ohmyarceus | JUNE - JULY TEST DRIVE MEME

Action | Violet City, Ruins of Alph

"Hey! Get back here!" The shopkeeper of a Violet City Pokémart barges out the door of the store, but he's too late to catch up with the flash of feathers that is a Braviary disappearing into the sky with a teen holding on - a teen who dropped a couple antidotes in her haste. Her goal is to disappear into the ruins to the west and meet her contact for the handoff, and splitting her ride time from Braviary to Scolipede gets her there by evening.

Ducking into the remains of an ancient building, she finally lets herself relax. "Good job, girl," she says, rubbing the bug's face down affectionately. They both sit, Scolipede curling herself up on the floor and the girl leaning against a stone wall, and she pulls out her Braviary's ball to release him.

"I won't push you guys so hard next time," she says, digging around her bag for a pouch of jerky that she splits between the two as the eagle nests down. "You did a great job."

Once the two have settled down to rest and munch their snacks, she slips out, backpack over her shoulder with one strap. "What was it, two buildings south and then west?" She checks her Pokédex to make sure she's going the right way, and luckily there's a flickering light visible from the door. The girl trots over to it and pulls down her bag to dig through and steps inside without looking away.

"Good, you're here, I was worried I'd be late."

Action | Pokéathelon Dome*
It's much easier to see the bulky Nidoking out in the courtyard of the Pokéathelon Dome than the trainer with him, but once spotted she's hard to miss. She has on red jeans and a leather jacket with a stylized Arbok on the back, her hair has bright orange and yellow dye, and she has what looks like gold embedded in her face. On her left cheek there's what looks like a large burn, black instead of red.

"Okay, Abbadon, you've got this!" The girl is grinning, tossing a Pokéball between her hands; it seems like she's got a lot of restless energy. "Remember what we practiced? Down, and up!" They mirror a move, both crouching some and then driving their shoulders up and forward. The Nidoking - Abbadon - makes a deep rumble in his chest, sounding almost like a laugh. "We'll get an aprijuce later, yeah? Come on." She recalls the Pokémon, mostly so it's easier to get in the door, and trots into the dome.

It seems like there's a small crowd at the signups for Ring Drop, and she lets Abbadon back out now that he has more space. "Looks like a good amount of competition... I think we can still get in today, though." She takes her place at the back of what is probably a line, sharing a look with the person next to her. "Good luck, yeah? Who are you entering?"

[*does the pokeathelon exist here? i didn't see it but also it's in johto and it's a deece place for a sample at least]

I.) Network Post ; Text
Hey,

I have a question about taking care of my pokemon partner. They’re one of those inorganic types; they don’t need food or water. Is there anything more I should be doing to take care of them? Software Upgrades? Floppy disks for chew toys? Proper grooming?

My partner is a porygon, by the way. I want to make sure they’re comfortable.

I’m a rookie to this training business. Any tips would be appreciated.

-- N. Jayden

II.) Action Post ; Violet City

[A routine trip to the market for a supply stock-up turns out to be a much longer errand when your sinuses are turning against you. Norman is eyeing on a few items in preparation for the day, all of them being allergy medicine.]

[He mumbles under his breath:] …Where’s the non-drowsy stu—

[ACHOO!]
[ACHOO!]
[ACHOO!]
[ACHOO!]
[He cups a hand over his face, the other hand padding around his pockets for a tissue.] Shit! These damn allergies are killing me.

my partner is a porygon also and one of the things cephalon seems to enjoy is when i find novel software for them to play with; letting them hop into a computer and explore a new game or crack an encrypted file, things like that

idk how synthetic ones function really but varied enrichment has helped them be less fussy. they got bored and scrambled my boss's computer a while back

is yours behaving oddly?

Edited 2019-06-05 19:53 (UTC)

There's a 4-inch yellow spider on the shelves holding up a box of non-drowsy allergy medicine helpfully.]

Charlotte? C'mon Charlie, where are you?

[The box drops as the Joltik suddenly looks around for the voice, chirping as she does so. The kid who comes to fetch her picks her up, letting her scurry up onto his shoulder.]

There you are. Sorry, she wasn't bothering you or anything, right?

"Oh, thank you! You too."

Said next person in line is a chipper young girl in athletic gear- not quite HOLDING, but sticking close to a Forretress that's pretty obviously hers.

"Joanagold here."

She gives the Forretress a little pat.

"We've been training a lot, and I thought this might be fun to at least try."

"Oh, this one is gonna be hard to beat." If the Pokémon doesn't object, she reaches out to give them a small pet too. "A critter that rolls can't be knocked over."

