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

[insidescoop]

"Heh? Dessert?"

What's this about desserts?! "...What kind of dessert??"

[captainash]

"A meringue, I think? But it didn't allow those who ate it to travel through time, so naming it after a Pokémon with that power felt like fraudulent advertising to me."

And now he wants meringue, in the middle of the night and the middle of nowhere. Life is unfair.

[islandshore]

World domination? Thrills? Because they're the living embodiment of Saturday morning cartoon villains?

But honestly, I'm glad it's changed. Makes things less eventful, sure, but I'm not a thrill-seeking teenage idiot anymore. I know it's better to live in a safe, peaceful world than an exciting an dangerous one.

[His teenage self would've despised this, though. After all, he was so eager to leave his island home behind.]

[starry_forehead]

Sure I can. Lots of monsters are weird combinations of things.

Which makes it a totally separate form of monster than a goblin or a gremlin.

[notyourgoddess]

What sort of stuff were you doing in your world? Did puzzles come up a lot?

[starry_forehead]

And if there are pokemon there that would be normally attacking each other it kind of sounds like a place where they have a truce....or a neutral zone.

Trying to catch them would probably break any unspoken rules in a place like that.

I wonder how it got started.

[schachmeister]

I've heard people say that hot springs stimulate the body's ability to heal itself. If that is true for pokemon too, maybe it got started because of that? Unlike our own pokemon, wild pokemon can't just go to a pokemon centre if they are injured. Maybe they all started coming there to recover from any injuries. The injured pokemon wouldn't have the energy to fight each other, and any healthy pokemon wouldn't want to start any fights because then there'd be nothing to protect them if they'd ever get injured.

[Armin gets more and more excited as he speaks, thoughts slotting in place in a way that really seems to make sense to him. Though, will it make sense to Dipper too.]

If, uh, if that makes sense, I mean...

[insidescoop]

"Ohhh....I could go for a meringue..."

Shoot, now she does too.

This really is the worst camping trip now!

[colorpalatable]

Huh. Part of me's kinda sad I missed it, but I'm mostly okay with that. It's nice to be able to travel around without a bunch of jerks coming along and trying to ruin your day.

[starry_forehead]

[Dipper has been thinking this over while Armin talks.]

That makes a lot of sense actually. It would explain why so many pokemon were in one place and why they don't fight.

It might have even developed from something that was just, smarter not to do, like you said. Into an actual truce because they liked going there.

[islandshore]

Yeah, honestly. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it a little.

[He sighs, running a hand through his hair.]

But that's mostly because I've beaten all the gyms, taken on the Elite Four... What I should do is buckle down, be a responsible adult, and figure out my Aurora League gym. 'cause, logically speaking, there's plenty of thrills to be had with battles that aren't against crazed criminals.

[Heh.]

But for what it's worth, you'll be busy for a while if you do go the gym route.

[schachmeister]

Pokemon can be incredibly intelligent, so I can't imagine something like a mutually agreed on truce being beyond them. Especially not in such a remote location that nothing else can interfere with it.

[He means people, basically. No trainers to come disturb the peace.]

[starry_forehead]

I wonder how many more places are out there like that?

Hidden where people just don't usually go.

[schachmeister]

Who knows. There are legends about a hidden island out in the ocean that is solely populated by Dragonite. If it is true, that sounds like an incredible thing to see someday, but at the same time, part of me doesn't want to trespass onto their private places.

"Don't Cry," Silent Hill OST playback at 1.5x

[uber_marionettist]

Well. This probably ain't anything legendary, but it's something.

It's actually... kind of cute? Something about the mismatched body proportions and the sparse, floppy ruff--yeah, like the tuft of hair on a smuppet. Brings the whole piece together. (And let's be real, this guy is nothing but pieces.)

TAN's glow reflects a new level of excitement at meeting a real garbagecore techno-buddy, and it flits--static-buzzing with busts of light--toward the Weird Dog, increasing its (dis)harmonic volume enthusiastically.

Yeah. He's feeling it. Where there's a rhythm, there's a rhyme.

