The Indigo League (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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victory_road2025-02-17 08:13 pm
indigo_league) wrote in victory_road2025-02-17 08:13 pm
Entry tags:
- !event,
- !mod post,
- beetlejuice (beetlejuice the musical),
- calliope macabre (oc),
- edward elric (fullmetal alchemist manga),
- emporio alnino (jjba),
- envy (fullmetal alchemist),
- fluttershy (equestria girls),
- harry potter (harry potter),
- heather mason (silent hill),
- isabela madrigal (encanto),
- jotaro kujo (jjba),
- jw (oc),
- loop (in stars and time),
- lust (fullmetal alchemist),
- min-gi park (infinity train),
- radley (yugioh 5ds),
- scar (fullmetal alchemist),
- vinegar doppio (jjba),
- wrath (fullmetal alchemist)
Swinub Scurry
Who: Everyone!
When: February 21st-28th
Where: Blackthorn City
What: It's the Swinub Scurry!
OOC Info: here!
Race day dawns bright and early on the 21st. In Blackthorn City, residents are bustling before the Winter sun is fully risen, completing setup for the veritable sea of Swinub-themed stalls and decorations that has been sprouting up throughout the week. The extra advertising has sparked peoples’ competitive spirits, and there’s also an ocean of handmade posters and signs cheering on specific racers.
Understandably, the majority of signs are for locals… but if any characters showed up earlier in the week to sign up, and had their Pokemon out and about, they may have picked up some fans! Is that a cute handmade doodle of their Pokemon hanging off a nearby balcony?
Speaking of racers - anyone who’s stayed in the town since at least last night, or arrived sufficiently early in the morning, will be invited to a complimentary breakfast! It’s simple and traditional, but there’s plenty to go around - rice and miso soup for everyone, and a vast spread of side dishes, including pickled and cooked vegetables and deep fried tofu. This food may be shared with Pokemon, though there’s also lots of high-vitamin Pokemon food specifically available!
Race sign-ups remain open until noon, when racers will be expected to gather up at the starting line - coincidentally, right in front of the big main event stage. As they harness up their Pokemon and double-check their sleds and supplies, the organizing committee for the event will be giving a speech. 30 minutes later, a loud whistle from the committee lead heralds the start of the race, and everyone will be off!
(Glance to your right as you pull away from the crowded stage area - that’s definitely Gym Leader Clair watching!)
Out on the trail, racing trainers and Pokemon will quickly be struggling, but more with the wilderness than with each other! While trainers with less than six Pokemon harnessed up are allowed to bring a regular team to deal with wild Pokemon, trainer battles are off limits during the race. There’s more than enough to worry about as is!
(That’s not to say there aren’t one or two racers willing to stoop to sabotage, provided they see an opportunity where they think they won’t get caught.)
The trail is marked with red streamers on trees and rocks, but they’re few and far between, and there’s intermittent snow showers that make visibility low. Trainers were provided with a map at the race’s start, but this isn’t the city - you better hope you can interpret contour lines and similar-looking landmarks. It’s easy to get lost! These aren’t the nice, trampled-down paths of routes - trainers will find themselves having to dodge around trees, bounce over rocks, and cross frozen streams and rivers! Speaking of frozen rivers… careful, the slushy weather earlier in the month left some of those with a more fragile layer of ice than others…
On top of that, the wild Pokemon out here are higher in level than on the routes! Trainers will find themselves having to fend off large, dangerous Pokemon like Beartics, Lycanrocs, Cetitans, and Hisuian Braviarys.
And then there’s figuring out when to rest. Any veteran racer will tell you it’s a bad idea not to let your Pokemon have a break for at least a few hours, no matter how much stamina you think they have. Dealing with the wilderness takes a lot out of you. (Every race, there’s someone overconfident enough to think they can just keep going… who then ends up staggering into the finish well behind the pack, their Pokemon completely wiped.) But… do you push as far as possible before resting, and hope you can keep your lead? Or do you rest early, and hope to breeze past everyone else while they’re taking their break?
Back in town, the festivities will have kicked into full swing! Food stands abound - in particular, given the weather, there’s endless options for warm bowls - rice porridge (particularly in the mornings), ramen, udon, oden, stew… But for those who don’t want something soup-adjacent, they will find plenty of other treats, like mochi cakes grilled over a charcoal fire, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with both savory and sweet varieties.
