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 tavern was small, but lively and full of energy. apparently, ceres forest was some sort of escape from the city -- if the tavern was anything to go by. some rich guy had decided to buy everyone any amount of drinks they wanted for the night, and everyone decided to take advantage of it.
well, anyone in the area, that is. most of them rangers.
J had to duck under a wayward branch that had somehow grew into the establishment. stylers were being waved in the air; to put it simply, things were rather chaotic.
a ranger had thought it particularly amusing to freeze a mug of beer.
another had thought it a fantastic idea to send flashes of light sparking from their styler at random intervals.
J sat in a corner, quietly dropping some bitter powder into his drink.
where there was a tavern, there was probably an alia. she couldn't help herself - considering the dangers that lie ahead, she considered any jaunt to a bar perfectly justified. after the rich guy announced a free for all, the researcher knew that she was sticking around.
alia bored of the macho-talking men eventually and turned to the tables that she didn't pay much attention to before. the occupants at one of the tables were all passed out. alia picked the other. she sits next to the man without asking.
"...that doesn't look like sugar. isn't the alcohol enough of a high for you? granted, they don't serve it like they did in bacchus, but that's pretty desperate"
without bitter powder, his stomach decided to fight against whatever had entered it. even beer, which he could previous consume without issue, had to have bitter powder added to it. J figured he'd eventually wean himself off it -- he'd managed to eat sushi without getting into trouble, after all.
"how does that even taste?" alia is torn between disgust and admiration. forget the arm-wrestling matches in the back. she settles more comfortably into her seat and observes, as if the man were a strange creature that she had encountered in the wild. which is probably pretty accurate for the current situation, actually.
it's not a question. alia pokes at his cheek. the snover beside her tugs at her pant leg to voice his disapproval. freud is ever the straight-laced one, and some of alia's antics can be downright embarassing.
"...can i try some?"
call it scientific inquisitiveness. call it reckless stupidity. either way, alia gives no shits.
J drank his beer, unmoving even though she poked him on the cheek. J gave her no shits either, and finished his beer. he glanced at alia, then got another refill of beer.
he pushed it towards himself, added the powder, then glanced at the girl.
frankly, alia finds this situation hilarious. or maybe he finds people like j hilarious. here she is, standing in a ranger's tavern to be sharing potentially illicit drinks with this guy who can't seem to string two words together for her.
it seems like her sort of adventure for sure.
alia chokes on the first sip.
or not.
as she attempts to maintain some semblance of decorum, alia realizes that the bitterness is all too familiar to her.
"t-this is energy powder, isn't it?" or is it heal powder? decima's medicine shop was famous, after all. alia had taken a mouthful herself when she was ten years old and susceptible to playground bets. "the hell are you adding it to perfectly good beer?"
J glanced at alia, then took the drink back from her and drank.
he didn't know if it was energy powder or heal powder. as far as he knew, it was bought in copious amounts from decima's medicine shop ever since he had rediscovered it. he used to eat it as a child; mixed in with tea, it was more bearable for ten-year-old J, but as the years went on, he could eat it without much issue.
whether it was perfectly good beer or not, laid in the taste buds of the drinker. if alia didn't like the taste, she could always get her own drink instead of complaining about how foul his tasted.
"...you're a funny guy, but i bet you get that a lot" at this point, alia was more interested in this man than whatever he's drinking. she's going to be the one to solve him. she does ask for her own tankard of beer before asking, "so what are you doing here?" he certainly doesn't look like he's here to hang out with his ranger friends.
