CAMP ALPHA: for everyone who wanted a crossover between summercamp and Ghost Adventures

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone who came to Camp Alph
Where: The Ruins of Alph
When: July 18th-21st
Summary: This is a log for all the camping shenanigans your heart desires! For part 2 of the event, there will be a second log to keep the ensuing seance situation separate from the all-purpose ruin-exploration adventures. Participation in part 2 will be entirely voluntary, so feel free to tag on part 1 as long as you like! For more information about this event, check out the info post over here!
Rating: PG-13
Log:


Been to the Ruins of Alph before? Are you an old hat at this stuff? Well turn everything you thought you knew UPSIDE DOWN because EVERYTHING. IS DIFFERENT NOW.

… Or at least, that’s what the flyers being passed out under a canopy of cheap Celebi balloons that are bobbing around in the breeze say.

One thing’s for sure, there sure are a lot more tents than normal. By the time most of you casuals get there, the entire picnicking area, usually quite spacious, has been turned into a small tent city. And the excited atmosphere is palpable.

The crackle of the Ruin Rangers’ walkie-talkies mingles with that of the ghost-hunting equipment toted around by excited Hex Maniacs, burbling Unown are drifting here and there to blink curiously at all the new people and Pokemon suddenly on their turf, and chatter from Legend Seekers of all ages (really, of ALL ages-- everyone from Youngsters to Veterans have apparently been swept up in the Seeker-mania!) rings out as stories and speculations are swapped.

There’s lots to do, plenty to explore, and (according to word on the grapevine), more than enough spooky rituals to perform once the night falls.

Will you solve some tile puzzles and fall into an underground chamber? Stick to the main group and make s’mores? Befriend a floating letter (or twenty-four)? Go directly against the advice of the tired-looking Rangers and play One Man Hide-and-Seek in the dark?

Or, most importantly, will you start a small-scale riot in order to keep the loud static boxes away from the tents where you’re trying to sleep?

Comments

[lifebloomsanew]

[It was the first thing that popped in her head. Now they were committed to this. Thankfully Envy just went right along with it.]

Mmhmm!

[Rose nods enthusiastically.]

I think they dared each other! And I think they had cans of spray paint!

[Yes! She has seen TV, she has seen Rowdy Youths being chastised severely for using spray paint!]

Lots of cans.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The Unown are, if nothing else, extremely susceptible to positive reinforcement.]

[As Envy watches, five more Unown drift over in wobbly formation, joining the line above the archaeologist's head.]

[They now read:]</sub>

TURD CRAPSMELL

[exeggutorhead]

[Okay now the guy looks well and truly alarmed.]

And spray paint?! Oh Arceus, thank you so much for telling me, I knew the rangers would be too busy to catch everything--

[He's already speeding away as fast as he can in the direction Rose came from, and before long he's around a corner and out of sight. Envy stays where he is for a few moments longer...and then doubles over in laughter, clutching his knees.]

Eating the ruins--[he has to pause while he can't make more words] That was amazing! And haha-he bought it!

[exeggutorhead]

[Well now it's just a contest to see if he can keep a straight face.]

[Spoilers: it's not easy. His voice is just a bit squeaky when he next speaks.]

Right, ah...and what were you saying you had a doctorate in, again?

[Whatever gets spelled next is the real answer. He's also trying to glance around to see just where these Unown are coming from. This CAN'T be just happening all by itself.]

[lifebloomsanew]

[Mission accomplished! Rose joins Envy in laughing, covering her mouth to stifle some of it.]

Next time I'll start with the spray paint!

[But the look on the man's face had been worth it. And it had all worked out after all.]

What was he mad about, anyway? I don't see anything broken...

[Which is all Rose can imagine being worth berating someone over, and he'd looked very distressed. And sounded frazzled on top of it.]

I think he needs a vacation at a fun camp. Maybe he should try joining in the ghost hunting - but depending on how long he looks for those darn rowdy young people, I guess he is....

[outofhershadow]

[Well, speaking of chameleon; Lena only has to nod her head towards the Legend Seekers and the Umbreon seems to get what she's hinting at. With a brief purr and a rub against Lena's leg, the sleek foxlike pokemon darts forward into a dark patch of shadow not far from the Seeker being filmed, its rings dimming so that the pokemon is virtually invisible in the dark. A perfect ambush.]

Good plan. But when it's time to strike, I guess the real question is if we should go more jump scare style spooking, or... y'know. Messing with them a bit first. Some growling, a shaking bush here or there....

[sassymaru]

No. Why would I? There was everything I needed at my fingertips.

[And if he can't fly, then what's the point?]

[He was never made for wilderness work. Not in a bipedal form.]

[sassymaru]

Camping, then, is barbaric. Entirely. I would be thrilled to never have to do this again.

[One wonders why he even bothered to sign up for this trip.]

I do not. I'm built for city patrolling. Not the middle of nowhere.

[neverstudied]

[if you put a gun to his head, he'd concede that he could be described as a geek. maybe. but only of he still gets to say egon, ray, and winston are in lower levels of geek hell.]

