victory_road | WHO'S THAT POKEMON?

[Marceline is so used to the low-level chaos that perpetuates every day life in Ooo that the chaos here hasn't really registered much. She's not sure how she wound up here, but that's not stopping her from exploring and having a good time while she does it. What is stopping her (or at least, hindering her), is the gosh-darned sun. She's got her sun hat, thankfully, and there are plenty of shadows in the city, but sometimes a girl just needs to chill indoors.

So, she drifts into a bar. Literally. With both legs bent at the knee, she floats at more or less her standing height above the ground. Once at the bar, though she sits down properly on a stool, right in front of Drifter.]

'Sup, my man? One Bloody Mary, hold the garnish.

Edited 2019-05-25 19:55 (UTC)

Alright, alright, I can do that for ya, sister.

[And she sure is a floating vampire girl. That seems to be the case. He salutes her lightly and grabs the metal shaker and starts grabbing ingredients.]

Things uh... They seem a little off for here, so I don't know if it's real blood you're gonna be needin' for this but I'll do my best with the traditional ingredients I have on hand.

...I'm not even meanin' to be a jerk with that question, I honest to god haven't seen someone go that hard on the vampire look in a long, long time. [She might actually need some blood. But you know what, either way?] Consider it a compliment.

Edited 2019-05-25 20:42 (UTC)

Aww, thanks, dude! No worries, though, I get what you're saying.

[Marceline props her elbows on the bartop and her chin on her hands as she watches him get to work. This is pretty much exactly like a conversation she might have with a barkeep in Ooo. The only real difference so far is the apparent humanness of the guy mixing the drink.]

I don't eat blood, just the color red. So you can be suuuuuper generous with the Tobasco, if you want.

You got it. [He goes heavy on the tobasco.] You like heavy paprika in there, too?

[The floating is a little weird. The last person he met that consistently floated, you know, more than to jump from one place to the other had some mental boundary issues. But a man can't judge a floatin' lady by the actions of one other floatin' lady and this one even moves her mouth when she talks. Isn't that nice of her!]

My services are usually for a more human vein of clientele, save a Dreg [or Lightbearer] or two. Seems I'm gettin' me some variety today. Ha ha...

[He gets her glass out without worrying about setting aside lemon wedges or celery or the other nonsense. No need to pretty it up as the woman knows what she wants.]

Heck yeah! Bring on the paprika!

[Is it a bonus that Marceline's mouth moves when she talks, when her mouth is full of a lot of very sharp, pointy teeth? Well, it probably depends on who's being asked.

She begins to gently kick her feet back and forth under the bar, the toes of her boots quietly tapping in rhythm against the counter.]

Really? What else've you seen around besides me? Is it all of these cool little monster guys?

These cool little monster guys? Oh, they're here all the time. But usually they don't talk much. They just say a word or two an' that word or two tends to be bits of their names.

But today, I get this fella- [he motions to the Chansey, still nursing his whiskey like a mournful hard-drinking stereotype] -rollin' in talkin' like he's about to break into a sad jazz monologue. But hey, so long as there ain't any gunfights in my bar I'll welcome the little change up. [Though he actually enjoys gunfights, as he's the lucky one in them more often than not.] And I doubt there'll be any gunfights seein' on how the entire world is slim pickin's when it comes to weaponry.

That's the monster's job.

[Marceline turns her head to look at the indicated sad jazz monologue Chansey, and gives him a little wave when he glances her way. He stares for a moment, then quietly goes back to his drink.]

He seems nice.

[And then her attention is back to the bartender.]

Oh, yeah, I've seen some of the monster fights! They seem way better than gunfights.

[Fewer fatalities, for one. Like, so far, zero fatalities, that she's seen.]

I'll tell you somethin' sister, the attack dynamics here are somethin' to be admired. Gotta work up a hell of a good strategy. Back home you just had three types of resistance and three basic forms of attack energy. But hoooo boy, here?

[He gives her her drink with a napkin under it.]

Ya got all kinds of it. Weaker to some, stronger than others, too.

If you got time, you oughta check out one of the gyms just for a look see. You get these li'l' spats out in the wild but if you wanna see the big throw-downs, that's where you gotta go.

[Drifter does like the more lethal combat. He also kind of hates it. Maybe he just likes seeing people doing whatever it takes to win. Or winning himself? Who fucking knows. He likes picking apart the battle strategies just as much. Once the drink is dispatched, he picks out a pokecoin out of the tip jar and walks it over his fingers casually.] If you stuck around, though, prolly'd have to tread some earth. Floatin' isn't a thing that seems permitted on the long term.

So, like, rock-paper-scissors times a thousand? Oh, thanks!

[She picks the glass up when he sets it down in front of her and lifts it to her lips. Instead of drinking, though, she sticks one long fang into the liquid and begins to drain it of its color. It's pretty cool to watch - the red disappears from the bottom of the glass first, and it drains quickly upward toward her mouth until all of the red has been consumed.

