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!
Griff wasn't flailing around per se, but as a city boy, this new ranger wasn't quite at home in Ceres Forest.
It was times that these that he thought he should've been a trainer. Juturna Village was a sight to behold after a few days in the wilderness, although Griff knew that he'd had it easy for his first camping trip. (It wasn't his first camping trip, but it was the first without cops hot on his tracks. The threat of being caught had always ensured that he hadn't noticed such minor issues, like bugs. All the bugs. Oh god, the bugs.)
They'd settled in for the night at Juturna with plans to leave for Di Manes at first light. For now, they passed the time at the local tavern. Shyvana was enjoying a tankard of apple cider while Griff kept warm with a mug of rose tea.
vertigo note: i have no idea how this thread is supposed to go im js
if griff wasn't at home in ceres forest, isaac wasn't fitting into the general atmosphere of the tavern.
the place was bustling with people, and a boy obviously not old enough to drink was giving the bartender a hand with the customers. holding tankards of drink and trays of food, he navigated the place with ease. he recited orders when he returned to the kitchens and emerged with more trays of food to serve hungry customers. the boy didn't seem to mind the rowdy atmosphere; he kept his smile up, and did his job.
it was only part of the job for isaac to stop by a ranger-pokémon pair and ask if they would like something to eat.
"no food for the both of you?" he asked, addressing both the ranger and his charmeleon, before muttering a hurried 'i'll be right back' as he served a table of officers their beer.
he returned to the duo a moment later, head tilted, but his smile was an inquring one.
"Want something, Shyv?" Griff asked while Isaac was gone. "Might be our last decent meal before heading into the caves."
Little did he know he'd get into a fight with a scourge froslass before even making it to Di Manes.
Shyvana nodded, although she didn't seem particularly hungry. Griff knew he wasn't. If they were, they'd have already eaten their fill they moment they stepped in rather than nursing drinks.
When Isaac returned, Griff said, "Something light for the two of us? Soup? Chips? Whatever you've got." vertigo
isaac's response was a swift one. "rotisserie chicken soup, or beef and onion soup," he said. the ranger glanced towards the officers' table as they yelled for something, before his attention returned to the duo. "we might be running out of the latter pretty soon.
Shyvana straightened up at the mention of lasagna. She chattered away excitedly, and picked up a fork.
What Shyvana wants, she generally gets. Griff didn't really mind, not when it came to food. He'd gone hungry enough times that he'd eat anything.
"I guess lasagna then. Take care of the officers first though, we'll be alright here for a while." Shyvana started to protest, her tail flame starting to blaze a little hotter, but Griff shushed her. She pouted, and he laughed. "C'mon. You can wait." vertigo
isaac smiled at the duo. "i'll be right back," he said, giving them a nod. he went over to the officers and attended to them, before disappearing into the kitchen.
... to his surprise and amazement, the cook had passed out on the floor. in a very ranger-like sequence, isaac activated his capture styler and drew the flying sign. he wanted to help the cook out, but unfortunately, he couldn't do anything.
he grit his teeth, did whatever he could, and went back to the officers with their orders. when he stopped by griff's table, he was empty-handed.
"the cook passed out," he said, "i can't wake him up, and he might be dead."
Griff hadn't been particularly hungry to begin with, and he was pleased to see that Shyvana had better priorities than feed me. Rising out of her chair with concern (and Griff watched her fiery tail with equal concern for the furniture), she chattered away, offering suggestions that mostly ranged from going to a pokemon center to spraying him down with potions to prayer. Griff let her talk; there wasn't any need to interrupt just to say that dead people can't be healed.
He might be--does he have a pulse?" Griff asked, remarkably calm for someone with no medical expertise. Pulse = alive, though. He knew that. "Should we call for help? Unless it's normal to drop dead around here." vertigo
isaac smiled and humored the charmeleon's enthusiasm. a pokémon happy to help was a pokémon worth listening to. it was always interesting to, in isaac's book.
the ranger stood over the cook, frowning at the body. "even if he does, it's a weak one," he said, "i haven't really touched him yet. i gave him a defog and whatever we're seeing is definitely what's happened to him. that is -- he's either dead, or he's not.
"also, you're help."
isaac pressed two fingers to the cook's neck, then glanced up with a smile. "he's very dead."
He'd seen dead bodies before. He'd left dead bodies before. It didn't really bother him. The circumstances of the chef's death were more problematic though. People don't just drop dead.
"Me? Fair warning, I'm not much of a nurse." He wasn't used to being the help. He had usually been the opposite of help for most of his life.