... I know you're still fucking with me, but you're not wrong. Baby ghosts're fucking ruthless. At least most other dead human ghosts with a connection to their humanity can be reasoned with. Babies'll wreck your shit.

Incredibly easy to catch and put in the containment unit, though.

[Ghostbusters: Dead Baby Wrangling Unit.]

[shiro2hero]

They're kind of... self-setting. You flick them, and they pop up.

[But other than that they're just tents.]

[Kuro is watching Athena work pretty attentively, looking back and forth between the pieces and the pokemon in charge. So he's aware she just found the instructions...]

[And sort of grumbles something in complete embarrassment.]

-- oh. There's a booklet.

[shiro2hero]

[Haunter appears at Shiro's side. Handing him a flashlight with a look of you dumb man -- how do you forget a flashlight?]

I'd say he was too. But I've only known him while I've been here. He's always been a little out there... this place is good for him, I think.

[He's had that talk with Krieg before. And come to the same conclusion.]

You let a teenager handle your explosives?

CW....... uh, Dirk thinks Shiro's hot. I'm sorry. I forgot this could happen.

[uber_marionettist]

Dirk watches the blue PlayMobil from space gesture indignantly and raises a single brow over the rim of his shades--a move he's honed for the perfect and precise message it communicates.

He doesn't have to wait for a response, though--he turns quickly, twisting at the waist to see--

A broad-shouldered man with dark eyes and heavy brows, a wicked scar across the bridge of his nose, skin browned from the sun. It's not just his nose sporting scars--this guy has seen some shit. Or more likely, some shit has seen him.

It's a violent reminder that the rating of the game has no bearing on the rating of his thoughts (or any other part of him), and there is a fractional moment where ███ ██████ █████████ speaks a lot louder than the tacky Aloha print of this asshole's shirt. A shirt that makes no attempt to disguise the movement of powerful muscle beneath his battle-scarred skin. It looks like he's smuggling cantaloupe melons in his biceps. His jawline could cut steel.

And speaking of steel:

"Sick prosthetic." Fuck. Is that really what he chose to say? Wonderful. ██ █████ █████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ███.

FACE IN HANDS

[shiro2hero]

Thankfully for literally everyone involved, both in this game and in the meta text, Shiro is way, way too busy giving Blue a look and dealing with his Gallade's stream of protest. How is he understanding the words coming out of a Pokemon? Practice. That, and Blue is essentially the Pokemon version of Lance, so. Practice and Experience.

"No, I didn't say you could go chase after a Rotom. I have never said that. You need to ..." And so on, and so forth. It is possibly the most Dadly of talks someone could give their lanky blue Pokemon. Shiro misses the scrutiny entirely. But, honestly, would he have noticed even if he wasn't busy lecturing Blue?

... he wouldn't. He's clueless to that kind of thing. You're safe, buddy.

He goes very still, however, at the statement. That is more difficult not to notice. His left hand presses to his right bicep, an unconscious, self-conscious gesture. Funny how you forget to feel that way until it's pointed out to you. He clears his throat, and finally turns from Blue to address the guy in the sunglasses.

"I'm sorry about him, he means well, but he has boundary issues." An apologetic smile, and Shiro holds out his left hand, pushing the right through (still) rainbow-dyed bangs. "I don't think we've met. I'm Shiro."

[neverstudied]

[Venkman may not be able to hear Fortuna's words, but he gets the gist. But, just in case he doesn't, Kildarby warbles quietly. After some deliberation, she manages to squawk out one syllable-]

"Ask."

[Much like a true crow, she can mimic speech to a certain, limited degree. Venkman nods.]

... How about you ask?

[A soft, somewhat surprised croak.]

I dunno, I never know what to say for these things. [He does, but he never knows how to say it.] And you're interested. Go on.

[Another croak. Curious. Appreciative. She eyes the bones far more intently. Kildarby has a few questions in mind. She has a lot of priorities in life. She's a strong bird, and she knows it- but she could always ask how to become stronger. How to be a better witch, how to divine from the bones, like Fortuna...

The question she settles on is none of these things.

"Is it ever possible for a trainer from another dimension to die here?"

That's right. Fuck everything else. This bird still wants to know if she can murder Egon Spengler in cold blood. Almost none of Venkman's Pokemon can be normal.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Kirby absolutely spots the Poochyena out of the corner of her eye. Her first reaction is to hiss threateningly, like a territorial cat. After a moment, her metaphorical hackles go down, and her false head lolls as she peers curiously- cautiously- at Fiddle. She doesn't approach, but she is watching him.]

[neverstudied]

Jump scare's fine if we've got the Pokemon for it- ones that'll really scare the hell outta them. Or at least an actual, coordinated plan.

Besides, if you're right, they might all run screaming the first time they hear footsteps approaching. We could always corner 'em in a room somewhere, though... Pokemon at the entrance, blocking 'em in. Or we could make it a real house of horrors situation- jump scare 'em, then keep following it up with more and more while they try to escape.

[He's having way too much fun with this already.

