This world is inhabited by creatures that we call pokemon. People and pokemon live together by supporting each other, but now the scourge threatens the safety of the entire region. Kohaku has become a dangerous place, where children stay at home and only brave souls go adventuring.
Welcome to KOHAKU. Come for the nightmares. Stay for the tea and crumpets.
The season is SUMMER. It is easy for survivors to forage for food from the land, as there are entire abandoned farms ready for harvest. On the downside, you can smell the corpses.
swarms
GRAND OPENING !
Welcome to KOHAKU REGION's grand opening! If you're interested in joining, come check out our grand opening giveaway!
Post by cold volume on Apr 5, 2013 21:10:17 GMT -5
A blanket of snow still buried the crisp brown leaves of the forest floor near Messior rock, even though the rest of Ceres had thawed into spring. Regina shivered, breathing into her gloves and nudging the fire with her black boots. Her soft, dark hair took on a morbid treachery as it poked out from the edges of her hat. A mist was setting in. Noticing the fire was waning, she buried into her pack for the lighter fluid. It'd been hard to find this dry wood. Real trouble, and she considered the few dry branches laid in the cranny of a boulder a real gift of nature. Her hands pressed through her pack, pushing aside equipment and carefully wrapped bundles of the food she had been rationing. Where was it... where was it.... She shoved her things aside.
Finally, she dumped it all out, a frantic hand spreading the contents out in front of her, but still, nothing. She kicked herself for wandering away from the group she had been with. She'd wanted to see the gloomy rock up close - in fact, she'd heard there were Poochyena in these woods and she wanted to catch one if she got that lucky. Now, thought it all stupid.
Regina packed everything up again. With a tight zip, the bag was closed and shoved away from her. She crossed her arms and pulled her knees up to her chest under the ledge of the rock. The embers had become weak orange specks, glittering in the blackened charcoal they had burned out.
Well, it was just one night. She released Mole, her smoochum, and held the little voodoo creature close. "Kiss me to sleep," she muttered. She held up a little pocket mirror. "and kiss yourself too. If we sleep through it, we'll be more comfortable."
Soon, her head fell onto her shoulders, and the young, pink smoochum curled as close as she could to her trainer before taking the fancy golden hand mirror for her own lullaby. The fire died soon after.
the cold was nothing to a researcher, he'd brave the harshest of winters, endure all the weathers, the world has to offer, to study 'em all; all the pokemon.
the sun had set and the world had froze, but there he stood out in the open, with freezing lips causally smoking his cigarette, it was the finest cigarette in the world, it didn't warm his body like whiskey, it didn't warm his body like a woman's touch or a man's touch for that matter, but he didn't care for any of that, all that mattered was his pristine white, like the snow covered ground; lab coat that fluttered this and that, way with each howl, of wind.
they would find his body, standing cold and lifeless, in the morning, the corner of his mouth there'd be, a cigarette like no other, in his hand a pokedex, they would know of ophiuchus, the researcher.
It was perhaps the best poem he had ever read or written. Even though his hands were shaking his writing was top notch. The cold was really nothing to Ophiuchus and his farce was as fierce as his poker face. It was the physical manifestation of his spirit, an indomitable spirit that neither wavered nor faltered. But, who was Ophiuchus kidding? He felt an immense embarrassment thinking of what would happen if he actually did DIE, and this would be what was found. Not to mention the number of fire Pokemon he had, even if it was only two. Litwilt and Torkoal, he released the two of them respectively and ordered, "Ember.".
The two of them followed without question, without hesitation, but just what had they embered? It was a small little fireplace, a makeshift one that consisted of this and that (what this and that was didn't matter since it was burning). The fire wasn't large nor small and revealed the surrounding area. Ophiuchus wouldn't have been found standing, rather, he'd be found sitting down and leaning against a rock -- Messor Rock. He lit a cigarette, the best cigarette in the world, as the fire warmed his body. Indeed, what he would do for a bottle of whiskey, even a glass of scotch.
He looked to Mien, it was a given that at any given moment Mien was present, and wondered what it would do for a smarter trainer -- he meant researcher. Sometimes, Ophiuchus was sure, Mien thought of him as nothing less than a trainer, because god was it Amateur Hour with him.
It hadn't been thirty minutes. Mole shivered horribly in her lap, finally pounding her in the stomach with a quick whap.
"Ugh"
Regina rolled awake uncomfortably, realizing she couldn't feel the tip of her nose. One arm wrapping tightly around Mole, whose big, sad eyes stared up at her, and Regina pulled the little thing into the folds of her coat. Finally, she stared with disappointment at the deceased fire. Somewhere, a mighty howl rose up among the gnarled trees.
Regina stood up promptly and began walking in tight circles. This isn't the end. These woods aren't the end. She managed to zip the smoochum up into the stomach of her coat, making her look pot-bellied. She good feel it's cold body against her, and she felt sorry.
She kicked the half burned wood, defeated.
"Where d-did I leave it!" Her voice cracked in the darkness, and then, she looked up with suspicion at the trees and the colors of the night.
"Let's j-just... k-keep walk-king," she told her Pokemon, stuttering with shivers. She picked up her backpack and abandoned the site, boots falling into the trail uncleared of snow. However, it wasn't long until she saw a light.
It was a firelight, striking against Messor rock itself. She looked up at it thankfully, crossed her heart for it to be some generous ranger. She approached, trying to perceive the maker.
