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!
Ahuda is content to browse through the shelves, delving into the pool of knowledge that is Proserpina. It's a place she's wanted to come to since she was a child, and now she has the ability to do so. She takes her time among the books about history, interested in the various mythology and theories that surround certain pokemon. The Mienfoo at her side peers at the texts curiously as well, content to not touch them but merely look through their titles.
They're both lost in their own worlds, and it isn't until she's set the books that she wants down on a table and flops into a chair, Madonna sitting down more calmly, when she realizes that the table's already occupied. Ahuda's already sat down, though, and she isn't one to simply stutter an apology and move on, so instead she says, "Don't mind me, I'm just reading."
The thud of a stack of books hitting the table startled him enough that he jumped a little in his seat. Blond head popping up out of the large tome he was already half way through, Nima blinked up at the young lady now occupying the other side of his reading spot. Well, not that it was HIS spot really, eheheh. Though initially surprised, the researcher was quick to offer up a bright smile. “It’s okay! If it’s got more than one chair, it’s meant for more than one person, right? I don’t mind!” Nima himself already had a couple of piles laid out next to him, which he’d been working on since morning. With it being so frigid out, all he really wanted to do was stay indoors these days, and a nice warm library was just the ticket. Setting down his current read, Nima endeavored to at least introduce himself. It seemed less awkward that way! “My name’s Nima, nice to meet you table buddy! That’s a lovely Mienfoo. Hi!” He waved to both trainer and pokemon in the same manner - to him, pokemon didn’t warrant a change in behavior. He respected them just as much as people, if not more.
The other trainer's surprisingly nice about her just barging in on what seems heavy reading material, tomes already scattered all over the table. She has yellow-blonde hair and a nice smile, and Ahuda finds herself relaxing, Madonna ignoring them both while she picks up a book of her own. The ranger lets her - her partner is very, very careful with books, and is possessive of them - and instead replies to the rather cheerful trainer. "I'm Ahuda, and likewise." The way she greets both her and Madonna takes Ahuda by surprise, but in a good way - she finds herself smiling back, liking the person already. "And thanks." The Mienfoo in question, on the other hand, glances up from her book, waves, and plunges herself back into her reading material, shutting them both out again.
Ahuda smiles at that, a crooked grin that reveals more teeth on one side than the other, before she turns back to her tablemate. "What are you reading about?" she asks, nodding towards the girl's books. She's genuinely interested, even though socialization isn't her thing, and what better way to find out than to ask?
Ahuda? What a neat name! And he was quite entertained by the pokemon’s antics as well - an avid reader it would seem! Giggling softly to himself, he had almost forgotten about his own ‘avid reading’ before his new acquaintance reminded him of it with her question. “Oh!” Sitting back a smidge, he patted the book laying open in front of him. “Just research, really. About pokemon physiology, human physiology, things like that. I’m a researcher for EOS, and I’m focusing on the virus and vaccine pretty heavily right now! Though, I don’t really think that I’ll find much of anything new in these books, but sometimes going back to basics helps. And you never know when inspiration will strike! Little things can spark big ideas, after all!” Indeed, all of his books were higher level medical and record books. They probably made for dry reading for most, but Nima hadn’t become a researcher for no reason. He loved this sort of thing. “What about you two? Is it serious stuff? Or more for fun?”
Nima goes off to explain herself, and Ahuda finds her eyebrows rising. It seems as if her companion is very knowledgeable in her field, and a brief glance over the books piled on the table shows her that she probably wouldn't understand a word of it. Well, there had been a reason for her not to become a researcher, and her lack of knowledge in biology and medicine are merely part of it.
Ahuda smiles when Nima asks what they're in the library for. "Mostly for fun. I was looking for books on history and mythology, and they have a lot of that here. There weren't as much in Ceres; it's more of a nature range than anything else." She recollects with fondness for her home town, and tilts her head at Madonna. "She's more interested in the medical type of things, though. Physiology, acupuncture - the stuff that'd go over most pokemons' heads." And as if cued, the Mienfoo puts down the book she'd been reading and picks up another text from the ones on the table. Ahuda smiles at her antics, before turning back to Nima again. "What's being a researcher for Eos like? I've never met one before." Ahuda always finds it helpful if she knows whatever she can get information on; you never know when knowing a researcher's duties and capabilities will come in handy, after all.
Nima certainly didn’t look, or act, even half as smart as he really was. Cheerful, chatty, and sometimes a bit clumsy, he definitely didn’t have the air of an intellectual. Stereotypes all, but it still colored the way people often viewed him. Nima simply wasn’t content to be anything other than himself, regardless of other’s opinions. Leaning forward, arms propped on his book, he decided to invest himself fully in the conversation. “Mythology and history are a lot of fun! You get to learn about so many strange things!” Nima just enjoyed learning, simple as that, even if his current occupation directed most of his attention. “Acupuncture? Could she do that?” He was wildly intrigued by the thought. A pokemon acupuncturist! How incredible would that be? The Meinfoo definitely seemed interested enough in it. There she went, onto another book!
