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!
surprisingly enough, alia is a big eater. her mother had been able to keep up with her (while feeding five children, bless her), but now that she's gone, alia is finally forced to learn how to cook a filling meal for herself.
it hadn't been easy. alia had to throw out two pots before her beef stew was barely fit for human consumption. what a waste of quality tauros meat, she mourns.
there has to be an easier way, alia tells herself as she travells to the closest 24 hour store at twelve in the morning. she can't live on junk food forever, she tells herself as she loads up on berry juices, chocolate cookies, barbeque crisps, frozen television dinners, and a whole pecha pie.
convenience stores are convenient; but that's supposed to be the point, isn't it?
zara pulls the coat a little tighter around herself, fighting off the light breeze that she's honestly not suited for. (this is why she isn't one of those people who go traipsing across kohaku, waving pokeballs like swords and preaching eos like it's their religion -- or whatever it is those people do.)
the door opens, and zara walks in with no small amount of satisfaction. it's warmer in there than it is out in the midnight air, and she pauses for a brief moment before heading to the produce aisle. as always, she was hungry -- and, as always, there was a shortage of fresh food in her kitchen.
she picks out the leafy greens, the bright berries and maybe some meat, before her eyes fall on a vaguely familiar figure -- and the groceries said figure has in her hands. zara's attention is not drawn by the person she has not seen in a substantial amount of time, nor the place at which they meet; instead, zara quickly places the rest of her items in the basket before stomping forward.
"what are you buying?" chips? cookies? frozen food? zara is appalled.
alia wasn't eager to leave nerio, not after meeting with neo again, but such are the burdens of one who toils for the kohaku government. she's not used to being at somebody else's beck and call, but thankfully these calls weren't necessarily frequent.
thankfully, she thinks, as if she wasn't expecting to meet anyone new in proserpina city again.
she whirls around, balancing a few jars of jelly, potato chips, and canned fruit in her arms. impressively enough, she doesn't drop any of them.
"z-zara?"
a tub of lunchmeat finally succumbs to gravity, meeting the floor with a clunk.
"yes, yes," she retorts impatiently. "that is my name." she places a hand on her hip, a dangerous glint in her eyes. she glares at the items that have been dropped on the floor.
"now answer the question." zara's gaze moves back to her older sister's face. "what are you buying?" her disapproval of the 'food' alia is buying is clear as day; as a woman who is a cooking enthusiast, the things are nothing short of an insult.
alia never had too many expectations for zara - she had found her to be a strange child while they were growing up. she didn't really question the things that she did after a few weeks. she supposes that all those years were good practice for right now.
"food, but -" she probably wouldn't have been so brusque with zara normally, but these are hardly normal circumstances. "zara, it's me - alia, remember?" oh arceus, nothing happened to her, did it? she's met plenty of people who were emotionally torn apart by the takeover, and she has no idea what happened to zara at all. "are you okay?"
it's frustrating, how alia doesn't address the true problem at hand, but zara knows her sister has always been a bit on the dim side. "of course i do." she shakes her head. "it was not that long ago, alia."
her scarlet eyes rest on her older sister, and zara blinks again. "why do you insist on asking strange questions?" arceus, it's as if alia thinks zara is the one with problems.
alia become quiet all of a sudden. their mother isn't around to make her delicious meals anymore, but that's not her main concern. does zara know anything? the researcher doesn't know anyone who wasn't affected by the scourge takeover. what if her sister was -- if normal people didn't survive the scourge with their mentality in one piece-
maybe she should have given more weight to zara's question, but alia is hardly a psychiatrist. she only knows of her own immediate concerns and her own want of answers.
it's frustrating, how alia doesn't address the true problem at hand, but zara knows her sister has always been a bit on the dim side. "of course i do." she shakes her head. "it was not that long ago, alia."
her scarlet eyes rest on her older sister, and zara blinks again. "why do you insist on asking strange questions?" arceus, it's as if alia thinks zara is the one with problems.
personally, alia thinks that a year is an eternity, but now isn't the time to compare her mileage with zara's.
"right..." now, alia remembers why she had always relied on her mother to deal with zara whenever she became difficult. "hey, where are you staying right now? do you have anyone with you?"
maybe even a family member, if she's lucky. she would much rather speak with them.
she shakes her head. alia is set on driving the topic away from food, and zara reluctantly lets the topic drop. sigh. food.
zara glances around absentmindedly. "i am currently residing in proserpina." it's a place with easy access to many conveniences, including apartments with kitchens, so zara doesn't really want to leave.
"and no, i live alone." it strikes her that it's polite to also inquire as to alia's well being. "what of you?"
"that's good" at least alia can say that zara's always been good at taking care of herself. that relieves a lot of potential worry. their situation could have been a lot worse, alia thinks.
"just got back from nerio, actually. leonida seems well, but i haven't seen anyone else."
alia grins. "have you heard, though? bellona is free! just a few months more, and maybe we'll find everyone else from decima. i bet they're fighting hard"
it's so much easier talking to zara when she isn't so hung up about food, she thinks.
"but hey, what happened to you since decima got invaded?"
zara shrugged. she vaguely remembered leonida -- that one girl with the curly, vegetable hair? it wasn't really all that important. "that's nice," the woman responded absentmindedly.
it was clear she didn't care about decima, or about whoever was 'fighting hard.' decima was decima and proserpina was proserpina, and there really wasn't any reason to think about the city when it was so far away.
the woman eyed alia. "not very much." nothing that would be of importance to her older sister, anyway --
-- then a scraggy came tumbling into the store, a flailing horsea in his arms, followed closely a very distressed-looking ponyta with an equally-distressed (if not moreso) snivy on her back. they rampaged through the store.
"oh, except for them," she added mildly. zara began to browse through the shelf next to them. "look, yogurt is discounted."
maybe alia would have suspected that the girl had some sort of memory loss if zara hadn't always been like this. her first instinct on how to react is always the wrong one when it comes to dealing with zara, and alia can't take that. once upon a time, she had parents, grandparents, and other siblings to make sure that zara was properly situation. for all she knows, she's the only one now. it's not that alia is irresponsible. she just wants to pick her own responsibilities. even if they turn unpleasant, alia would have preferred for them to be her own.
suddenly, alia doesn't know why she's still standing here, trying to make things alright again. she's here to buy milk and cookies.
alia casts a quick look at the vaccinated pokemon in the store. "they're yours? you're working for eos, then"
quite honestly, alia can't imagine someone who is less suited for taking on bloodthirsty scourge. "are you thinking about fighting?"
zara honestly considers it less 'working for' and more 'getting paid by,' but to each their own -- she wonders if she should perhaps get the pecha yogurt or cheri. "which is better, you think?" she muses. sweet or spicy? her pokemon continue to romp around the store, clearly sending the clerk into fits of distress, but she merely ignores them and reads the labels on the food.
the woman doesn't spare a glance at alia. "fight? no." she waves a hand through the air. "don't be silly." of course she wasn't going to fight. "why would i?"
"unno" alia shrugs. "you know me, i usually eat whatever"
...alia spares a moment to scan the ponyta. the pokedex takes a bit of time to download the data onto its disk. about one post's worth, mind you.
"yeah" alia is plenty relieved at the news. civilians should remain civilians. besides, it's not as if noncombatants couldn't help with the war effort. "...you're a breeder, then?" eos probably wouldn't have given her so many vaccinated pokemon otherwise.
"...don't you think you should stop them?", she asks, even when she already knows the probable answer.
convenience stores are convenient; but that's supposed to be the point, isn't it?
