save our snorunts event log

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone!
When: January 2-26
Where: Practically everywhere. Maybe not the volcano on Cinnabar Island.
What: Save those Snorunts!
OOC Info: here!

src

The hills are alive with the sound of… sneezing?

It’s almost a week into January, and trainers may have started to get nervous about the lack of Snorunts. Whether you’re excited to see them, or just want the metaphorical bomb to drop and be over with - the wait is finally done. Snorunts have started to make their way into town.

But instead of fortunes, what they have to give right now is coughs, bleary eyes, and sad little flops sideways into the snow. They’re not alone, either: every once in a while you’ll see an equally sick Glalie or Froslass. (Be careful - a sneezing Glalie is basically a wrecking ball waiting to happen, prone to launching itself backward! And if you’ve been struck by an odd spurt of bad luck, maybe you’ll be right in the way when it does…)

In cities across Johto and Kanto, and in field camps in between, Nurse Joys are scrambling to treat the miserable Ice Pokemon. But they’re direly in need of more helping hands. Will you pitch in?

Comments

[officerdown]

Scar mutters an expletive in an unfamiliar language, its exact verbiage unclear, but its sentiment plain.

May God grant him the serenity to not strangle this adult teenager, the strength to not strangle this adult teenager, and the wisdom to not strangle this adult teenager.

It's a fifty/fifty chance Lust knows what to do with the slow cooker when she gets home after mysteriously not being picked up. Scar sighs, letting go of his expectations for a quiet evening in from the snow. It's a luxury he's gotten rather used to.

Mountain pass, or Onix hole. Maybe both! The cave looms dark in both directions, and Scar makes a choice. He sets off wordlessly in the direction of the mountain proper, taking the chance that this may connect to the well-traveled trainer tunnels. He doesn't check or wait to see if Envy is following.

[exeggutorhead]

Good luck with the four hundred year old thirty year old teenager, Scar. It's gonna be a long trek.

Envy doesn't bother to get indignant about Scar picking a direction and walking away without a word, it's not like that's anything new. He is, however, going to be following. They both have a 'Gear, which means they both have a light this time and aren't totally reliant on each other for THAT, but still.

The three Snorunt all squeak and toddle along at his ankles.

Envy's trying to remember how many assorted trail mix bags and granola bars have accumulated in his bag, uneaten, so Scar gets to enjoy a period of blissful quiet for a little while. UNTIL.

"Uh. Hey, hang on a second--"

Envy's shining the 'Gear light around his feet, where there are now only TWO Snorunt.

"One of the little guys is missing."

IS THERE SOMETHING IN HERE THAT ATE THE THIRD ONE? Envy's shining his light backwards in the tunnel.

[officerdown]

Scar has, predictably, continued without a word. When Envy finally speaks up, he turns, keeping his 'Gear light pointed low so as to not flash-bang Tiny Man.

"You weren't watching them?"

It isn't directly accusatory, but... it wouldn't be unfair to interpret it as such, coming from the guy who drags several willing cats with him near everywhere he goes. He peers over Envy's shoulder, making his way back from where they came, Something In Here That Ate The Third One be damned. Sneezy is still on his heels.

[exeggutorhead]

The lack of flash-banging is noted, as Envy turns back over his shoulder when he sees the second light join his own pointing in the opposite direction.

"They're all around my feet, I can't watch them out of the light..."

Grumbling aside, he is also making his way back down the tunnel. It isn't long before there are two beady little eyes glinting low to the ground, toddling towards them and squeaking.

The missing third Snorunt seems to have gone back for a priceless treasure: the plastic bag of balloons. The other two, seeing this, start jumping up and down to let out tiny cheers.

Envy drags a hand down his face.

"Are you kidding--okay! OKAY! Fine! Bring it here."

He drops to a crouch and holds out a hand for the bag. OKAY THEY CAN HAVE THEIR GODDAMN BALLOONS.

[officerdown]

Scar lets his light shine on the cave floor to assist the straggling Snorunt in rejoining the group without tripping.

And then he waits.

And he observes.

The grim steadiness of his frown shifts over time to an odd expression that betrays a thread of amusement. The whole time Envy is caving into entertaining the foolish, toddling huts, Scar is watching. Intently.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy very pointedly does not look at Scar at all as he accepts the balloon bag, because he knows exactly how good he is at blowing up balloons.

Which is to say, he's not. He can now, after Heather took pity on his first sad attempts, but oh boy he knows exactly how stupid this is going to look. The Snorunts had better appreciate this.

There's a distinct air of him steeling himself before he gets started.

The first balloon takes three tries, because on the second try the stupid knot slips undone and it deflates. Each successive one gets a little easier, but there's still plenty for Scar to be entertained by.

One by one, eventually, all three Snorunts are handed a balloon (one purple, one green, and one black) to their great delight...and then he blows up a fourth one to hand over to Sneezy because that was his mistake four hours ago and he does NOT want to have to stop and do this again.

He continues to not look in Scar's direction as he stands back up, looking down at the Snorunt instead. lalala nobody is witnessing this it's fine!

"There. Happy, now?"

The little Pokemon are totally thrilled now yes. Magical colorful orbs for them at last!

