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

I'm not the one who sitting in cobwebs impersonating ghosts.

[ Is what Lambert points out in turn, amiably. Which is another way of saying -- right back atcha, Strange. Still, the bit with the tail is new, and he gives it a speculative, considering look. If he could control that...

Given that the hilarity's died down a little, Haunter seems mildly disappointed, its huge eyes glancing back and forth between them. It's enough to catch Lambert's attention, and he glances up. ]

Is this one yours? [ It certainly seemed to like Strange, anyway. ]

[ Strange shook his head as he looked over at the Haunter with something close to fondness. He's only spent a day with this Pokemon but already they've become thick as thieves. ]

Grant's his own--I've no idea how to actually catch these things in the first place. [ he is a goddamn failure of a Pokemon trainer. ] I don't think I'd want to catch one even if I could. None of the ghosts here seem all that partial to sunlight.

[ Besides, what would he do with a Pokemon? Strange isn't really big on the whole go around and challenge the island trial sort of thing. It just isn't his cup of tea. So they'd...what, loiter around and do nothing? Probably not. And it's not like most of what Strange would want to do (check out libraries and schools, try some of the food) would interest Haunter, what with it being dead and everything. Ghosts can't eat. ]

If it's not yours, why'd you name it already?

[ Though it's true that Strange looks like he can barely take care of himself, let alone another living thing. Some people would say the same of Lambert, probably, but despite appearances, he does know a thing or two about animals. Hard not to, when you depend on one to get you around from one job to another...

Speaking of ghosts, though, he seems to remember the cold spot on his chest where a wolf's head would normally hang and react to the presence of the supernatural, and he frowns. ]

Hey, where's my medallion?

I can't just call it Pokemon. I don't know what species it is!

[ This despite the fact that Haunter regularly says "Haunter" and the Gastly here also regularly says "Gastly." That doesn't tell Strange anything, it could just be like a parrot. Besides, it would be like naming a dog 'Dog.' That's just silly.

As for the question, Strange shrugs and answers in a nonchalant manner. ]

Probably under my bed. Why do you ask?

[ Lambert looks at Strange, with raised brows. ]

You mean the way it keeps saying 'Haunter' didn't give it away? [ He's picked up a few tips and tricks, here and there. However, any amusement in his expression quickly fades at Strange's answer. It's not so much what he says as how he says it. ]

'Probably?'

What, you think it's named Haunter? That's ridiculous, cats don't say 'cat', after all.

[ Surprise, Pokemon is bullshit and Strange really should stop trying to apply common sense to it. As for Lambert's next question, Strange is entirely blind to any sort of potential danger in his answer. He's oblivious to the shift in tone and keeps talking. ]

Probably. I took it off once I returned the faerie back to it's realm. It should be in my trailer somewhere.

[ Lambert glances at the Haunter. The Haunter glances back. ]

Haunter...

[ For better or worse, giving him crap about that is going to have to wait, because Lambert's just incredulous now, staring at Strange with narrowed eyes. ]

We're heading back to the Carnival. [ Lambert says firmly, reaching out to grab Strange to start frog-marching him right on out back into the sunlight. ]

[ ????

What's going on, why is Lambert just yanking him out of the shopping center, why are they heading back to the Carnival now oh no wait, he's figured it out. And Strange can't help but roll his eyes slightly as Lambert just yanks him back out into the sun. ]

I didn't lose your medallion, you know. Like I said, it should be in my trailer!

[ probably. ]

You don't even remember where it is!

[ However, even as they're advancing to the door, the Haunter trails behind them, curious (and possibly even a little alarmed, but with those eyes and that perpetually open mouth it looks like it's in a constant state of some level of alarm anyway) about where the new funny person is taking his friend ... curious enough to get in between them and the doorway, at any rate. Lambert's of half a mind just to shove through its ghostly non-corporeal body, though possibly that might end in Strange getting possessed (who the fuck even knows) and he stops shoving at the magician long enough to squint at the Pokemon. ]

What, you want to come along too?

[ Strange can't help but laugh as Haunter shoves it's way between the two of them and the door. Aw, he's a good bud. While Lambert's irritated, he's just a hundred percent charmed. ]

See if Grant will go in one of those pokeball things, like Pig's got. At least that way he'll be able to come with us and not have to worry about the sun.

[ Lambert's got those pokeballs, right? He's actually doing this properly so naturally he should have those weirdo ball things on him. Strange, in contrast, has no pokeballs. Because let's be real, he totally spent all his money on books. ]

Shouldn't you be doing this yourself?

[ Books he probably hasn't even read, or he'd know a lot more about Pokemon than he does!!! Lambert can't really fathom anything wanting to get into one of those balls, but as it happens, he does have a couple on him, so he digs around in a pocket to fish one out. ]

C'mon. If you're coming, get inside. [ He waggles the ball at Haunter for a moment before tossing it at him (with great aim, naturally). With a last cackling haunthaunthaunt, the Haunter disappears in a flash of light and gets into the ball. There, easiest capture he's ever had! And once he's collected that ball, he'll continue harrying Strange back out into the (relative) sunlight, squinting and looking around for Pig... who's just taken to chewing on a weed, and doesn't seem all that impressed when Lambert shows up again, despite how quickly it backed away before. ]

Come on, Pig. We're heading back. [ Lambert picks another pokeball off his belt (he's really getting good at that) and pops Mudbray back into it. ]

[ Look it's not HIS fault that all Strange bought were history texts instead of something actually useful like a friggen field guide.

