⊕ 001 & action option

[unabates]

[ he's not into showing his face off. once he verifies there's a public network and an audio option, he begins to opt for that. but then he looks at all the videos of people and their pokemon, and decides o a different option.

the video opens on the sandy beaches of cherrygrove. his rockruff, bandit, is in the surf, chasing what looks like a stick. he brings it back to jack, who pets his head and then throws it again. his location will also ping as cherrygrove. ]

The name's Jack.

[ his voice is distinctly older, and very rough. it sounds like he may have damaged his throat at some point in his life. his hand, when he throws the stick or pets bandit, is gloved. ]

I've been looking around this place and it looks like the consensus is that people can't go home on their own. I'm not here to ask how to get home, since it seems like that's been covered pretty well.

I wanna talk to those of you that have gone home, or know people that did. And... for those that don't, how you're dealing with not being able to.

[ he ends the video on that note, throwing the stick again for bandit. ]

( cherrygrove )

[ for those actually in his vicinity, they can likely hear jack make the post. other than that, he's spending some time on the beach, playing with bandit and getting his energy out. he's just as open to a battle if you two have similarly leveled pokemon.

or maybe bandit, with all his energy, comes running up to your pokemon and headbutts them. at which point jack follows. ]

Bandit. Come back here.

[ the wagging of his tail doesn't amuse jack. ]

Sorry about him.

Comments

[unabates]

What are the benefits to being a breeder over a trainer? The 'dex explained it to me a little bit, that my Pokemon would work harder or something like that?

[ how do explain leveling up mechanics. jack looks thoughtful for the moment. ]

I'm used to figuring things out on my own. So, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find something to do.

[sociallychallenged]

We make more eggs for whatever reason when we're in charge of the pokemon fuckin'. Which we have no idea how that happens. Just suddenly eggs happen.

I guess we can breed rare ones, too. If we have a rare parent.

[He holds up his breeder's handbook, which has a ridiculous amount of various post-it notes sticking out from pages and some various travel stickers now jammed onto the cover.]

i'm timey wimeying because otherwise all of jack's responses would be drunker and drunker

[unabates]

A few people mentioned that - that Pokemon came from eggs, no exceptions. Made me a little concerned about the eggs in stores, but it seems they're a pretty different size.

[ he looks at the book, letting out a low whistle. ]

Damn.

As if this man had any room to judge.

[sociallychallenged]

Yeah, just... more stuff that's fuckin' weird I guess. Even the giant Onyx things come out of eggs. Something will hatch small and then grow within a day or so.

[He tosses the book off to the side, being classy like that.]

Anyway, not that I'm any sort of expert but if I'm around and you need help, just hit me up.

LMAO fair. it's how jack is finding out he doesn't have his ~super genes~

[unabates]

That's the one that looks like a rock snake?

[ boy he has seen some pictures. either way, he watches the book go away with amusement. bandit nips at his fingers, and he reaches down to pet him again. ]

Thanks, Hank. I'll be sure to ask you if something comes up. I should be fine for the moment - I hear it's colder past Cherrygrove, though.

Welcome to being a cheap date, Jack. Living the dream.

[sociallychallenged]

Yeah, that's the one. I have this little one- she's a flower... thing. Floette? Anyway when she was her smallest version we introduced her to Connor's Onyx and it went cross-eyed trying to look at her.

[He's kind of fond of Onyxes now, thanks to that.]

It's generally pretty cold right now, yeah. Get a good coat out there. If you got a fire type, keep it out and keep it close by. I'm from Detroit, so I'm pretty used to the cold, but if I have the means to not have frigid fingers I'm absolutely going to use them.

but he can no longer bench press ridiculous amounts

[unabates]

I've just got bandit at the moment - that egg you offered, it's a a fire type, right? Do you know how long it takes to.... hatch them?

[ because bandit is small but he's a rock type so he's not particularly made of warms right now. ]

Don't think anyone really wants to be cold, even if they're used to it. It's been hitting me harder than it usually does.

[sociallychallenged]

About four days. A short stay in Cherrygrove should cover it.

Well, we tend to be a little weaker here. After all, my android partner turned to a human, after all. It's happened to a few people.

