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!
the market is bustling, buoyant with a type of lightness that she does not feel. here, she is merely a woman browsing through the various wares that kohaku has to offer; she is merely another potential customer, one who turns down the offer of pokemon and the prospects of the pokemart in favor of standing off to the side and merely watching the crowd.
she does not have expectations here. theia is not here - scourge pokemon cannot follow agents into the dream world - so she does not have to work to impress the petulant egg pokemon. here, she can pretend that the world had not been doomed by red skies and that she had not been cast aside for mere research.
eleanor perches on the brick-laid wall off to the side, marked with various scratches of pokemon over time, and watches the rest of the world go by before her without a single glance towards her.
bustling, yes-- but busy only with people and their self interest. no one's going to pay attention to lonely eleanor, at least, probably. but she shouldn't feel bad, because no one ever tried to talk to somnus either. he was "eating" a sandwich cross legged on the opposite side of the plaza, gazing at the entitled trainers walking past him.
somnus gave a light sigh as he took a sip of lemonade, patting cottonee with the opposite hand. the grass pokemon had been a bit restless over the past few weeks...all of the normal battlers must have been caught up in the real world.
he spotted a girl through the hustle and bustle. she wasn't with another person, which caught his eye, but what made it even more surprising was that she wasn't with any pokemon either-- she was entirely companion-less. somnus didn't like to see that. he whispered to cottonee and it floated over to the girl, blinking at her.
the cottonee started to play his lovely grasswhistle. it was a happy tune, sweet and uplifting and perfect in execution. somnus had a little too much time on his hands when it came to teaching his pokemon songs or poems, but the pokemon didn't mind. in fact, cottonee enjoyed playing his song. he even smiled enthusiastically as the song came to it's climax.
somnus watched from afar, interested to see how the girl would react. did she enjoy pokemon? he hoped so. nette
looking for a swablu/altaria, if you have one PM me!
she doesn't notice the cottonnee when it first approached, but when it started playing eleanor pays attention. other passerby do as well, although more likely than not they move away as they attend to business. but the pokemon stays with her, plays for her, and as she closes her eyes and relaxes, she realizes that this is the first time that someone has given her a private concert. that it comes from a pokemon doesn't make it any the less precious.
when there is a pause in the music eleanor speaks. she's not sure if it's finished with its current song, but she hopes that it doesn't mind anyway. "thank you - that was lovely," she says with a smile. "i'm sure that you're not not owned by someone, though. who's your trainer?"
vaccinated or not, eos or not, whoever has sent this cottonnee to cheer her up has her gratitude.
somnus watches from the distance, smiling at the cottonee. he certainly was a performer, wasn't he? the tune actually attracted a crowd but they all seemed to leave after he finished. somnus guessed it wasn't good enough to hear more than once.
cottonee didn't even notice the attention, just stared at the stranger as he played. he's not paticularly happy when he plays, although he's not somber either. it's more of a blank look really. that's probably something they could improve on. but when eleanor starts talking he flashes her a grin.
trainer? the cottonee looks confused. he has a 'researcher,' but...he didn't really know that word very well. and he didn't know if he was allowed to say yes or no. so the cottonee dashes away back across the plaza and floats up to somnus. he babbles something in pokemontongue and somnus (although he can't understand very much) nods. "of course you can tell her," he says. "but coming over here and asking me..."
"that sorta defeats the purpose." he stares at the cottonee, who gives him a dirty look. somnnus lightens up; sighs. and as the pokemon runs back to eleanor, he gives a small, tired wave in her direction. nette
looking for a swablu/altaria, if you have one PM me!
the cottonee stares, before running away. eleanor feels a pang of disappointment before she understands where it's going - to a man, and drifting up to him starts speaking. at this distance she can't tell what it would have said, not that she would've understood anyway; but when the pokemon returns she gives it a smile.
"that's him?" she asks it, and gives a wave to the man in return. but hers is larger - a full arm extended and waved, instead of the small tired one he had given her. "he seems nice. let's go meet him, shall we?"
eleanor hops off her ledge, trusting the cottonee to follow after her. she has to dodge quite a lot of passerby, but she makes it to him in good time. when she's close enough she gives the trainer a smile as well.
(she's doing a lot of smiling today, but perhaps it's just the fact that eleanor enjoys music. tamara is a different story, but today is eleanor's day, not tamara's.)
"hello! you're this cottonee's trainer, right? he sings a lovely tune." she pauses,, before glancing at said pokemon. "it is a he, right?" she doesn't think there's a difference in genders for cottonees, but still.
he didn't expect her to actually get up and walk over, as not many people in the dream world were that type. again, everyone had something to do, and somnus expected this woman to be no different. but it seemed she was just dawdling here. or she must've had at least a little time.
it excited him when she began to walk over. not her specifically, but the idea of making small talk was fun to him; somnus hoped he get the oppurtunity. he takes a gulp of lemonade and offers her a weaker smile back. "he is mine yes," cottonee plops down on his trainer's lap. "his name is zulf."
she looks at the lemonade with interest, before shrugging. she's never tried eating food in the dream world before, but the concept is compelling to her. she'd always been a history person, but that didn't mean that her parents' enthusiasm for exploring the unknown hadn't crossed over to her.
