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!
He doesn't have the mask in the Dream World. What he does have, though, is a tiny niche bar that serves really good craft beer, and that's much better.
Batin sat at the bar and waited for the bartender to slide him his next stout.
physis sits at the bar without her helmet. she's already been through several bottles of sinnoh beer over the past hour, and her head is starting to become fuzzy.
didn't matter, though. nothing in the dream world ever did. that's why physis ever risks coming here, in contact with a civilization that has failed her. physis continues to fail them, and if it took some temporary alcoholism to feel less like a sack of shit sometimes, then so be it. not over her agent successes, no, but her failures.
she attempts to buy another drink, but the bartender is occupied with someone else. that's enough for her eyes to settle on the man that he was serving.
"...you're much better looking without the mask, you know." she says the first thing that comes to mind. physis isn't sober enough to regret it. why should she? she's only stating the truth.
Batin took a sip of his beer. Zahir cataloged it: complex full taste, smooth finish. Would probably go well with a burger or an average cut of steak.
"You're probably the first and last person to ever say that," Batin answered, flashing the half-grin that twisted his scar. "Didn't think I'd see you here."
"whatever daniel says, i have great taste in men" okay, that wasn't maybe strictly true. there was that one boy in middle school who turned out to be a sack of shit. sophia broke his nose. daniel wasn't excited to be called to a teacher meeting. sophia apologized through her teeth.
ah, he's not here to make judgements on her choices anymore, was he? physis stares at the table for a few moments, lost in thought. at least this man had pretty eyes. "...i switch places. make sure that i'm not a regular anywhere, take care of myself. who else is going to look out for a damsel in distress?"
yes, there's definitely danger in staying in one place for too long. something about being found by the wrong people. eos, maybe. eos didn't like her. physis wonders if there was anyone who did. the warmth made it a little more difficult to care, though.
"i...don't think i expected to see you either."
she feels sad again. this is a feeling that should be here, but physis is starting to forget why. that is a good thing. she accepts another drink from the bartender.
Batin snorted. "You really thought you wouldn't find me in an imaginary bar where I can drink all the locally brewed beer I want and no one can kill me?"
"i don't think...i don't think i expected to see you for a very long time. i looked, didn't i? pretty sure that i checked this bar a dozen times" she pouts, because she's pretty sure that he should have been around here. should have, if not in nerio.
when was this? not recently, surely. months ago sounds more plausable. why was she looking for him? was he missing? was he lost?
"you could have been drinking with me" physis states simply as she finishes that bottle, as if it was really a solution. "i would make sure nobody could kill you. maybe if you went drinking with me the first time, you wouldn't have been lost."
lost people always show up eventually, don't they? lost doesn't mean dis a ppe a r
"like being dead?" for the first time, physis sounds a little bitter. "how was it? i can't say that i've ever talked to a dead man before. wouldn't want to, either." except this man isn't dead anymore, so it's okay, isn't it?
"you're not allowed to drink with me again if you die. not even if you start telling me how pretty i am. i'm not that nice."
batin gets no less infuriating in the dream world, it seems.
"believe anything you want, but i'm the almost-licensed practitioner. not you." what did he do again? something about steaks. rare steak that's almost blue. she takes another swig of beer. "told you i tried to find you. talk to you here instead of at the hospital. might have bought you a beer. not anymore."
he can pay for his own beer now that he's not dead anymore.
"Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades."
Despite what she thinks, Batin is actually less infuriating in the dream world. Otherwise that would have been a comment on how it was a good thing she wasn't a true practitioner, since swearing the Hippocratic Oath would have made operating as a murderous scourge agent somewhat awkward.
maybe, but the hippocratic oath only applied to actual patients, didn't it? what does kohaku know about hippocratic oaths anyway?
she's not sure what horse shoes and hand grenades have to do with anything. either way she hopes that she will wake up soon. no such luck tonight, unfortunately.
"...you're making that face again. the face that makes me want to send you to the couch"
"isn't that supposed to like...scare you into behaving, or something?" he had really nice eyes...she wasn't sure how much she liked the color green before zahir. whatever it was, she likes it now. she continues to stare as she finishes her current bottle. "or i could talk daniel into building you a doghouse. then you wouldn't be running off recklessly anymore. what's the point of being cute at forty-seven if you're not around?"
obviously, her mathematic skills were the first to go.