Open Log

[a_sin_for_him]

Who: Lust and OPEN

Where: Varying, covering Azalea to New Bark

When: May 30th - June 8th

Summary: Setting out to catch the ferry in New Bark! Catch-all log for the first leg!

Rating: PG-13 for possible language

Log:




It has been quite a difficult handful of months. Joker, Henry, Timothy...so many gone in such close succession, and all who'd meant so much to her. There's a sense of emptiness that's settled, but that's a large part of why Lust and Harry have decided to take a trip to Kanto. Get out of the house, see new sights, distract themselves and give themselves time to heal. Following the odd weekend seems the perfect time to strike out.

They're taking the trip slowly, starting with picking up a badge here and there on the way to New Bark and enjoying the sights. Warping makes it a quick jaunt, but there's no need to rush once they've arrived and plenty to do in and around the towns.

Azalea

The sleepy little town is Lust's most important stop, she intends to challenge the Gym. Which of course means getting in some solid training beforehand. Anyone passing through is likely to see her in a park near the Gym with her mismatched team - and dressed in a pair of pants, which is rather unusual for the former homunculus.

She's brought her Spheal, her Houndoom, a Munna that appears to be wearing battle armor, and her Oricorio. A Clefairy cheers from the sidelines.

Violet

Aside from encouraging Harry to tackle the Gym here, Lust mostly plans on dropping by the cottage to check in on it - and Edward, if he's still there. Though she does find herself lingering in front of the Trainer School this visit. She's never bothered to look at it before, but she's also never bothered to take traditional training seriously before. Perhaps a few pointers would be a wise idea.

And of course she has to drop by and visit the monks, she always does. And always leaves with at least a few bottles of their finest offerings. Or perhaps more, she and Harry are going to be in Kanto for a while....

Cherrygrove

It's the right sort of year to linger a bit in Cherrygrove. It's hot, and the town is right on the beach. Lust has no great love for the ocean - it's so large and powerful and she isn't a very good swimmer - but she still enjoys the beach and the tame waters around the shores here. Not to mention the spa, a mud soak does wonders on a hot day.

Really, of the little towns, it's probably her favorite outside of Violet. She really ought to spend more time here - but that's what this venture is about. Getting out and traveling more, living the life of a proper Trainer. She'll be spending most of her time in the little beachside town either around the spa or lounging on the beach in her swimsuit, or window shopping barefoot down main street in sundress and scarf tied over her hair to keep the sun off.

Comments

Cherrygrove

[thumbsdown]

[Boone is doing some quality lounging with his Skorupi, sitting on the beach and watching the little waves when he sees Lust. Last he saw her she was a snake lady, but he can't remember that encounter very well for some reason. Either way, he passes her on his way to let Magikarp splash around in the water, and stops to greet her.]

Hey, Lust. Didn't know you were in town.

[a_sin_for_him]

[When the shadow of a someone falls over her, Lust opens her eyes and lifts her dark glasses. Good lord, that's a large man! And...oh. Yes. She knows him. As her eyes adjust she recognizes him and props herself up.]

Mr. Boone! In the flesh. I'm on my way to catch the ferry, but we're spending some time enjoying the towns on our way.

I see you've taken to the beach.

[thumbsdown]

[It's odd being called Mr. Boone, but he doesn't say anything. He just nods and gestures to the water.]

Spend a lot of time here. My pokemon seem to like it, and I can let my Magikarp out too.

[His Pidgey is flying above them somewhere, and his Skitty and Mareep are sitting on a towel with a parasol propped over them. Pointy is, as ever, following Boone around, though.]

You're catching the ferry?

[a_sin_for_him]

My roommate and I built a little pond in the yard for my Magikarp. We didn't want to put him in the pool with the sharks - for I think obvious reasons.

[Lust's own Pokemon are at the water's edge. Guttle the Spheal and Adelaide the Munna specifically - Amoz is lounging further up the beach, simply watching. And he's currently watching very intently.]

I am, with my traveling companion, Harry Mason. He's rather like...oh, the household patriarach. He's my friend's father.

