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

[foolishwren]

I promise I am at least fucking with you slightly less than before.

I have firsthand experience with the inherent existential horror of undead babies.

<sub>[Sort of.]

[She's not planning on going into specifics. It may have been awhile, but it hasn't quite been long enough to laugh about it beyond your obligatory tasteless dead baby jokes. Which she will laugh at until the day she also dies.]</sub>

[shiro2hero]

It will, eternally, be a mystery to us both.

[He shifts sideways with the punch, more out of amusement than any real force to the punch.]

How are you?

[CLANG goes the meeting of the weird dogs. Kuro snorts, and... reaches over to pat the Null gingerly.]

[foolishwren]

Oh, you know.

Same old.

Been scouting potential Gym locations, mostly.

_{[There's been a few good ones, but... Envy keeps finding reasons to turn them down. :T]}

[shiro2hero]

Yeah? [Look at him perk up.]

How's that going?

[Can he help? Tell him more!]

[foolishwren]

Ehhh... found a few with promise but we can't seem to settle on anything.

_{[IT'S A GOOD THING HE'S PERKY ABOUT IT because she is t i r e d.]}

[shiro2hero]

What's the problem? Expense... or?

[That's usually the issue in his experience, anyway.]

[neverstudied]

Join the club, huh?

Honestly, I'm not sure if the actual baby ghosts are better or worse than demons who disguise as baby ghosts to screw with people. They've both got their pros and cons. And neither have any sense of remorse or empathy. Usually. We've met the occasion chill demon.

Dead babies don't know the meaning of the word chill.

[The Super Nerd Venkman was arguing with before begins to back away, hoping to escape the nerdfight while Venkman's attention is off him.]

[exeggutorhead]

Oh, it was nothing worth him freaking out about at all, he just THOUGHT I might break something.

Which, psh, I'm sure there's people here being a lot more destructive than playing around with a puzzle that's clearly supposed to be played with.

[He snickers.]

Yeah, he'll have a hell of a time trying to find those youths and their paint.

Speaking of which, I do owe you one now.

[exeggutorhead]

[YEAH, HE'S OFF.]

[Although actually now so is the archeologist, hot on Envy's heels--he is MUCH better at running than he'd appear to be. And it's also harder for Envy to run while laughing.]

HAHA--oh fuck, come on, can't you take a joke?!

I didn't even tell them to do that!

[He tries to angle towards a nearby stand of trees in the hopes of being nimble enough to actually lose the guy.]

[lifebloomsanew]

I'm sure all the scholars here are so frazzled with everyone pouring in like this. They must love this place very much. You were working on one of the puzzles? I've heard a lot about them...

[Rose peers at what Envy had invoked such upset over, curious. She waves a plump hand at him in vague dismissal. It had been nothing, really.]

I was happy to help. One shape shifter looking out for another.

[She gives him a wink, eyes twinkling.]

But if you'd let me help you with your puzzle solving....

[foolishwren]

<sub>[I can't believe Envy's going to get the shit beaten out of him by Daniel Jackson Lard Spectrum.]

[Fortunately, now is about the point where Heather sees fit to step in, considering her brilliant Unown strategy managed to actually escalate the situation. And step in she does, via a whispered command of "Ginger, sic 'em!"]

[Because every chase scene needs an extremely overenthusiastic and nippy Rockruff added to it! The yapping menace immediately targets the nerd because of course she does.]</sub>

[foolishwren]

Oh, I think the League like... covers all the expenses so it's a pretty sweet deal, honestly.

I mean, I guess they'd probably give you a look if you were like "Yeah so my gym is gonna be a sick mansion with a pool and an in-house movie theater and a fully-stocked bar"...

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She spots the Super Nerd inching backwards. If she was mean, she could abruptly ask for HIS opinion on dead babies. But she's feeling charitable tonight, so instead she gives him a subtle wink.]

[SHE'S GOTCHU SUPER NERD, FLEE TO FREEDOM.]</sub>

Tell me about it.

Babies, demons, baby demons, demon babies...

Pretty much all on my shitlist.

[exeggutorhead]

[He snorts at the wink...and then winks back. He can roll with it when he's just been rescued.]

[ESPECIALLY WITH SUCH A CHEAP RETURN FAVOR, hell yes. Rose ain't no alchemist.]

Well, how could I say no? And with two we'll be able to solve it before that guy realizes there's nobody eating the ruins somewhere else.

[He gestures at the puzzle, what looks like a large table surrounded by a jumble of engraved tiles. Some of them have already been fitted into the neat grid of grooves on the surface, but Envy hadn't known what picture he was even trying to make.]

I think when these all go together they're supposed to look like something, but there's no guide.

