Celastrina Nestlewood
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Player Character
Posts: 50
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: David Cooper
OOC Username: Kayube
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Post by Celastrina Nestlewood on Jan 1, 2023 9:24:37 GMT 9
The first thing Celastrina Nestlewood does upon leaving Professor Ash's field lab with Toto the Totodile... is fall in the dirt. She'd tried to set off at an energetic run to begin exploring the new world that was spread out before her, only to trip and fall. And with the realistic setting on, it hurts just as much as one would expect.
<You okay, Rina?> Toto asks as he steps up beside her, clearly concerned. <If you wanna run around and play outside, you need shoes!>
Rina laughs as she pushes herself back up to her feet, brushing the dirt from her dress. She'd only just been scolding the Totodile for biting her hair, and now she was the one being parented. "I guess this must be what they meant by 'you teach me, and I'll teach you'," she says, smiling back at Toto. Not that he'd get the reference, of course.
Rina begins looking around at the landscape surrounding the professor's tent. The air is chilly here- and having bare feet and a sleeveless dress isn't helping. She'll have to find a clothing store soon and change into something warmer. But, apart from the lab, there isn't much sign of any kind of civilization out here... until she sees the carriage.
It's a big black carriage, hitched to a pair of Mudsdale, and marked by the UI as a quest location. "Let's take a ride, Toto," Rina says, as she begins walking... carefully... toward the carriage.
The carriage driver looks down at Rina from his seat. "Headin' to Briarbane Settlement, miss?" he asks gruffly.
"Yes, sir," Rina answers with a nod. From the look of things on the minimap, that was the best place to go.
"Climb on in, then," the driver says. "We'll be off once the carriage is full," he explains. "Don't worry yourself... someone'll definitely be along shortly."
Rina frowns. So she has to wait on another player to join her in the carriage before they can go? Well, considering how popular the game is getting, it wouldn't be too surprising for another player to show up quickly for a ride. Maybe even another new trainer with their first partner.
Rina climbs into the carriage, lifting Toto up behind her, and takes a seat. All there was to do now was wait for another passenger to arrive...
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Sarah Lee
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Soldier, Poet, King
The Creed
Posts: 446
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: Barack Orama
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 40
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Post by Sarah Lee on Jan 7, 2023 9:20:07 GMT 9
Rina didn't have to wait long.
After a short exchange with the driver and a knock on the door to announce her intent, Sarah climbed up into the carriage. She sat opposite Rina, not wanting to rub elbows with a Totodile, or to appear too familiar.
"You're just starting out?" Sarah asked, eyeing the unevolved water starter. "I'm Sarah, nice to meet you." She smiled at Rina, eyes warm with nostalgia, and sent out her own Pokemon to complete the quartet.
It was a tiny green dragon, complete with dark eyeshadow and a prominent spike on the top of its head. It may be made of rock, but right now the little Larvitar looked more like a letter spike than a ferocious, ground-shattering beast. It ignored Sarah, busying itself by chewing on the inner furnishings of their ride.
Outside a whip cracked, and the Mudsdale chuffed and heaved, forcing the carriage out of sleepy inertia and into a thematic, rickety trundle.
"I always love the trip through the Surge Steppes," Sarah said, gazing out the window as the gentle flower beds of the starter lab exterior gave way to open road, and then to the beginnings of the grassland steppes. "The steel pillars remind me of skyscrapers sometimes. It makes me wonder if we originally built them to emulate mountains or some other natural formation. What is it about height that humans find so alluring?" |
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Celastrina Nestlewood
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Player Character
Posts: 50
Trainer Class:
Player Name: David Cooper
OOC Username: Kayube
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Post by Celastrina Nestlewood on Jan 7, 2023 15:38:19 GMT 9
Rina waved cheerfully as Sarah entered the carriage. She was glad that the ride to the settlement would be starting soon, and also to be meeting someone new. She nodded in reply when asked if she was new.
"Ah, how do you do? My name's Celastrina Nestlewood," she said, smiling. "Rina, for short." Her full name was fun to say, so she hoped to make a habit of using it- but it was enough of a mouthful that it made sense to have a nickname readily available. <And I'm Toto!> the Totodile added, with an energetic wave of his own.
Rina leaned forward, watching eagerly as Sarah let her own Pokémon out of its ball. "Oh, hello! And what's your name?" she asks. However, the Larvitar seems to be too busy chewing on things to answer. That would be one thing it had in common with Toto.
