Yotsuba & Arrivals! [Action/Video, New Bark Town, July 11]

[4leafhair]

[ACTION]

[It's a new day in New Bark town, and the sun is shining on the eyes of one small girl who's trying to sleep. She waves her hand, flails more like, at the sun for a second before her eyes open, and then slowly and blearily opens her eyes, blinking the sleep away and looking around the strange room.

After a few fruitless minutes looking for her dad, Yotsuba is near tears. This is only helped by the friendly woman who says she's named mom and directs Yotsuba to start her journey, pointing her towards the old man in the center of town, who in turn welcomes her and helps her with the basics.

It's also helped by the delightfully large cicada she dubs Cicada-chan and begins to carry around. The people of the town insist it's hers and congratulate her on the start of her journey. They also call the bug a nincada.

Once Yotsuba receives her backpack, and pokegear, it's time to figure out how it works. Yotsuba can be found sitting in New Bark Town, fiddling with the pokegear. It's probably being held upside down.]

[VIDEO]

[The video starts shaky. And upside down. Soon enough though, the camera is righted and steadied, and Yotsuba starts grinning, even as the cicada-like pokemon perched on her shoulders starts to chew on one of her pigtails.]

Hello! It's Yotsuba's birthday!

[At least according to the pokegear it is. And she's 10? That's news to her. But she IS taller. Maybe she slept like in a fairy tale!]

Where is this?

Comments

video

[dashdash]

[Mafuyu peers up at the Pokemon riding on the other girl's shoulder.]

Happy birthday!!

[She says... to the Nincada... The girl did say "Yotsuba's birthday" and not "my birthday," so Mafuyu can only assume the little bug is newly hatched or something, like all the other bugs that have been crawling up from the depths of hell ever since summer started.

She turns her attention back to Yotsuba though; she suspects she knows exactly where the girl is, as she's heard this same question so many times now, and has asked it herself.]

Turn the camera a bit so I can see around you. Maybe I can tell where you are.

Re: video

[4leafhair]

[Yotsuba nods and turns camera slightly back and forth, then again, further, a little quickly but far enough that the view leaves her face and exposes the houses of New Bark Town.]

Do you know where this is?

[dashdash]

[There it is, that house she came out of, the same one she tried many times to get back inside with futile results for all her banging and yelling and pleading.]

Yeah, I thought so. You're in New Bark.

[New Bark Town's the only town she can identify at a glance, not because the buildings are memorable in any way, but because there's so few of them. Just a couple of houses here and there, one side blocked by water, the other with a single path leading into the wilderness.]

.....I guess a name's not super helpful though, if you don't know where you are.

[4leafhair]

[Yotsuba nods again, her pigtail bobbing out of her nincada's mouth for a brief moment. It scuttles slightly and gets a hold again.]

Where is the city?

[The town reminds Yotsuba of gram's house, but she's not here, so it's off to the city to look for familiar faces.]

And what's your name, onee-chan?

[If she knows your name you're not a stranger and she can follow your directions. THAT'S TOTALLY HOW IT WORKS.]

[dashdash]

I'm Mafuyu! You can call me Mafuyu-onee-chan!!

[Mafuyu visibly brightens at being called "onee-chan"...! Because she sure as heck isn't responsible big sister material, let alone somebody you should be following for directions. But this is fine-- she knows how to get out of New Bark Town at least. The worst that can happen is getting Yotsuba lost, and there's lots of people around to save her...]

Do you see a dirt path anywhere? If you see water, you're on the wrong side of town. If you follow the path, you'll make it to the city. I'm heading there too!

[4leafhair]

Ok!

[Yotsuba beams. If a smile could literally give off light, this one would at least glow in the dark.]

I'm Yotsuba Koiwai, Koiwai Yotsuba!

[She starts to look around for a dirt path, but does not hang up the call. Her nincada lets go of her hair to look at the camera.]

[dashdash]

[Heh~ What's that, she named the Pokemon after herself? Mafuyu looks from "Yotsuba" the Nincada to Yotsuba the girl, looking this way and that for the aforementioned path.]

Do you see it yet? There's only one way out of that town, so if you come to a dead end, you just have to look somewhere else. I'm going to keep walking, so just shout when you've got questions!

[It shouldn't take long for Yotsuba to get oriented, so Mafuyu gets going along her own path too, letting her Hoothoot out to take the Pokegear in one foot so that the Pokemon can fly and carry the gear as she walks, the screen hovering by her face so she can keep an eye out on the other girl.]

[4leafhair]

[It doesn't take Yotsuba long to find her way out, and her nincada seems content to chew on her pigtails as she go. As she walks, she sings along to the BGM.]

Leaving! Leaving town! What're we going to see?

[dashdash]

[A vocal accompaniment is a much appreciated addition to the background music, and Mafuyu can't help but sing along with her.]

Dirt and grass and lots of trees~♪ There's seriously~~ So many trees~ ♫

[Even on different routes, the view's pretty much the same, she doesn't even need to glance at her Pokegear to know what Yotsuba's seeing. The only thing that might be different is the spread of Pokemon on the routes, but for once, she's not bothering with them. Got to find a good clearing or patch of grass to battle in, and right now she's on a path blocked off on both sides by-- you guessed it-- trees for miles.]

[4leafhair]

Wow! You're a really good singer, Mafuyu-onee-chan!

[And she means it, too. She's definitely a better singer than Fuuka. Yotsuba gets a pang of loneliness, but the fact that she's taling to another person on her pokegear helps her tamp it down, as does the comfortable tug on her ponytail as Cicada-chan keeps sucking on it.]

[dashdash]

[Heck yeah, she's being praised. Even though it's from a little girl, and about her singing, it's enough to put that extra spring into Mafuyu's step as she walks.]

You're pretty good yourself! It helps pass the time, right? When we get to the city, I bet there'll be places for karaoke and we can sing a lot there! You, me, everyone I meet, all the Pokemon I catch along the way, it'll be a party!!

[Basically for her, Goldenrod is endgame, the promised land, her plan is to couch surf and live in the arcade and never leave.]

[4leafhair]

[Oh, Yotsuba forgot to ask about one thing.]

What city are you going to, Onee-chan? And what city is Yotsuba going to?

[She has yet to get the map app on her pokegear, but she'll get it at her first pokemon center.]

[dashdash]

I'm going to Goldenrod City! You're going to Goldenrod too, if you go where I tell you! Anything you want, you'll find it there! Anybody you want to meet! Anything you want to eat! Everything's in Goldenrod!

[or so she's been led to believe]

[4leafhair]

Wow! Do they have udon?! And ramen?!

[Yotsuba is hungry.]

[dashdash]

[Bless her heart, Yotsuba is a noodle girl just like Mafuyu.]

Mmmhm! I've got a friend waiting there who's going to show me all the good places to eat when I get to the city, so by the time you get here, let's meet up and I can show you the very best Goldenrod has to offer!

[4leafhair]

[She also loves pancakes and curry!]

Ok! Yotsuba will meet you there!

[Hopefully Mafuyu can fly around and do other things, because it will be a bit of a wait. Meanwhile, Yotsuba starts singing again.]

On the way~! Goldenrod is a city~! Ole!