smash_logs | Dorm Log

Entry tags:

Dorm Log

Who: All of Smash.
What: Dorm log! Summertime special.
Where: Student and Teacher dorms, and quite possibly beyond campus.
When: Approximately the latter half of July to the earliest of Augusts (25th - 15th)
Warnings: YOU KNOW YOURSELVES

We all know our characters experience downtime after classes and their busy schedules, and this is a good venue for those kinds of miscellaneous dorm-shenanigans to take place. Not only does it give your characters the easy chance to meet new people in a laid-back environment, but it's a good mechanism for strengthening CR. It's easy!

Feel free to begin in any way you please! Plan with (a) fellow player(s) if you'd like! Or, set up a thread and wait for characters to bite! Just add a thread with the room number (and date/time, if it matters) and the characters that reside there (just for reference!). You do not have to use one character's thread as a dual-purpose for both characters if you do not want to. Doesn't have to be a dorm room, either, if you have something else in mind.

And don't forget: things are getting pretty freaky! Shadow bugs are still rife around the school and city, causing all kinds of trouble, but most significantly capable of cloning people and even objects. For the remainder of July, the dimensional lines are a little blurred and causing alternate universe versions of characters to show up. But something ever curiouser has started to show up on campus... Bubbles?

Subspace bubbles? They look kinda like the ones dotting the sky... Dare ye enter?

If you do, you'll find that it... just ends up being a portal to another part of the school. Sometimes they may lead you into some part of town. Weird! Hopefully it doesn't lead you anywhere embarrassing, like in the middle of a stage play or in the bathroom of the opposite sex. That's mortifying.

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7/27: Shadow bugs go wild and clone a bunch of office supplies. Do shadow bugs get bored or something? Beware of that stapler you're about to pick up... It might be a shadow bug clone! They're animate office supplies all around the school. At least it's easy to tell the difference between the real things and the animate ones, because the clones are purple. Unless, of course, your supplies are all purple. Then you're in a bind...er.

Also, they cloned the Kraken fountain and now it's come to life. Hope you brought some slippers.

8/1: You know those hazy purple-black pockets of subspace that keep showing up across the sky? Today, a humongous one swallowed up the sun completely. For almost all of the daylight hours, there will be a full-on solar eclipse. Aww, were you working on that golden tan? Too bad, buddy. You're gonna have to wait until tomorrow.

8/5: A herd of Towtow show up at the school overnight and stop to rest. They'll be there, napping all day with that peaceful look adorned on their faces. How cute! But you wouldn't want to see them angry... Maybe that's why you should be careful not to wake them up.

For reference, here are the rooming arrangements.

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It was dangerous that one of the things Bulba got a big kick out of was getting people flustered. Affectionately so, of course. Rosy cheeks just meant that he was doing something right, so the sight of them just broadened his grin more on his way around.

Of course, the delight he took in such a thing was probably because he was so very easily flustered himself. He couldn't say he was incredibly acquainted with the floral imagery on his back all that well. He'd done his best to take a peek at it after he had evolved, and again when he was trying to scrawl out ideas for his other tattoo. It was, for the most part, kind of a mystery. But between the two tattoos he had, he could recognize a similar style when he saw one. "Ahh, you have six like me," he commented. His face was warming up while he chose not to elaborate on what else was like him. It probably wasn't something to get so happy about but... What had Vinnie said? That tattoos were a reflection of a man's soul? That theirs had manifested so similarly for whatever reason just warmed him from the inside out.

For all their differences, they were a bit more the same than they might have thought. When it looked this pretty, there was no way that could be a bad thing.

Bulba had tentatively been reaching out to touch the soft, rosy colors, but he snatched his fingers back when Char spoke up again. "Could you!" He tittered, bobbing back around to look at him with that excited look all over again. "Your back is gorgeous so I bet the flower itself is even nicer."

"Your back is gorgeous" was not, admittedly, a compliment Char could ever say he'd expected to hear. If it got Bulba's approval, though, then whatever his flower was supposed to be, then it was probably good. After all, the kid had the nicest flower Char could think of. (For whatever Char's opinion on flowers was worth, anyway.)

And really, he had meant it when he'd said he was fine. Confusing though things could get when the school pulled its... whatever it was pulling lately, it was hard to get too worked up about it. A Charizard might have resented the loss of control, but the Venusaur here now didn't see much point in worrying about something that was obviously out of his hands.

Besides, being the same species as Bulba for a while... well, that was kind of lucky, wasn't it? All the frustration and worry about his inability to connect with the "saurs only" side of Bulba's life had been put to rest, but being able to speak his brother's language was something to be excited about. And better this than Charizards, right? The week they'd spent bodyswapped had just been nerve-wracking and uncomfortable for Bulba, so this was all around win/win, right?

