lostcarnival | ⇨ ALOLA

Entry tags:

⇨ ALOLA

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rita had a fairly productive day at the observatory. She not only completed the challenge required for the Island Trial, but she also had the opportunity to examine some of the equipment and information there. Unsurprisingly, the stars and systems recorded didn't seem to match up with anything known to her, but it was interesting to see how powerful their telescopes were, and what sorts of images they were able to record.

By the time she leaves, it's already past sundown. She's in the process of figuring out how to get back down the mountain when she notices something (someone?) sitting on the ground. It's only when she hears Peridot speak that she fully realizes she's looking at a fellow carnival worker; one of the less human-looking ones. Rita might not stand out much with her human appearance and Alolan clothes, but those requiring glamours certainly look conspicuous to her. Especially since she's not exactly used to being around aliens yet...

Standing nearby with her arms crossed, Rita bluntly asks, "What? You getting homesick?"

It's a good thing Rita is under Peridot's supervision as a lighting tech, because she would probably not even have recognized her as a fellow carnival member otherwise.

They really need to start having meet and greets for the newcomers again.

Thank the dark for covering up the blush that creeps over her face, because she's pretty embarrassed to have one of her underlings overhear her in a moment of sentimentality. "Just... Curious! That's all. You can't help but look sometimes, you know?"

Rita finds her gaze wandering up to the sky. "Hmph... I suppose." She can't really say anything when she was just doing the same thing, essentially. Not that she's been away long enough to really miss home. It's just that she can't help but wonder where home is, in relation to here, even though that might be a question with no simple answer.

She looks back to Peridot. "How long have you been away?"

"From Earth? A little over a standard year," she says, feigning a casual shrug. "I'm not too concerned about it. Gems don't have to worry about age, and the Ringmaster insists that when we leave her realm, she puts us right back where we were before we joined. Relative to the timeline of our home dimensions, I mean."

What she's saying might be true, but it probably doesn't mean that the individuals spending a year or more couldn't still get homesick. But, whatever. It's not like Rita's here to grill people over what their feelings might or might not be. There are plenty of more important things to concern herself with, such as...

"You're a Gem?" Rita gives Peridot a long stare, her interest suddenly piqued. She heard about them before, but despite all the questions she asked then, she still didn't know what to expect.

Oh, Perdiot is definitely homesick. For Earth AND for Homeworld. She's just too stubborn to admit it, much less talk about it.

"Affirmative," Peridot says, settling back to gaze up at the night sky again. "We're an inorganic alien species. Well... Alien to you humans, anyway."

Inorganic and ageless... well, that's already a bit more specific than the information Rita already has.

"I heard a few things from a certain pipsqueak I met earlier. If I understand correctly, that gem on your head is your main body, and the rest of your physical form is made of... light?" Rita's stare doesn't let up as she continues to look over the other girl. She certainly looks solid.

"Hard light," Peridot both clarifies and confirms, nodding. "I take it you've met Steven, then?"

"Yeah. He didn't seem like he knew much about his own physiology, though," Rita replies with a shrug. She still can't imagine going so long while knowing so little about oneself. If she were in that position, she'd probably go crazy. "Or his powers. I was hoping I'd have a chance to learn something more substantial about Gems and their abilities."

"Yeah, he's a real mystery," she agrees, nodding sagely. "Though I guess to be fair, he is some kind of weird hybrid? So, the normal rules don't really apply there."

Peridot sits back up and dusts herself off. "Well," she says, beaming with confidence, "if it's answers about gems you need, you've come to the right one." A beat. Then she leans over, shielding her mouth with one hand as if one of the others might be around trying to listen in: "...Seriously though, don't bother asking Amethyst or Lapis about this stuff. Lapis isn't exactly the talkative type, and Amethyst... Amethyst would probably feed you a bunch of false information just because she would think it would be funny."

...Come to think of it, Lapis might try to do the same. One can never be sure with her.

"So there are even more of you here..." is the first thing Rita gets out of that warning. Four is probably a better sample size than she could have hoped for. "I'll keep that in mind," she adds, acknowledging the actual advice. Peridot's insistence that all other potential sources be doubted is a bit dubious in itself... but whatever. Rita supposes she'll take all their accounts with a grain of salt.

For now, she takes a seat on the ground with her and starts with a broad question. "So what sort of abilities do you have, that separates you from humans?"

