The dog days aren't quite over yet...

[indigo_events]

Who: Everyone participating in the Dog Days of Summer event!
Where: Mt Mortar, the Bell Tower, OR the Seafoam Islands
When: August 17th-31st
Summary: With the Legendary Beasts running amok, it's up to everyone to help figure out what's wrong and get everything back to normal!
Log:



Bell Tower

Volunteers helping at the Bell Tower will arrive in Ecruteak City and be welcomed into the Bell Tower-- the normally-reclusive monks are still fairly stiff, but in the interest of not driving off the very help they asked for, they will be much more accommodating than usual.

Little studies have been set up all over the archive rooms in the upper floors, allowing volunteers to group up at tables and pore over old tomes and scrolls for any information that might be related to Ho-Oh or the three Beasts-- of course, there’s also a wealth of information about legendary Pokemon from other regions… just don’t let the monks catch you getting off-topic!

Gym Leader Morty will also be present helping with the research, and is using his Indigo League funds to finance inn lodgings in town for all volunteers. As for refreshments, local restaurants have also stepped up, eager to provide free food for all volunteer researchers! Gogoat-drawn carts full of fresh, traditional cuisine will come trundling up to the Tower several times a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)-- often accompanied by the restaurant-owners themselves. The guy who runs ECRUTEAK HOUSE OF DUMPLINGS will be there a lot-- he and his Emboar are particularly bombastic about stuffing everybody full of delicious fried dumplings at every opportunity. Gotta stay well-fed if you want to study!

That said, anyone wishing to pull an all-nighter will either have to bring their own snacks or rely on the monks’ supplies-- which means plain rice, hot tea, and not much else.

----

Mt Mortar

The base of Mt. Mortar is a flurry of activity no matter what the hour-- the center of operations is a large camping area at the foot of the mountain, where a small army of tents have been set up. Rangers and volunteers alike are rushing around, and anyone just arriving will be asked to sign in and mark whatever tasks they’ll be helping with.

Strong trainers can sign up for field work, which can involve anything from patrolling the mountain to evacuate campers to helping corral the panicking wild Pokemon population (bright side: there’s even more rare ones running around than normal, and capturing them is a quick and easy way to get them out of harm’s way!). Trainers with flying types may even wind up helping to carry water over from the Lake of Rage in case of what the Rangers all fear: forest fire.

More inexperienced trainers will lower-leveled Pokemon will be encouraged to stick around base where it’s a little safer-- but don’t worry, there’s still plenty of work to be done! Several meal tents are set up around the base, where you can serve (or be served) quick meals from hot pans, soup kitchen style. Nothing fancy or extravagant, but nothing that won’t taste great after a long hectic day of running around the mountain. And hey, it’s free.

A first-aid tent is also set up where trainers and their Pokemon can have injuries patched up-- the Nurse Joys staffing it can always use assistance to keep up with everything.

Sleeping quarters are provided via cot-filled tents set up around the base-- those ones are first-come, first-serve, so grab one fast! Helping the Rangers out is an all-day-all-night affair, so everyone just sleeps and eats when they get the chance to. Reminders to do both on a regular basis are posted all around-- nobody wants sleep-deprived trainers doing dangerous work, even if, between the constant roars of Raikou and Entei and the constant activity within the camp, sleeping could get pretty difficult.

Fortunately, one of the first things you’ll be handed upon arriving is a pair of heavy-duty earplugs.

----

Seafoam Islands

On the shores of the Seafoam Islands, everything is… well, chaos.

The beaches are COVERED in tents of all shapes, sizes, and… raggedness. It seems many folks have shown up in lieu of Greg’s frantic video post, and they’ve more or less taken over. You can barely see the sand! Things are quite a bit less organized than they are over at Mt. Mortar, which unfortunately means that for food and first-aid, you might need to wind up heading over to the teeny tiny little dock town with the inn (booked solid, sorry!) and the shop (Blaine’s beach is less occupied, but he can be seen from time to time passive-aggressively picking up peoples’ trash around the outskirts of the tent army and scowling).

Because out on the beach, there’s no first-aid to speak of and if you go to the ‘food tent’, you’ll just be handed something like this.

Fortunately, unlike their hilariously futile efforts to find Celebi and aside from their clear lack of event-managing knowledge, it seems the Seekers actually are onto something. Every six hours or so, Articuno, Zapdos, or Moltres CAN be seen soaring high overhead and disappearing around the back of the mountain, often with stolen food or shiny things glinting in their talons.

