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!
the scourge ekans slithered up to iskander and wrapped itself around his feet in a display of respect. this human was different, it said, this human spoke the tongue of scourge pokémon and understood what we felt. iskander had never said anything, and allowed the snake to slither around him.
he continued reading his book. the woodcutter's axe was what he was reading; it was the story of a man who'd lost his axe and gotten one back from the fairy of the lake -- in the end, she'd given him all three axes. it was a story worth rereading, and that precisely was what iskander did as he sat in the middle of pal park.
suddenly, he was surrounded by a myriad of snakes; pal park had suddenly became snake park. seviper stopped by his side, while the ekans from before snoozed on his feet.
the cries of a normal buneary being consumed alive by an scourge arbok reached his ears, and iskander read a sentence from his book aloud:
"and so, the fairy asked the man if the ax was his, but he shook his head and said no."
pal park was a good place to patrol -- not only was it neck-deep in scourge, trainers continued to come and attempt to 'free' it. (as if it needed 'freedom' in the first place.) every now and again arrived an eos member that lasted for a good while, and cameron took a particular satisfaction in driving those ones back.
her camerupt gently nuzzled her shoulder, and cameron absentmindedly stroked the pokemon's nose. a family of pikachu chased each other through the tall grass. she sighed. there was nothing here today; perhaps a different part of the park, then.
she walked leisurely on the paths, the pokemon ignoring her for the most part, with the occasional acknowledgement in her direction. today was simply uneventful, she supposed.
the sound of a man's voice carried through the air. (rapture didn't move. they both knew who that person would be.) "eltanin."
"why, you may ask?" iskander continued, "that is because the man was honest. he didn't want to lie about anything he had, or anything that he was in the first place. it's never good to lie about anything, y'know." he wasn't talking, or reading to anyone -- he'd heard cameron, but iskander ignored her.
"so the man went home after that, and went hunting for his ax the next day. that's really devotion, because he wants to find his weapon. that weapon he'd used for quite a while, really, so he knows its ins and outs -- and he sees the fairy again, who asks him the same question. he still says no, it's not his ax. even if it's made from silver, it's still not his ax.
"his ax's broken, sort of chipped and battered, but it's a very good ax. he likes how its chops down trees, even though he needs to use more strength to do so."
iskander flipped the pages idly, stopped on an illustration of a fairy. she had pink hair, and he thought that she looked sort of like thalia. maybe after thalia died, she'd look like this. the wings looked a little strange if matched to her face, though. maybe he could work on a redesign.
against her better judgement, she found herself listening to the story -- it wasn't one she had heard before, and though she didn't know the premise it was interesting to her anyway. reading books had always intrigued her, after all; it was one of the things about iskander that she appreciated.
(and one of the things she envied.)
but rapture nudged her, and cameron nodded. right. back to business -- which, for iskander, was probably not something he wanted another lecture on, but cameron could care less. "enjoying your story?" she commented, folding her arms across her chest.
"this time, the fairy doesn't stop and leave. she brings out another ax, this time, it's gold. made from gold so heavy and beautiful it glints before the woodcutter, but the man still says, no, it's not his. it really isn't his, he can't take it.
"the fairy is impressed, and holds the ax out like a badge. take it, she says, but the woodcutter is still hesitant. she finally relents, and gives him the old ax. is this yours, then? the woodcutter says, yes, yes it's his! can he have it back?
"the fairy gave the woodcutter the ax that was his, and he hugged it. thank you, he says to the fairy, thank you very much. i enjoyed meeting you, and i think i really enjoyde this story about the woodcutter and the fairy. everyone should read it, because it teaches you to never lie to someone.
"tell only the truth, aster. like the fact that you're a woman."
she knew she didn't have the greatest track record when it came to truthfulness -- you lied to get by, and that was it -- but she never once recalled lying about her gender; not even in the court, where people automatically assumed she was a boy.
the woman thought a little harder. no, not once had she ever said 'i am a man.' it wasn't her fault her chest was comprised of more muscle and less fat.
her previous train of thought derailed, cameron impassively stared at iskander. "i've never said i wasn't."
iskander snapped the book shut, and pressed it lightly against cameron's chest. even if she clocked him, he was certain that he could dodge this time. not every turn, though. "see? it doesn't bounce off, or feel like anything. it's just flat, and muscular," he said, "it's as if shang fell in love with hua mulan without ever finding out she was a girl, and thinking that he was gay."
she blinked again, feeling the book against her chest. if she hadn't been completely unaware of gender propriety in terms of the general torso area, she might have ended up sending iskander flying into next year.
but she was completely unaware, so she didn't.
instead, she stared at the other agent. "who are shang and hua mulan."
"you should really read more -- tell you what, i'll read for you. i enjoy reading a good story for someone." iskander glanced at rapture, and frowned slightly. "don't look at me like that." he turned back to cameron, and took the book from her chest. it didn't matter if she didn't know what was going on -- at least she still knew she was a woman, at least she still went into the right toilet -- wait a second
cameron wanted to reject his offer -- really, she did. but the woman remained silent simply because okay so what if she couldn't read books and they were really interesting arceus who are you to judge.
... aaand again with the strange questions.
"yes." she usually got run out, though. it was understandable, she supposed. now that she could fight for herself, there was no reason to pretend. (even if she never really ... did. sigh. assumptions.)
well, okay, that was quite good to know. he never knew if cameron went to the females or the males, and if she went to the males, he might have company to go some time soon. but cameron's answer brought along a twist to the question, and he found himself sighing. what a pity.
"okay," iskander started off slowly, as if speaking to a three-year-old, "what about when you queue up for something? or even on a bus? do people expect you to stand up and give them your seat, or are they too scared to ask you for a favor?"
she wasn't ... sure she really understood his question, but she supposed it was only reasonable to try her best to answer. "... i don't know." were people to scared to ask her? or did they even want to ask her? cameron got the vague feeling she should know when people were scared, but ...
actually.
"they don't talk to me." no use trying to figure people out -- that was on iskander.
"oh," iskander said, "oh." that was really, really sad. people didn't approach cameron because of her face and appearance then, because she probably wanted people to ask her stuff sometimes. it was like bringing out a large, bearlike dog to the park and expecting people to ask if it was a fun, friendly dog. sometimes he felt that was the case with cameron and her walking about places. people just didn't understand sometimes, which was fine.
at this point, iskander was certain that cameron was no different from the strays and wounded pokémon he used to play and befriend. "i'll talk to you, aster, i'll read stories to you," he promised, "by the way, can you cook?"
he was still determined to find out where she stood in feminine qualities, on a scale of mr mime to jynx.