[unabates]

Huh, okay. Then yeah, if you want to send it over, I'll have one of those fire types for my travels.

[ and he can order some thicker clothes. ]

That... seems pretty powerful a change.

[sociallychallenged]

Yeah, no problem.

Nothing like being there for a grown-ass man's first adventures in not understanding what a grumbling stomach means. This place is set up so you do all your fighting through proxies. So no need for Connor's fancy android combat programming I guess.

[unabates]

What do I owe you for them?

[ jack pauses, considering why the combat programming wouldn't come through. then again, electronic brain to human brain. ]

He just got to deal with it all at once? Hope he didn't think he was dying.

[sociallychallenged]

You know what, you're new here. Just getting started out. Just go ahead and take it and get on your feet.

The first thing he experienced was a headache so I pretty much figure he thought he was dying, yeah.

[unabates]

Well - thanks. I still owe you one, though.

[ jack will not let that go - he'll just remind hank every so often. ]

Oh, those can be killer if you're not expecting them. How's he handling it now?

[sociallychallenged]

I think he stopped chewing pills instead of swallowing them. [He thinks.] He's made progress.

Oh, yeah. If you don't mind fishing in fuck ass cold weather, I grabbed my first Tentacool out by Cherrygrove. It's not a bad one to have. Does poison and water damage.

[unabates]

Jesus.

[ there's some amusement but, mostly, horror. that would be an awful way to get introduced to pills. ]

Might want to double check on him. That's an awful way to take pills.

[ jack looks like he's considering it. ]

Is it a poison and water fish type?

[sociallychallenged]

I know from my worst hangover days that sometimes chewing is the best way to get rid of a bad headache quick. But uh... actually I've not had hangovers that were too bad since being here.

It's a jellyfish lookin' thing, yeah. It does both. There are fish there but they're pretty useless until you spend a lot of time on them.

And then they're big fuckin' dragons.

[unabates]

Been a while since I've had to deal with one, gonna be honest.

[ hangovers or having to take pills. ]

All right, the fish turn into dragons? Just when I thought this place couldn't get any weirder.

[sociallychallenged]

I envy you, then. [Maybe. If it's a luck of the non-headache draw thing. Hank still occasionally has to drink himself a little dumb. There are no addictions here, but he still hides in it when he's feeling depressed.]

Yup. Big sea dragons. From a carp.

[unabates]

Probably other things that you shouldn't envy me for, though.

[ in truth, it was something jack had been given - he'd gone through a ~secret enhancement program~. he didn't have those abilities anymore - so he was going to be in for a rude awakening when he drank tonight.

also, jack can relate to hiding in it when depressed. ]

Big sea dragons from a carp. I'm gonna have to look up a video of that before I go catching any fish.

[sociallychallenged]

Hm. I guess the same could be said for most of us. [Hank has a whole laundry list of unenviable things. He still is astounded when there are things people find exceptional about him; an attitude largely of his own miserable making, honestly.]

They honest to god have an app here for 'Staryutube'. You can watch people's streaming videos on it.

[unabates]

The grass is always greener, or something?

[ it always looks better from the other side. ]

... Staryutube. Well, I guess YouTube wouldn't have caught on as well here. I'll take a look - what are the dragon forms called?

[sociallychallenged]

The level of pun names here are going to fuckin' kill you. Like you'd think it's a dad joke paradise but let's be honest, we all have our limits.

Its uh... now excuse me if I get the pronunciation wrong? But it's a Gyarados. I think I'm saying it right.

[unabates]

I don't think anything is going to top things like "Rockruff" for a rock dog or "Klefki" for a key ring.

[ seriously it's wacky as heck. ]

A Gyarados. I'll take a look at them. I'm more of a golfer than a fisher, but I can always try new things.

[sociallychallenged]

There's one that's a haunted sand castle? It's called a 'Palossand'. P-A-L-O-S-S-A-N-D. [That is the hell Jack lives in now.]

I'm more of a baseball guy. But it's not the season and sometimes you gotta find something to pass the time.

[unabates]

Jesus christ.

[ jack is delighted and exasperated in equal measure. ]

Oh, they get up to baseball around here too? Nice to know sports aren't a total loss.