smash_logs | herei come snep run over your pokmens

Entry tags:

herei come snep run over your pokmens

Who: Kieran, Captain Falcon, the medbay squad, and YOU
What: Some idiot deer gets hit by a car and proceeds to moron it up all over the joint.
Where: Directly outside the school, then in the infirmary, then EVERYWHERE
When: Thursday, March 8
Warnings: Deer Xing

What was this place?

Kieran had never before left the comforting embrace of the forest. To see the trees entirely absent, replaced by these strange, perfectly rectangular... caves? It was... disquieting. The paths were full of those peculiar two-legged creatures, casting him odd stares and jostling against him as they hurried to wherever their destination was. It was so different from the forest in every single way... a part of Kieran couldn't help but wonder if someone he had wandered right out of the mortal realm entirely. It was starting to make him nervous; he felt oddly exposed without the cover of the trees all around him.

He... he needed to get out of here. Wherever this was, he wasn't ready for it. He pushed his way out of the crowded sidewalk, bounded out into the road. His hooves scrabbled for purchase on the oddly smooth surface, but if there was one thing Kieran could do, it was run.

[OOC: I am setting aside a thread for WHUMP, CARFACE and also one for the infirmary. For the rest of the log, Kieran will be exploring this wondrous magical place called the school. Feel free to post your character anywhere -- cafeteria, dorms, in the shower -- and Kieran will just... butt on in to say hello.]

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[Well, that was good enough for Vinnie. He let go of the deer and crouched beside him, just to make sure the guy wasn't too injured to stand. At least this kid was polite - skittish, naive and inexperienced, sure, but he knew his manners.

The Venusaur gave him an encouraging pat on the back: all was forgiven. But maybe there was something he should clear up, first.]

Hey, I'm just as mortal as you. I help take care've this place, that's all.

You're fine. Get on up.

A mortal with power to conquer winter... this place is absolutely unlike anything in the forest!

[Oh, thank goodness, all is forgiven. Up he goes, and now that the crisis is past, he... dipped his head down and took a tentative sniff. Hmm, nope. Okay, a little higher... hm, no, still not quite it. Finally, he goes sticking that big deer nose in Vinnie's face.]

...I thought so. It's coming from you.

That's not me either. Think've it like...

[Hmm, that wasn't quite right either. Vinnie scratched his stubble, trying to piece together an explanation for him.]

Hm. When this sacred ground was made, it was built so that it could keep itself warm. There are plants in here from tons've different worlds, an' some've them have never known seasons, so they have t'be kept safe from the snow.

The guardian of this grove had t'go home for a bit though, so she asked me t'look after it. I don't actually do any winter-conquering.

[Oh, hello deer nose. Vinnie, despite being in human form, nuzzled back with his cheek, imparting a faint impression of his scent onto the deer.]

The smell's me, though. I'm a Venusaur.

Oh, I understand!

[Not a god, but still a guardian. Amazing to think there are plants that go their whole lives without feeling the seasons! What must life be like for the Sawsbucks in a place like that? He can hardly imagine!

More importantly, the guardian is another kindred spirit! Maybe the forest's whispers are far away, and maybe he can't go back to his herd, but he is not alone. That nostalgic scent is proof enough in and of itself. ...That's a powerful, warming thought, isn't it?]

I never would have guessed you are a Venusaur, though! I know very little of them compared to what I know of Sawsbucks, but if it weren't for your smell, I doubt I could guess you're a fellow child of the forest. Is it normal for everyone here to use the shapeshifting magic all the time?

[Vinnie chuckled at the young stag's enthusiasm. 'Child of the forest,' huh - it'd been a very, very long time since he'd heard that term. Not since he was a child himself, really, and even then it was sparse. His Garden wasn't usually so formal all the time.]

That's fair, I don't know anything 'bout Sawsbucks.

Practically everyone shapeshifts 'round here though. It's just useful for blendin' in and movin' about. Have you learned how, yet?

[Oh, he couldn't help but be eager to show off. Changing forms was nothing new for Sawsbucks and Deerling, of course, but to change voluntarily, and become something so drastically different? This was supposed to be something only the gods remembered how to do. So: poof. Not-so-majestic stag becomes not-so-majestic dude.]

I only just learned how to! It's strange to only use half your feet for walking, but unfamiliar doesn't mean unwelcome. If the gods let me stay here, then there'll be plenty of time to learn. I don't think I could come up with a better way to spend my journey year.

[Huh, he was tall. Must've came with the miles of legs these deer had. But young or not, he was still a fully evolved Pokemon, and by that right, it meant he was no longer a child. Eventually, that naivety would have to go too.]

Yeah, that took some getting used to. You can learn a lot from this place - but it'll hurt you too, if you're not careful. I'm pretty sure you're al'right for staying, though. I mean, they let pretty much everyone stay, good and bad.