The Seekers themselves are more concerned with getting all their equipment functioning than they are about accommodating all the tourists who just showed up to sit on the beach and stare at the horizon in hopes of seeing one of the Birds-- but if you can actually find them in the chaos, they’ll eagerly put you to work.

In this case, 'work' means 'heading straight into the caves to try and #FindLugia'. Well? WILL YOU?



(Remember to SIGN UP over here!)

Comments

[keep_surviving]

Diana frowns in the direction of where the Cinccino was last and calls out. "Rude."

Then returns her attention to Walter, smirking and giving a shrug. "Well, that's too bad. You have them."

As he talks about the research she gives a sigh. "Yeah, me neither. Whenever I think it's something new it turns out to be about different legendaries." She gives her tried face a rub and Isla rubs against her reassuringly.

"There was one about burning up the world to create a new one or something. But when I looked more it wasn't about a beast." Diana yawns, she'll have to try and catch some sleep on the floor when they get back to their spot. "It was about a dragon or something."

[11121_assumption]

"...Do you still have that book?" That was very relevant to his interests. And since she will probably ask, he felt no need to keep his own activities secret. "I've been looking nto Pokemon with links to the sun. I know of one, but there are others, according to what I have read here."

Assumption perked up when he noticed Isla and called to her in a friendly way. He knew another Sylveon! She looked just as pretty and friendly as he did.

[keep_surviving]

Isla smiled at Assumption and waved a tendril, trotting over. Diana followed in suit, stepping closer to Walter's little workstation.

"Sure, ba- Walt." She says, stopping herself from falling into a habit. "I'll send Isla down with it when we get back." She avoids looking at Walter's journal and instead looks at Assumption's work, making an impressed noise. "I didn't know you could draw Assumption."

[11121_assumption]

"Thank you". At least she caught herself this time.

Assumption beamed proudly and rummaged around for a different picture. His artwork was much like a small child's, but it was very good for what it was. He'd kept the colours inside the lines and had effectively traced the scrolls as best he could. "He has drawn since he was a Cubone."

Assumption nodded, but also pointed to Walter. He learned from watching Walter draw!

[keep_surviving]

"They're very good, cutey." Diana praises as Isla extends her ribbon to pat him on the back.

"Oh, does Walt draw?" She smiles and looks at the man in question. "Well, he must be a good teacher if you're able to make such nice pictures."

[11121_assumption]

Assumption beamed and took a different sheet of paper, looking at Isla and starting to draw. Her tendrils made drawing a picture of her tricky, but he wanted to try!

"I didn't teach him. He just...began to copy me." Walter said truthfully. He hadn't really sat don and taught Assumption to draw. Just given him some paper and a pencil and let him do what he wanted. Occasionally he had let Assumption draw on a picture he had done, but those were usually of landscapes.

[keep_surviving]

Isla chimed happily and tried to stand still, smiling as Assumption drew her.

Diana smiles at them before talking to Walter again. "Do you draw a lot, Walt?"

[11121_assumption]

"In my spare time." Quite frequently really. He had a few full journals of notes and drawings he had kept since arriving in Johto. Much like the journal he had in front of him, although he had covered it with his arms when approached.

Assumption drew very carefully, but smiled and told Isla she was very pretty too.

[keep_surviving]

She sits herself beside him. "What do you draw? Are you like, an abstract kind of guy or like, a realist?"

Isla tosses her head and purrs out a thank you. She takes after her mother Diana, you see.

[11121_assumption]

"I draw what I see. And...how things were, before. In my world" How things seemed in the otherworld. When she sat beside him, he drew his journal closer. "It's just Pokemon, and places."

Assumption smiled and nodded. "I see!" Once he was done he turned the paper and gave it to Isla, tail wagging. He'd tried very hard with her ribbons, because they were so pretty and important for Sylveons.

[keep_surviving]

"I'd like to see 'em someday." She nods her head towards his journal. "You know, when they're not hidden away in a personal book."

Isla's eyes sparkle as she looks suitably impressed, her ribbons reaching out to take the paper. "It's wonderful! Thank you! May I keep it?"

Diana notices the little exchange. "Aww, did Assumption do you a picture, Isla? Isn't that sweet?"

[11121_assumption]

He kept his book close. Given some of the things he had drawn...he wouldn't have wanted her to see them, no matter what he thought of their quality.

Assumption nodded brightly. "Yeah! I drew it for you!" he smiled up at Diana when addressed and happily leaned into Walter, who rubbed the top of his head.

[keep_surviving]

Diana just watched Walter for a moment as Isla preened over her picture, bounding over to her Trainer to show her. "He really captured your smile."

"Yes!" Isla chirped, carefully rolling up the picture and holding it tight.