"Noise has invited
Rhythm united
A party of constructs with their strings divided
My side is the one that takes the undone
An intricate puzzle of fabric and words has begun
So with no end sighted, let’s take this whole night and
I’m wagering there’s no real need to prep for a fight
That’s legendary in scale
But if there is we won’t fail
To wail on it with all the force our music excited."

Thought I'd tagged this............. I, a fool,

[uber_marionettist]

"Gets longer every second," Dirk shoots back without actually thinking about it. It's such a weird thought that he flummoxes himself with it for a beat.

Time isn't real. He knows that. But he still perceives it as progressing linearly. It's part of what makes him feel so on the verge of losing it, like he's constantly straining against a barrier that doesn't actually even exist. But that's how it looks, doesn't it? 1 second = 1 second.

If one second's the minimum, what's the maximum? Three years is the upper threshold of his knowledge, but if Jane's actually the original occupier then he'll...

... he'll have to get a hat to eat, he guesses.

But he has an opportunity here, one a lot more useful than his first spurious flight of fancy. He doesn't need Jane to give him answers. He presses his lips together, hoping to imbue his often-flat expression with some semblance of seriousness.

"How long is a while, really? I've heard three years so far, but that didn't sound like a maximum to me."

there there....

[shiro2hero]

And in response, Shiro actually snorts, cracking a real grin. The amused kind, not the kind that usually means someone is irritated, or worse. It sounds like the sort of joke he'd make, really. Winning points in his book.

But back to the matter at hand. So to speak.

"I'm in the three-year category," he admits. "But I know of a couple people who were at the ten year mark. Or close to it."

He's trying to remember exactly what Heather had told him. It feels like it was a lifetime ago. "Heather Mason, have you met her? I don't remember how long she said, but, she's got the longest record I know of."

[starry_forehead]

I mean as long as you aren't going there to cause trouble. I don't think it would hurt to look for the place.

[Dipper gets what he's saying but also.....he wants to find all these places.]

[uber_marionettist]

Whether his flatness is cultivated or deliberate, there's a limit to what Dirk's stoicism can withstand.

But it turns out shock is a powerful force. His head jerks back, furry eyebrows rising sharply, mouth opening wordlessly. His eyebrows snap back down before he closes it, but he still doesn't know what to say exactly. No, wait. Yes he does.

"Ten years?"

Congratulations, Shiro. You unlocked a few seconds of obvious human emotion!

Not to be confused with Dirk's actual emotional experience, which is frankly a nightmare roller coaster ride staffed by some real shady characters.

[foolishwren]

Garbagecore techno-buddy friendship initiated!

The impromptu rapping makes the Null's half-hidden green eyes light up (... literally. They are glowing) and in a flash, the mismatched legs bend and spring upwards. It twists its body in midair, now facing Dirk and TAN on its left side.

It proceeds to moonwalk.

A jerky, sort of robotic moonwalk, but definitely a moonwalk.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[....................... SIKE the second Jane turns her head, however slight and brief, the pup's entire face is disappearing into whatever the nearest object of interest is. Probably her camp supplies.]

[This is not a good dog.]

[This is a Bad Dog.]</sub>

[foolishwren]

Aw, bummer.

But if it's any comfort, there's no shortage of ghost-hunting dumbasses afoot here.

You'll find another shitty garlic-necklace-bearing idiot in no time.

[foolishwren]

Yeah, basically.

_{[That was the impression she'd gotten, anyway.]}

I'm not even technically sure it has to involve battling-- though it seems like that's what everybody else has been doing so far and I'm not creative, so who am I to buck the trend?

_{[SHE LIKES KICKING BUTT. Someone else can break the mold.]}

[shiro2hero]

Huh.

[Well, now he's getting ideas here.]

If I'd known that was part of it, maybe I'd have gotten into it sooner. Thanks, Heather.

[shiro2hero]

"Yeah. I think that's what she told me. But I could be wrong."

The last bit he adds placating. Holding his hands up. He's not even sure that's what Heather had said. But he thinks it was pretty close. And she's the one who told him.

But that answer is clearly upsetting to the other young man.

"Sorry, I'm guessing that wasn't what you wanted to hear."