"That's a little bit difficult for me to answer succinctly, considering my knowledge of human physiology isn't particularly in-depth," she says, gesturing vaguely. "Let's see.... we already went over the age thing. We don't require food, hydration, OR sleep in order to survive, unlike humans do. We get all the energy we need to function from our gems, so such practices are entirely optional."

Rita pulls a notebook and pen out of her pocket and begins taking notes. "Then... your gem is able to generate energy without itself receiving energy from outside sources? How can that be?" Would it eventually run out? Or is its capacity far greater than she imagines? Perhaps it has internal energy conversion processes similar to blastia... No, there could yet be other possibilities.

"There's some pretty complicated physics behind it," says Peridot. "It would probably take me a while to explain the specifics... Not that you wouldn't necessarily be able to understand it, but..."

But. Look, she doesn't want to write off Rita's abilities entirely? But she still sounds pretty skeptical of the idea that a human could ever comprehend such advanced metaphysical theories.

"...That's probably a topic best approached at some other point when we have more time to really delve into it," Peridot explains.

(Which is the mun's way of saying "I have my theories but I don't want to put that much headcanon into my tags".)

Edited 2017-04-20 20:18 (UTC)

"Don't underestimate me." Sensing Peridot's doubt, Rita narrows her eyes. "Physics is one of my areas of expertise."

But she might have a point about this time and place... darn it. Rita was hoping for a stronger start on her research, but she might need to be patient... "Fine. We'll go into it later, then," she concedes, reluctantly returning the notebook to her pocket.

"I mean, you can still ask me other questions if you want to," she says, desperate, and a little bit annoyed. She likes talking about herself, and bragging about gems? She hadn't meant to kill the conversation there!

Peridot pauses, and then adds: "I don't think I've ever encountered a human who was actually interested in physics before. You say you're an expert?"

"Never? Well... I guess that's not unusual for the general population. You'd probably have a different impression if you ever got to see Aspio." Despite all the friction between Rita and the other mages over the years, she still has plenty of pride in her hometown. "Anyone who wants to study magic seriously needs a proper foundation in math, physics, and chemistry. It's only natural for a mage like myself to be familiar with those fields."

"Magic isn't a thing for humans where I come from. At least, not that I'm aware of. I'm sure some of them are at least reasonably scientifically gifted? But I have yet to meet any of them." Peridot sits up a little, curling her thick tail in front of her ankles. "It's different for gems though, obviously. We're all created with a purpose. My main focus has always been gemetics, but, all peridots are naturally gifted engineers, and we're created with an expansive knowledge of numerous scientific subjects."

Gemetics? That's a term Rita's never heard before. But perhaps the most surprising tidbit in there would be...

"You're created with scientific knowledge? You don't have to learn it? And these other 'peridots' are born the same way, with the same knowledge?" Rita wasn't sure what to expect from an alien society, especially one for a non-organic species... but it still strikes her as bizarre.

"More or less. All gems are pre-programmed with the knowledge and skills required to do the jobs we're made for, so the actual specifics can vary quite a bit, even among Peridots." She beams cheekily and snickers. "Of course, we are still capable of learning things beyond that. Gems of my type are especially gifted at memorizing vast quantities of information, and I'm even smarter than your average Peridot."

"Right... if you say so," Rita responds dryly. She wonders if Peridot happened to be pre-programmed with that arrogance, too, or if that was a learned behavior. Actually... is that how Rita sounds to other people sometimes? Nah... can't be.

"It sounds like gems are manufactured, in a sense, rather than... born," she surmises, though she's uncertain about the terminology she's using. With a furrowed brow, she goes on to ask, "How are gems made?" She's hesitant to ask, knowing that for humans, it's not something one would normally discuss so casually. But for an inorganic species, she assumes it's different... though knowing that doesn't completely stop her from feeling awkward about it.

She’s right in that the topic doesn’t seem to bother Peridot in the slightest. In fact, her face lights up a bit, and there’s a certain renewed perkiness in the way she’s holding herself. “You have just touched on my favorite topic! Kindergartening.” She grins, making a broad hand gesture as she says the name. “Growing gems, as well as general kindergarten maintenance, was my primary function back on Homeworld. It’s a fascinating process. It all starts with gathering the proper mineral components and locating a facet of the planet that will be conducive to growing the sort of gem you’re looking to create.”

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⇨ ALOLA

hokulani observatory

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Sorry I was out of town for a few days!

no worries!

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