When she sets the glass back on the little napkin, it's still full - only the liquid it contains is now clear, instead of red.

Also, it still tastes great. If you like extra tabasco and paprika in your bloody marys, anyway.]

Tread some earth? Oh! I talked to a ghost girl earlier about that. I mean, being mortal again wouldn't be a super big deal, but the last time I tried to stop being a vampire some super bad stuff happened. Like, extra dramatic, cover-the-world-in-darkness kind of bad stuff. This seems like a really nice place, y'know? I wouldn't want to let all that bunk out here.

Yeah, like that. Still workin' out what works well against what, but when I do? Gonna make the most of it.

[He's absolutely the sort to try and run contests related to it, too. It's only a matter of time before this man that, while in a kinder world than usual, manages to embody the phrase 'back on his bullshit'. But there could be worse bullshit he gets into than making a few games. The sort he'd like to avoid.]

[That said.]

I don't think you have to worry about that sister. Have the same sort 'cover-the-world-in-darkness' concerns back home. But this place? You could fall headfirst into a ravine and show up in the hospital with a minor concussion.

But now seems like you introduced a story worth hearin'. [As she just mentioned stopping being a vampire and all. He leans on the counter and listens.]

Sounds like some real nerd stuff. Maybe I'll give it a try, if I do get stuck here.

[The jury's still out on whether or not she'd feel okay about being stuck here. It seems like a pretty nice place, but maybe it's just a nice place to visit. More information is needed.]

Pfff! Hah. Well, it is a story. It's pretty long, though.

[She taps a fingernail thoughtfully against her not-so-bloody mary glass.]

Short version, I guess. Vampires are big jerkwads, and they kill people, so I started killing them. Once I staked 'em, I gained their power, so it got a lot easier to stake stronger and stronger ones. I finally took out the Vampire King, but he managed to turn me before he died. Which, no big deal, once I figured out I could just eat red instead of blood.

[She taps her finger against the glass again.]

The vamps were gone and they couldn't hurt anyone anymore. A thousand years later, my best friend figured out a way to cure me. But curing me let out all the vampire junk I'd eaten, and they all came back. It was like I hadn't killed any of them. So I had to hunt them all down again and stake them all again, and the stupid King bit me again.

So, like...[She shrugs] If this place can fix me up in a way that all the evil vampire junk doesn't happen, that'd be fine. But if it can't, then I'd rather keep the junk where I know where it is, if you know what I mean.

[He doesn't flinch at all when she mentions staking vampires... Okay, that is a lie. He does. But more in the way that he glances to the side and then back again like he's searching for the answer to the strangeness of talking to a vampire hunter floating in the air. Nothing but dive bar patrons and a haggard Chansey, though.]

[But he does listen, and squints to himself.]

I wouldn't figure you'd have too much to worry. You'd let loose a buncha people that used to be vampires, at the very worst. An' then they'd get whooped by the first ten year old with an aggressive grass monster they come across.

That said, I can see your concerns.

[He's not hearing the voices that always warn him blah blah blah darkness coming blah blah blah going to envelope the system. So on and so forth. He'd take it more seriously but at some point you just get tired.]

[She notices his shifty eyes, but doesn't think too much about it. She's plenty used to making strangers uncomfortable, and just assumes this is more of the same.

Though, to give this guy credit, he is awfully collected, even if she is making him nervous. That's pretty nice, honestly.

The giggle-snort she makes when he reassures her what would happen if the vamp creeps did get turned loose here is both extremely unladylike and extremely heartfelt.]

Aw, man, I'd actually pay to see that. And if that really is what would happen, then I guess being stuck here for a bit wouldn't be so bad.

[He laughs too, appreciatively. Because sometimes it just feels good to see someone get a little comeuppance. That nice sense of 'Good luck with that!'] You might end up keepin' the pearly whites. Seems some people hang onto few traits. But hey! Why drop the look when it works, am I right?

[Drifter himself can't follow his look exactly as he usually does. He can't walk around in Tex Mechanica armor and be spangled with jade in a mix of aesthetics. But he can tend bar in a straight collar vest and a bolo tie with his set of twin snakes and in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and look like he walked out of The Good The Bad and The Ugly as set in the Forbidden City.]

[He leans his elbows on the bar.]

The weird thing is, ya wake up and your Ma sees you off on this long trip. Only she ain't your mom. She's just some lady an' it's like... you got cast in this role that don't quite fit. Confused the hell outa me but I played along 'cause I wasn't really feelin' personable in the beginning.

[He thought it was the fuckin' wierdest trap he'd ever seen in the whole of his life.]

[Well, she hopes she gets to keep her teeth. Being mortal again would be a lot less fun if she were limited only to food she didn't have to chew.