You got a name?

Oh, that's a lesson I've already learned. This place's guard was very unhappy with my trespassing. [And it had a dent in the hood to prove it.] But there's danger in all things, I guess! Every forest has its wolves.

[JON.]

Kieran is my name. Have you got one, Venusaur?

[He had no idea what Kieran could be referring to as the school's guard - could've been anything considering this kid. Vinnie dusted himself off. There was broken glass everywhere, and that was priority number one before anyone else could get hurt.

He reached for a nearby broom as he continued to speak.]

Wolves're one thing. You always know why a wolf wants t'hurt you, and that's cuz he's hungry. Lot've things in the world just take understandin'. But sometimes there's, uh... a wild magic that takes over this land, and not even the gods can control it half the time. That's what you gotta watch out for.

Call me Vinnie.

[Forces beyond even the control of the gods? Kieran never would have supposed that was possible. Then... is there something above gods? Where does the magic come from? This is something to ruminate over. Less than a day in this place, and everything he supposed about the world has been turned on its ear. What a very perfect test of the adaptability his kind preach!]

Vinnie it is, then. There's no reason to worry. Whatever happens, our roots stay planted.

[What is broom for? Heck if deerp knows. Let's study this turn of events very intently.]

What is that thing for?

[Roots, huh? Vinnie liked that. It felt like something the monks would've said. He smiled a little, warmed by this association.]

Yeah. An' we look out for each other.

[Seemed like he was already eager to learn, huh.]

This thing's a broom. It's used for sweeping debris, like this. [Vinnie bent down and picked up one of the larger shards of glass, holding it up so that the light glinted off its edges.]

When you break invisible walls, they leave behind pieces. Sharp, too, kinda like Razor Leaves. Since they're hard t'see, they're dangerous t'leave lyin' around.

[Kieran leaned in, nose coming alarmingly close to the shard Vinnie held up. Huh, not even a hint of scent! Can't smell it, can hardly see it, it's made of cutting edges... these invisible walls sure are dangerous.

He straightened up, a faint little frown hovering on his face, then held out both of his hands.]

Maybe we do look out for each other, but it was me who broke the wall. Let me clean it.

[Vinnie was a little hesitant, but... Kieran was just so earnest. He couldn't say no to anyone who wanted to help out in the greenhouse.]

Why don't I show you how t'use it first. You put one hand here, near the top've the handle, and another over here. Then use the bushy end t'move shit on the ground.

[Here is a demonstration: sweep, sweep, sweep.]

Got it?

[Just like a Bellossom dancing. Seems simple enough! Kieran nodded, then took the broom from Vinnie. His grip was, admittedly, distinctly clumsy; he'd only had fingers for a matter of hours, after all, but at least a basic five-finger grip isn't something that requires a whole lot of dexterity. Okay, yeah, he can do this. With a look of ~~INTENSE FOCUS~~ vague distraction, sure, but he can do this.]

Vinnie... you said you don't know much about Sawsbucks. Do you mind if I tell you a little about them?

[Vinnie believes in you, bro. He watched the Sawsbuck's progress with interest - both in seeing how quickly he could learn, and to make sure he didn't knock over anything.]

Go for it. I'd love t'learn 'bout your pods.

It must be different for Pokemon who evolve twice, but we only have one evolution separating a child from an adult. Our entire lives are spent in a constant state of change, but this is a very abrupt one. Up until maybe... a month ago...? Up until then, I was like a Bulbasaur.

[He kept his head down as he explained; not because it's a particularly hard topic to deal with -- that's simply the natural course of life -- but because he was trying really hard to not be the clumsiest ever at sweeping.]

The hinds are the spine of the herd; they stay once they evolve. For the harts, there's a tradition to help us cope with the change. For a full cycle of seasons, we set out alone to gather up experiences. We find out what the world is, we settle into becoming the stag the forest wants us to be, and we give the gift of everything we've learned to our herd.

[Vinnie listened intently, quietly drawing parallels to the nature of Saurian pods as he knew them. Of course, those memories were tied to bitter and conflicted feelings - considering how few of them were left in the wild, there were times that it felt like his responsibility to return to the Garden for good. Like this journey with Red was the equivalent of a Sawsbuck's rite of adulthood.

But it wasn't the time to weigh himself down with such thoughts. Foremost, Vinnie still wanted to know more.]

How big do your herds get? Are there a lot of Sawsbuck in Unova?

[He paused for a second.] ...Are you gonna be able t'find your way back t'your herd, once your year's up?

My herd is pretty big! Only as big as the forest needs, of course... the wolves make sure of that. I don't think I can answer your second question, though. Where is Unova?

