduced to ruins, over time. Not many people live here, relative to the other islands, but there are a lot of abandoned buildings from when they apparently used to. ► VAST PONI CANYONS: Most of the island is comprised of canyons, caves, and valleys filled with particularly strong Pokemon, and also a lot of fight-hungry Pokemon trainers. Most of them will want to fight you as soon as they see you, since they are there mostly to train, but they will back down if you tell them you're not a trainer. Though, at that point they will strongly urge you to go home, because it's too danger for anything other than the strongest trainers. ► ALTAR OF THE SUN: A matching altar to the one found on Ula'ula, except this time dedicated to a legendary Pokemon of the sun. If you play some magic flutes here at the right time then apparently a giant lion might show up, but there's no way to be sure. ► TRIAL SITES: The only Trial here is the Grand Trial, which is a fight against the leader's ground type Pokemon. You may also get lucky and have the Fairy Trial's kahuna deign to fight you, with her fairy types, if she randomly wanders into your path. Both of them are very strong, and are not advised to challenge for new trainers.

Comments

Jamie, OTA

[raynos]

A: I wanna be the very best (Day 73 - closed to Yamato)
Hello, newcomer to trailer #28. If you assume that the dwelling is unoccupied, well, that's understandable, given that the half that's actually lived in is so meticulously kept up and devoid of personal effects that it's indistinguishable from the other half. There also...doesn't appear to be anyone here?

Probably because the door is open and letting in horrible, wholesome sunshine, so Jamie is pressed into whatever corner he can find that isn't exposed to the light. "Hey, could you maybe shut the door? Please?"

Vampires, man. Have fun with your new roommate, Yamato.

B: Like no one ever was (Melemele Island, Day 73 - night)
Anyone strolling by the vicinity of Verdant Cavern on this fine evening might find Jamie being followed by an eyeless blue bat that squeaks and chirps at him constantly, ignoring his attempts to wave it off. Jamie is becoming increasingly flustered.

"What does it even want?!" he demands of the nearest person, gesturing at it with a longsuffering look.

C: To catch them is my real test (Days 74-79)
Going out during the day in his current state means covering up pretty much head to toe, which explains why Jamie can typically be seen wearing long pants, a hat, gloves, and a coat or sweatshirt as he prowls the city, still trying to keep to the shadows. It's not as though he can get overheated and die of heatstroke, after all, and at worst the residents of the area give him curious looks for his choice of attire. Nighttime is a little better, as he can forego the extra layers and stroll around wherever he pleases, dressed almost like a normal person.

Transports to the other islands in the archipelago run, accommodatingly, day and night. They're finite in number just like any other resource, though, and other travelers might find themselves approached Jamie and his Zubat, eyeing up that last private boat.

"Where're you headed? I'll split the fare with you."

D: To train them is my cause (Day 80-87)
Performance week starts off fairly dramatically as one of the midway rides breaks down with a gout of ugly black smoke and a shower of sparks. Thankfully no one is hurt, but it's a big mess that needs fixing, so a good chunk of the week finds Jamie meticulously poring over the guts of the machine, which are spread out over part of the back lot for a thorough inspection.

The components are amazing, from an engineering standpoint, wrought of metals he's never seen before and assembled in ways he never would have imagined. It had all fascinated him when he first arrived here, even delighted him, but now it's just...it's whatever. A thing he has to do for one more day of a term of service he might not even live to see the end of. He's grown pretty fatalistic in the past week or so.

But there's nothing to be done for it other than keep his head down and do his job. Jamie's Zubat is with him more often than not, burrowed into the hood of his sweatshirt during the day and flitting about catching bugs by night, screeching inquisitively at anyone who wanders by. Jamie's a little less friendly.

"Watch your step," he sighs, looking up from the schematics spread out in front of him - and this might be aided by a subtle mental nudge imploring the target to halt before they scatter the machine components underfoot. "I've got those pieces lined up that way for a reason."

E: Wildcard!

B for bats

[sunflowerfields]

"Well, it seems to me that it likes you!" Hinawa lets out a small laugh. "Lucky you, you've already made a new friend."

[raynos]

"Likes me?" Jamie repeats, as though he can't imagine such a thing. "I didn't even do anything, why would it like me?"

He looks from Hinawa to the bat creature, which cheeps at him again. "I thought you were supposed to throw one of those ball things at 'em if you wanted one of these guys. Do you really think it'll keep following me around if I haven't tamed it, or whatever?"

[sunflowerfields]

"If you didn't feed it, and you didn't throw one of those odd little balls," Hinawa ponders aloud. "It must be because it can tell you're trustworthy! Animals know that by instinct, you know."

[raynos]

"You think so?" Jamie says uncertainly; he doesn't feel like the kind of person anything can trust right now. The bat-creature seems oblivious to his doubt, fluttering tirelessly around him and uttering high-pitched squeaks to get his attention.

