victory_road | Swinub Scurry

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.

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When the girl waves, Wrath (finally) blinks. Then, very slowly, he lifts a hand (his left one) and offers a stiff, awkward wave back.

Interaction initiated, for better or worse. Depending on what comes out of Wrath's mouth next, they could be finding out which of the two imminently.

"Hi. Do you have a face?"

... Well, at least he doesn't sound like he's trying to be rude.

"Oh, I sure do! I'm just very used to wearing a mask out in public is all." Cali in her excited, warm fast paced voice replied, apparently it's not an uncommon question....

Cali tilts her head though when she notices the stiff wave, "Is your arm alright? We have heating packs here if you have joint problems from the cold."

"Oh."

Whatever answer he may or may not have been expecting, he apparently is just fine with the one that she's given.

When she brings up his arm, though, his mouth twists slightly in a reluctant little grimace as his organic hand moves up to squeeze at the spot where his automail connects.

"... Mm. It's not joints..."

But oof it really is smarting. Despite the reluctance in his voice, he does take a couple of steps forward, which are as stiff and awkward as the wave was. He looks way too young to be arthritic, though.

"What's a heating pack?"

The first thing that comes to mind is like... a backpack but warm? Or something?

"Heating packs are really neat, they're like little plastic pillows that you slap on your wrist to activate the heating chemicals. There are some that are used for outdoor cooking too if you can't start a fire, though you use water instead of the wrist slap for that one." Cali happily explained, heat packs are pretty fun to learn about and it's wild how many varieties there are.

It doesn't take Cali too long to realize what the kid had meant, especially after seeing how he's moving.Quickly opening up the first aid booth up to him, Cali offers Wrath a break from the cold "Oh, you have prosthetics? The first aid stand is heated if you want to get them back up to room temp?"

Wrath cocks his head quizzically. He's heard the word 'prosthetics' tossed around in this place often enough to have gleaned that it's effectively the same thing, but a mild correction still pops out of him out of reflex.

"It's automail."

Her offer is what finally reels him in, though-- it's a bit of a walk back to the inn where he and the rest of his ragtag household are staying on this trip, and he can still... mostly see the big broadcasting screen if he leans a little, so... into the warmth of the booth he steps!

Even outside of his relatively-new aches and pains, no (former) Homunculus is a fan of the cold.

"When the metal gets cold, it starts to feel like... like... mn. Feels bad."

Huzzah! The sweet embrace of the heated tent has welcomed Wrath inside as Cali pulls a seat for Wrath to sit on so he can watch the event comfortably as well as be visible to whoever Wrath came with. The automail did throw Cali for a loop for a little bit before understanding that's likely what prosthetics were called back where Wrath came from. It also becomes even more clear that it functions very much like the ones back at her timeline when Wrath describes the pain.

"Your automail is nerve connected? That sounds incredibly painful to be out in the cold like that. I'll fix you up a bag of heating packs with some wraps and hand towels for your stay here during the event. Would you like to wait till whoever came with you to show how to place the heating packs on or would you like to see a demonstration before trying?" Cali asked as she goes to get Wrath some hot chocolate from the dispenser in the first aid stand for him to warm up with.

BLESSED WARMTH.

If he had any misgivings about accepting the invitation, they're gone once he feels how much nicer it is in there than outside. Yeah, screw waiting, he'll wait here until Lust and Envy are back.

When Cali pulls out a seat for him, he doesn't take it immediately. But rather than being out of offense or insult, it kind of just looks like it hasn't occurred to him to sit down. So he sort of stands there next to the empty chair like an emo scarecrow.

"Yes... it didn't used to be like that, until I came here."

'Here' could either be... here, in this very cold mountain town, or 'here', this world as a whole. But it doesn't occur to Wrath to elaborate. He tilts his head again, at the question. Would he rather wait? Would there be a difference? After a moment of pondering, he can't come up with a reason that it would matter. And maybe taking care of it now will stave off any eventual fretting from Lust, who he has not communicated this automail issue to yet.

"You can show me. I learn fast. Sometimes I eve-- ... is that hot chocolate?"

For the first time, he makes an actual expression that isn't 'awkward scrunchface' or 'Huh????????'. It's a smile!

He loves hot chocolate!

"It sure is! The first aid stands here have their own hot chocolate dispenser, you're welcome to help yourself to it if you'd like? I'll give you the demonstration on how to place the heating pack after you're done with the hot chocolate first, it's the best thing ever. You're also welcome to sit down on the chair if you feel tired of standing." Cali gives Wrath his mug of hot chocolate to enjoy as well as bring his body temp up a bit from the cold weather.

Once Wrath has his hot chocolate, Cali would go to get the festival ground map to mark where the first aid stands are throughout the grounds (With scratch and sniff stickers of course :D ) as well as a written instruction for the heating pad application for incase Wrath needs to change the heating packs out if they lose their heat or if they get too warm and needs to take them off for a short bit.

Once she voices the invitation to sit out loud, he takes it-- and the mug, his metal hand clinking on the handle.

"Thank you. It is."