[There! A neat little pile of glass shards. Well... a kind of neat... sort-of-pile of shards, anyway. Kieran finally looked up from his task, meeting Vinnie's eyes with a tiny little satisfied smile.]

I don't know the answer to the third question, either. The forest is a big place, and we migrate every season. Some of the Sawsbucks who set out never come back. If that's where I need to be, though, then I believe I'll come back to them. I evolved in winter, after all.

[Ah, if only Vinnie could have your endless optimism. He smiled back despite himself - it must've been nice to have such a simple, but pure understanding of the world. The needs of the forest, and all.]

Must've been not too long ago, then.

What's the difference between Sawsbuck that evolve in all've the seasons?

Edited 2012-03-10 11:21 (UTC)

Oh, I guess that isn't something a Venusaur would know about, is it?

[With his task completed, he was paying keen attention to Vinnie now. This one, after all, had a keen understanding about this world. Probably had a keen understanding of a lot of things, really. Just a thought to keep in the back of his mind.]

It's a little difficult to explain, and in fact a lot of it is sacred to us! I guess I can say this, though: rut happens in autumn, so almost all Deerling are born in spring. The season that we evolve in is one of the most life-shaping parts of us. Honestly, my mother was very surprised that I was a winter one. It's a pretty poor fit for me!

...Oh, hey, what season was it when you evolved?

If you're talking 'bout evolvin' to Venusaur, that'd definitely be winter.

[Though Vinnie had to supplement this with a chuckle and another explanation:] But that was when I lived in a place with practically nothin' but snow all year 'round. Spring an' summer goes by in a handful of days on the summit, and even then it never stops bein' cold.

I guess we have somethin' in common, then. What's it mean?

[It seemed as though the Sawsbuck were even more in tune with the cycle of the earth simply by nature of their connection to the seasons. For a Grass Type that was eternally in bloom, the idea was both fascinating and staggering at the same time. After all, Saurians took their power from surpassing the seasons in overgrowth, rather than bending to the flow. This was so elegant in its harmony.]

[Kieran looks positively delighted by this discovery. By which, of course, I mean, he keeps up that polite little smile.]

I thought so! You seem almost perfectly winter-hearted to me. It certainly fits, if you could endure a climate like that.

[Maybe he ought to tread lightly? The concept of secrecy is not one that an open book like Kieran is really prepared to handle, especially if it's for a fellow forest child. Having grown up in the bosom of his herd, he's never needed to keep it secret, but this is something very important to his kind, and surely he ought to honor that? Kieran's brow furrowed ever-so-slightly in confusion.]

I'm not sure I can tell you everything, but I don't think it could hurt to tell you what you probably already know. Winter's a hard time. A lot of the Sawsbucks who set out on their own in winter don't survive it.

A Sawsbuck who evolves in winter will come to understand some pretty painful things! All the isolation and hunger, the helpless suspension of life -- we'll know these things better than any other season. But enduring those things builds us up, too. We are the roots that hold the tree up. The steadfast, the dependable, the sentinels.

I guess you can tell why I don't seem very wintery at all, but I can see it in you, Guardian of the Sacred Grove.

[Well, that was a whole number of things that Vinnie was not expecting. He blinked, visibly taken aback by a title that should've belonged to someone more like his father than to him, and a description that hit a little too close to home for all his struggles and self-placed expectations. The Venusaur was too stunned to try and correct him. It was too uncanny to simply be coincidence - this was the coming of age ritual of wild Sawsbuck, but Vinnie was certainly no deer. Technically he wasn't a wild Pokemon either, and hadn't been for some time, even if he kept the forest imprinted upon his heart.

'Almost perfectly winter-hearted'... and yet Kieran had barely known him for half an hour. It felt like bucket of indirect praise had just been thrown at him, and the Venusaur didn't know what to do with it.]

Uh... thank you.

Look, um. I don't think you have t'worry 'bout not being wintery yet. No one starts off on a journey already a sentinel. That just takes livin'.

There's no need to thank me. It's just nature, isn't it?

[Kieran kept smiling away in that vague little way of his. Yep. Definitely still paying attention. Though he was... kind of starting to gravitate over toward those Cheri berries now.]

Yes, that's very true! If I'm supposed to be winter-hearted, then it's inevitable that I'm going to change. It's a lot of pressure, though, don't you think? A year feels like a very short time for a sapling to become a tree strong enough to carry the herd!

Then, thank you for tellin' me 'bout your herd. If that stuff's secret, then I don't wanna drill you t'learn more... but I'd like to.

[Vinnie's mustered a smile, though it was a bittersweet one.] Been a long time since I've met anyone with as much tradition as your kind. Most Bulbasaurs today're born outside the forest. They never end up knowin' our Gardens.

Focus on bein' strong enough to carry yourself, first. As strong as a tree gets, the strength've a forest is always in its numbers.

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