As the carriage rolled along toward its destination, Rina was mostly admiring the view, but also watched Toto and Larvitar from time to time. From the point of view of David, the player behind Rina, it was finally starting to sink in just how amazing this was. Things he'd only seen on TV or on handheld screens were now right there, to see and touch just as if they were real. Sarah seemed to be more experienced, but even she seemed to be getting philosophical about the sights as they rolled through the steppes, talking about skyscrapers and why people are interested in great heights.
"I guess it's because... people can't fly. So, we want to find other ways to reach the sky," Rina suggested. "People are always trying to do what seems impossible." |
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Sarah Lee
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Soldier, Poet, King
The Creed
Posts: 446
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Barack Orama
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 40
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Post by Sarah Lee on Jan 16, 2023 20:35:15 GMT 9
"Pleasure to meet you @celastrina," Sarah said, smiling back. "And you too Toto!" She waved at the Totodile.
Sarah answered for her Larvitar, who had finished destroying the pillow and had moved on to deconstructing the carriage upholstery. "Her name is Rushmore," Sarah said, petting the hard, green scales of the would-be titan.
"I like that answer," Sarah said, transfixed by the massive spires of the Surge Steppes. They punched through the verdant soil like the fangs of some buried monstrosity. Like the jaws of Fenrir, open wide that one day it might rise up and devour the sun in one final snap.
"Apparently once she's eaten enough rock to make a whole mountain she'll evolve." Sarah watched as Rushmore snapped off a piece of the carriage door and crammed it into her mouth, her teeth grinding it down in moments. She was like a wood chipper, or some sort of industrial grinder. "Some might call eating a mountain impossible, but really what they mean is insurmountable. Or unimaginable. It's a big task! But you complete it the same way you do anything."
There was a CRUNCH as Rushmore bit off the doorknob.
"One piece at a time."
She looked over at her carriage partner. The girl seemed young, but that didn't mean anything in this world. Hell, Sarah looked like a young girl in this body. "So tell me. What impossible task are you trying to accomplish?" |
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Celastrina Nestlewood
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Player Character
Posts: 50
Trainer Class:
Player Name: David Cooper
OOC Username: Kayube
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Post by Celastrina Nestlewood on Jan 17, 2023 14:45:16 GMT 9
Rina smiled as she watched the Larvitar eating her way around the carriage, though with a hint of concern. "Well... don't eat the whole thing," she advised Rushmore. "Or else we'll all have to walk the rest of the way!" She laughed cutely, then turned to look back out the carriage window, putting a hand on the glass. She looked at the back of her hand for a while- it was so small and youthful compared to David's real hand. And yet, as she listened to Sarah's words, she felt encouraged. Her hands were small, but they were hands that were ready to grasp a dream.
And what was that dream? "Well, I'd like to start my own insect garden! It would have all sorts of bug-type Pokémon," she explained. "And other trainers who like bug=types could go there and train with them. Sort of like an unofficial bug-type gym."
<I'll help!> Toto chimed in. <I'm no bug, but your garden's gonna need a lot of water, right?>
"Oh, of course! Thank you, Toto," Rina answered, patting Toto's head. "Now, how about you, miss Sarah? Do you have any big goals here?" |
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Sarah Lee
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Soldier, Poet, King
The Creed
Posts: 446
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Barack Orama
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 40
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Post by Sarah Lee on Jan 19, 2023 1:15:40 GMT 9
"Starting a gym? I like that!" Sarah said, smiling and the new trainer. There was an easy atmosphere in the carriage, and their chatting and laughing was broken only by the constant chewing sound as Rushmore tried his teeth on everything around them.
"I want to bring people together. Every day it feels like the world falls a little further apart, and it's places like UNOVR that draw us all back together. I want to give people something to work towards. A reason to build a better world, both here and outside."
Rushmore gave up trying to bite the mini-chandelier hanging from the carriage ceiling and sat down heavily on Sarah's lap. She wrapped an arm around him, stroking a slow line down the back of his neck. In moments his eyes began to slip closed, the combination of calming action and digestion calling him to slumber. "I'm not sure what that cause is yet, but I think it'll be something dangerous. Some massive, world-ending threat," Sarah said, as casually as someone might mention that they had cereal for breakfast, or that they'd never played badminton.
