01x. Action for Ecruteak City - Fourth Wall Event

[ardent]

[It's been a little while since Ishimaru's been here, and he can be found in...well, the exact same place he was last time he made a broadcast from this area - several stories up, on top of the Tin Tower. However, there's a marked difference from the last time he was up here - whereas he was a bit excited and generally getting his enthusiasm for life fired up and raring to go back in September, he's currently standing stock still in the center of the roof, his expression the sort usually reserved for those who have just had either a religious experience or a really, really spectacular acid trip (that may or may not have culminated in a religious experience, because hey, who are we to judge how these things happen). At least he's...not quite crying, though wow does he look tempted.

He's holding something tightly in his hands - a pair of somethings, really, the first being a ridiculously vibrant feather that glitters in various colors when it catches the light; the second is a small gold pouch containing...something light, from the look of it, but it's difficult to say. Either way, he's seeming a bit overwhelmed.

...to the point that he hasn't...quite noticed the Eevee horde that's trooped up here after him just yet, um. He'll probably wonder where the hell those came from once he's done, but for now they are just kind of...wriggling excitedly and once in a while bouncing, like they're trying to start some sort of tiny, fluffy mosh pit.

...Dangans, man.]

Comments

[gummyfrogs]

[As it turns out, Ishimaru is actually not the only one having a religious experience of sorts today, because here is one Alec Hardison and this is assuredly an entire world that appears to be an actual game of Pokemon, and good god, mmm, he has got a Pikachu and a Pokedex and he is a man who is going to live the dream, baby, and the only particularly difficult moral crisis he's faced since setting foot here is whether to go for the standard Gotta Catch 'Em All method, or straight-up Nuzlocke this thing.

And let's be real, there is nothing that quite so closely resembles a choice NPC encounter than some little uniform kid experiencing the Beatific Vision atop the Tin Tower with no less than twentysome Eevees swarming around his feet.

Oh, yeah, if this doesn't get him something good, ain't nothin' will.]

Hey-yo, my man. Hey there, ha-hah, how you doin' today.

[SHOW HIM THE TEXT BOX, BABY.]

[ardent]

[...you know, it takes Ishimaru a moment to realize that that greeting (...it was a greeting, right, tell him that was a greeting) is being aimed at him in the first place; oh, he registers that someone's talking, he's not that deep in his appreciation of the sky here, but it takes him a second to connect the dots.

But then something seems to click inside his head and he jumps a little, and he turns around abruptly and goodness, hi, what are you doing here, and -

...and what is the fuzzball legion doing here, why in the world...]

Ah...hello there!

[Just. Let him find Eeveemaru - there you are, come here and let him pick you up and just kind of strap this pouch to you like this won't confuse you at all, and now we have twentysomeodd Eevees and one of them's rocking a little uniform jacket and a really fancy backpack and yes.

Hi.]

I'm doing fine - it's been a wonderful night, actually! Yourself?

[...he says, with no change from that usual severe expression he has going on. Yep.]

[gummyfrogs]

[O...kay, you know what, that is a man with an Eevee who looks just like him, um. That's a little creepy, but all right, all right, it's cool, encounter initiated, let's see what's up here.]

Just fine, just fine. Um. You have a lot of Eevees there — are those all yours? And look at this little guy right here, with the little uniform and the...you...thing...going. Are you doing something with all those?

[ardent]

Yes, I'm training them! Mostly for disciplinary purposes, because they have a tendency to swarm people who show up to the house...it's been slow going, but I think it's starting to take!

[When they're not all excited because OUTSIDE and TOWER and OMG GIANT PHOENIXDAD HI THERE PHOENIXDAD, anyway. Bouncebouncebounce.]

[digitalorunknown]

[One of your Eevees seems to be purple.

He detaches from the throng shaking his head woozily, skittering away after one of the rabbit-things makes a daring leap for his tail. For a moment, he just stands there, ears flattened and gaze flicking around, but he soon regains his bearings.

He's practically silent in coming up next to Ishimaru - he comes up to about his knee, and since everything looks different from a shorter perspective, he takes a few seconds to just blink up at him.

...He's happy to see you again, but, uh...you're worrying him.

Dorumon waffles for a moment on the best, least startling way to get his attention and maybe find out if he's hurt or something. He decides to just...boop Ishimaru's leg with his nose and hope for the best.]

[gummyfrogs]

...Right, okay, so does that make you like the Kimono Girls' little, you know, redheaded stepchild Cousin Oliver or something?

[...Look, in his defense, this is Ecruteak City, and those are a lot of Eevees.]