[colorpalatable]

Marceline knows a few creep shows back in Ooo, but she certainly won't be naming any of her 'mons after them. There must be more to Drifter's creep show than he's letting on, but if it's a sensitive topic she's not going to push it. He's been pretty darn open about general stuff from his world. Less so about people. Actually, if she's remembering right, this may be the first time he's mentioned someone specific to her. But hey, he can keep people secrets if he wants. Sometimes that's just how people roll.

Anyway, while his relaxed manner when redirecting Orin is reassuring, she continues to watch the Meowstic suspiciously even when it's no longer staring at Zubat.

"I guess that's as good a reason as any to adopt one of these guys."

She hasn't run into any Pokemon quite like that yet, though. So far her strategy for catching 'mons has been to let Noibat out and see if there was anyone nearby she wanted to make friends with. They've had excellent luck so far.

"Hey, speaking of, did you ever make it out to check out the bug swarms? I never did see anything that really caught my eye, but they were sure a heck of a lot of fun to battle."

[shiro2hero]

... So. You could make a gym that was basically anything? So long as they approved?

[colorpalatable]

"It's been almost two months now. Not sure if that still makes me new or not, though. I'm guessing you've been here a while?"

She notes the lack of any sort of response to her apology, but that's fine. Some people are sticks in the mud, even if they're pretty cool otherwise.*cough*Peebs*cough* He seems like a good kid - he loves his little mushroom buddy, for sure, and hey, he's still talking to her. She'll call that a win.

"What kinds of stuff do you do for fun around here? Besides spooky seance camps?"

There hasn't been any seances yet, but Marceline's not blind; she saw that stack of Ouija boards on her way in.

[neverstudied]

[The wild Super Nerd fled!]

Pretty sure they're on everyone's shitlists, but especially if you gotta deal with 'em every day.

[A beat. Venkman finally notices his victim has evaporated.]

Ah, goddamnit. I didn't get to rag on him for his shitty garlic clove necklace.

[colorpalatable]

Wow, really? Double-strike, jeez. I've only been here for a couple months, so maybe I haven't seen the dark seedy underside yet, but this place is really nice. Like, nice-nice. Why try to ruin it?

...That's mostly rhetorical. Jerks are jerks no matter how nice a place they're from.

[colorpalatable]

[Haha, the difference between this guy's attitude and his weird dog friend are fantastic. What a good combo. She lowers her waving hand for the wiggly happy boy to sniff, and also to see if he might accept some head pats.]

Luck of the draw, I guess! Maybe you'll get me next time.

OR - we could team up and double the jump-scares.

[cyan_maid]

[Look, she's had a cat barge its way into her life before Pokemon happened. Even here, the closest experience Jane has to a dog is a Type: Null that can't hear, barely makes a sound, and only navigates the house by rubbing against the outer wall. She doesn't know if she can trust you, sweetheart.]

...Okay...

[Just. Gonna do that thing where you mostly look at the dog while very, very briefly glancing at what you're doing - in this case, filling up a pop-up bowl of chili.]

[schachmeister]

[Armin takes a minute to think it over, going back to all the books he had read back home, but--]

I can't say I've ever heard of it. But, if it is as powerful as you say it is, that sounds like something our government would consider taboo and would probably ban from being published.

[See also, every other fun subject.]

[schachmeister]

"I've been here for almost three years now." So, compared to that, two months is nothing. Armin blinks and sometimes it feels like another two months have gone by in this place, and to be absolutely honest, he never wants it to end. Perhaps he shouldn't think that way. He's got a soldier's duty, after all, but he cannot deny he does.

"Well, I suppose that depends on what you consider fun. A lot of people are involved in battling, of course, or just training their pokemon. And most of the cities have things like libraries, museums and shops." And also things like bars and music stages and all, but like Armin ever visits those! "Probably, anyone who you'd ask would have a different answer." Which is such a terrific non-answer even Armin is a bit embarrassed by it. "Well, as for me personally, I like to go diving."

[schachmeister]

[Armin too takes a good look at the two pokemon Thida decides to bring out. Partially to admire them, as that is quite the good looking Malamar, but also, because his brain has automatically shifted into gear, trying to recall all he knows about these two species and how best to counter them.

First things first - that Tsareena is going to be a problem. Armin is fairly certain she is a grass pokemon (perhaps with a secondary typing, but grass for sure) and that is not going to do well against Athena. He can't prevent it from using grass-type moves, but at the very least, he can start with taking the edge off.]

Athena, use Soak on that Tsareena.

[Turn that grass into water, which will be a much easier type for him to deal with.]

Circinus, set up a Light Screen.

[be_notorious]

"Nah, I didn't get to do nothin'. I was busy settin' somethin' up. I sure wish I had, though."

He really, really wanted some new guys to add to his roster. He still only has six. He figures he'll have 'em levelled up before they manage anything.

"But I got a habit of gettin' lost with my work. I mean, I prolly don't look like it, or sound like it, but I'm the type o' guy that loses track of time."

He's far too used to having whole centuries to lose.

"I worked out some racin' routes for one of my competition ideas."