[officerdown]

There's a weight in the air that's difficult to place as Scar observes every detail of the ordeal playing out before him. Envy finally completes his trial of will, and Scar is also pointedly ignoring his very small housemate to observe the gaggle of Snorunt instead.

"I believe balloons are supposed to go up."

His inflection offers no insight into whether or not he is aware that the thing that makes the balloons go up has nothing to do with blowing technique and everything to do with an expensive, expendable gas that is, shock of all shocks, not to be found in an underground mountain pass.

[exeggutorhead]

And Envy, tired and distracted and knowing full well that there's no way Scar actually doesn't know what makes balloons float, snorts and responds entirely on autopilot.

"Oh no, I can't believe I forgot to swap my lung output to helium instead of carbon dioxide!"

Then, he pauses. Because it's been a long time, but that particular autopilot felt...weirdly familiar. And it hasn't exactly been the first time Scar's made an odd comment with that particular tone, something he's usually assumed means that the guy is being absolutely no fun at all. He turns it over in his head.

Wait.

WAIT A SECOND.

He turns to look at Scar, eyebrows up, "Oh! You're just like Sloth!"

[officerdown]

In all honesty, Scar hadn't expected Envy to play along. It was just a little jab for himself. As such, he meets the reply with just as much energy: none. The inaction contrasts with the tiny ice Pokemon at his feet, now chasing the balloon he has been handed by repeatedly failing to pick it up and bopping it farther away with its feet whenever it tries.

Scar's blank stare continues at the mention of Sloth. He doesn't have a clue what Envy could possibly be referring to, and it's not a name that comes up often. In fact, he hasn't heard it in years. Not since the one and only time Lust had spelled the whole story out for him.

"...The Elrics' mother?"

He also has no idea how controversial an identifier that may be.

1/2

[exeggutorhead]

Scar's lack of energy in response is doing the opposite of beating the Sloth allegations.

Envy's good humor does waver at what he says, but it's honestly something that would have gotten a much worse reaction a decade ago. Or if Scar had been an alchemist, or if Sloth were actually here to take offense. As it is, he just frowns, then goes to start putting the balloon bag into his backpack for something to do with his hands while he thinks of what he'll say.

"Used to be, sure. She didn't want it, so she was herself."

And that's that on that! He's careful about the words, but he's clearly not willing to argue about it.

2/2

[exeggutorhead]

He shrugs, zipping the bag up and shoving his hand not holding his flashlight into his pocket. They're going to be in a dark cave together for however long it takes to find the way out, and he'd rather try to uh. Focus on his original revelation instead. Because hey! Scar does do jokes and now he's pretty sure he'll spot them!

The bit of awkward sincerity that got rattled out of him by needing to suddenly be serious about Sloth remains, however.

"Anyway, you've got the same sense of humor she did. Ha! Took me forever to figure her out, too."

[officerdown]

"I see."

That's after Envy's second comment, so it could very well be aimed as a response to both. It's never been something Scar wraps his head easily around, but at the very least, he's understanding more and more all the discrete ways that Lust is odd, in relief with the others. He struggles to put a finger on it, but they're all so...

Amestrian.

But even still, so is Lust.

The thought enters Scar's mind accompanied by an expression that looks like he's accidentally bitten into something bitter and is trying to hide as much. He turns away from Envy to continue down the tunnel, following the sound of the Snorunt's sneezes as it continues to accidentally boot its balloon farther and farther into the gloom.

Then, after a moment, a sentiment of levity among the grim truth he's just scraped up against:

"I wouldn't want to be responsible for them, either."

[exeggutorhead]

That remark earns a cackle loud enough to echo off the walls. The Snorunt brigade echoes it too with a series of imitating squeaks.

Sorry not sorry to his half-brothers, that was funny as hell. Especially coming from Scar. The lack of argument over Sloth's identity is noted and appreciated, too.

"She was very responsible. But not that responsible."

It's a fond kind of joke. He does miss her, wishes she'd show up here too one day. Maybe get a chance to be happy like the rest of them. But Johto and its sudden disappearances are a hell of a crash course in dealing with grief. He can laugh and miss her at the same time.

"Oh, I've got some food in my bag."

He knows he glimpsed the shiny wrappers of multiple previously-unwanted granola bars just from when he'd been putting the balloons away. So there's probably even more floating around in the other pockets! With the Vibes (tm) doing a bit better, he's willing to mention it.

[officerdown]

Quietly, Scar enjoys watching the Snorunt mimic Envy's bout of Reformed Villain Laughter. It had barely even been a joke. Entangling with the Elrics makes one liable to serious injury or worse.

He frowns, however, as he sees Envy reach into the very bottom of his bag.

"How long has it been In your bag?"

[exeggutorhead]

In what's probably the opposite of reassuring, Envy shrugs in a way that would indicate that he'd never once considered this question.

"What does it matter? They don't go bad."

He's not looking forward to them being the only available thing, because they were the flavors he hadn't wanted to eat in the first place. But....he is still the guy who spent four hundred years eating rocks.

"Do you have other food?"

It's only partially sarcastic. If Scar can miraculously produce hearty porridge some kind of healthy delicious meal from his pockets, that WOULD be better than stale cinnamon raisin granola bars.