victory_road | WHO'S THAT POKEMON?

[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?

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I apologize for my escapee letter up there.

no worries - it happens to everyone!