There’s stands with souvenirs and traditional crafts, too - do you want a textile with a Piloswine pattern? Of course you do. There’s lots of options for accessories for your Pokemon - woven collars and bandannas, scarves… and clothes for you too, if you’re so inclined! There’s little wooden and ceramic Swinub charms - rub their noses for luck - and various wood and papercraft objects. One particularly large stand seems to be doing a thriving business in traditional Spinarak silk soap!
On and around the main stage, there’s always something going on. During the day, there’s a constant stream of updates and commentary, with several large screens streaming video from race officials following the race on flying Pokemon. But there’s more: every day of the race has a few additional events on a small side stage, like a panel with former racers talking through their experiences, or a Pokemon performance.
As it begins to get dark, activity will slow down… but even in the wee hours of the night, the stage will stay open with the next shift of commentators, albeit with a much more sleepy, relaxed atmosphere. (Absolutely no loudspeakers, people are trying to sleep.) Some brave and selfless stalls will stay open all night with hot drinks, and tiny local bars so small they only seat a handful of guests offer a warm, friendly place to stop and relax well into the early hours of the morning. Even Blackthorn City’s onsen is kept open well into the night, offering a steamy soak to people and Pokemon alike.
In the early afternoon of the 22nd, the very fastest racers will start showing up at the finish line! They’ll be met with cheering, as will every racer that arrives afterward - it’s a Swinub Scurry tradition that every racer must be welcomed back enthusiastically, no matter how long it takes them. Yes, even in the middle of the night. (There’s a reason the finish line is located at the edge of the city.)
Trainers and Pokemon will be dragged back to the center of the festivities and brought inside to warm up and enjoy another complimentary meal. They’re expected to stick around the city until the race is officially over - they want their medal, right? - but they’re otherwise free to enjoy the celebration around town! They may have to suffer through occasional excited crowds when they’re recognized, though people will let characters go if they beg off by saying their Pokemon are tired or hungry. On the other hand, being recognized at stalls might mean getting offered some small treats and goodies on the house - particularly for those who performed well in the race!
Shortly after sunset on the 23rd, the race will finally come to a close when old man Junzo comes placidly trundling in with his full pack of Shuckle. The cheers for him are… lackluster, to say the least, but he seems entirely unbothered. At this point, all the racers will be called to the stage, with anyone who completed the race presented with a medal, anyone who participated offered the option of taking a Swinub egg (assuming they didn’t get caught cheating)... and the top three winners particularly hyped up and praised! Hope you wanted to be on TV?
But that doesn’t mean the festivities are over! While the intensity will ramp down over the week, and the stage and performances will have shut down after the 23rd, the stalls and extended local business hours won’t close down until the 28th.
When: February 21st-28th
Where: Blackthorn City
What: It's the Swinub Scurry!
OOC Info: here!
Race day dawns bright and early on the 21st. In Blackthorn City, residents are bustling before the Winter sun is fully risen, completing setup for the veritable sea of Swinub-themed stalls and decorations that has been sprouting up throughout the week. The extra advertising has sparked peoples’ competitive spirits, and there’s also an ocean of handmade posters and signs cheering on specific racers.
Understandably, the majority of signs are for locals… but if any characters showed up earlier in the week to sign up, and had their Pokemon out and about, they may have picked up some fans! Is that a cute handmade doodle of their Pokemon hanging off a nearby balcony?
Speaking of racers - anyone who’s stayed in the town since at least last night, or arrived sufficiently early in the morning, will be invited to a complimentary breakfast! It’s simple and traditional, but there’s plenty to go around - rice and miso soup for everyone, and a vast spread of side dishes, including pickled and cooked vegetables and deep fried tofu. This food may be shared with Pokemon, though there’s also lots of high-vitamin Pokemon food specifically available!
Race sign-ups remain open until noon, when racers will be expected to gather up at the starting line - coincidentally, right in front of the big main event stage. As they harness up their Pokemon and double-check their sleds and supplies, the organizing committee for the event will be giving a speech. 30 minutes later, a loud whistle from the committee lead heralds the start of the race, and everyone will be off!
