ALOLA SCOUTING CATCH-ALL

[fortuneglass]

Who: The Nightrunning Crew!
When: Day 73
Where: ALOLA
What: Scouts doing SCOUTS STUFF and Mercs ALSO DOING SCOUTS STUFF maybe catching pokemon maybe getting clothes WHO KNOWS
WARNINGS: People being Dumb

Alola, the scouts will notice initially, is fairly warm-but fairly diverse all the same. Everyone is equipped with their handy-dandy radio, which is good considering the chances that everyone arrived on separate islands.

Those landing at Poni Island find it largely uninhabited, aside from one lonely property and a dock filled with houseboats. The pokemon here are wild and untamed, and among some of the strongest in the region-and scouts will find massive canyons and equally large trees, that some can even walk on.

Mele-Mele Island on the other hand, while small, has more sizable a population. There's one city, and plenty to do, and the scouts becoming familiar with pokemon will observe that those in the wild here are good for anyone 'starting out'-the labs here as well might supply tourists with pokedexes even just as a temporary measure, so that's handy.

The third of the four islands meanwhile, Ula'Ula, is home to the highest peak in the entire region...as well as a desert. There's a lot more people living here, though scouts venturing far enough north are going to come across the town that Team Skull took over, which might be a good idea to warn others of. It's one thing to dismiss Team Skull as a threat, it's another to just waltz into their home base. There's also a local bus that will take visitors up to the Hokulani Observatory, up on Mt. Hokulani.

Lastly, the most populous of the four islands, Akala Island has hotels, a natural park, an impressive mall...scouts can probably take at least a brief moment to get themselves to blend in more with some local clothing while here, especially while in one of the two cities. Konikoni in particular seems to be selling numerous items relating to pokemon in one way or another, so it's a must-see!

Though really, scouts should probably try to focus on what's relevant to the Carnival, right..?

[[OOC - This is a mingle log; players of scouts can assume they can be anywhere among the islands given how easy it is to travel between them, or just radio out-and beyond that everyone is free to come up with their own ridiculous scouting scenario! Just try not to alola yourself out, we still have the main event after all.]]

Comments

[whattaprick]

We could cut it open and find out.

[ Why is that your answer to everything, Lambert. Like Strange, he's embraced the Alolan aesthetic, but maybe a little too much so, looking entirely comfortable in the tacky floral shorts and skull-patterned tank top he's wearing. Off to the side, the Mudbray he's acquired to help him get around the place is looking discontent. It's funny, because with the glamors on, it occurs to him it's really the first time he's seen Strange as he probably looked like before coming to the Carnival. ]

[kingsroads]

Be my guest, [ Strange dryly responds as he takes a step away from Exeggutor. He knows Lambert is probably suggesting cutting it open just to be a shit. But there is no way on God's green earth he's going to attempt to cut open the GIANT THIRTY FIVE FOOT TALL DEATH TREE, you're on your own with that one, buddy. ]

I'll distract the creature when it inevitably tries to stomp on you.

[whattaprick]

[ Given he doesn't even have his sword on him right now, at least not visibly (where would he even hide it with how little he's wearing, honestly) Lambert is very much being a shit. He does, however, have the Atlantean dagger tucked for easy access into the waistband of his shorts, just in case... though it's been mostly used for clearing vines and the like when he's pointedly ignoring the CLEARLY MARKED PATHS through the jungle, because fuck the road travelled and all that. ]

I think Pig could handle it. [ Pig being: the Mudbray that's starting to paw at the soft ground, looking like it'd quite like to start another mud puddle to roll in. Also, Lambert is dead fucking wrong because he didn't study his Pokedex and knows ass-all about type weaknesses, so it's a good thing they're not accidentally provoking the thing or they'd be in for a bad time. ]

[kingsroads]

[ Strange turns around to look back at Pig. The fact that Lambert seems to have adopted a donkey will be a conversation for another time, one that will probably involve teasing because look at that doofy looking donkey. Strange, who also knows fuck-all about type weaknesses, is giving the fight to Exeggutor based on the fact that have we mentioned how huge it is yet, it's pretty huge, Strange is still having trouble grasping the 'really fricken huge' concept. ]

I doubt it cares that much about your donkey. Look at how high up it's eyes are! Unless Pig attacked it, I don't think it would even notice us in the first place.