[She notices the pair of Pokemon under the sun shade and gestures.]

You have a Skitty?

[thumbsdown]

I still don't have my own place, but it's fine. Magikarp can swim in the ocean.

[He holds the pokeball up and lets Magikarp out by the water's edge, watching him flop his way into the water. Oh, he's so pathetic, but Boone can't help but feel kind of attached to the little guy. He looks back at the Skitty as Lust points her out, and nods.]

Yeah, her name is Mittens. I, uh, didn't name her. An old lady gave her to me at New Bark, while everything was kinda weird. Thought she was cute, so I said yeah.

[He gestures to Lust's pokemon.]

They're yours?

[a_sin_for_him]

My kin and I bought our house after we caught the sharks. We didn't feel right, keeping them in their balls. Now they have a salt water pool of their own.

[Lust stands with a stretch, joining Boone at the edge of the water. She cautiously dips one bare foot in. Guttle rolls over excitedly, barking and clapping.]

Yes, this is a Spheal. I have a number of cat Pokemon, but not a Skitty. My husband had one, though. They're sweet Pokemon, Skitties.

[thumbsdown]

Oh, the one you were describing before.

[He crouches down and gestures for his Skitty to come over. She does so, bouncing happily once she reaches her owner, and Boone picks her up and pets her. She rumbles happily in his arms.]

Never knew what a cat was before I got here. They're nice, I wish we'd had them back home.

[He looks back up at Lust.]

Your husband isn't coming with you?

[a_sin_for_him]

My starter, Guttle.

[Whom she had thought a ridiculous thing at first. Now she can't imagine not having the blue round thing with her.]

You...didn't have cats, where you come from? I've never heard of a world without cats!

[Her demeanor changes some, then, and she looks out over the ocean. It's been years, but that doesn't change that it still hurts. Not as sharply, not as closely, but...]

I used the past tense for a reason. I'm a dowager. He's been gone for a few years now, and his time in our world already ran out.

[thumbsdown]

They must've been killed off during the war. It's too bad.

[Boone's expression falls a little, and he looks down at the Skitty.]

Oh- I'm sorry. Thought you meant your husband had a Skitty.

[As in, doesn't have a Skitty anymore. Something tugs at his memory then, the odd encounter he'd had with a version of Lust who was half snake. Didn't she say they had similar tragedies in their pasts? He's silent for a long moment, before speaking again.]

Know how you feel. My wife is... she's not around anymore, either.

[It feels only fair, that if he knows about her husband, she knows about his wife.]

But we don't have to talk about it.

[He busies himself with kicking off his boots instead, Skitty still in his arms.]

[a_sin_for_him]

That's so sad...I'm fond of cats.

[She has a whole family of them, staying with Edward at the moment. She hated the thought of them being alone at the house, but she couldn't bring them.]

It's alright. I'm sorry about your wife. It seems many of us here have...darkened pasts, of one kind or another. Someone once told me that they believe we're brought here because of that, to be given a chance for something better. I don't know if I believe it or not, but this place has been far kinder than where I came from.

[Perhaps it's a touch perverse, but...the fact that Mr. Boone is a widower - or so she assumes - honestly puts her further at ease. It's always something she's aware of, with men. Having to turn down advances or worry there's some ulterior motive.]

Have you been swimming yet? In the sea?

Azalea

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

[Harry trained a bit himself, given that he's apparently attempting a gym later but he'll be off to the side clapping with the Clefairy. Team moral support.]

You're going to do great.

[a_sin_for_him]

I should...it's not a difficult gym.

[Certainly not for someone with mons approaching level one hundred. Who's been battling to some degree for years.]

[But Lust takes a break when Harry joins the cheering squad, wiping off sweat and brushing her hair back from her face. It's fallen out of its tail. Amoz flops over on his side, while Adelaide and Guttle continue to playfully spar.]

It's the later gyms I have my concerns about.

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

Well, if you keep up the training. I'm sure you'll do just fine.

[a_sin_for_him]

I wonder how many simply never makes it past all the Gyms. Reach one they can't beat after two or three tries and simply give up.