“Eh? Heheh, well, I think most of us spend our time pestering everyone to see their pokemon most days! We have to collect as much data as possible on pokemon so we can cross-reference it when we come upon scourge versions of them. You do meet a lot of people that way though! I’m pretty much done with that side of things myself, right now I need to focus on finding and studying the infected ones. Which is why I haven’t bothered you with my pokedex yet, heehee.”
“Haha, wow, she’s super talented!” Nima was genuinely impressed with Madonna. Although come to think of it…could acupuncture help with nerve damage? Normally he wasn’t one to bring up his own ailments, but maybe if he asked the pokemon calmly enough about it…she did seem to be reading up on the topic, after all. He’d have to do that! But first, he needed to answer Ahuda.
“I don’t think there’s really a specific amount you know? Certainly the more you know before going into a battle, the better off you are, but sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’d hoped. People get ambushed all the time. I just did a lot of traveling over the last half year or so, and I’ve run across a lot of pokemon. I’ve got about five hundred registered so far.” He grinned at her confession, shaking his head. “It’s alright! And thank you, I’d really appreciate it if you would. Right now, the majority of pokemon I am missing are native to a region called Kalos. Oh, we should make sure to exchange C-gear numbers before we leave, in that case.”
He remembered the Axew he’d studied from the past - a very polite little thing! It was a bit sad not to bug everyone with the request to see their pokemon these days, but at the same time it freed him up to do other things. Pros and cons to both, eh? Turning to Madonna, he recalled his earlier train of thought. “Oh, what sorts of things can acupuncture heal by the way? I guess I never thought about what made a person see an acupuncturist before. Is it for like…illness? Or injuries? Both?” Nima thought nothing of posing questions directly to the Pokemon, because he could actually understand them to a certain degree. All that researching had paid off, if in a way he hadn’t anticipated. But it was quite useful all the same!
"That's a lot of pokemon," Ahuda admired, Madonna even glancing up from her book where she'd been avidly reading at the mention of such a number. Nima must have been working for a long time, then, if she'd gotten so many. The ranger did grin, though, when she mentioned exchanging numbers. "Sure, if you want to." The Eos-issued thing was empty at the moment, completely new and shiny, and it would be nice to have at least someone she could call when she needed something.
The Mienfoo looked up when the researcher addressed her with a pleased look on her face. Not many often treated her like an actual thinking being, so someone who did was always good in her standards. "Both," she replies, carefully, in that dignified way of hers. "It can be used for the betterment of health and being, prevention of illness, and treatment of medical conditions. Pain control is possible as well, although that uses different points than the regular ones. It depends on what you ask your medical acupuncturist for."
Ahuda looks between them both curiously. She can understand Madonna perfectly, as the pokemon is her partner. But the researcher understanding her is a different question entirely. "Do you need me to translate?" she asks Mina, directing the question at her. It is entirely possible that she doesn't, but it would be prudent to ask first.
His understanding of others’ pokemon was somewhat rough, like someone who had a good working grasp of a language without being quite fluent in it. Thus, he couldn’t translate Madonna word for word, but he understood enough to understand her answer. He grinned and was about to reply, when Ahuda offered help. Oh right, he hadn’t even mentioned to her he could do this! “Oh no, thank you! It’s a little odd, but after all this researching, I can understand pokemon to a certain degree. I’m sure you heard her perfectly, so mine’s rough in comparison, but it’s enough that I know the gist of what she said. She seems like quite the intellectual conversation partner though!” And then he plunged ahead with his question without thinking, having already forgotten his apprehension from earlier simply because he’d gotten swept up in the conversation. “What about nerve related injuries you think? Does that fall under the ‘pain control’ part?” Nima was truly intrigued. He’d never really considered going for this sort of treatment - there’d been physical therapy after surgery, and that had been about the end of it. That he still suffered now as an adult, he assumed there was nothing to be done for it. He’d come to terms with the injury, and it no longer bothered him mentally all that much, but being able to fight without worry was a tempting prospect.
Apparently she didn't. Ahuda finds herself admiring Nima more and more, especially in understanding her partner without a translator. "She is," she agrees, although she doesn't think the researcher heard it with the way she goes on to question Madonna.
For her part, the Mienfoo only has to think for a few minutes before answering. "It depends. Acupuncture can help with nerve damage, but only to an extent. It works best for recent injuries, and the benefits lessen the older the injury is, even if acupuncture is acclaimed to help nerve regrowth. For those, it might be best to seek other type of treatment. Physiotherapy, specific vitamins, and cortisone injections may help."
