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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

You seem wise, Vinnie. I think if I did ever say more, it might just be even more things that you've already known for a long time. My herd takes its duty to honour the forest very seriously, but I sometimes wonder if we aren't just guarding a bunch of universal truths!

[Oh. How did that Cheri berry end up in his mouth? That delicious, delicious Cheri berry, which he normally would never be able to taste for another like three or four months when they came into season. After the long, lean months of dried-up grass and juniper, it's hard to resist that temptation.]

Being born outside the forest, though? I find that shocking, to be perfectly truthful! It sounds a little like trying to grow a meadow without any soil to put it in!

[Ha ha. When was the last time anyone ever told him he sounded wise. Oh god it confused him. It felt like th-- wait, was Kieran eating a Cheri Berry?]

Hey. I know you're probably hungry, but there're still rules in here. You're not allowed t'pick the Berries of any tree you didn't plant yourself.

If you want some, I can share some've mine. But this one belongs t'someone else.

[Going over to one of his own groves, he plucked a fruit and offered it to Kieran. Cheri Berries had always been one of Vinnie's least favourite ones to eat, but he still kept them growing for Sasha's sake, and for their curative abilities.]

[Kieran looks down at the offered berry, expression slowly melting to something puzzled and maybe a little upset. He's thinking very hard about what he was just told.]

These plants... are owned by someone?

[This is not a concept he is familiar with. Back home, the forest is mother to them all; each takes what's necessary, because it's a mother's selfless nature to offer her milk to all her children. The idea that a plant can be property -- that it will eagerly bear fruit that will only reach one mouth -- seems... against the will of the forest to him, honestly. Taking away the freedom inherent in nature.]

[Vinnie sighed, sensing the discomfort such an idea was giving the wild Pokemon. As a Bulbasaur, he would've felt similarly - but some less than gentle lessons had already taught him the way of things in the land of man a long time ago. It was all he could really do to explain, and hope Kieran understood.]

Things're different, once you're outside the land of true forest. The people who live here don't see the plants as their, uh, mother. [Which was a little embarrassing to say knowing that Celebi herself was on campus.] They're more like children.

People plant a seed and nurture it themselves, rather than leavin' growth to the Cycle. In return for that care, they receive the fruit.

It might seem wrong, but this is what most've'em do. It's how they wanna protect'em.

Edited 2012-03-12 13:17 (UTC)

I'm not at all sure how to feel about that, Vinnie!

[While it's definitely a nice thing to want to nurture the plants, the Cycle itself is a Very Big Deal for creatures like Sawsbuck. Captivity and ownership would be difficult enough concepts as is without the addition of overriding nature's will. Reluctantly, he takes the Cheri berry, though he still doesn't look too convinced.]

Thank you for the gift. If that's the law of this place, then I'll touch nothing else in the Sacred Grove.

There's a lot these people do that're backwards. You don't have t'like it - I mean, I sure has hell don't like a lot've it - but y'gotta understand that they don't see things the same as us. An' we're in their land, so...

[For lack of anything else he could offer, Vinnie shrugged. He'd been among humans for too long to truly see nature as an all-powerful will anymore. Certainly, the forest and the cycle remained incredibly important to him, but he'd seen how easily the will of selfish, destructive humans could overtake his home. The green that remained on this earth, it seemed, only remained by the grace of humankind. It could just as easily be taken away.

This whole reminder of his wild days was beginning to instill a bitter nostalgia in the Venusaur. A sadness was beginning to show on his face.]

You're always welcome in here, though. It's... pretty nice havin' someone born of the forest around.

I've missed it.

[He definitely intends to yield to the rules of the gods -- he wouldn't be much of a Sawsbuck if he couldn't adapt, would he? But then again, Kieran couldn't help wondering if this was something where the right thing to do is refuse to change? A funny conundrum. One more thing to solve over his journey year.

He takes his time with this Cheri berry, trying balance making it last and not dripping that delicious juice all over the place. It was easier to think with something to eat, and Vinnie had given him plenty to think about.]

Why not go back? If I can cross from the forest to this realm, then it should work the other way around, shouldn't it?

[It was a thought that had certainly crossed the Venusaur's mind in his darker moments, but not one he contemplated seriously ever since his return. He had responsibilities in his Garden, yes, but nothing at the moment so dire that he could pull himself from his team. As much as Kieran may have believed him to be winter-hearted, he still wasn't convinced that he was ready to be that sentinel just yet.]

If there's one thing 'bout Venusaurs, it's that when we got something we care for, we don't leave easy. We don't migrate like your guys do either. I got a Garden t'go back to, yeah, but there's people here that're important t'me.

Family. Debts... and friends. [He mustered up a smile for the Sawsbuck.] I hope y'don't mind me thinkin' of you as a friend, too.

[His herd's here and the forest is over there? Somehow, the two concepts had always been mutually inclusive for Kieran. He had to respect Vinnie for being able to keep the two in balance; that had to be a sterling example of the flexibility Sawsbucks prized, after all.]

I'd be glad to call you friend. It's just as much comfort for me to know I'm not the only child of the forest here.

[Brace yourself, Vinnie. You've had deerface sniffing you out already, now it's time for the inverse: Kieran leans in and abruptly nuzzles Vinnie. Okay, scent glands don't transfer to well to a human form, but it's a gesture he's done often enough that it's just second nature.]

[Hello nuzzles! Now, Vinnie wasn't so humanized that he thought this was a strange act - and in fact, he even nuzzled back a little himself. Regardless of whether they wore their Pokemon forms, they were still Pokemon, after all. Kieran could borrow some of l'eau de Venusaur on top of his own cedar scent until his flowers came in. Vinnie had plenty to spare.]

If y'ever need help with anything, lemme know. Just cuz you set out alone doesn't mean you gotta stay that way.

[And now they are both a lovely mix of cedar and floralplosion. This might actually smell kind of weird, depending on how Venuflowers are meant to smell.]

You've already been a great help to me! Maybe there is one more thing you could do for me, though.

[Who knows, it's an eternal mystery. A mystery of smells.

Vinnie nodded, willing to hear out Kieran's request.]

What's that?

Don't look so sad when we speak of the forest! A mother doesn't mind waiting for her children.

[Ah. That was unexpected. Vinnie chuckled, doing the best he could to keep his sadness at bay for Kieran. If anything he was smiling for the Sawsbuck's endearing earnestness, rather than actual thoughts of home. But it was something, at least.]

It doesn't change the fact that I miss her though. And I worry 'bout her health.

...But I'll try.

Endure a little longer, sentinel. Nothing's more resilient than the forest! She'll still be there.

[Or so he believed, anyway. Why should someone who's never left the heart of the forest think otherwise, right?]

[Why indeed. Vinnie hoped Kieran would never have to learn otherwise. At the very least, he didn't want to be the one to shatter that illusion right now.]

Some things can be strong an' fragile at the same time... But yeah.

Thanks.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

herei come snep run over your pokmens

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