Venkman nods approvingly at the Umbreon. He clicks the release on the Pokeball in his own hand, releasing Georgie. The Kecleon is already entirely invisible aside from the red stripe across its waist.]

You mind scouting ahead?

[Georgie flickers into view for a moment, long enough to nod at his trainer before fading away again. The floating red stripe dashes away, keeping a safe distance from the Legend Seekers. The group ducks into a doorway to one of the ruins' puzzle rooms, not far from the Umbreon; Georgie waits a few seconds before following them in, climbing on the walls and up to the ceiling.]

[notyourgoddess]

It is.

[She shrugs.]

I don't think the right word is let. Tina was working with the Crimson Raiders before we even showed up to help and she'd been living alone, surviving on Pandora by herself before she even met the first vault hunters. Since a horribly young age, from what we know about her past.

Telling her she couldn't help....that wouldn't do anyone any good.

[pikapikajankenpo]

Okay well, just here's the quick weird thing. Back home, I'm pretty sure that I've been messed with for at least a few years now. I've been in a daze, I can't remember anything from the last week and it's gotten worse and worse, compounding severely over time. I realized it when my mom told me I visited her a week ago, in my world, and I couldn't even remember it.

After the last World Break, you know, the time when our powers and abilities come back? I remembered things, a little more each time, and some more things became clearer.

I think the ghost of an old villain we never defeated is haunting me and my friends back home, for over 10 years, slowly messing with us and altering our minds and memories. Some of us can't even remember our own faces sometimes when we meet each other on the street. It's gotten that bad.

And now that I'm here, his influence is gone, and I've been free of it for three years so that my head has cleared.

Thoughts?

[colorpalatable]

"Ooooooh, that's good. I got you." She winks and grins a pointy toothed grin. It's dark and shadowy in here though, so he may miss it.

And then she moves right along, totally dropping the subject of jump scares and crouching down to get on a level with Gus. "Who's this little guy? He's really cute!"

[colorpalatable]

"Yeah, I hear that. I guess maybe we'll find out this weekend!" Or not. Either way, Marceline's pretty happy. She removes her marshmallow from the fire to check on it, sees it's not nearly done enough, and pops it back in.

"I saw a bunch of ouija boards in the Legend Seeker's little camp. Even if we don't find out anything good, I think this is gonna be good anyway."

Marceline is very down for whatever teenage girl slumber party shenanigans these clowns get up to. Whatever it is promises to be entertaining, if nothing else.

[schachmeister]

Hasn't there been anything else you wanted to see? Even just the different cities?

[The cities are of least interest to Armin, really, but he could see Shadowmaru preferring them over nature.]

[schachmeister]

"I really don't--"

But, oh. Okay. The subject has moved on already. Hopefully she won't be too much on the look-out for Armin jump-scaring her because, well, he really, really has no intention of doing any such thing.

"Ah, this is Gus." Now that it looks like his trainer won't be dying of any sort of heart attack (small pity, Gus would've loved to watch his corpse rot away into nothingness), Gus has relaxed too. His spindly thin fingers are still wrapped around Armin's wrist, but it is looser now. Less concerned. When Marceline crouches in front of him, he tips up his cap to look at her, raising his other hand to wave his long thin fingers at her. Silently. Completely, utterly silently. "He's my Shiinotic."

A pause.

"You really think he is cute? Not that I am doubting your words exactly! It's just that... most people don't react to Gus that way."

[starry_forehead]

Interesting.

I wonder if other psychic type pokemon would be able to help them develop it. Or if its just too different from other pokemons abilities.

[schachmeister]

[There isn't anyone dead and gone that Armin is attached enough to make a trade like that. But still, for a boy who has always liked his taboo subjects, perhaps it is best that Alchemy just Doesn't Work here.

The little disruption gives Armin enough time to mull over Envy's words, so once Envy has his attention back to the subject at hand, he asks:]

What would be enough to trade for an entire body, mind and soul? Hypothetically speaking.

[be_notorious]

"If anyone brought a deck of tarot cards I could probably pull off a few tricks for ya." He jokes, running one of his coins over his fingers in a quick trick. Fuck knows where it came from. He probably has them hid all over his body.

Then he holds up and looks at it.

"You know, back home? This changes its symbol every time it turns. So it's more like it's a seven-sided coin. The ones that came with me here are just stuck. Hell if I know why."

Seeing Marceline's isn't done yet, he doesn't even bother with his quite yet. Besides, it doesn't really look all that done.

"Maybe I can get a pokemon to fix that."

[foolishwren]

HEY, at least you got a leg up on the rest of us as we age...

<sub>[Heather bends down to scoop up the pup, but Ginger successfully skitters out of the way, keeping a wary eye on Riku's approach as well. NO HUMANS SHE MUST FIGHT!! She hops around and playbows, curly tail wagging furiously.]

[She's with Zen! NO FOE TO LARGE OR SMALL! C'MON!! She rumbles a tiny little puppy growl at the two Nidokings for good measure. WHAT ARE YA, WEENIES?!]</sub>

Forgive the runt, she's... rowdy.

Five days after hatching she was running around on the Plateau trying to fight peoples' Elite teams.