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!
smoke rose from the ashtray, and the untouched cigarette. the skies were dark, and so was J's expression as he studied the map of nerio city. certain areas were already overrun with scourge, and it was not a pleasant sight. he reclined in his seat, the tips of his boots knocking against the bottom of the table.
his coffee was yet untouched, and so were the croissants from before. the waitress knew better than to bother J; his eyes were narrowed as he bent over the map again, and proclaimed himself done.
smoke exhaled from his nostrils, and J stared up at the ceiling, pensive.
A hand rest on the chair across from him. It whined as he pulled it back, the metal scraping against the ground. I'll be taking this seat." He stated, leaving no room for argument, not that he needed to; he was sure that they wouldn't mind.
Lazily, he propped his elbows on the table and leaned forward. A pleasant smile plastered across his features. He was ignoring the map beneath, wrinkling under his weight. Even the smell of the cigarette was ignored, as were the treats.
ah, that voice again. J leaned back in his seat, face as expressionless as rome would remember it. he had never been one to wear his heart on his sleeve, or to let a glimpse of emotion slip past his serious, sometimes bloodshot eyes. he glanced towards the silver-haired man, an odd smile quirking the corners of his mouth.
"hm," he grunted slightly, "researcher in-the-making, rome silvera." he tugged the map away from under rome's elbows, folded it, then slipped it into the pocket of his parka. "you came."
He lifted his elbows at the tugging. While J had grown older, his mannerisms hadn't changed. His greeting was cool as ever. The smile subtle all but noticeable to him. "And you are J, trainer extraordinaire."
Once the map tucked away and gone from his view, Rome leaned back in his seat. Again the treats and coffee were ignored. "I felt like it."
J's dark eyes shifted away from rome's amber ones. trainer extraordinaire or not, he would never know. eos gave him a purpose, something different in life to look forward to. thanatos had grown stronger by day in his heart, his wish to seek out death itself latching firmly unto his mindset. he was now close to the scourge, and he may yet get his wish, he thought as he map of nerio pressed against his chest.
the trainer never liked coffee, and he didn't suppose that rome liked them, either. he had ordered it simply because it was the cheapest on the menu. the older man had always been like a serene, but distant figure in his life. while J was no less cool and indifferent to other people, he wasn't quite like the way rome was.
J shifted into a slightly more comfortable position, arms across his chest.
Rome never expected a response. While another might have thought him stewing on the unintended compliment, he didn't. J was different like that, though it may have been from his strange past. It was one of the reasons why he had taken an interest in the man. The actions of one's parent and how they effected their child. Even before then, J was a quiet kid.
A waitress came by, finally giving him his own cup of hot coffee. He gave it a stir, letting the cream lighten its color. The silence between them was comfortable, suitable for the two of them, but he would have to break it. "How have you been?"
"relatively good," J answered when prompted. he had always been more of the listner while rome chattered about the latest carcass he dragged home during his stay in isshu. he was also the child that sat in the corner of the room, playing whatever instrument he had and fixing musical notes to sounds he heard.
if he spoke, he could never hear everything. not even the gunshot that sounded at a sharp F and was mistaken for a G. different guns had different pitches --
"what about you?" J's voice was his usual whisper, no longer the low baritone that he sported around other people. around rome, he was significantly different, the thanatos in his heart quietened and his mind reminding him of the peaceful life he led in isshu.
While he was the more talkative of the two, he was always multitasking, observing the way that J reacted to his words. It was noticeable by the way he talked, the fact that he talked more, that he was at ease around J. He didn't have to worry about anyone ratting him out on his latest experiments and toys, calling them twisted and terrible. He didn't have to try to hide and act normal.
He gave a small chuckle at J's short answer. Again, he didn't expect an elaborate story. And then the question was returned.
"Things have been in progress. Seeing that I'm still here, I haven't made it that far. I did obtain my pokemon earlier today." Placing the stirring stick partially on the tray of croissants, he took a long sip of his drink. "Ah." A small sigh. "Have you seen the virus yet? I'm not able to pick at my vaccinated pokemon --not yet at least, but the scourge. They sound like interesting creatures."
"i've reached nerio, but no glimpse of them yet." J had travelled to nerio alongside a pink-haired trainer, and the both of them had gone around talking to several experts on the frontlines, but no sign of scourge yet. maybe both parties were tired and decided to call it a day, if the hades-infected pokémon even knew what fatigue was.
J was inclined to show him his pokémon, if only to see rome excitedly poking at them, but decided that over coffee and hot cocoa, catching-up was done, not experimenting. not in a café, anyway. "what did you get?" he asked the researcher. a person like rome would have attracted a different selection of pokémon than a truly mild-mannered person. the pleasant face that the other man put on was nothing like the rome J knew.
he poked at the tablecloth, drawing on them in thought. "i brought wing over. the wing you know."