She straightens up and holds out her hand to shake. "Kyra. This is Abbadon." She gestures to the Nidoking with her using her other hand.

text

Hello. Is this posting to the right place? The person who said her name was Mom didn't explain to me, but the Grandma with all her cats said this is how you can send messages to people who forget to come home and visit. I'm not on the computer or the internet much outside of school, so I'm sorry if I'm getting this wrong.

Are there other people who woke up here but aren't from here? If you know anyone like that, may I speak with them?

Thank you very much.

That's pretty much everyone on this network, I think. Including me.

Is everything okay?

Really? I didn't get that from what they were saying. There's a bunch of us then? All here in the Pokemon world?

[ Which really she knows peripherally since Pokemon and the 90's in Japan, but hadn't played herself. On the one hand... it's probably not as deadly as the spirit world?

Probably? Ugh, she doesn't know what's going on... ]

Sorry, I mean I'm okay. Confused but okay?

Edited 2019-07-06 21:12 (UTC)

There sure seems to be! I haven't been here for very long - just about a month now, I think.

Confused but okay is a good place to start! Confusion's usually pretty easy to fix, anyway. You got questions? If I can't answer them it won't be long before someone else comes along who can.

I guess I don't really get what we're supposed to be doing?

Well, I think you can do whatever you want. But if you need something specific to do, take the Pokemon you were given and go on an adventure with it.

I. [Text] Viridian Library
Hi. I'm at the Library in Viridian City, looking for a good, compelling mystery to grab my attention for a while. Any recommendations on where to start? Authors and specific titles both welcome. Thanks in advance. - Winston Z.

II. [Action] Cherrygrove Spa
[As tempting as a deep-tissue massage may sound to him at the moment, Winston's not here for himself. He's standing off to the side of one of the below-ground mud pools, arms crossed, looking down fondly at the little mudbray eagerly mucking about.]

Glad to see you're enjoying yourself, little buddy.

[His mudbray decides to respond to this sentiment by jumping out of the pool and shaking herself from head to tail like a dog that's come indoors after a rainy day, flinging mud all around the place. Winston, being right next to her, is unfortunate enough to catch the brunt of it. Once she's done, she lets loose a mocking bray at him before cheerfully jumping back inside the mud like nothing happened.]

[Admittedly, it doesn't phase Winston much to get hit by the gunk- living with Slimer's given him some tolerance for this sort of thing. He just sighs and accepts that he'll need to give these clothes a more thorough washing afterwards.]

[No, he's much more concerned about the other spa attendees unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire.] ...sorry about the mess. [He says, giving a meek, apologetic smile to the other non-mudbathing guests in the area.]

III. [Video] Ecruteak City
[The network stream starts off with Winston by himself, casually sitting on the stairway outside of the Burned Tower. He's got the sort of subtle smirk on his face like he's just thought of a joke, and is desperately attempting to keep a straight face while he's setting it up.]

So- as a ghostbuster, I figured this city'd be well worth my time to check out... From what I've gathered, it's garnered something of a reputation- been host to its fair share of hauntings and all that. Should be easy to find spirits here... Pfft-

...and wouldn't you know it, I'm seeing a whole lot of murders-

[He swings the camera around to show the rows upon rows of murkrow eerily perched upon the rooftops of every building, like a scene straight out of The Birds.]

-so a ghost shouldn't be too far away! [Now that he's delivered the punchline for his bad pun, he finally feels like he can let himself laugh at it... the up-and-down bounce of his shoulders gets the camera to shake a bit in his hands-]

[...and the shakes suddenly start to turn frantic and violent, like there's somebody else trying to wrestle the camera away from behind him. A dark wispy fog-like entity creeps into the screen's periphery, and Winston's blood runs cold as it overcomes him.] Woah, what the-?! [The feed becomes an indecipherable blur of colors streaking by the screen as he tumbles down the stairs with a frightened yelp-]

[The transmission abruptly cuts off.]

[...]

[It blinks back on a few seconds later, showing Winston laying face-down on the dirt ground. Lifting his head up, letting out a labored groan, Winston grits his teeth and gives a pointed glance at... something off-camera, with a weary look in his eyes that seems more displeased than horrified.]

...next time... just boo me.

[Starchild the Celfairy was just taking a nice day off from fighting everything by having a spa day. She was just having a nice relaxing mud bath and drinking a fruit smoothie when she is suddenly hit in the face with mud. Congrats, Win, you now have a cutesy pink alien glaring at your donkey. She makes a sound that Winston will hear as squeaky yelling but Mudbray will hear differently.