Even if Char looked a bit self-conscious as he stepped back and switched to his bigger, squatter saur-self, when he peeked up at Bulba through the tangled fernlike frond hanging over his head, it was with one of those rare flustered, warm smiles on his face and a kind of silly waggle in his rear end -- some things didn't translate quite as well when you didn't have a tail anymore.

"So? Official Bulba Stamp of Approval, or...?"

The way the shiny saur's eyes lit up when they laid eyes on the new Venusaur was probably telling enough. His whole face was breaking out into a sparkling, unconfined smile in response to the warm, flustered one Char was shyly offering him. Gold roamed over every bit of him, fascinated by the way certain things translated from one form to another. The arcs of his leaves seemed more like the wings he was missing, the soft pinks of his petals that were so different from the bold hues that Vinnie sported. The wiggle in his rump, however, was kind of universal. Bulba had been guilty of wiggly rumps himself. He gave a short laugh.

"Oh, yes," he breathed out in a happy rush. Char had achieved so many gold stars that day. Bulba was already giving Char's broader new forehead a gentle pat to reinforce just how many gold stars. He knew his brother had affection limits, but they were probably going to be accidentally forgotten a lot while he was like this. Cuddlesaur was creeping out in full force.

Bulba took a few steps around him to check the rest of him out, lightly skimming his fingers over the new leaves. 'Lovely' and 'beautiful' were not the kind of adjectives that Char probably wanted attached to himself, but Bulba wasn't sure how else to describe it. He felt them sincerely. They weren't words to scoff at in his mind, but that wasn't the case for most fellows. As such, Bulba held his tongue. But Char DID look lovely. It was true that he only had three Venusaurs to compare him to, including himself, but he was sure that Char ranked fairly well.

"Can I... Touch your flower?"

He was standing near it now, looking fervently over at Char's head. It might have been a little hard to tell from his vantage point over there, but Bulba's hand was poised to do just that, and he looked about ready to burst. It was almost like this was an incredibly huge deal and altogether incredibly important moment.

Char, for the record, was a hard-hearted person. He had no use for sentiment. He was tough and aloof. Years and years of being deprived of human comfort had made touch and affection feel like something he wasn't supposed to have. Trust was a slow and tremendously difficult thing for him to offer. He was far too busy being a Strong Independent Dragon Who Didn't Need Anybody. All things that were super true. Distant tough coolguy galore.

Let's just keep that all in mind, and pretend that his little brother's ear-to-ear radiant smile didn't just completely and utterly wrap him around Bulba's finger.

His butt did stop its wiggling, and he glanced back at Bulba, ears shifting nervously. He could see the importance of it written all over Bulba's posture, and that did scare him a little. Not just because of the vulnerability of his flower and the thought that touching it might reveal it as fragile or lacking, but an irrational, deeply-ingrained fear that there was an inherently destructive element to the things at his core -- that somehow, offering it would just hurt Bulba.

But at the same time, those nerves didn't change the answer. Both of them knew that it was a "yes." As painful and fraught with missteps as the years had been, they'd also forged that too-precious link of absolute trust. The kind of fact that normally never went spoken out loud, but burned bright as day on the end of his tail for anyone to see. Tails may not have been part of the equation anymore, but that much was still the same, Char was sure. Slowly, that big heavy head nodded, and he hunkered down, belly to the ground, to make his flower easier to reach.

On the other hand, Bulba was tender-hearted and a monster for affection. It was the most natural thing in the world for him, even if he had to keep it held up inside for quite a while. Despite the fact that he was never supposed to talk about Affection Club, he would still leap at the first sign of being able to touch and care. His eagerness had not dimmed in the slightest over the years.

And yet, for just a moment, a peculiar shyness made him hesitate despite all of his eager wants.

When it came right down to it, this was still new for the shiny Venusaur too. His visits to the Garden hadn't yielded any bonds he thought to share that way. He hadn't been able to reach out to Green's flower at the time he had one. He hadn't even had the same pull from bulba to ivy that wild saurs did. While he had grown used to the warm, steadfast glow of Vinnie's core, it remained the only one he'd truly reached out to.

It was wrong to say that he was scared, but he was... he was something. Something fluttered in his chest. He held his breath as he reached out, ever so carefully pressing his palm against the warm expanse of Char's stem.