"Not yet?" Surprise rang through his tone. He had expected J to have collected plenty of pokemon by now, facing the scourge with his stoic power. Even for him the thought was rather ridiculous. But he had always believed that J would become a powerful trainer. He certainly had the look of one and the attitude.
"Ah?" The pleasant smile quirked into a smirk. So, he was caught this time. J always knew when there was something else he wanted to focus on. That he had been dancing around, despite how blunt he usually was with others. "A Zangoose. He's a feisty one." He gave a low chuckle. "Even vaccinated, he's still quite difficult to handle. It might have only been a little while, but I think I've grown fond of him." Though his definition of 'fond' was different than most. For him, it meant that he served more purpose being alive than being another part of his collection. He could only wonder what happened to the rejected pokemon. His smirk only grew wider at the thought.
He watched as J moved closer to the table, finishing his cup of coffee. Honestly, he wouldn't have minded another location. There was so much he wanted to learn. "So he's still with you? How is that windcock, still pestering people by blinding them?"
old friends rarely disappointed each other, and J was glad to see rome's smile morph into a smirk. it often meant the start of something good, and J was more than happy to be a loyal listener to his words. he was fascinated by rome's choice of a zangoose, but found it to fit the researcher's overall personality and tendencies. he didn't claim to know rome well, but he did know him good enough to be familiar with his habits, and line of thought.
at the same time, J also entertained the thought of fighting alongside the mongoose pokémon, simply because it was immune to poison, much like wing. trainer or researcher, J thought that all people at kohaku were apt to get involved in a few battles, maybe more. wing was as brutal as ever, and any pokémon of rome's would be no less interesting on the field. there was no exception for things that failed to capture his friend's interest, barring humans.
"quite well," J said, leaning back from his inspection of the tablecloth after the veiled compliment. wing hadn't been the most well-behaved thing around. "he hasn't done that yet, though. kohaku demands from him a different sort of behavior."
“of course.” rome said smoothly. They needed trainers to be on the front lines, just as he would be, to defend them. Pokemon were expected to do the such (and thus were boring to him in general). Wing was different though. He was sure not to disappoint.
“We should have met up somewhere else. I could have my fun there.” Time had passed since he completely ignored the rules of society. It had been why J was safe at his home despite his past. The older male didn't hide his true nature back then. Now, only a select few knew his hobbies, J included.
J knew better than to invite rome to a secluded location for him to conduct his unethical activities -- the board of researchers would have had a field day with the misdemeanors that rome often got himself involved with. the trainer, however, wasn't particularly against anything his childhood friend did. he had, after all, grew up partially-influenced by a person bearing a morbid sort of interest.
"it isn't time to feed the thanatos," J said, and his eyes flickered from rome to the researcher's slender fingers, to the smile that carved a pleasant expression. the trainer fought a battle against the beast that had grown within him ever since his childhood, and it had only intensified in rome's presence. in a way, J was inexplicably drawn to the moments between life and death, the struggle intriguing and the will to live unfathomable.
why would someone live, when they looked better in death, a young J had once asked rome.
The dead were far more entertaining than the living. There were so few that he was able to learn more from those living as opposed to the dead. To cut down the scourge and examine one, he found that to be the reason for staying in this land. Only J understood him. He understood the allure.
"Hm." He said in a noncommittal tone. This had been their first reunion in quite a while, he supposed it could do with putting off a little fun for later. "Only if you promise to show me another time. This pokedex could use a few entries." He pulled out the little device and placed it on the table. It was his duty to fill the thing with scans of pokemon, a neat little device. He should be cradling it as if it were an egg. It could scan the scourge as well.
He finished his cup of coffee and placed it back on the table. "... You've been to Nerio. It might bee too much to ask for a reunion." No. He honestly didn't care if it was pushing J into a tight spot. "But it has been a while. The pokemon are different now. As much as it would be --" He cut himself short. J was a friend, a damn close one. These formalities were pointless. Normally, he wouldn't even bother attempting. "I want you to guide me there."
the allure wasn't difficult to understand. around rome, thanatos often reared its ugly head, and J was constantly reminded of its place in his heart. he didn't remember since when it had gotten so huge, so demanding. maybe it was because rome was around, but J didn't want to think about it.
J still refused to touch his own coffee, finding its dark brown a little too inky for his liking. "would be a while," said the trainer, turning the handle of his mug of coffee towards the researcher slowly, idly, while his dark eyes focused on its smooth movement. he stopped once it was angled at rome, and he glanced up from it. "but i didn't come back to proserpina for nothing." he was the same as usual; voice like a whisper, face emotionless and unreadable except for flashes in his eyes on certain occasions.
he reached out to the pokédex and booted it up. his fingers scrolled the content of the device; rome hadn't many entries at all. he had seen researchers with more -- neo, for one. he tabbed the device, running through the various functions it had. point-and-scan, detect typing, nothing else was new. it was still a dex like in any other region. J set it down.