Ahuda looks to Nima curiously for her reaction. Well, she had said that she understood Madonna roughly, but with wordings like that it may as well been a 50/50 chance.
Wow, what a vocabulary! Nima was having difficulty keeping up, but after a long pause, he finally nodded. He looked thoughtful, tapping his lips and staring up at the ceiling. He hardly had time to pursue more physical therapy, but at the same time it could only help. Could he afford the down time? He’d managed his battles so far, but…wasn’t that just testing his luck? Maybe he ought to look into it anyway. Alternative treatments.
Finally, he smiled. “Thank you for the great information Madonna! Sorry for the abrupt questions. But it was very insightful!” Turning to Ahuda, his smile only widened. “Your partner is really amazing!”
Nima perked up like a dog at the mention of the words ‘hot chocolate’. There were few things he loved more than that! And given the weather? There was no better form of sweet beverage to be had! “Yes I would! I know a great café to get some too! And they have really, really good muffins!” It hadn’t taken much to get the researcher excited, that was for sure. He was already practically bouncing in his seat. “Shall we check out some books and go? I’m not going to be able to concentrate while thinking of all that deliciousness I could be having!”
A quick shudder ran through him as he thought of the weather outside. He really, really didn’t like winter! Too cold, too snowy! “Eheh, I think I’ll have Phoenix escort us to the café…he’ll keep us a bit warmer.”
Muffins? Muffins are always good. Food is always good, and Ahuda smiles as Nima mentions the cafe. It seems as if she can't sit still, and the ranger laughs a little. "Sure," she says, and as she picks up the few books she'd first dropped off at the table with she hands them off to Madonna when she motions for them. The pokemon reaches a paw out for any books that Nima'd like to check out as well, and disappears into the aisles of books, presumably to check them out. Doing so under the researcher's name wouldn't be a problem for the admittedly clever Mienfoo, and Ahuda leans against their table while she waits for her partner to return.
"Who's Phoenix?" she asks curiously when Nima mentions him. He'd have to be a fire-type pokemon, or at least one with a very high body temperature if Nima thinks he'll keep them warm.
Nima blinked a few times at the mienfoo’s extended paw, but he understood readily enough what she meant. How courteous! Grinning, he handed the pokemon a few books on pokemon physiology. “Thank you Madonna!” He called after her disappearing form, before returning his attention to Ahuda.
“Oh! Phoenix is my Rapidash! He’s very friendly, and very well behaved. I’ve, uh, sort of been using him as a heater lately eheheh…” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, sticking out his tongue a bit. He felt a little bad using his pokemon like that, but the truth was it was bitterly cold and he couldn’t handle it. Not even bundled up. Keeping the fire type out almost all the time seemed to be the only way he could manage.
Ahuda is content to browse through the shelves, delving into the pool of knowledge that is Proserpina. It's a place she's wanted to come to since she was a child, and now she has the ability to do so. She takes her time among the books about history, interested in the various mythology and theories that surround certain pokemon. The Mienfoo at her side peers at the texts curiously as well, content to not touch them but merely look through their titles. 
The thud of a stack of books hitting the table startled him enough that he jumped a little in his seat. Blond head popping up out of the large tome he was already half way through, Nima blinked up at the young lady now occupying the other side of his reading spot. Well, not that it was HIS spot really, eheheh.
Ahuda? What a neat name! And he was quite entertained by the pokemon’s antics as well - an avid reader it would seem! Giggling softly to himself, he had almost forgotten about his own ‘avid reading’ before his new acquaintance reminded him of it with her question.
Nima goes off to explain herself, and Ahuda finds her eyebrows rising. It seems as if her companion is very knowledgeable in her field, and a brief glance over the books piled on the table shows her that she probably wouldn't understand a word of it. Well, there had been a reason for her not to become a researcher, and her lack of knowledge in biology and medicine are merely part of it.
Nima perked up like a dog at the mention of the words ‘hot chocolate’. There were few things he loved more than that! And given the weather? There was no better form of sweet beverage to be had!
Muffins? Muffins are always good. Food is always good, and Ahuda smiles as Nima mentions the cafe. It seems as if she can't sit still, and the ranger laughs a little. "Sure," she says, and as she picks up the few books she'd first dropped off at the table with she hands them off to Madonna when she motions for them. The pokemon reaches a paw out for any books that Nima'd like to check out as well, and disappears into the aisles of books, presumably to check them out. Doing so under the researcher's name wouldn't be a problem for the admittedly clever Mienfoo, and Ahuda leans against their table while she waits for her partner to return. 
Nima blinked a few times at the mienfoo’s extended paw, but he understood readily enough what she meant. How courteous! Grinning, he handed the pokemon a few books on pokemon physiology.