His fingers had barely grazed across the surface before he already felt quite silly for that surge of trepidation. This was clearly the most natural thing in the world. Warm life hummed beneath his touch as surely and steadily as a heartbeat, and Bulba couldn't help but smile at how hot and untamed it all felt. If this was how his brother's flame had manifested, it made perfect sense.

The song that reached back out to the fresh flower was bright and welcoming, brimming with a heartfelt gladness for which there were no words. Even without them, for once there was no mistake about what was there.

Back when the two of them had switched bodies, Char had gotten to see how Bulba's soul-flame burned. The tail it burned on might have been borrowed, but the light was unmistakably Bulba's: as warming and constant as a small sun. The kind of lantern-steady beacon Char had once longed for his own flame to be, years before it turned tumultuous and unpredictable... though that much was a little too embarrassing to actually voice.

It'd been out of his reach that week. Even if he could read a soul-flame without ever touching it, that wasn't quite the same as sharing flames would have felt. It was an idea he'd thought about plenty of times, though not one he dared pin too many hopes to. This... this wasn't sharing flames, not exactly. It was something that it would have been hard for him to imagine as a Charizard; the idea of otherness that hung over his perception of saur flowers made it too hard for him to equate two souls melding together with flowers passing along messages from their owners.

Not an accurate perception in the least, it turned out. The song that answered him was unmistakably Bulba -- was everything he imagined Bulba's soul-flame would feel like. It felt like comfort, constancy, and devotion. The soothing rays of sun that a heart as stormy and chaotic as Char's had relied on for years. The unconditional and steady love that a Lonely Pokemon like him wanted so desperately.

This was all new to him, so he wasn't sure how to answer properly. Whether the flower on his back was whispering the things he couldn't or it was there in its perfume or... any of it, really. But a moment like this was infinitely important, because it let Char do something that all his embarrassed, huffy words and clumsy gestures couldn't do. Even if only for a while, he hoped, he could convey exactly what kind of fuel fed his soul.

The regret behind all the years of wasted time -- of punts that a bright-faced Bulbasaur hadn't deserved, insincere hurtful words tossed out in misdirected stupid teenaged angst, of endless fumbled attempts that hurt more than they healed. The gratitude for all the unwavering loyalty his little brother had shown -- forgiveness for every mistake and scathing word, for the potions always left by his door without a word. For waking up after his unwanted evolution and not being alone. For walking home leaning on his brother, in spite of the burns and black eyes Bulba'd suffered. For the worrywart tagalong kid brother who'd been right at his side when he'd been shot. The admiration of a strength far bigger and better than brute force and aggression -- one rooted in patience, not hostility.

And above all: love. The embarrassing overwhelming love a Lonely heart might be capable of, but Char could never begin to articulate with words alone. Tail-wagging, horn-presenting, tail-sharing devotion, in all its hopelessly sappy and uncool depth. If he could get that across to Bulba, even if just for a little bit, then no matter what the medium, it was all completely and utterly worth it.

Truthfully, it was all more than Bulba had anticipated. The plan had been to slowly ease Char into all of it, in case it was all too weird and new for him to feel comfortable with at first. It had only supposed to be a warm, enveloping welcoming from his side, without any expectation of much, if anything, in return.

Char had always run on his instincts though. Where his own thoughts were new and shaky where all of this was concern, his flower was flying forward to make his eager wishes a tangible reality as soon as it was physically able. With the practice of growing up with a flower being an impossibility, there was nothing to bar the flood of emotions that Char so desperately wanted to make known. It was there so plainly in the notes of Char's song, and the strength of his scent, and Bulba was drowning in it.

He had been aware for a while now that the dragon felt fondly for him. He heard it in the whispers of his thriving garden. He'd been told plainly in the whispers from the Charizard's mouth. He loved him, and knowing meant the world to Bulba. What this was was a wave that would never let him forget.

In order to not be overwhelmed, all Bulba could do was meet it in kind, and there was no shortage of feeling in him to be unable to do so.

The regrets, as unclear as they were in feelings, were simply met with thankful gladness. The roughness of their beginnings were undeniable, but time had moved them past it. When everyone else had left and he'd been so afraid of being alone, Char had been the one that remained steadfast by his side. He'd been a light in the long, dark nights. Every fumbled attempt at comfort had never truly been a fumble in his eyes, but things he appreciated for their frankness. Because he'd been there whenever Bulba had needed someone most. For all that he loved him, and loved him deeply, and never dared to actually ask for any in return.

All his younger fears had been from an anxious heart that was too eager to please. Too needy for recognition, and too frightened that'd he'd awake and find no one there while he still had all this love to give. That maybe he just loved too much and wanted too desperately for Char to understand that he was a building block in Bulba's whole world.