(Glance to your right as you pull away from the crowded stage area - that’s definitely Gym Leader Clair watching!)
Out on the trail, racing trainers and Pokemon will quickly be struggling, but more with the wilderness than with each other! While trainers with less than six Pokemon harnessed up are allowed to bring a regular team to deal with wild Pokemon, trainer battles are off limits during the race. There’s more than enough to worry about as is!
(That’s not to say there aren’t one or two racers willing to stoop to sabotage, provided they see an opportunity where they think they won’t get caught.)
The trail is marked with red streamers on trees and rocks, but they’re few and far between, and there’s intermittent snow showers that make visibility low. Trainers were provided with a map at the race’s start, but this isn’t the city - you better hope you can interpret contour lines and similar-looking landmarks. It’s easy to get lost! These aren’t the nice, trampled-down paths of routes - trainers will find themselves having to dodge around trees, bounce over rocks, and cross frozen streams and rivers! Speaking of frozen rivers… careful, the slushy weather earlier in the month left some of those with a more fragile layer of ice than others…
On top of that, the wild Pokemon out here are higher in level than on the routes! Trainers will find themselves having to fend off large, dangerous Pokemon like Beartics, Lycanrocs, Cetitans, and Hisuian Braviarys.
And then there’s figuring out when to rest. Any veteran racer will tell you it’s a bad idea not to let your Pokemon have a break for at least a few hours, no matter how much stamina you think they have. Dealing with the wilderness takes a lot out of you. (Every race, there’s someone overconfident enough to think they can just keep going… who then ends up staggering into the finish well behind the pack, their Pokemon completely wiped.) But… do you push as far as possible before resting, and hope you can keep your lead? Or do you rest early, and hope to breeze past everyone else while they’re taking their break?
Back in town, the festivities will have kicked into full swing! Food stands abound - in particular, given the weather, there’s endless options for warm bowls - rice porridge (particularly in the mornings), ramen, udon, oden, stew… But for those who don’t want something soup-adjacent, they will find plenty of other treats, like mochi cakes grilled over a charcoal fire, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with both savory and sweet varieties.
There’s stands with souvenirs and traditional crafts, too - do you want a textile with a Piloswine pattern? Of course you do. There’s lots of options for accessories for your Pokemon - woven collars and bandannas, scarves… and clothes for you too, if you’re so inclined! There’s little wooden and ceramic Swinub charms - rub their noses for luck - and various wood and papercraft objects. One particularly large stand seems to be doing a thriving business in traditional Spinarak silk soap!
On and around the main stage, there’s always something going on. During the day, there’s a constant stream of updates and commentary, with several large screens streaming video from race officials following the race on flying Pokemon. But there’s more: every day of the race has a few additional events on a small side stage, like a panel with former racers talking through their experiences, or a Pokemon performance.
As it begins to get dark, activity will slow down… but even in the wee hours of the night, the stage will stay open with the next shift of commentators, albeit with a much more sleepy, relaxed atmosphere. (Absolutely no loudspeakers, people are trying to sleep.) Some brave and selfless stalls will stay open all night with hot drinks, and tiny local bars so small they only seat a handful of guests offer a warm, friendly place to stop and relax well into the early hours of the morning. Even Blackthorn City’s onsen is kept open well into the night, offering a steamy soak to people and Pokemon alike.
In the early afternoon of the 22nd, the very fastest racers will start showing up at the finish line! They’ll be met with cheering, as will every racer that arrives afterward - it’s a Swinub Scurry tradition that every racer must be welcomed back enthusiastically, no matter how long it takes them. Yes, even in the middle of the night. (There’s a reason the finish line is located at the edge of the city.)
Trainers and Pokemon will be dragged back to the center of the festivities and brought inside to warm up and enjoy another complimentary meal. They’re expected to stick around the city until the race is officially over - they want their medal, right? - but they’re otherwise free to enjoy the celebration around town! They may have to suffer through occasional excited crowds when they’re recognized, though people will let characters go if they beg off by saying their Pokemon are tired or hungry. On the other hand, being recognized at stalls might mean getting offered some small treats and goodies on the house - particularly for those who performed well in the race!