[11121_assumption]

Assumption beamed. new friend made! He scooted down from his chair to stand beside Isla. "What's your name? I'm Assumption."

Walter took advantage of the moment to close his journal entirely, sliding it over to Claudia. She laid down onto top of it and nuzzled up to Walter's hand as he pet her.

[keep_surviving]

Isla dipped her head politely. "I'm Isla." She circles around Assumption. "You're a special Marowak, aren't you?" A tendril brushes across his head. "Even your skull is special."

Diana made no attempt to hide the fact she was watching Walter, or hide her eye roll and head shake at his actions.

[11121_assumption]

He just gave her a dry look in response. He liked his privacy, despite what certain people seemed to think. Claudia gave Diana a blank, unimpressed look, one she had clearly picked up from Walter.

Assumption blushed and ducked his head. "Kinda...I'm special, cos my trainer helped me train and become strong enough to be like this. And he painted the pattern on my skull for me! But you're special too, aren't you?" He knew Sylveons evolved in a special way.

[keep_surviving]

Diana chuckles and teased. "I don't know why you're giving me those looks, you'll have to use your words."

Isla blinked her large blue eyes. "You think? I don't know any others like me, but I don't feel as though I would be any different." As far as Isla knew, every Sylveon was like her.

[11121_assumption]

"You shook your head at me for keeping my notes private."

"I think so." Assumption said with a smile. He reached to hold one of her ribbons. "You're nice! And you look after Diana. And that's special." He became special by protecting his trainer and caring for him. Ergo, other Pokemon were special by looking after their trainers too.

[keep_surviving]

"No. See, this is why you shouldn't assume things." She waggles her finger at him in a scolding fashion. "I shook my head because you were so desperate to hide your notes even though I haven't asked to see them once." She taps the side of her own nose. "You assumed the worst of me." Diana shrugs. "Which isn't a bad thing to do but still. Ouch."

"My Diana looked after me when I was very small." Isla smiles at she holds Assumption's hand. "I love her very much so now I look after her."

[11121_assumption]

"You could still see them from where you are sat. You would have only needs to look over at them." He wasn't going to apologise for keeping his journal private.

Assumption nodded. "I lost my mom. But then I met Walter. He looked after me, and taught me to be strong. But...I realised he needed to be protected too. A bad man named Henry Townshend attacked him once, when I was with him. And I had been too scared to fight back. But then he kept threatening him and the next time...I protected him." He held his bone club solemnly.

[keep_surviving]

"So just shut it? You don't have to stow it away like I'm about to snatch it from you." She's shaking her head again.

Isla's head tilts in concern. "So, there is trainers that attack other trainers. I have heard of that happening." Her gaze wanders to Diana and Walter for a moment, unsure of the man with the deep voice. "Is there a reason a trainer may attack another trainer?" Isla's blue eyes then shift to the shiny Vulpix and her ears twitch.

[11121_assumption]

Claudia decides to answer this. She stood and nosed the journal so it was in front of Walter. Then stepped forward and laid back on top of it, giving Diana a cool look. Walter just stroked her back. "How is your research going?" Best to change the subject now.

"The man who attacked him...they had known each other in his world. Walter says, that one of them must kill the other, where they are from." He spoke quietly. "So that is why he tried to kill him."

[keep_surviving]

Diana arches her brow at Claudia before she rolls her eyes and look up at the ceiling. "You already asked that."

Isla narrows her eyes in Claudia's direction. Rude. Hostile. One to watch. Not welcome. She returns to looking at Assumption with a wag of her tail and a smile. Sweet. Friendly. Amicable. "That seems strange, I hope your Trainer wasn't hurt too bad?"

[11121_assumption]

Technically, Walter hadn't. She had openly volunteered what she had found without his input. So he just looked at her. "You told me about one creature you found. Nothing else." From the comfort of his arms, Claudia did not give a single fuck about how Diana or Isla viewed her.

"Henry managed to punch him and make his nose bleed. But I hit him back." He had made Henry pay. Despite how sweet and friendly he seemed, Assumption was the more dangerous of he and Claudia to cross when it came to Walter's safety.

Behind them all, the Cinccino was creeping closer again. She tiptoed towards Walter's bag, fully intending to slip something in there.

[keep_surviving]

"Fine. You're right. Sorry." She sighs and blows some of her dark hair from her face. She doesn't want to argue. "Does it matter what I've found?"

Isla looks rightly surprised then sympathetic. "That sounds terrible! Thank goodness you were there to protect him!" Her large ears pick up the movement behind her but a quick glance shows it's not a threat to her Trainer so Isla ignores it.