"That's what always brings people together, right? Everyone came out of the woodwork to fight Kyogre, and then again for the Briarbeast. You never see those turnouts for fun events." She looked out of the window again, eyes tracing the skyline of spires and far-off hills. "I guess it's a good sign that people are there when they need to be."
"In a way, it's a larger version of what you're doing," Sarah said, her words falling into place as the pieces clicked in her head. "Bringing likeminded people together through combat." She grinned, pulse speeding up as she thought more on the different scales her goal might take. "I knew there was a reason I liked the gym idea!" |
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Celastrina Nestlewood
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Player Character
Posts: 50
Trainer Class:
Player Name: David Cooper
OOC Username: Kayube
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Post by Celastrina Nestlewood on Jan 24, 2023 12:18:31 GMT 9
Rina listened to Sarah's goals quietly. They definitely seemed a lot bigger than her own. Sarah seemed to be planning on becoming a great heroine... maybe even one who'd become well-known in the real world. "That sounds exciting," she said. "It's like you're the hero of your own story. I think I'll mostly be in the supporting role, myself... though, I suppose I could do both!" The role of the Gym Leader was generally a supportive one, after all- they were the obstacles that the protagonist had to overcome on their quest to become the champion- either that, or like Misty, Brock, and others in the anime, they were companions on the hero's journey. Still, creating a "gym" out of nothing would be an adventure in itself. So, maybe it wouldn't be too selfish for Rina to consider herself a kind of protagonist after all. "And of course, if there does end up being some kind of serious threat... Toto and I would be happy to help stop it. Right, Toto?"
<Yes, Rina!> Toto replied cheerfully. |
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Sarah Lee
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Soldier, Poet, King
The Creed
Posts: 446
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Barack Orama
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 40
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Post by Sarah Lee on Feb 17, 2023 13:22:08 GMT 9
It was a pleasant moment. The gentle rattle of the carriage, the warm company, and the fresh breeze rolling in off the steppes. There was a buzz in the air from the latent static of the great steel pillars, and as Sarah rested her hand on the metal siding of the carriage she felt her arm numb a little.
"So tell me about your gym plans!" she said excitedly. "Will you have puzzles? The bug gyms in the games have always been pretty early on and the puzzles weren't...great."
"Do you rember Burgh in Black and White? The gym with all the clowns trapped in cocoons?" Sarah's broke into a laugh. "I hope you're planning on something a little more thematic." |
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Celastrina Nestlewood
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Player Character
Posts: 50
Trainer Class:
Player Name: David Cooper
OOC Username: Kayube
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Post by Celastrina Nestlewood on Apr 24, 2023 16:06:30 GMT 9
"I'm not sure yet," Rina answered. "I've mostly just been thinking about how it will look, with trees and flowers all around." Something like the bug wing of the museum in Animal Crossing was what she generally envisioned. "And it'll take a lot of work before I'll even be able to start building it... but I guess I should start thinking about what kind of challenge I might want to include. Definitely not involving clowns," she said with a laugh.
With that, Rina began gazing once more out the window. thinking about possible gym challenges. "It should be something peaceful and calming... outside of any trainer battles involved of course." |
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Sarah Lee
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Soldier, Poet, King
The Creed
Posts: 446
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Barack Orama
OOC Username: Ladybug
Arena Points: 40
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Post by Sarah Lee on Apr 25, 2023 13:56:55 GMT 9
"The three pillars of any good bug gym," Sarah said with a smile. "Trees, flowers, and no clowns. I think that's a fantastic starting place. And of course every gym should have some sort of trick or puzzle to it, right?" She tapped her chin, thinking about what the exact opposite of a clown quiz is.
The carriage went over a bump, and Rushmore fell off the seat and onto the ground. He eyed Sarah's shoes greedily, but one look from her sent him searching for snacks elsewhere.
"Maybe something involving flowers? Like flower arranging where the judge is a panel of bug Pokemon? Or you could even go super old-school and just hold a bug catching contest, where you battle the winner for a badge!" The possibilities were endless, and thoroughly exciting. "If it were me I'd go back to absolute basics. Pokemon was inspired by bug catching in the first place, so I would make players have to battle you with a team of only bug Pokemon. I always felt like the badges should show mastery of a type, instead of just basic knowledge of type matchups, don't you agree?" |
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