Though still softspoken, he is definitely hype for the hot chocolate, and the leg that isn't plagued with temperature-difference nerve pain even kicks forward and back a little bit as he takes the first sip. It's good even under normal circumstances, but coming in from the cold makes it even better.

There's a moment of quiet between them as Cali shuffles papers and Wrath drinks his Warm Beverage (tm), but then he pipes up with another potentially-insensitive but seemingly earnest question.

"Do you wear the mask because you need to hide?"

"It's actually a combination, first one was originally hiding as back home as I'd stand out a lot if I didn't and the second one was because I was formerly a genetically engineered bioweapon. Good news though, it looks like I don't carry the virus anymore. So that's been pretty awesome." Cali explained in a happy and casual fashion as though that was normal as she gives Wrath the marked map with instructions and a scratch n' sniff Pikachu sticker :'D

"Here we go, I marked down the locations of each first aid stands for you with a note that should allow you to come in whenever you need to change the heating packs out for new ones. So, ready for the heating pack demonstration?" Cali asked as she got out the things needed for the demonstration.

Wrath listens, fully straight-faced. Even though those are some words he is... definitely not familiar with (bioweapon???), he just takes it in. He is, at this point, pretty used to not being familiar with words.

Her cheery tone doesn't really strike him as odd either.

Homunculi are frequently casual (even flippant) about topics that would normally be received with horrified gasps and monocles popping out, so Cali is honestly in pretty good company.

So he nods, thoughtfully. Because yes, of course! Whatever a 'genetically engineered bioweapon' is (maybe something like a chimera? A chimera with automail?? Whoa. Intense!), it does sound like something that maybe wouldn't be received very well by your average humans.

Taking the sheet in his organic hand (which, ironically, was getting a little too hot holding that mug), he glances down at it long enough to note the stickers (CLEARLY the most important thing on there, even if he does not yet realize their amazing olfactory properties) and then nods again. Even though the warmth in the tent is slowly easing the sharp radiating pains to a duller, more tolerable throb, he's MORE than ready to accept a quicker solution.

Wrath would actually be pretty close to correct on what he was assuming there, though the automail implants are usually used for the genetically engineered bounty hunters where Cali was made in. After getting the okay to start the demo, Cali goes to show how to activate the heating pack. Cali pulls up a mannequin for the demo for a better visual.

"Awesome, so with the heating pack, you're going to have to gently crack it a little up against your organic wrist, sort've like this. Once you feel the heat, you got a heat pack ready to use." Cali happily said as she patted the heating pack against her wrist til it started to warm up.

"Next you're going to want to place the hand towel half folded like a hot dog bun about I would say on the half way mark of where your automail starts. Don't put it on top of where the automail meets the skin as that would heat it up too quickly and would hurt." Cali goes to show how she places the hand towel at as she gets the heating pack on the mannequin, the heating pack being on top of the hand towel.

"Finally, you're going to take this elastic wrap to hold them in place with. It's sort've like a giant rubber band, so you're going to loop about two to four times so it stays put without moving." Cali goes to show Wrath how the elastic wrap works and she's right, it is like a giant rubber band!

Wrath watches the mannequin-assisted demonstration with the intensity of a cat seeing birds through a window-- silently, with rapt attention.

At one time, observing and repeating (and repeating, and repeating...) what he saw had been the only way he could learn anything, and thus he had gotten very good at it.

And of course, Cali breaking it all down into steps helps.

It doesn't look too hard!

Having placed the still-half-full hot chocolate mug down on the floor for temporary safekeeping, Wrath is already starting to tug his coat and sweater off as the masked girl finishes up her walkthrough.

"Okay. I think I understand. Can I try it?"

"Awesome, I'll help hold the heating pack and towel when you're ready to get the wrap on your arm, okay?" Cali hands Wrath two heating packs, two hand towels, and two wraps, amazed with how great Wrath's study skills were.

Cali goes to prop Manny the Mannequin to the side to keep the visual aid up, Sweet Sixteen looking not too thrilled about the mannequin being out. Just those dead glass eyes man, that Apple Dragon is not a fan of mannequins.

You have to learn quick when you're a Homunculus-- they have an unfortunately high turnover rate. ~~Wrath didn't last long.~~

Wrath finishes peeling down to his undershirt. Without the long sleeve in the way, the automail is now visible in its entirety: an intricate piece of machinery, gleaming steel from the surprisingly-delicate joints of the fingers all the way up to Wrath's shoulder, where it meets his body at a patch of gnarled, discolored flesh. The unmistakable remains of a gruesome injury... but it looks long-healed, at least.

Then he reaches down to roll up his pant-leg-- it's baggy enough (and his gangly limbs skinny enough) that he can pull it right up over his knee to reveal a metal leg that's obviously the same make as the arm. This one connects partway up the thigh, at a ring of scarring just like on his shoulder.

He doesn't hesitate before starting to-- a little clumsily-- repeat the motions that Callie had shown him. Leg first, because at least he can use both hands for that one.

The arm, now, he might need a little more help with...