As she stepped nearer, winding around the trees, and she saw a man. He wore a white lab coat like it was some sort of uniform, and he held a cigarette tight in his mouth. It was the kind of guy who used his cigarette to keep warm. The men were like that at Nerio too, and she'd understand any smoker wanting a roll in this forsaken woodland.
He was reading something with a serious countenance. Sheets of paper were scattered near a medium-sized, chaotic fire. It was a messy business compared to Regina's, but it looked incredibly warm. A torkoal and litwick basked in the amber glow. Regina stared at it from the pale darkness, the light glinting off of her glasses, her thumbs hooked under her backpack's straps. No, she wasn't used to hiking. She slipped a little too coming over.
"H-hi, I-I lost my lighter f-fluid," she said like she was apologizing, approaching guy against the rock. "C-can I sit h-here--?" The smoochum had already wriggled out of her coat from the bottom, and now, she leaped for a spot near the fire, reaching her little hands towards the heat.
"I . . . don't know," Ophiuchus replied slowly, very slowly; his response came with a number of simultaneous actions and expressions. It started with a shrug as slow as his response, his head turning to face her just as slowly too. And you could then see a once serious countenance now contorted in a mixture of expressions that read: soooo? what the hell am I supposed to do? and, he didn't care. To her questions respectively.
Ophiuchus had noticed her before she'd gotten too close, and was on guard -- he didn't know what to expect at this late an hour. This was something of his first night alone, and that wasn't very accurate when you thought of the circumstances. Though, still, his thoughts on her was that she was fat and (for a time being) bold and rather mysterious. Now, though, he saw that she was neither bold to out at this time of night nor held any mysterious (unless you counted being stupid) because that's exactly what he thought of her as. Someone who was fat and stupid. Who would be out here and not be prepared? It was stupid and then he thought of himself.
He looked shamed and embarrassed, not quite mortified, but more of someone who has realized that their a hypocrite. Wilt approached the female, she felt that she was familiar, and if she allowed her, Wilt would climb into her lap. "Her name is Wilt," Ophiuchus said, "careful of her flame though, it drains life force. Like a vampire, you could say." It was a way to break the ice, and boy did the ice need breaking. "I have some cigarettes, if you smoke." cold volume
Post by cold volume on Apr 6, 2013 18:01:07 GMT -5
As the Smoochum toppled out, Regina hugged herself even more and scowled at the man. "W-what are you, some kind of k-king of the hill?" she shivered with an edge of her voice. She took his melodramatic look to mean he was an asshole, and then she ignored him and shoved by him. "S-sooo c-cold," she muttered, abandoning manners, and coming to sit by the heat next to the Smoochum. She took off her gloves and crouched down, then used a stick to organize the mess of whatever was burning. It puffed up firefly specks and black smoke as it was disturbed.
The man was silent for a bit, and she didn't catch the twinge of self-dislike in the way he looked down for a moment.
A litwick hopped over, jumping onto her knee. The warm, waxy foot wasn't shooed, and Regina began to inspect it with the tip of her cold finger, petting it lightly. It seemed tickled. Her jacket crunched as she took out her pokedex.
"O-oh... spooky...," she returned with a sour disinterest. She inputed a few personal notes beside the dex's observation. Her smoochum turned around to look at the strange man curiously. Regina didn't. Not until he offered her a white rolled stick.
She sat down properly pretzeled and looked over her shoulder.
"Yeah, sure, I'll take one.... Thanks," she said with a mellow ease. This world needed more pleasures. Regina didn't smoke, but she'd always liked the way cigars smelled. "I've got lemon soda to share for the help."
It was hard to say how Ophiuchus felt. Out of all the things she could have had, could have offered him, lemon soda? She was really proving to be quite, she was beyond the point of ill-prepared so, useless. But lemon soda ... "Is that an aphrodisiac?" There were some cracks in his face keeping him from bursting with an immature laugh, but as long as she didn't laugh, his face held firm. cold volume
Post by cold volume on May 11, 2013 4:08:17 GMT -5
The litwick lit the cig, and she looked for a moment at the black end lit up with red embers before putting it to her lips. She coughed meagerly after one breath, and then looked up at the stranger. He seemed less aloof now. Less stand-off-ish, and it seemed off for Regina. But who knew, maybe he was just someone she couldn't read.
"What's an aphrodisiac?" she managed, trying the cigarette again. If it didn't work this times, she'd just let it burn away.
She didn't smile or laugh, but he cracked. Not entirely, though, just a bit. His chuckle released itself in a small burst and the rest was swallowed down like a fart, or a burp ... or even better, a cough. "What's an aphrodisiac?" Ophiuchus repeated peering into the flames. He rolled a cigarette in his hands, WELL, he thought, how will I ever explain this. "Has your mother never given you the Bees-the-Flowers-and-the-Seasons talk?" To be quite honest, his mother had never given him that talk either. cold volume
Post by cold volume on May 20, 2013 18:52:17 GMT -5
"Oh," she said simply, the jumble of words recalling themselves into meaning at the courtesy of his hint. She put the litwick on the ground, turning her attention while pressing the cigarette into the snow. She stared at his crotch for an uncomfortable moment, squinting her eyes a bit. "What's it to you? Are you look for something to get it up?"
"Oh," he mimicked, with a roll of his eyes as he felt, suddenly, even curiously, uncomfortable. As if he had been watched and now those watching eyes narrowed into an appraising gaze. It was only for a moment, or two maybe even three, but who could tell in the cold dead of night. "Well, isn't everyone looking for something to get them up?" cold volume