[ardent]

[Well, that gets him to start a little, but it's nothing too bad; just a general sense of wow hello there here I am, and here...something else is and it's a lot of somethings from the look of it, goodness where did the fuzzball legion even come from -

...and then there is something else that is most definitely not a fuzzball, and Ishimaru is not entirely sure what to do with it. So he just sort of braces one of his hands against his thigh and bends down to get a better look (because it's not like this can possibly result in a face full of fire in Johto or something).]

Ah...hello?

[...OKAY LOOK THESE THINGS UNDERSTAND HUMAN SPEECH CLEARLY THIS IS A RATIONAL RESPONSE]

[ardent]

[Well, that actually is a fair defense.]

...No...?

[gummyfrogs]

Okay, well, uh. Why don't you, you know, just do your thing, make your little speech, ask me to bring you a Weedle or a Bellsprout or whatever it is you're programmed to want, and I'll just go get that and we can be on both our ways. That sound cool?

1/3

[ardent]

Programmed...?

[What on earth are you talking about, he's not - ]

[ardent]

[...OHHHHHH, OH. WAITWAITWAIT. Okay. This must be an element of the - oh. Okay, okay we're good.]

[ardent]

[...you are getting the most stilted-sounding laugh in the history of anything, good sir; you can practically hear the effort being put into it, but at least it's...a positive reaction, um...]

No, no! I'm not one of the locals - I just showed up here one day! A lot of us did!

[digitalorunknown]

[Dorumon's eyes go very big for a moment, and he appears to shiver a little, in the way that a small animal would when very energetic. The lack of recognition registers after half a second has passed and Ishimaru doesn't continue on, and he shuffles back an inch, feeling confused and a little hurt - but then he quickly realizes that oh wait yeah of course I look different and perks back up, turning tentatively hopeful eyes up at Ishimaru.]

I-it's me. [He shuffles again from foot to foot, this time more of a neutral fidget. His voice is the same as ever, just coming from a small dragonish thing instead of a human child.] Do you remember...?

[gummyfrogs]

[...oh my god he hasn't heard a laugh that awkward since the last time Parker realized everybody else thought something was funny about five seconds too late.]

...So you're just...up here chillin', then. On top of a building. In the thirty-degree weather.

[ardent]

[The voice takes a moment to register - it's familiar, of course, but Ishimaru has never been good with people, and placing names to voices alone has always been a bit of an exercise, especially if he hasn't heard the voice in question in a while. But he remembers it, and he remembers the odd twitchy body language as well, and there had been a discussion about how someone had previously been some sort of -

Ah.]

Dorumon-kun?!

[ardent]

I like it up here!

[As though that explains everything.]

This place is central to a lot of the mythology of this city, and I come up here sometimes when I'm in town - it's been a little while since I was here last, and I wanted to see it again, that's all!

[gummyfrogs]

There ain't no good reason to be hanging out on rooftops. You know what happens to people who hang out on rooftops? They get — pushed off the damn building and shoved into harnesses and dropped and — cautionary tale, my man, do not hang out on a building.

Take my advice, just round up your little Eevee brigade, head back down the stairs, get your feet on the ground, and go find yourself a nice restaurant or coffee shop or...play place or somethin'.

[digitalorunknown]

[The hesitation makes him worry, but when Ishimaru says his name, Dorumon's ears shoot up and he grins widely. He tamps back the intensity of his happy reaction pretty fast, but he can't quite keep his smile down or his tail from swaying merrily of its own volition. He nods once, enthusiastically, then again to affirm it, backing up a pace so he's not staring up at quite so steep an angle.]

I'm happy to see you again. [His voice is wavering a little, wanting to be louder and more delighted but restrained by habit.] I didn't know I would.

[ardent]

...I think I know what you mean; my sister tried to get me in one of those harnesses once.

[......]

That happens often?

[ardent]

[Ishimaru's volume, in the meantime, is clearly hampered by no such thing.]

It's good to see you again! How have you been - hopefully you've been well! I received your cat!

[ISHIMARU.]

[gummyfrogs]

Whoa, whoa. That's nasty. Don't go around telling people that. I don't care how freaky she is, there are some things other people just do not need to know. That is confidential information on a need-to-know basis, and I did not need to know.

[ardent]

[WHAT]

But you just mentioned it yourself!

[gummyfrogs]

Yeah, but I don't know your sister.

[ardent]

Well, I didn't know her either until recently! She's a really great person, though, when she's not trying to make me jump off of buildings!

[digitalorunknown]

[The response to all that is just a lot of excited nodding - yes, yes, good, wonderful, awesome. He stops, tilts his head a little, then goes "oh!"] Plot? Oh - that's good! I know she'll be fine with you. [But now that that's occurred to him, he has to know. He settles down, smile fading into a curious look.] What about my other Pokemon? [...and into a wide-eyed look of trepidation.] A-and Gora...