Shortly after sunset on the 23rd, the race will finally come to a close when old man Junzo comes placidly trundling in with his full pack of Shuckle. The cheers for him are… lackluster, to say the least, but he seems entirely unbothered. At this point, all the racers will be called to the stage, with anyone who completed the race presented with a medal, anyone who participated offered the option of taking a Swinub egg (assuming they didn’t get caught cheating)... and the top three winners particularly hyped up and praised! Hope you wanted to be on TV?
But that doesn’t mean the festivities are over! While the intensity will ramp down over the week, and the stage and performances will have shut down after the 23rd, the stalls and extended local business hours won’t close down until the 28th.
big tired
The surface of the water is disturbed as a scruffy individual plunks down next to Scar. This is probably the cleanest anyone has ever seen Beetlejuice. And the most naked. Except for his shimmering medal. His growing gaggle of rowdy Pokemon scurry around the pool's edge with their treats. Everyone is patting the little Blitzle, whose name is Snowpiercer, on the back. She's the hero! She got them through to the end!
Meanwhile, Beetlejuice indulges himself in a sweet treat. He's bought an entire bowl of ice cream into the Onsen. He's probably not allowed to do that.
"One hell of a race, huh?"
Re: big tired
Scar is finally free of Elric and Not (...?) Elric, and every random he's had to wait out for his window to get out of the damn tub has finally made their way back to the showers. His feet have shriveled to prunes.
And Then,
Scar barely has it in him to react, anymore. He closes his eyes. Holds. Then when he opens them, BJ is still right in front of him. Scar eyes the bowl of ice cream with a note of suspicion. People eat in here, too? Is there anything they don't do?
Don't answer that.
Scar accepts his fate, but unwilling to go down without fighting, he edges away from the unusually clean little man and his crowd of Pokemon. Fourth. Beetlejuice, which Scar does not believe to be his God-given name, came in fourth. He heard as much as the end-of-race announcements rang out.
"You could say that."
Hell might be the most accurate descriptor yet, honestly.
no subject
He takes a heaping bite of his ice cream and grunts happily to himself. And of course, continues to talk around it.
"You shoulda' seen Snowpiercer! She was cutting 'em off right and left! I'm surprised the camera'mons could keep track of her!"
He gestures with his spoon, recalling the race.
no subject
By now, Scar has already run the gauntlet of horrors that has been his semi-public nude experience, but this really is the capstone. Cornered in the pool by BJ.
"She's the..." He scans the ensemble of Pokemon BJ has brought with him, having no prior knowledge of savanna fauna: "...horse?"
Exhaustion is catching up with him something awful. Some day, he will be able to get out of this damn pool. But it is not this one.
no subject
The ghoul smiles over his bowl of minty goodness and lets his eyes linger on Scar. This is the most of him he's ever seen, and while in his heart he still thinks he has a shot, he is sure he won't get another peek like this for a while.
"I see you work out." He lets that linger in the air. "What's with the holes?"
no subject
The comment on his physical stature... he can tolerate.
The other one, however.
His eyes cast briefly down before he thinks better of it, continuing to ignore the fact that he has a corporeal form in this moment. It's hard to even begin to process such an invasive question, and the recollection that comes with pondering the answer puts a rock in his stomach. That was a very different time, and a far, far worse place.
"Things happened."
Nailed it!
no subject
This he says with full confidence before taking a final bite and placing the bowl on the pool's edge. Then, he lifts his medal to eye level to admire it.
"So, what place did you get?"
no subject
This is a rare instance that he would be thrilled for the subject to return to his spectacular failure. As time wears on, the peculiar pain associated with that day only becomes more and more warped into a shape he can't name.
It's with a distracted aside that he answers BJ's new question:
"I didn't finish."
The awkward stiffness of Scar's body language has taken a turn for the somber.
no subject
Ah, well, you'll get 'em next time.
no subject
He doesn't answer Beetlejuice. Entirely forgetting his previous hour-plus of steadfastly awaiting his window of decency, Scar pushes himself out of water in one fluid motion.
He is standing at the water's edge, his towel halfway around his waist, when he freezes.
Ah.
Well.
Too late for that.
no subject
Hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave, he thinks to himself.