That seemed silly now, when it felt like he wasn't possibly loving enough for all this outpouring. Which was also silly, because he sure as heck did. Even if he hadn't planned for the moment to be right now, he had always hoped that someday something like this would happen.

Firey, lonely love was met with all the love of warm sunshine and hope, mingling and intertwining as Bulba reached out to guide it into a harmonious refrain. He lent his scent to help ease Char's flower into a sense of calm and slowly ebb the tide of his emotions before he burned too bright too quickly. Yet even as he led him to quiet, one thought was still so vibrantly clear.

I love you always.

It was, regardless of whatever species he happened to be at the moment, very much in Char's nature to burn too hotly. Extremes and overdoing it were all par for the course when it came to emotional matters. It probably should not have been surprising that his flower would be exactly the same. Self-restraint never had been Char's forte, let alone when it came to a plant side that he hadn't learned to control yet.

It was okay, though, because Bulba was there. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd been a soothing, stabilizing presence for Char, even if the method was a new one this time around. His scent was familiar and comforting, and even if this was the first time he'd really heard Bulba's song, the notes all held a feeling of belonging and security that Char knew very well. He had perhaps made the same mistake Bulba had in the past -- thinking he couldn't dare ask anything in return -- but in this case, he didn't need to be the independent all-capable Big Brother. He took the help gladly, letting Bulba ease him back to a more serene song.

On his part, the decrescendo was equal parts sheepishness and fatigue. A flower unused to speaking was bound to chew up a lot of juice making its first words so loud and earnest. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though. He didn't regret being able to say what he wanted so badly to say, and even if his delivery might have been a little embarrassing in its eagerness, that embarrassing eagerness was very much a part of that all-important emotion.

And if it gave him this...? Then he was all the more glad for it. Different as they were and insecure as Char was, it was easy for him to doubt his ability to be in step with his little brother. This little moment of peacefulness, with both their songs blending harmoniously, was valuable beyond words to him.

As best as this bulkier form would allow, Char shifted, craning his head to nudge Bulba with his broad head. A little awkward and clumsy of a gesture, but an invitation for closeness nonetheless.

One that would be happily accepted, though he had to admit he was slightly reluctant to draw back from the connection between the two of them now that they had it. But there scents were still mingling, and the warmth of a broad side in the afternoon was very tempting.

Bulba slowly eased his hand away from Char's flower, taking care to make sure it was not a jarring departure for him. It did not take long for his fingers to find their way just around Char's new ear, rubbing the warty skin affectionately as Bulba cozied up against his leg without even a second thought. Ideally he would have gone saur himself to nuzzle him proper, but two huge flower dinosaurs and a giant spider would have been pushing it too much for most rooms.

This would do just fine. He curled up a bit, resting his head against him with a lazy, content hum. Ears were a bit far now, but he could still comfortably scratch Char's neck so that's what he went with. Knowing that the warmth in his breast was a mutual one, he didn't even think to say anything. For the moment, things were perfectly fine just like this.

The fading did leave a vague sense of longing in its wake, but Char's wasn't a flower that could sing like that for long. The touch that followed it made up for it, too -- though any kind of closeness was a little scary for Char, he understood skin much better than stem. His ear flickered nervously when Bulba's hand advanced, despite the knowledge that it was not actually a horn, but Char didn't move away. Bulba was allowed there, also despite the knowledge that it was not actually a horn. It was a little surprising how nice it felt.

There was, he'd admit, one thing he kind of missed these days: he felt nothing but pride that Bulba had grown up so tall and strong, but the big brother in him did miss the days when Bulba had been small enough for piggybacks and excited requests to be pushed on the swings. This was one instance where he was okay with Venusaurs being bigger than Charizards -- it meant Bulba was small enough to fit in his arms once again.

His solid, treetrunk-esque leg shifted out from under Bulba, pulling him under his arm instead. With a low rumble of self-satisfaction, he nuzzled his cheek against his brother, looking more like a ridiculous bulldog with a teddy bear than anything.

"Seein' why I'm so okay with this Venusaur thing?" He murmured, laughter in his voice.

Bulba might have made a little yelp of a sound when Char's leg suddenly moved. It was totally dignified and becoming of a fully evolved pokemon, and not at all kind of a squeak. His surprise was quickly replaced with a happy whine as he found himself in the perfect position for extreme cozying, and Bulba was a professional cozier.