[ he might not know about type weaknesses, but Strange has bugged enough people to grasp the concept of Pokemon battles. Fantasy cockfighting with donkeys and trees, can they go back to Atlantis now please? ]

[whattaprick]

[ Pig is the derpiest looking animal Lambert has ever seen, but at least in this case he has a solid basis for his confidence in its abilities. He's got the bruises under his shirt to prove it. In any case, Strange is wrong about at least one thing. ]

Those aren't the only eyes its got.

[ He points. And sure enough, on the tail, a slightly more immature fruit(???) than its fellows is staring avidly at Strange and Lambert. It's not doing much of anything or displaying much reaction to their presence, but even as the beast stomps around and sends the tail waving, it seems to track where they are ...

Stare. Staaare. ( ❛ ε ❛✿) ]

[kingsroads]

[ this is fucking awfuuuuuul.

Strange just stares at the fruit for a while. It has a tail. And the tail has a head? And the head on the tail is staring at them and making an expression that's duckface but Strange is from the 1810s so he doesn't know what duckface is so it's just immensely unsettling again, can they go back to Atlantis please, he understood Atlantis, merpeople (kind of) made sense, nothing about Exeggutor makes any sense to begin with.

So he just continues to stare at Exeggutor's ass, resigning himself to the fact that this world is going to be weirder than he thought. Is this supposed to be a vacation, all of these creatures are various shades of stupid looking or terrifying. ]

I have no idea how I'm going to describe this...thing in my report.

[ He knows that Mari's gone, what with Strange not being able to find her via creepy magic as well as the noticeable lack of her cackling egomania. But there's no need to shake up routine, he's definitely writing a report no matter what, even if that report is just a series of question marks and an attempt at drawing the terrifying tree beast. ]

[whattaprick]

Call it "freaky long-necked tree monster thing" and that should do it. Are you still writing those?

[ Lambert asks the question with apparent genuine curiosity, cocking his head at Strange. As weird and wonderful as the local fauna is, that's enough to distract him from contemplating the wisdom of bothering the animal just to see if the heads come off or if they're actually organically attached... ]

She's gone, you know. Even the Ringmaster doesn't know where she is right now.

[ Or at the very least, he could deduce that much from the conversation they'd had. A conversation that's ... actually, he's been doing a good job not thinking about it up 'til now. Damn, so much for his master evasion strategy. ]

[kingsroads]

I know, [ Strange remarks, with a little frown. ] I haven't been able to find her with my scrying. As it only works in one realm at a time...

[ He trails off. As it only works in one realm at a time, this either means that Mari's dead or she's still trapped in the vampire world. And for her sake? As terrible as it is, a part of Strange hopes it's the former option. ] I must admit that I'm writing the notes for myself more so than the job. I thought that when I returned home, I would publish a book about my experiences in faerie.

[ The past tense is for a reason, as is the hint of uncertainty in Strange's voice. Now, Strange isn't entirely sure if he'll publish the book in the first place. It was simpler when he thought his wife was dead. After all, bringing someone back from the dead was easy, he had done a crude version of it before. But rescuing someone from faerie? He had only a slight idea of how to do that, one plan that he'd be staking so much on when he enacted it in a few days time. If that were to fail, he honestly had no idea how he could save Arabella in the first place but he would work and try his hardest to find a different plan. The book would be set to the side. ]

[whattaprick]

Did you know her well?

[ Because Lambert hadn't, really. The few interaction they'd had certainly left an impression, but ... it's nothing like knowing a person. And that might be uncharacteristic hesitation in his voice as well, quickly banished when Strange continues. ]

Even if you wrote a book about this, nobody'd ever believe it. [ And he's almost certain he'll regret saying, but-- ] Sounds like you changed your mind.

[kingsroads]

Not entirely, [ he admits. With a small little smile, Strange continues talking. ] I'm afraid I drove the poor woman batty. We met when I was at the peak of my madness. She was attempting to blend in with regards to the Matrix, I didn't see the need to do so. We fought about that and it all spiraled downwards from there.

[ It was a godawful first impression and it didn't really get much better from that. Strange and Mari talked some, but not a ton. Truth be told, he had always been closer to Joker, his other supervisor, instead of her.