It was an incredibly true statement with Cali back on the Exile Colony, that one had a pretty high turnover rate as well. (Those corrosive fogs, they are horrible :< )

Cali doesn't say anything about the scarring and kept things professional, though she was absolutely impressed with the craftsmanship of the automail. It was also impressive with how good Wrath was doing with repeating the instructions as Cali monitored. Once Wrath was done with the leg, she came to help out with the arm as...yeah that one is a trickier one to do on your own.

"You did incredibly awesome with the leg, I'll help hold the towel and heating pack for you while you get the wrap on the arm." Cali cheered Wrath on for doing such a great job on the leg.

Mutual handshake on being considered expendable! :')

This world may not be perfect, but it sure is better than most.

Lifting the heatpack'd leg, he gives it a few experimental bends-- and wow. The effect is immediately noticeable. It's the first time today since he left the hotel room that there isn't a painful twinge!

For all that he seems rusty at facial expressions other than a perpetual lineface, he can't help but bare his sharp little teeth in a grin. If only he'd known about these sooner!

"I really thought it was just gonna hurt to go outside forever," he remarks to Cali as he starts to repeat the process on his automail arm. Clumsier, but confidently so.

The Mutual handshake on being considered expendable is fully accepted, yay survival buddies :'D

Cali could only smile behind her mask at a job well done on helping Wrath out with his automail as she help get the automail arm wrapped up nicely with the heating pack.

Cali didn't mind the sharp teeth at all as she used to have them too until suddenly getting human teeth, that one was a wild thing to find out as the heating pack is secured safely on Wrath's arm.

"That's awesome to hear, no one wants to hurt forever when going outside. Anywho, I realized I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Calliope, but everyone calls me Cali for short." Cali went to introduce herself after giving Wrath a hand with the Automail.

Mutual handshake on sharp teeth as well!

Wrath's certainly aren't as sharp now as they are in his own world-- but it's one of the few physical oddities about him that somewhat remained, even if they are now simply 'disconcertingly pointy' rather than 'these belong to a wolf maybe?'

Once the pack is attached, he flexes his metal arm experimentally, pleased to note the fade of pain in his leg hadn't just been a fluke.

"Cuh-lyyye-oh-pee... Calliope. Cali."

He sounds the name out, letting it roll around a little. It's a bright and cheery-sounding name for a bright and cheery-sounding person. For just a second, there's an ache in his chest that has nothing to do with the automail or winter cold.

He's been getting those a lot since coming back.

Letting his gaze drop down to his lap, he hastily starts to roll his pant-leg back down over the heat-pack-- but even WITH the somewhat-poorly-concealed shift of his attention, he returns the favor of the introduction.

"I'm Wrath. It's already pretty short so no one really calls me anything else."

... Well, except for Lust sometimes. She likes her endearments.

Cali's original teeth could be considered wolfish, though, that's thylacines for you. Cali watches carefully as Wrath tests out the automail arm and was super happy that Wrath can go enjoy the outdoors now.

It was incredibly adorable hearing Wrath pronounce Cali's name as she went to get Wrath another cup of hot chocolate to enjoy, not noticing the attention shift there. She places the fresh new cup of hot chocolate on the table for Wrath to enjoy.

"It's amazing to meet you Wrath." Cali was cheerfully sincere when she said it, it wasn't an uncommon name back where she came from, it was considered a proper name in most cases (She knows a guy with the unfortunate name of 'Crayon' back home :( )

Wrath has no idea what a thylacine is, OR extinction for that matter, and would be fascinated to find out yet another atrocity that the good old human race is responsible for!

But this is a positive interaction, so these two can stick to introductions and the marvels of modern medicine for now.

"Thank you. ... Um, you too," he catches himself, remembering the spotty list of manners that he's slowly learned over the last (only) few years. You're supposed to return a compliment, not just accept it. Though does 'it's nice to meet you' count as a compliment? Or just a pleasantry?

Lust would know.

She's good at things like that.

Still, Wrath starts to get up from the chair-- first with an uncertain wobble, but then more confidence once he realizes the heat packs make it all but completely painless to put his weight on the metal leg. And then it's time for a compliment of his own, genuine and not just out of rusty politeness!

"You're really smart!"

What a wonderful conversation that would be to talk about! They really do have a rather positive interaction so far though, so they're sticking with that one! (At least until the Celebi incident happens much later..don't spook the onion fairy)

"It's no problem at all, I'm just glad you're doing better now with the heating packs on." Cali smiled behind her mask, she really was happy to give Wrath that chance to be able to enjoy the outdoors better.

Cali monitors Wrath carefully to make sure he'll be walking alright and is relieved to see just that as Wrath is walking with better ease and balance.

"Thank you and you're an incredibly brilliant patient, you did a great job right there." Cali happily said and it was true, Wrath was a really great patient to work with.

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Swinub Scurry

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i'm right there with Sweet Sixteen, mannequins can Leave

Same, especially the detachable mannequins, those things are super creepy DX

oof, sorry for the long delay. IRL has me slammed flat lately!

It's all cool, March was a beast of sorts :( Also I give permission for threadjumping for S.H. :')

IT SURE WAS, and cool I'll let them know! I'm fine either way! :)

Right? I'm just glad March is done. Also awesome :'D

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