As they exit the building and enter the sunlight, Strange frowns. Honestly...he doesn't really want to walk all the way back to the carnival. It's sunny and awful and he left his stupid floppy hat back in the trailer so he'd just end up being a sweaty possibly sunburned mess. So, as Lambert deals with Pig, Strange just looks around as if there's any possible way that he could get closer to the carnival entrance.

Well, there is a puddle. Honestly, he prefers travel by mirror to travel by puddle but beggars can't be choosers. Strange walks over and mutters something under his breath, checking the paths that the puddle could lead to and making certain that they don't end up on the other side of the island. There's something that'll work. It's still a bit of a walk to the entrance and less of a walk to the trailer, but the spell will cut out the majority of the journey.

Once Mudbray's back in his pokeball, Strange gestures for Lambert to come over to where he is. ]

Come over here. I'm about to make our return trip to the carnival easier for both of us.

[ time for magic bullshit. ]

[ With a look of complete misgiving on his face, Lambert steps closer. He sees your muttering, Jonathan Strange, and he knows what that sort of thing usually means when magic users are concerned.

Still, he's also been around Strange long enough to guess what he's doing. ]

Taking a shortcut?

[ Not that he has a single complaint about that. The alternative was to hop on another boat or Pokemon, cross the water and run down some routes trying not to make eye contact with other trainers, which he normally wouldn't mind getting into fights with, but...

The medallion's important. And more importantly, it's his. Even now, just a day later, he's already wondering why the hell he let Strange have it in the first place, but one thing's certain, he's not taking it off again. ]

I am. If you want to walk the way back, be my guest. Otherwise, take my hand.

[ Strange moves to step in the puddle, offering his hand to Lambert as he does so. There's a pause as he mutters the spell...and then whoomp, the two just get magically sucked into the puddle. There's a feeling of falling which is almost instantly countered by the feeling of getting pulled up through a different puddle closer to the entrance. ]

So! Let's continue, shall we?

[ As far as things Lambert doesn't actually want to do, walking all that way back is most certainly at the top of that list, at last right now. Even if standing in a puddle seems like a good way to ruin the shoes he just bought, he takes Strange's hand -- rough callouses probably a sharp contrast to the magician's -- and grips it firmly.

Given he's never actually taken advantage of Strange's teleportation before, it's sort of a trip. Lambert brushes himself off when they get there, glancing around. ]

Handy. [ He says, blinking, before they head off. Of course, even as close as Strange has brought them, there's still walking to do, and giving shit to each other on the radio to be done, which is mostly what they do until their steps finally take them to the magician's trailer. ]

[ Eventually they reach Strange's trailer. He pushes open the door for Lambert to enter and HOO BOY right off the bat is the trailer a little worrying. Because it's a mess. There are some cursory attempts to clean things up because Strange lives with Lars and actually has to make the trailer slightly habitable, but it still looks a bit ridiculous. There are stacks of papers on the corner of one table in seemingly no order, wet spots on the floor thanks to snow Strange forgot to clean up, and so much garbage Atlantis tourist crap. Lambert probably bumps his head on a shell windchime as he enters.

Needless to say, despite the fact that everything about the trailer says 'oh god why does someone live here', Strange walks over to his equally messy bunk as if this is perfectly normal. ]

Help yourself to a drink or something, by the way. There are cups near the sink.

[ Lambert had been here once before, just to see Strange's super creepy scrying trick, but 1. he'd been drunk, and 2. it had been dark and he was too lazy to really squint at the shadows to better discern what was in them, so he hadn't really appreciated what a fucking shitshow the trailer is. Or maybe, somehow, it's gotten worse between that limbo between worlds? Seriously, they haven't been in the Carnival long enough for Strange to have made this much of a mess, but it seems that's what happens.

He doesn't just bump his head on a shell windchime; it actually catches on the curling tip of one horn, and he grimaces as the shells knocking against the metal send up a merry chime. Disentangling himself, he heads for the sink as Strange indicates, only to recoil in disgust. And for a witcher, that's saying a lot. ]

I don't think these cups have been washed in weeks. [ In fact, they haven't been washed in so long they've started to develop a civilization in them. ]

[ By the time Lambert's gone to examine the sink, Strange is already at his bunk, head underneath the bed as he looks around for the medallion. Really, it must be underneath here somewhere. He fell asleep with it on and then it somehow came off in the night, logically it must be underneath the bed and wait a minute, Lambert just said something didn't he. ]

What? [ Strange remarks. There's a thud a moment later as Strange hits head on the bottom of the bed, swears, then carefully sticks his head out so he can see what Lambert's talking about. And, at least to his credit, he manages to look a little bit guilty when Lambert gestures to the sink. ]

Ah, yes. I'm afraid some of that happened before the Celebration. [ which was literally over two weeks ago. ] I thought I had cleaned that out already, apparently I missed a spot.