As for the other question, Strange is about to rebut that of course they'd believe it, plenty of people went to faerie back when magic was around, why the Raven King even blah blah blah. But Lambert's second statement pegs him more than he realizes. ] I suppose I have. Things have changed back home, to the point where I don't know if I'll have any time to write the book or not. I'd like to, of course, I simply don't know if I'll have the time.

[whattaprick]

You mean you were crazier than you are now?

[ Lambert's joking. Mostly. Honestly, if Strange was genuinely insane, he does a good job of hiding it, but maybe he's not the best judge of that kind of thing. Regardless, even if they're watching a gigantic tree wave its butt head at them idly, the way Strange speaks ...

... makes Lambert wish he had a drink. So naturally, he'll make a joke of things: ]

Maybe you should get Childermass to write it instead, then.

[kingsroads]

[ Strange can't help but laugh at that, an honest sort of good-natured laugh. Crazier than he was now, hoo boy is he a bit glad that Lambert missed out on those first few weeks when he was certifiably bugfuck insane. ]

Other members of the carnival can serve as a witness: I was awful when I first arrived. [ Accidentally summoning carnival members to his trailer, not knowing the concept of blending in, setting Childermass on fire that one time, even Strange will admit he was a nightmare. ] I'm still mad, of course, but the madness has lessened and I've grown accustomed to it, [ Strange explains, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. It's not as bad as it was when he first arrived—there's certainly less extreme mood swings even if that pineapple loathing somehow still sticks. But even Strange himself can spot the differences in his personality between now and pre-madness. ]

And no, I'm afraid it must be me. If anyone's to take the book seriously, I need to write it myself, not Childermass. [ Partly because of the whole class thing, partly because Strange already has a book under his belt, partly because people would be more likely to believe that the eccentric and flighty magician managed to travel to faerie than the manservant of the stoic, stuffy, boring magician. ]

[whattaprick]

Madness isn't usually temporary. [ Is what Lambert will offer, with a wry laugh. ] Do I want to know what happened?

[ Probably not, but knowing Strange's penchant to talk about everything nobody wants to hear, he's probably in for an earful, regardless. It'd be weird if he actually didn't get into too much excruciating detail, for once. Though the easy way he dismisses Childermass like that makes him quirk a brow. ]

Why wouldn't people take it seriously? Seems like he knows enough about magic as you do. [ If magical knowledge was measured in minutes it took to bore Lambert out of his skull, they're about evenly matched. ]

[kingsroads]

An old woman gave me a vessel of her madness, [ Strange remarks, as if it's the most logical thing in the world. ] I brewed it down into a tincture that I could easily mix with a drink to lessen the effects of the madness—if I swallowed the vessel whole, I surely would have gone mad beyond the point of no return. The tincture helped modulate the effects, keeping me saner than I was.

[ There's a LOT of details missing: what was the vessel, how did he get it from the old woman, why was he making himself mad in the first place, but Strange just relays his story in the most matter-of-fact tone. Now it's time to talk classism, as Lambert's question just causes Strange to frown. This is another thing that he'll relate in a matter-of-fact tone because the English social order and class system is just a part of Strange's life back home. Yes, it kind of sucks, now that he's comparing it to other worlds. But it is what it is. ]

In some aspects, Childermass probably knows more about magic than I. [ After all, Childermass had access to Norrell's books at Hurtfew, texts that Strange had never gotten a hold of in the first place. Granted, he could only grasp scraps of that information those books contained, but scraps were so much more than Strange got in the first place. ] But he's Norrell's manservant and I own an estate. Given the choice, London society would believe the word of a gentleman over someone from the lower classes.

[ It's just stated in a matter of fact tone. Classism's a thing and it really sucks! ]

[whattaprick]

[ It's not the bit about the madness that pulls Lambert up short, but the way Strange phrases that last bit. Because yeah, he knew from all the gentleman talk and general out of touch behavior that Strange was some kind of a noble ponce, but it rubs him the wrong way to actually hear it. ]

'The lower classes,' huh? [ Childermass hadn't described himself in such terms, but he'd seemed to take that state of affairs for granted just as much as Strange is right now. Lambert's not sure why that whole idea kind of pisses him off. Maybe it's something about the thought of never being recognized for your value, no matter how hard you work at it or how much you actually do that nobody cares about. ]

That mean you don't think of him as a magician either?