Jamie peers at Hinawa. "Haven't you found one that likes you yet?" he asks, because if one of these animals can trust Jamie then someone as nice as Hinawa should have an entire entourage.

[sunflowerfields]

"I know so," Hinawa nods. "Your little friend looks just like the family dog when he followed my boys home!"

Although, the boys had definitely fed Boney, which was part of his decision to adopt their family.

"Oh, I've shared a snack with a few little creatures here and there, but none of them seem as adoring as this little guy!" She's not quite an Actual Disney Princess, it seems.

[raynos]

Friend? Well, the thing seems pretty attached, anyway. "It has been following me around for a while now," he concedes. "I guess it's not hurting anything to let it hang around until it finds something better to do.

"Were you planning on finding one of these, y'know, to keep? We could look around for one for you, if you want."

vampires, man

[walkonedge]

For someone who's used to living with his dad in an organised mess of an apartment, this particular trailer that he's been dropped off in front of is waaaay too pristine and well kept. Hopefully this new roommate of his doesn't mind too much about Yamato's own organised messes building up on his side of the trailer for the remainder of this year and a day stay here.

Said roommate is currently pressed against a corner, and at first, he doesn't think it's anything strange when Jamie asks him to shut the trailer door. It's a perfectly reasonable request, right? "Uh, hey, I'm your new roommate? Nice to meet you."

Of course, the Ringmaster's made a passing, vague reference to vampires sometime when he was in her office, before he was dropped off at his trailer. And despite taking a couple of minutes to notice that it's not only the door but also every single window that has its curtains drawn to keep out the sunlight does he start to realise that maybe she hadn't been kidding about the vampires.

[raynos]

"Uhhh, yeah. You too." Once the door is shut Jamie relaxes a little, easing out of his corner while trying to pretend nothing out of the ordinary is going on here.

His ears twitch uncertainly as he regards the other teen; seeing a normal, unaltered human makes him suddenly self-conscious about his fae changes, and he has no idea how he should explain the whole vampire thing. "Sorry about the thing with the door, I...have a condition," he manages lamely, and gestures at the windows. "If you wanna open the curtains, go ahead. I know it's kinda...dark and depressing in here."

At least he has a little self-awareness about living in a dark, sunless hole.

[walkonedge]

If it helps, the trailer is currently dark enough that while there's enough ambient light filtering through the windows to walk around without crashing into things, it's still dark enough that Yamato still hasn't realised the extent of the fae changes yet.

It's one of the reasons why he isn't freaking out just yet.

"You sure?" Kid sounds young. Probably about Takeru's age, sounding by the tone of voice. Yamato manages to make his way over to the couch and pulls the curtain aside - just a little bit to let in some more light in, but hopefully not enough to cause as much discomfort as the open door did.

"This okay?" he asks. He's also strongly suspecting about the vampire thing right now - this whole aversion to sunlight thing is almost a kind of dead giveaway.

[raynos]

get out of here with your vampire puns Yamato

The light from the window isn't cutting as large a swath through the trailer as it was from the door, nor is it threatening to strike Jamie directly, so he's much more at ease than he was when Yamato first came in.

"That's fine. As long as it's not directly on me, I can handle it." He nods, watching his new roommate to gauge his reactions; he wants to stay on good terms with the guy as much as possible, if they're going to be sharing a living space.

"Uh - I'm Jamie, by the way. Nice to meet you." Mmmmaybe he can forestall any awkwardness with basic social niceties.

[walkonedge]

Being assigned a vampire for a roommate isn't what he was expecting, in all honesty. He's more than a little cautious when it comes to vampires (bad prior experience. nothing against Jamie personally, evidently). And well, up till now, Jamie hasn't tried to attack him yet, and talking to him doesn't seem to feel like Yamato talking to someone evil, so Yamato will most likely give him at least a little benefit of the doubt.

He appreciates the effort, so really, the only courteous and probably decent thing to do is probably to at least play along with dodging the massive elephant in the middle of the room that is Jamie's current state of vampirism. "Yamato. Nice to meet you, too. So, uh. What do you do?"

Okay, so it may or may not be a liiiiitle bit awkward, still, at the very least, he's not being antagonistic or anything like that.

[raynos]

Being decent is all Jamie asks for, honestly. And in the event he loses his mind again and tries to eat his new roommate, he both expects and preemptively forgives Yamato beating the crap out of him.

"I'm a mechanic. I help keep the machines around here running and fix 'em when they break down. What about, where'd you end up?"

D

[fragileandsoft]

"Well, at least it doesn't look like we're gonna need replacements." They rarely do--these things are well constructed enough that even when they fall apart (i.e. often) repairs aren't too costly. Which is a relief, because where the heck would they even buy this kind of stuff?

Greg wipes off some of the mechanical grease onto his shorts and heaves a sigh. "But it's a bad game of Tetris. Or maybe Battleship, with all that carnage."