That had always been the bittersweet trade off of his evolution, and really one of the only regrets he had about it. Cuddling had always been easier and a bit more acceptable when he was a fraction of the size he was now. It was easy to worm under arms and wings or crawl into laps. He could curl up at the ends of beds and not be a bother, or sit besides chairs and couches and be in the perfect spot for a wandering hand to pet. He was easier to hug and actually possible to hold. Now he was just huge and heavy, and even if it was okay to ask for cuddles it just seemed like too much of a chore. Just because he was big and strong didn't mean he didn't want to be held anymore. He could still miss being small.

So this? Bulba was very okay with this. He curved into the bend of Char's arm with ease, enthusiastically meeting Char's nuzzling with his own.

"You have an excellent point," Bulba giggled, "but I'm also terribly biased."

"Tell you what. You can try bein' a Charizard sometime, and we'll see if the bias holds up." Not really something he was expecting to schedule in anytime soon, but nothing was hurt by joking about it. Sure beat the thought of them both becoming Blastoises, as far as he was concerned (but that particular water bias was neither here nor there).

If he got asked about it down the line, of course, Char'd maintain that all his happiness about this particular set of events was all for Bulba's sake. It let him speak on his brother's level. It let Bulba be around one more Venusaur. It obviously made Bulba happy. The sappiness and softness, of course, was also an indulgence for his little brother, such as they were. Char's broad nose wormed its way over to Bulba's hair, snuffling against the soft gold.

"...Hey, weird-ass question, but... how do I smell?" Definitely a weird-ass question. But your own scent was a hard thing to pick out, and Bulba's familiar perfume reminded him. It was a little weird to consider -- Char's experience with saur flowers wasn't all that broad, by any means, but he'd concluded that for the most part, they stank. They were too sweet, too obnoxiously potent and heady and perfumey. The only flower that smelled good, as far as he was concerned, was the one next to him. Hoping that his scent was at all like Bulba's was probably a little bit too embarrassing, but... well, no, nevermind. Definitely too embarrassing.

He knew- or at least he thought- that being so happy about this shift in being was pretty selfish on his part. Probably he could have stood to be less enthused, but it was hard not to be. Besides, Char really didn't seem all that miffed so... It was probably alright, to be a bit greedy and enjoy it while it lasted. It was just. Really nice. They'd bridged a long present gap and stood on the same ground for once.

He couldn't say he hadn't thought about what being a Charizard all on his own might have felt like. He had an idea, of course, courtesy of his swap with his brother, but he knew full well that was different. Ir would be kind of nice to stand on that ground too, and give Char something to indulge in. Though with his luck, he'd probably turn into a Slugma or something.

Though this was pretty lucky...

Snufflings and all. Bulba laughed at the affectionate assault, squirming a bit more against him as if he were trying to get away, but there was obviously no point in that. "It's not that weird a question," he laughed again. Well, it was definitely kind of a weird one to answer, but Bulba didn't think the question itself was all that odd. Whether or not Char smelled like Bulba wasn't something he could really pinpoint. They were probably similar to each other to any undiscerning nose in the same way that most roses smelled like roses and most lilacs smelled like lilacs. Venusaur flowers smelled like Venusaur flowers. But to Bulba, he smelled like himself. Vinnie smelled like Vinnie.

Char... both did and didn't smell like Char. "It's a subtle kind of sweet," Bulba murmured as he tried to explain. "Kind of... There's a kind of spice too it, kind of like a cinnamon candy but not that sugary. Or a sweet, smokey wood, almost. It's kind of like you but kind of... not." Bulba drew in a deep breath trying to discern more of its subtleties. "It's hard to describe. I like it."

"... I like it when you smell like smoke more though."

Quiet though the last part had been, it still stood out like a neon sign to Char. It'd taken a long time for him to trust that his brother could love him as he was, even in the face of all his myriad flaws and insecurities. He'd grown comfortable with it, though. He didn't necessarily need the reassurance anymore.

But that didn't make hearing that kind of thing any less nice. He had to turn away for a second, not out of shame or hurt, but because the smile it brought was too embarrassingly earnest for him to bare showing off.

"Jeez, kid," Char mumbled. "The planets align just right to give you a Venusaur for a brother, and you still like the dragon smell better? I think between the two of us, we must have more'n a few wires crossed."

There had been the briefest pang of worry when Char initially looked away. Yet it was quickly and overwhelmingly swept aside by a burst of delighted laughter.

"Maybe. I could just have great taste." All of his favorite smells were attached to really cool dudes, after all. Bulba turned his head to playfully nuzzle his nose against Char's throat, rubbing in some if his scent, "You make a wonderful Venusaur so far, you're just even better in your usual element."

It was smoke and firelight that he would fall asleep to after all, not cinnamon flowers.

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Dorm Log

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