His description of "Mom" piques her interest though. This sounds likely to be a lot more interesting to talk about than her teeth.]

What, really? Is it the same lady every time? Like, everytime a new chump wakes up here, there she is with a lunch box and a treasure map?

Yeah. It's the darndest thing. [He refills that Chansey's glass, gives him a quick 'Here you go, Brother', before returning to Marcelline.]

She'll even knit ya a scarf when it's seasonable, so I've been told. I'm not botherin' to make sense of it. I think ever'body gives up on that real quick.

Well, I mean, I guess that makes sense, right? It sounds like all she does is get you started.

...Still weird that she does it for literally everyone.

Does she like, keep in contact? Or once you're out your on your own?

Edited 2019-05-28 04:24 (UTC)

Yeah, that's it. I mean, she ain't sent me a message or nothin', no good luck wishes. So I reckon she's your ma until she sends ya out the door.

It's pretty weird though, yeah. [There's some sort of rambling meta one could make about them all being siblings or something but Drifter cares too little to invest the thought into it.]

Seems like that's what all the kids gotta do here, too. Now I'm a grown-ass man. But most of the time they shunt ten-year-olds to go out on their lifelong journey to be a Pokemon master. Or into whatever occupation distracts them along the way. There's obviously some people that just sorta wander off and choose your regular careers.

...Man, this is starting to sound like a video game I played once.

[Once upon a time, in a world far, far away...]

Ten's a good age to get out of the house, though. And this seems like a good place for it, anyway. Lots of supportive...community...stuff. And stuff.

I guess 'it takes a village' is actually acceptable in some places. [Drifter ponders, getting himself a glass of water because, really, he shouldn't be drinking on the job. He wants to, though.]

Back where I'm from, a kid wouldn't last long by their lonesome out in the wilds, and if they did? Hell. They'd be the next leader of the world.

[You know, come to think of it, ghosts never rez kids. That's real fucked up. If anyone deserved to have a second chance at life, its them. No, ghosts rez canon fodder. Like him.]

[Anyway.]

Our monsters aren't really the catchable kind. Not that I haven't wanted one. A warhound? A pet thrall? That'd make my day. Ha, I love it. [He chuckles at the idea again. Still makes him happy.]

[He's dropped enough little tidbits about his world of origin by now that she's plenty interested. It's time to trade a story for a story.]

Oh, yeah? What's it like where you're from? You said something about world-covering darkness earlier, too. What's up with that biz?

Oh, we got this thing, called the Traveller. Found us on Earth at a bad point. So it gave us a golden age. Technology like you wouldn't dream. Distant moons beyond the asteroid belt terraformed. Hell, even Mercury turned int a garden world. Amazin' right? Like Magic.

[And he does a slight of hand with one of his coins, flipping it and then pulling it and then having it appear in the opposite hand. Obscenely talented stuff. Even moreso if the person is drunk.]

Well, the Traveller was a little bit of a playboy. Went from place to place collectin' angry exes and then abandoning 'em. So they all decided to come to Earth and throw down and get a piece of what they were all missin'. Supposedly they're precursors to the 'Darkness'.

[He absolutely knows the Darkness is coming. He's heard it in his head. But HAHA! He doesn't have to here! And he loves it!]

Traveller then decided to send all these little 'ghosts' out to go find good warriors to raise to fight for it, send those other species packin'. Those ghosts didn't discriminate all that well. So now we got a bunch of what are basically undead soldiers that can come to life over and over again fightin' a bunch of aliens with really bad attitudes that don't care about collateral so long as they get what they want.

Believe me, I prefer the fluffy monsters here. Easier to satisfy.

[Marceline listens quietly and watches the coin tricks with interest. It looks like she picked a heck of a good bar to drift into - the drink was excellent and the conversation is even better.]

....Wow. That sounds like a bunch of real bunk. And all that's still going on? I'd prefer all the cuddly creatures here, too, jeez.

[He pings that coin off two different things before pocketing it, and starts straightening up glasses.]

Yeah, still in the thick of it. People in the Last City got it pretty good. But you know it goes for people that get used to it bein' too safe, right?

I don't reckon it's like that here. All the fightin' seems to be between the pets.

[The top of his creepy Espurr's head can be seen running by at some point as she absconds with a jar of olives. He does nothing to stop her escape. Better she go be creepy and stare at it wherever she's gone than in front of the patrons. He picks up his glass of water again and raises it in a toast.]

Here's to a place where the world isn't in immediate threat of descendin' into darkness. Probably.

Heh. Cheers, man, I'll drink to that.

[Figuratively, anyway. She's already drained the red out of her glass and won't be consuming the remaining liquid, but she still lifts it in one hand to toast.]

If I do wind up sticking around, I'll be sure to look you up. I'm Marceline, by the way.

WHO'S THAT POKEMON?

Tending Bar

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I apologize for my escapee letter up there.

no worries - it happens to everyone!