[raynos]

There's a soft peeping sound from behind Jamie's shoulders, and his pet Zubat pokes its head up out of his shirt's hood, trilling sleepily in Greg's direction.

"Tetris?" Jamie scrunches up his face in confusion for a moment before shrugging it off. "Well, it's a mess, anyway. But you're right, I think the only stuff that needs swapped out we've got spares of already - just some washers and this belt." He points to the parts in question. "That flywheel's starting to look a little rough, though. What do you think?"

[fragileandsoft]

Jamie's Zubat gets a little scratch between the ears. Chikorita's quickly proven to be more of a distraction than anything while working, so Greg tasked him with guarding the trailer during work hours. Still, everything seems a bit livelier with the new pokemon everywhere.

"Mm, good catch. Ahh... it's probably all right, but better safe than sorry." He gives Jamie a gentle nudge with his elbow. "We'll be in hot water if the same one breaks down twice, after all."

[raynos]

The Zubat titters contentedly at the attention, but seems disinclined to move from its nest. Jamie gives it a passingly fond look over his shoulder; it's not exactly useful, but it generally doesn't hurt anything either, so it's easy enough to keep around while he's working.

At the nudge, he huffs a dispirited laugh. "Yeah, probably. Hate to see what the Ringmaster'd do if she actually had a reason to punish us." He doesn't mean to sound so utterly defeated, but it slips through anyway and he knows it. Hurriedly, he tries to change the subject.

"Anyway, I'm guessing all these springs are about ready to be replaced and the shoes could use a good cleaning," he goes on, gesturing at the flywheel. "And it could...probably use a new planetary gear, maybe? Though we'd have to get one of those from somewhere. And then the whole thing's gonna have to be rebalanced."

He leans back, looking up to Greg. "Could take a while to finish. Good thing I don't exactly...sleep. Much." It's true, being a vampire provides the unexpected benefit of granting him extra time to work that he normally would waste sleeping. Clearly this was the Ringmaster's plan all along.

D, around D86

[spaghettimonster]

"Oh, you're still in the middle of this! I thought somebody left a mess up here," Papyrus stops obediently enough, whether because of the mental pressure or his own unwillingness to mess up somebody's puzzle. He leans forward to look at them schematics instead.

Cubone's following him around, still admiring the carnival and all the weird people in it. In the spirit of helping the janitor out, it's got a trashbag along; loosely tied around its shoulders in a cape. Beats carrying it.

[raynos]

"It'd be kind of a big mess to just leave lying around," Jamie comments, looking between Papyrus and his little animal companion - he hasn't yet seen one like Cubone. The Zubat cheeps at them both, hanging upside-down from a nearby tree branch.

Jamie recognizes, from the voice if nothing else, that Papyrus is one of the people he attacked during the celebration; the skeleton seems as chipper as ever, but Jamie figures he needs to say something, anyway. "Hey, um...sorry for, y'know. Trying to kill you during that party thing, before."

It's an awkward apology, but it's difficult not to be awkward about this sort of thing.

[spaghettimonster]

"Huh?" Papyrus squints at Jamie's face for a moment before recognition sets in. Right, right, the shadowy corner. And the moment he realized that maybe that worried announcement had something to it after all.

"Oh, don't worry about it! Apology accepted, forgiveness long since given. I'm sure you weren't in your right mind. That was really going around, with the mind control..."

[raynos]

Jamie smiles a little tentatively. "Y...eah, guess a lot of people were having kind of a rough time with that. Looks like you made it out in one piece, anyway."

He returns his gaze to the project laid out of in front of him, not really focusing on it but finding a sort of solace in the way the components are arrayed, nice and orderly. "How've you been doing, since then? Everything's kinda back to business as usual, I guess, but that was pretty...messed up."

c

[atouts]

This traveler, in particular, will be found bargaining down the price of that last boat. Childermass isn't lacking in money — apparently, trainers cough up cash for losing easily enough here — but he'll always be disinclined to pay full price for just about anything. Of course, then Jamie shows up and offers to split the fare.

The boat's owner immediately tries to push the price back up to full at that, which earns both the owner and Jamie a reproachful look. More so the captain, though, than Jamie.

"We'll split it," he says, pinning the man with the boat with a look cold enough to make him cringe back some. "At the lower price. It's a calm night and you aren't like to get any other customers at this hour." Then to Jamie, who he turns to look at again, "Just to the island across from this one. I take it that's where you're aiming for as well?"

C

[pullingamiko]

Unsurprisingly, Miko has found it a whole lot easier to go out during the night for the same reason Jamie has - and, fortunately, the little purple rabbit-thing that's started following her around doesn't seem to mind, though it does mean she ends up carrying it around a lot.

"I wanna check out Ula'Ula, so, sure, if that works for you!" She adjusts her hold on the Whismur in her arms, and it makes a quiet squeak but doesn't wake itself up.