[She takes a seat on the grass and a bottle of water from Esther the Clefairy.]

A rather sad thought.

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

I'm not sure. Probably a few, just given the number of trainers there seem to be running around.

[He thinks it over for a moment.]

Maybe they'll find something else to work towards though. Or come back to it when they're older. After all, they apparently start at ten here.

....sometimes I really wonder about the parents of this world.

[Sorry pokemon world, he's gotten more used to your strange logic, and weirdness but letting ten year olds run around with giant monsters and no more school sounds like a not so great idea to a dad.]

[a_sin_for_him]

Ten does seem young to set children off into the world, but...it's the culture here. Children are raised with that expectation, and raised to be prepared at that age. Wrath's around that age, developmentally and physically, and he spends a great deal of time off on his own devices.

[Lust shrugs. Wrath lives at Rocket HQ or possibly random dumpsters throughout the year, and he's fine. There's no high accident rate among children here, so it must work out alright.]

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

That's true. It is a different culture, that's for sure.

[He's still not 100% sold on the idea, mostly because he remembers Heather at age ten.]

I guess it still something I have to get used to.

[a_sin_for_him]

There's always culture shock. Apparently it's frowned on to give children a small bit of liquor to settle them and help them sleep.

[Which is just ridiculous, it works wonders. It isn't as though she's advocating getting children drunk, that would be awful. But a swallow or two to calm the nerves and ease bedtime fidgits? Perfectly acceptable.]

Back home they sell children's medicine made of liquor.

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

...What. No. That's ...never do that.

[Sorry you activated dad mode.]

They did that years ago back home as well as with other drugs because they didn't realize it was dangerous.

Violet--hello mum

[heartandsoul]

[Well. Things have been odd. The recent weekend was really odd--the muddled memories she has prove that it happened, but that doesn't exactly make her feel good. Not having answers and being under the influence of something else is an annoying state to be in.

Violet, at least, makes sense. It's not reasonable that she's been lingering in the city as long as she has been, of course, but something still nags in the back of her mind that if she leaves something will change.

This is why, of course, she's wandering out of the local bookstore when she spies Lust.]

--Miss Fitz! [What an unexpected surprise! Maka had figured the nice lady that offered to help lived further off, what was the occasion that brought her here?]

[a_sin_for_him]

Maka, hello.

[Lust would have thought the girl had moved beyond Violet by now, but that's a silly assumption. Plenty of people linger, and Violet's a lovely town to linger in. It's small and friendly and offers plenty to do, and it's by the water which makes it pleasant in summer months.]

[She turns with a smile, her Houndoom perking up at the girl's approach.]

Enjoying Violet Town, are you? I always like it here.

[heartandsoul]

[At least she's not covered in blood this time. That's...not the best first impression to make on what Maka assumes is a civilian.]

Something like that, yeah. It's a small town, but it's got a lot of history--and it has an actual school, even if it's about Pokemon training. I more often talk to the monks about what they know.

[And she won't say it, but there's an underlying worry that if she strays too far from the start, someone from her world will arrive and it'll take too long to reunite with them.]

What brings you here?

[a_sin_for_him]

I am fond of the monks...

[Though it isn't training she talks to them about.]

Passing through on my way to New Bark, to catch the ferry to Pallet Town. I'm taking a trip through Kanto, for the summer. I haven't been in ages, and it's beautiful in the summer months.

[heartandsoul]

[Of course, Miss Fitz clearly talks about important grownup things with the monks, she nods as if she totally understands that immediately (she doesn't. What do grownups talk about if not the state of the world gradually keeling into madness?)]

Oh, that sounds fun. Are you going alone? Or do you have a friend to travel with?

[It's nice to travel with people, until they leave.]

[a_sin_for_him]

No, I'm traveling with a friend. My roommate's father, actually. We both needed to get out of the house for a bit. And there are Pokemon can that can only be found in Kanto for both of us.

[Which is just the excuse for the trip, really. No one wants to be at the house with Henry gone.]

I always prefer traveling with a companion, anyhow.