[ or an entire cup. He is literally the world's worst bachelor and this awful cocktail of madness and having not fully coped with Arabella being stuck in Faerie isn't helping matters in the slightest. ]

I'd say a lot more than just a spot.

[ Lambert doesn't consider himself a neat and clean person, traditionally, but after the shit Vesemir's given him over the years, keeping his possessions tidy is a matter of habit. It helps that witchers just don't carry a lot of personal possessions to begin with.

This, though ... is a dump, even by his own loose standards. Without thinking too much about it, he flicks the faucet on and gets the water running, grabbing the scouring pad or sponge or whatever's there to clean with to start rinsing the worst of it off. (He isn't up to exploring whatever the trailer has in the way of automated washing; two hands and determination will do just fine.) ]

Any luck finding the medallion?

Edited 2017-04-10 02:17 (UTC)

[ Strange does feel a bit guilty about Lambert cleaning. This is his trailer, he'll have people over, no matter how he feels he really needs to get his shit together. But then when Lambert asks his question, Strange snaps back to attention. ]

Ah, I think so? I spotted something shiny underneath the bed--it was in a far corner though. Let me just check...

[ And then he goes back to look underneath the bed. A few things are pushed out from underneath there onto the main floor area: a bloody shirt, a carefully wrapped box, a different cup. A moment or so later, Strange lets out a triumphant 'ha!' as he wriggles back out from under the bed, witcher medallion in his hands. ]

There we go. I told you I knew where it was!

[ Oh, thank fuck for that. Lambert's tail swishes through the air when Strange comes up from under the bed; in the time it's taken Strange to dig that shit out he's also managed to wash off and stack nearly everything in the sink so it's at least visually cleaner. Sure, it's probably rude to come into someone's house and just start arranging their shit for them, but Lambert's never been one to let politeness stop him from doing whatever he wants.

Wiping his hands off on a (mostly) clean towel, he steps back over to Strange, reaching out to deftly tug the medallion from his fingers. ]

How'd it even get under there, anyway? Did you kick it? [ He glances over the rest of the mess, mouth twisting wryly as he toes at the shirt. ] What'd this come from?

It probably fell off when I was sleeping, [ Strange mentions, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Still, he lets Lambert take the medallion because after all, it's his, unlike SOME OTHER PEOPLE he's not going to play keep-away with other's belongings.

As Lambert gestures to the shirt, however, Strange can't help but frown. ]

That was the shirt I wore during the masquerade part of the Celebration. [ Part of the reason it's been kicked under the bed is that the shirt got bloody from fighting off vampires and any attempts at Strange doing his own laundry just made the bloodstains worse (he truly is that useless). Another part of why it's kicked under the bed is because coping is for losers. ] I'm afraid it's become more of a rag now than an actual shirt.

I can see that.

[ Which is why his tail's going to come around, hook its tip into the cloth, and neatly dump it into the nearest trash can. Or at least on top of the nearest pile of rubbish, though it's hard to tell what's meant to be of value or not here. Get your life together, man. ]

At least tell me the blood isn't yours. [ Or else he'd be like, kind of annoyed he hadn't come to the medical tent then (but given Lambert's demonstrated a bit too firm a hand with those bandages, perhaps Strange is better off without his tender loving care). ]

Part of it is mine, most of it is from a vampire, but don't worry, [ Strange butts in as soon as Lambert shifts to that 'why didn't you come into the medical tent' annoyance. ] It was just a scratch. Nothing I couldn't take care of myself. I've dealt with worse in the peninsula, after all.

[ Don't worry about blood, blood's just a thing! A thing that all people have to deal with, that shirt isn't worrying in the slightest, look at Strange try his hardest to convince Lambert of that. ]

[ Lambert only qualifies to patch people up out of sheer technicality. Trying to sort out what's going on inside someone's head, especially when they've straight-up admitted to being crazy? Even harder. It'd be easy to let it slide, and make the obvious joke about the peninsula begging to be made there but...

He loops the medallion over his head again, letting it come to rest in the hollow of his throat, and gives Strange a look that's far too intent. (Having eyes that can mostly see in the dark will do that, but also, between the horns and the cat eyes, he's just unsettling anyway.) ]

You mean like using black magic to raise corpses? [ That's a long ways from what Strange told him, in the beginning, when he'd described it mostly as building roads and putting out fires... And yet for all that he'd willingly helped soldiers, he's squeamish about taking life. What a mess of contradictions.

His tail uncurls behind him, waving idly, while he stalks forward to close the distance between them. ]

Why'd you even do it in the first place?

Edited 2017-04-13 01:39 (UTC)

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sort of a time skip

wheeeee time skip

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it truly helps if i remember to hit enter

'why hasn't this tag posted yet OH WAIT'

[sad trombone noise]