Hey you jerk! Watch where you're tossing that mud!

... I'm not sure if Winston should feel happy or not that he can't understand her.]

Edited 2019-07-23 00:24 (UTC)

[Venkman nearly has a heart attack when he sees this message, innocent as it is. He knows that unnecessarily professional typing style, goddamnit. Even if there's a chance that "Z" stands for something other than Zeddemore, he's taking that chance.]

WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU G ETHERE WIN

[... Which is probably gonna look like an unnecessarily aggressive and rude message from a stranger on the Pokegear, but ok.]

[Unfortunately for Starchild, this mudbray (who I should probably mention is named Brooklyn Supreme) is an utterly irreverent beast of burden who's always on the lookout for any opportunity to dish out disrespect. ...and there's only so much enjoyment she can get out of messing with Winston, who's largely just accepted her behavior towards him.]

[...meanwhile, here's Starchild giving her an honest-to-Arceus reaction, and that's all the reason she needs to act out again.]

[This time, it's no accident. Brookie quickly whips her tail in the clefairy's direction, sending another splattering of mud her way- and giving a loud hee-hawing laugh to go along with it.]

Brookie! [Winston worriedly blurts out at her.] This isn't a fight, you can't do that here!

This isn't exactly an on-topic response to my request.

[Three rapid-fire messages follow, one after the other, and still with no elaboration of who's speaking.]

I DONT CARE WHAT TOPIC IT IS

YOURE IN VIOLET RIGHT

I'LL BE THERE SOON

Viridian.

You'd have to have actually read the initial post to know that, though... so I guess I can see why that bit slipped past you.

[...whoever this is.]

DONT GET SMART WITH ME IVE BEEN WAITING ALMSOT 8 MONTHS TO SEE YOU AGAIN FORGIVE ME FOR NOT HAVIGN READING COMPREHENSION WHILE HAVING A HEART ATTACK

christ wait thats a 6 hour train ride away why'd you have to go to kanto you dick

[The mud splashes her and, if Brooklyn doesn't know it yet, she might realize soon that she's made a terrible mistake.

Starchild sets her smoothie down. Slowly and gently. She then advances towards Brookie with a calm but dangerous look on her face. She's ignoring Winston entirely as she locks eyes with the Mudbray.

You have no idea who you're fucking with, do you Brookie?]

["See him again"? So, wait, is this somebody he's actually supposed to know?]

...I haven't even been here for ONE month, let alone eight.

[How could they be missing him for that long? ...why were they making sure to keep track of the exact number of months?]

[...]

Who is this?

i KNOW you havent been here thats the fucking problem

WAIT

shit

goddamnit

its peter

[The crushing realization that he's just been yelling at his poor long-suffering partner while completely anonymous.]

Edited 2019-07-23 01:59 (UTC)

[It's good Venkman managed to tell him that now, because Winston was getting dangerously close to breaking out the user manual and figuring out how to block numbers on this thing.]

Ah.

That makes sense.

[...well, it really doesn't, not entirely. Winston could've sworn he was with everybody back at the firehouse not long before arriving here- Venkman included- so he doesn't understand why Peter would say it's been eight months since they've seen each other. Winston might chalk it up to him being overdramatic, but... then again, it's always possible that time just works differently here.]

[Given their circumstances, it can be hard to tell what bizarre statements are hyperbole or not. ...and communicating over text messages doesn't exactly help with clarity of tone.]

[...]

...has it really been eight months? [There's no judgement in his voice as he speaks, only concern.]

[Egon doesn't actually catch the first part of the stranger's video post--though he does catch the murder joke. He remains mildly interested in the video, as ghosts of any sort are always of interest to him. When the person gets jumped, he blinks, peering closer in concern.

He doesn't recognize him as Winston--why would he? The Winston in his dimension looks different, older. More like Ernie Hudson.]

Are you alright? [His flat tone makes him sound utterly unconcerned.] You know, it's unwise to go into notably haunted areas without proper equipment and preparation beforehand.

[As if the Ghostbusters ever spend more than five minutes "preparing" for any bust.]

JUNE - JULY TEST DRIVE MEME

Kyra (Tenno PC) | Warframe

Norman Jayden | Heavy Rain

network post

Re: Norman Jayden | Heavy Rain

Pokeathelon

this got lost in my inbox, i am so sorry

chihiro ogino | spirited away

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i give up on the other font lmao

test driving fonts in the test drive, nice /o/

Winston Zeddemore | The Real Ghostbusters

Action - Cherrygrove

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[video]