victory_road | (no subject)

May 17th | Video

[The video turns on to show Cherrygrove City at the beach and focuses on a man that hasn't posted to any network yet. He's seemingly early middle-age with some facial scars along his cheeks half hidden by his beard, sleeves on a new button up shirt rolled up, wearing a twined snake necklace with a red string, barefoot in the sand and flanked by a Seviper, a Psyduck holding its head. Another unseen Pokemon is doing the filming. He's also surrounded by a mostly-empty box of donuts, a milkshake he's still working on, some fruit rinds and cores, a plastic container of some rice dish or another that's now down to a few grains, and a watermelon that's been reduced to hollow green hull halves.]

[He has torn through this meal in one sitting.]

So I gotta admit, I was sorta expectin' the other shoe to drop, but I ain't ever seen anything like this in a long, long time. [He has a thick southern drawl when he speaks.] I walked all the way here, three days, without a single thing attackin' me. No ambushes. No crazy four-armed assassins outa nowhere. No floating angry three-eyed women throwin' fire.

[He doesn't have any of his guns, though. That bit bothers him but as guns don't seem to be a big thing here he'll just be grabbing berries instead of scrounging for ammunition and weapons.]

Now, I guess I gotta amend that thought. I did read that supposedly there's things that'll throw fire but this lady? [He motions to the Seviper over his shoulder, who is just basking like a happy reptile in the sand.] Her name is Fortune, and she's been takin' care of everything. [He gets the gist that she's supposed to, and that it's like having a game rep going into battle for you (something he's very used to). This is so much of a better situation.]

So uh, me an' Fortune are gonna be makin' our way all to one of the bigger cities. But I read about this one called an Ekans? I really wanna get my hands on one, if someone could do me the favor. I heard there was some breeders that might be amenable.

[As he talks, he pulls out a single jade coin and walks it over his fingers. Though with some monstrous slight of hand, that one coin is followed immediately by three more being passed over his knuckles. Just a casual fidget as he talks, and someone with a keen eye might notice the coins are double-sided with two wrapped snakes that match his pendant.]

You can call me Wu Ming. ...And don't worry, I'll take care o' this mess. [He won't leave garbage on the beach. He can't afford to deal with fines right now if he's caught.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Don't take my word on it. From my end of things, that's more theory than fact, but it seems to be a general consensus... and with the effort it takes to bring the dead here in the first place, it makes as much sense as the damned ledges being impossible to climb.

[ LEDGES. BE DAMNED. She's less irate at that lack of physics applicability these days, but it's still such nonsense. In a world with background music. Annie moves, heading over to the Gogoat and crouching down to pick up the egg. The Gogoat nuzzles her hair in the process; Annie absently pats Libera's cheek. ]

Here and there. Nothing that mattered. Kindness, [ as they've been pointing out ] has had more of an effect.

[ And she agrees the criminal element is small time. Even knowing what's happened with pokemon experimentation in the not so distant past. Is anyone ending the world? No? Are populations being wiped off the map? No? Is it only concerns for Lapras and Farfetch'd poaching? Yes. Things are worse elsewhere. Some pokemon torture rates as low on her scale of "massive acts of ill repute." ]

[This background music is getting on his last nerve. He's sure eventually it's going to be drowned out. But if it's anything like the insufferable voice of that one-horned idiot Lord Shaxx constantly droning on, it's really hard to say.]

I hope my brand of kindness doesn't go amiss, then. Not that I try to be particularly offensive. [Unless someone is pissing him off, putting him in a position where he feels threatened.] But sometimes I manage to just rub somebody the wrong way. [Like when he asks women to dance with him and gets his ass thrown, or is caught trying to pretend he's a human. Or when he panics 'cause some stalker asshole keeps threatening him and he wants out.]

Probably the beard. Nobody likes beards anymore.

Either way, thanks for the advice. Everything is so low grade seems like it'll just slide like water off this weird psychic duck thing's back. [There's a Psyduck somewhere, it speaks, but the Espurr is too busy staring at the camera to let it be seen.]

[ The fact it can be overridden with music one might slightly get to choose is nice, but it is, in fact, very irritating. There's no way to simply hear nature, or silence, in this world.

Maybe that's the secret. No silence. ]

People make asses of themselves here as easily as anywhere. You'll be fine.

[ By people, in this case, she means people born to this world. It can be applied to the refugees, but they're also far fewer than everyone else, at the end of the day. ]

... [ She breathes out in a short huff of amusement. Not that it shows in anything on camera--she doesn't smile--but the idea of facial hair being a thing people care about either way... ] Military back home seemed more fond of mustaches.

Psyduck? And you're welcome, for whatever it's worth.