(it'd been a dangerous but well-paying trait in the end)
"zulf is a nice name. so is somnus." she gives a smile to the man and sits down next to him, joining in on the people-watching. or at least, what he'd been doing before. she does face him when she introduces herself, though. "i am eleanor. thank you for sending him to me."
somnus doesn't have to eat food in the dream world, really, but he chooses to. it's something very...human that he is still capable of doing. and the food/drink does have a taste, even when you're not conscious. of course, it has no effect on your body outside. at least he really hoped so, because somnus ate a lot in the dream world. he always felt empty. in more ways than one.
"thanks. eleanor's pretty too." he takes a gulp of lemonade; pats zulf. "oh, it's no problem. you seemed a bit..." he's at a loss for words. bored? sad? somnus thinks for a moment, then responds: "alone."i am too. he shrugs.
he looks at cottonee and then back to eleanor, smiling. "do you have a pokemon?" nette
looking for a swablu/altaria, if you have one PM me!
alone. a single word, yet it holds so much meaning behind it. both eleanor and tamara are well acquainted with the implications, the real-life definition.
does she have a pokemon. had it been tamara that somnus is talking to, he would have received a flippant smile, a careless shake of the hand. tamara does not have a pokemon - she has a partner. and she is not hesitant to drive that point home.
but this is eleanor. fragile, friendly, kind eleanor who has lost all of her pokemon in the scourge. she looks down. when her hands tense, slightly, it is not tamara being nervous, nor angry. it is purely eleanor remembering things that file into her head without her consent. "...i used to. not anymore."
which reminds her. she tilts her head at the cottonee. "has he been with you long?" she doesn't think that eos bring their pokemon into dream world except for profit or for daycare. or something. never for company.
alone. a single word, yet it holds so much meaning behind it. how many afternoons he's had to endure, just him and his mind. how many mornings he's had to wait through, slowly watching the people of the dream world disappear before his eyes, leaving him deserted in a ghost town. how many days he's had to sleep, never knowing where his family is, never know if he'll get to see them again.
how many seconds he has to live sleep through, knowing that the doctors on the outside could pull his plug at any moment. and it would all turn to grey.
he looks at eleanor, with a solemn look. "they're gone now." he confirms, twiddling his thumbs. "i'm sorry." somnus purses his lips and clasps his hands together; takes a breath. "we're..." hmm, what to say to that.
"inseparable, actually." because they always had to be together-- neither somnus or zulf had anywhere else to go. nette
looking for a swablu/altaria, if you have one PM me!
inseparable. what she wouldn't give for the ability for theia to follow her into the dream world. her only friend family left, and she couldn't even accompany her into society.
but perhaps it's for the best. the sight of a scourge would make any civilian run in terror. eos are different - eos, at least, have a chance of defending themselves. but it's all futile, in the end.
(eleanor shudders and puts that thought away. tamara doesn't really care.)
"is zulf the only pokemon you have?"do you have no one else, other than him?
the only one? he tilts his head, then realizes what she's asking. a hand trails to the crimson and ivory orbs at his waist-- one by one they roll off his fingers, releasing his pokemon. eventually, two more pokemon appear. the spritzee looks at eleanor curiously. she blinks. mawile runs over to zulf and hides behind him, her cheeks rose red.
"this is nette." somnus says, pointing to the spritzee. "nette, eleanor. eleanor, nette." he looks at the mawile, hiding behind the cottonee. unfortunately the steel type is much bigger, so it's not a very good hiding place. "that's toska." somnus looks back to eleanor with a smile. "toska, eleanor. eleanor, toska."
he takes a bite of his sandwich and beckons toska to come out of hiding. she does, but still seems to be very shy. she doesn't dare look eleanor in the eye. "this is it, though." somnus says, swallowing. nette
looking for a swablu/altaria, if you have one PM me!
when two other pokemon come out, eleanor is crouching down to look at them in the eyes. "hello," she murmurs, a hand reaching out towards them. it's been a long time since she's seen normal fairy-type pokemon, and it's like a blast from the past.
(she tries not to let the hurt from their obvious dislike of her show.)
with the virus in her blood the dream world doesn't bend to her requests as the land of nightmares does now. but she has some pokepuffs that she'd bought with eleanor ravensdale's money earlier, and she reaches into her pocket and brings out a packet of them to offer the trio. "would you three like some?"
the market is bustling, buoyant with a type of lightness that she does not feel. here, she is merely a woman browsing through the various wares that kohaku has to offer; she is merely another potential customer, one who turns down the offer of pokemon and the prospects of the pokemart in favor of standing off to the side and merely watching the crowd.