"Why are you smiling?" Griff asked, more curious than suspicious. "Seems kinda unfortunate." Big words from Griff, considering that he didn't look particularly mournful himself.
(Meanwhile, Shyvana searched the kitchen for signs of lasagna.)
"my suspicions were confirmed, that's all." the boy shrugged. "seems like reason for celebration; nothing we do is going to bring a dead man back. you can't really draw a sign for it, either."
he exhaled through his mouth, then attempted to further inspect the corpse. there weren't signs of strangulation, that he could tell. no blood, either. how did someone just ... die for no apparent reason?
"we could call the officers in if you'd like, but they might shut down the tavern. i'd like to avoid that if possible." isaac gritted his teeth.
(shyvana found a good amount of lasagna. have at 'em, girl.)
They were a long way out from Proserpina City too--and Griff did agree that the rangers here could probably handle their own affairs just fine. "Could still call a priest."
Griff examined the room. He wasn't familiar with how it looked before, or with how it looked before Shyv had rummaged through it looking for edibles.
"Is there only one entrance? Any others? Smaller ones, maybe." That was assuming the worst, of course. Maybe he'd died of natural causes, or a self-inflicted accident. "Toxins in the food he was working with maybe? Or would he know the difference between hemlock and a carrot."
(Shyvana got herself a plate, and also a fork and knife, because she was a civilized fire dragon lizard thing. She tied a napkin neatly over her chest before she began her meal.)
"holy water isn't bringing him back," isaac sighed.
"there's only one way into the tavern. there's a back door, but it's only opened when we restock on items. we restock every monday and thursday. we don't really serve dangerous foods, either. rangers aren't doctors."
outside, the crowd grew rowdy. isaac sighed once again.
"could you clean up here for a bit? i'll go ... tell the rest the cook's fallen ill or something."
(shyvana would have earned accolades for her manners.)
"A priest for funeral rites," Griff explained absently as he circled around the corpse to check on the stove.
There wasn't much to clean. The soup was boiling pleasantly, as was a hearty stew. Something was sauteing on a pan (onions by the smell of it), and it was starting to burn. He turned down the burners, and turned the burning one off. Griff salvaged what he could of it onto a plate and left the pain soaking in suds in the sink.
Otherwise, there was no blood, no mess. Not much to clean.
Shyvana kept eating. Thanks for all the help, Shyv.
isaac encouraged the charmeleon to eat as much as she wanted. he gave her another helping of lasagna, the last the kitchens had before he dumped its container into the sink as well. "eat up," he told shyvana, and smiled at her.
he disappeared out into the front, and proceeded to tell the officers that they were closing up for the day.
the officers hadn't taken kindly to the news. more than buzzed by now, they acted in a rowdy manner, slamming palms and fists down upon the sturdy tables and demanding that they be served because they upheld the law. isaac somehow managed to keep up his pleasant demeanour; it took effort, but he kept smiling. (practice made perfect.)
it wasn't until the officers started swinging fists at him that a sense of urgency sent adrenaline rushing through his veins. the boy stepped back, his styler at the ready.
"hey, what's wrong with you?!" isaac asked, narrowly avoiding a beefy fist.
"your face, kid. i'ma ... i'ma in it punch. punch it in, i'ma. i mean."
a second or so later, isaac had landed on the stone floor, face-first.
"Don't encourage her--" Griff began, but it was too late. Shyvana was going to gain like fifty pounds. He'd be the proud owner of the world's only chubby chameleon. So much for being fighting fit.
Oh, well. At least she was happy chowing down.
He heard the sounds of a battle outside. Griff considered waiting it out. It wasn't really his problem. Then he sighed. "Bon appetit, Shyv. Come help me out if I sound like I'm dying."
Griff picked up a ginzu knife in each hand before leaving the kitchen.
At the kitchen doorway, only a little bemused at the whole situation, Griff noted that bringing a knife to a fist-fight was a bad idea. It upped the stakes--a lot. He could also just draw a few signs, so could Isaac, and maybe this could all resolve itself.
"There's a chef in the kitchens, if you want to ask the guy in charge for an explanation," Griff said mildly, knowing full well that a dead man told no tales. He tossed the knife in the air, catching it with the ease of someone that didn't have toys growing up--only tools of the trade.
"I'd watch my back while going into the kitchens though. Someone might stab you in it. Really, you should just go somewhere else to eat. Much better for your health. There's so much fat in the stew here, bad for your arteries, man."
Griff wasn't flailing around per se, but as a city boy, this new ranger wasn't quite at home in Ceres Forest.
Shyvana straightened up at the mention of lasagna. She chattered away excitedly, and picked up a fork.