[ It's always been two magicians this, Norrell that. ]

[kingsroads]

[ There's a pause as Strange finds a way to best describe this. Because of course Childermass is a magician. But at the same time, he isn't. It's a whole bundle of class elements and as well as the fact that, a few times excepted, Childermass isn't the sort to do magic in the first place, not the way that Strange and Norrell do. They make horses out of horse sand, create sea beacons, try to cure madness. Childermass doesn't. Childermass lurks.

...but then again, Strange fucked off to Venice to experiment with madness. If he used those terms, could he really call himself a magician now either? What used to be so set in stone now remarkably isn't. ]

He can do magic but I wouldn't call him a magician, [ is what Strange eventually settles on. ] Just as I'm certain there are other people in London who can do magic but aren't magicians.

[ After all, he first got the idea of becoming a magician in his head when John Segundus interrupted his dream. The other man might not be a practical magician but now that the years have past, now that Strange can look back on it with all he's learned, Mister Segundus certainly could do magic. ]

I'm sure that if he so choosed, Childermass could become a magician. However, I'm not quite sure he'd want to do that.

[ At least for London society, being a magician involved more than doing magic. Besides, the idea of Childermass showing off and dealing with government officials in the same way that Strange and Norrell did was laughable. ]

[whattaprick]

[ Lambert has his own mental summary for that: 'Magic Bullshit,' a.k.a. it's going directly into the pile of things he knows and wishes he didn't, because it's taking up valuable brain space that could probably used for something more directly useful to, say, preserving his life.

Strange's explanation of the magician situation is dissastisfying, though he can't pinpoint why. It's not like Lambert has a personal investment in the matter, nor has he cared very much about mages and their politics before -- in fact, the less they involve themselves in politics, all the better. Sorcerors and sorceresses with the attention of the king tend to mean bad news for everyone else. And it's not so different in his own world, really -- a pellar or a druid or a priestess wouldn't call themselves a magician, but they're no less capable of calling that power down.

As ever, though, just because Lambert can't justify why he feels something doesn't mean he won't find a way to express it as sarcasm. ]

With a reception like that? [ He sneers, looking away. ] Can't imagine why he wouldn't.

[ Sure, on some level can acknowledge that it's not like Strange is personally responsible for ever foible of English magic, and it sure as hell isn't true that his world is any fairer, but at least magic could be your ticket out of a shithole, if you had the talent for it. If they'd met anywhere else other than the Carnival, if Lambert wasn't a witcher, it'd be easy to imagine how Strange would act towards him. ]

What do you think makes someone worth being called a magician, then? [ He challenges, looking back at Strange. ] If you could decide, and not anyone else.

[kingsroads]

[ yeah let's not tell Lambert about the time that Strange attempted to help out the king, that's something better left unsaid. ]

It is what it is. If I was the one to start the restoration of English magic, I imagine things would be different. As it is... [ Strange trails off, with a shrug.

As it is, there's a WHOLE HOST of respectability politics and something something gentleman and all sorts of other nonsense that gets in the way. After all, it's a bit hard to study magic when a certain someone hoards all the books like a miser, looking at you Mr. Norrell. At Lambert's question though, Strange pauses, thinking things over. ]

If I could decide, anyone who wanted to be a magician should be one. The knowledge would be available to anyone who wanted to study and tutoring would be given to anyone who wished to learn.

[ He enjoyed learning for learning's sake and pushing the boundaries of what was already established. Surely others did as well! Besides, magic was too wonderful just to keep it among themselves. ]

[whattaprick]

'It is what it is'? You make it sound like it's destiny. [ That's enough to make Lambert laugh, though it still carries that bitter edge to it. ]

Even if it was, fuck that. What good is magic if can't change anything? [ Its also useful for things like building roads, apparently, not to mention wrecking their enemies. Regardless, Lambert grins maniacally at Strange, teeth bared. It's really a pretty unsettling expression. ]

If that's what you want, make it happen. If there are only two magicians in England... [ What does that make the odds, half and half? ]

[kingsroads]

You forget. There are two magicians in England but one of them's flitted off to Venice in a state of madness.

[ Strange smiles, a sarcastic little smile. He doesn't know specifically how his actions have set back Norrell's idea of what magic should be, just that he most likely has (which he is just taking so much petty pleasure in). ]

Besides, I might have the army, but Norrell has politicians on his side. The man tried his hardest to stop publication of my book, I can't imagine what he would do if I started a school or attempted to teach others magic.

[ it's just said as a statement of fact, not Strange complaining or whining. It would make Norrell intensely aggravated (which again, so much petty pleasure in that thought) but Strange knows one hundred percent that should he take up any cause of spreading magic around, letting those who want to be magicians be magicians, he'd be stopped at almost every turn. ]

[whattaprick]

One day he'll be back, won't he? [ Lambert shrugs. ] Got a wife to get back to and all that.

[ Although that does make him track back (unwillingly) to what Strange said earlier, and he tips his head to the side, inquisitive. ]

What'd she think of the whole making yourself crazy thing, anyway? [ Not that he has a wife, obviously, but from his vague secondhand knowledge of such things, that's generally something they'd disapprove of. Maybe Strange's as bad as listening to his wife as he is to Norrell. ]

[kingsroads]

[ Ohhhhh they're going to have to talk about this. Strange's demeanor goes from one hundred to zero pretty darn quick as Lambert mentions his wife.

For all of Strange's bluster about how he's got nothing to hide, he straight up lies. But better for Lambert to think that Arabella is dead, that way the other man wouldn't try to stop him once he summoned the faerie who kidnapped her in the first place. ]

I doubt she would have liked it. She grew to hate my magic and wanted me to give it up. She worried about me tremendously in the peninsula, I can only imagine the level of worry I would cause her if she knew about my actions in Venice. [ There's a pause before he forces himself to say ] My wife is dead. She died before I left for Venice, before I set myself on my current path.

[ It's obvious this isn't the whole story: Strange has no poker face in the slightest. But the sadness inherent in the tone of his voice tells Lambert that though the whole story might not be true, the emotional heft certainly is. God how he misses Arabella. ]

[whattaprick]

[ Lambert doesn't have a huge range of expression when it comes to things like 'sympathy' and 'compassion,' so as Strange goes on, his face just drops into witcher neutrality, grim and tight-lipped. ]

Fuck. [ Is what he has to say, eloquently. Warn a guy before you drop sad shit like that on him, Strange. In any case, he doesn't want to know the whole story, it sounds depressing as fuck and he doesn't really know what to do with someone so visibly sad if the solution doesn't involve killing something. ]

Guess I know why you're here. [ A pause. ] Last I heard, though, you can't make a contract to bring someone back from the dead.

[ Which begs the question of how exactly he knows that himself, but Strange is probably too preoccupied being emotional to ask weird probing questions right now. ]

[kingsroads]

You can't, [ Strange responds with a shake of his head, equally serious and with that sad tone still in his voice. Indeed, he's so focused on keeping things calm and trying to hide what he really knows that he straight up misses the fact that Lambert knew about the fact that contracts can't be made to bring someone back to life. ] But in my world, there is a spell to bring someone back from the dead. My contract with the Ringmaster is to learn how that spell is done.

[ It's technically true. Though, Strange isn't sure how much use his contract will be. After all, the conversation with Childermass in the Celebration left Strange with an inkling of a feeling that it wasn't a spell that brought Lady Pole back from the dead, but a faerie himself. ]

After my year and a day, when I return home, I shall perform the spell myself.

[whattaprick]

To be honest, that sounds like a really shitty idea.

[ Lambert says, simply and directly. Sure, he'd thought to ask the same for Aiden first, but that sort of magic is almost always taboo wherever you go. It also takes a lot of magic to do something like that, so you're almost inevitably throwing something out of balance to use it. And that's not even assuming something could go horribly wrong in the process of resurrection. Human consciousness and thought are complicated, after all. It's too imagine ways that could all go sideways.

And yet. ]

I hope it works. [ Where Strange's tone is sad, Lambert's is fierce, his jaw set tight. There's no such magic as what Strange is describing -- not the kind of magic for what he needs, anyway -- in his world, and even if there was he wouldn't have the ability to cast it. In the end, he's just a simple witcher, and vengeance is the only thing he can carve out from himself. At least someone ought to get what they really want out of this. ]

Seriously. I hope you bring her back. [ It's a little hard to convey his sincerity properly when he sounds mostly just super angry, but there's no doubting his honesty. Strange should build his stupid magic school, write his weird magic book, and have all the magic babies he wants when he gets home. Because yeah, fuck destiny up its ass. ]