week 4

[airlockedmods]

[Four weeks in the Starfield Penitentiary and seven people have lost their lives to Blaze Dudely's cruel game. At some point the robots cleaned up the mess left behind and by Sunday the involved rooms (including the fridge) are all clean and free of blood. In fact there's no sign left of any of the deaths that have happened on the ship so far by at least the next day. The only physical signs that people are gone are the empty beds.

On Sunday morning, you may find that you're recovering a a few other things as well - both strange dreams and some new items.

In addition, there's a new set of doors at the end of the corridor, in the space between the infirmary and the exercise yard. Looks like you've got a new wing to explore.]



Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( ooc: Don't forget to turn in your AC for Week 3, submit your memory regains, and put in your benefactor threads! ))

Comments

[empathiser]

[None of that means anything to him, really. So he's just going to... examine? these things??]

And these are native to where you live?

[Like... pets? But more complicated??]

[heartswapped]

Uh, yes?

[It's Pokemon all the way down, Will.]

Like, I'm sure the real Winston is really cute and all, but we don't have anything like that in my world.

[empathiser]

So, no regular animals.

[That's a really strange thing to consider.]

And yeah. Winston is pretty special.

[heartswapped]

How long have you two known each other?

[empathiser]

Winston was my most recent dog? I'm not really sure how long it's been though. Over a year, maybe?

[heartswapped]

He's such a cutie. [She doesn't know what dogs can really DO, but god, what a cute little dog.]

I bet all the coordinators back home would be all over him...

[Is she cooing? She might be cooing over an adorable dog.]

[empathiser]

I'm pretty fond of him.

[Good. He's an adorable dog. Loyal and friendly.]

Coordinators? Like... organisation of events?

[heartswapped]

People who raise Pokemon for style and entertainment instead of... y'know, those fights I talked about at Danny's trial. They'll train their Pokemon's powers based on what looks cool rather than how much you can punch the other guy out.

They're a bit more popular in other regions; Unova doesn't really have a lot of outlets for them. Apparently the best ones get advertising deals and put on calendars and those creepy body pillows and stuff.

[A bit like Japanese idols, if she even knew a lot about that, but look. Celebrities endorsing stuff is a constant all over the multiverse.]

[empathiser]

[Will sort of... frowns at the very beginning. He's listening, but something she just said just sounds familiar? Maybe not quite the word, but almost like he's seen something that sounds like what she's describing.

Then he stands up, a little suddenly.]

Stay there. I won't be long.

[Brb, he's charging back to Cell 6 and poking through the small pile of items he's kinda just... pushed into the corner of his room. When he comes back, he's holding a magazine in one hand.]

Something like this? Advertising deals, magazines, that sort of thing.

[It was the word Pokemon. He was sure he'd seen written somewhere, recently.]

1/2

[heartswapped]

Oh!

[She gives a bit of a smile when she sees it, then picks it up, pointing at the man on the cover.]

2/2

[heartswapped]

That's the mister.

[How did a magazine with her husband's face on it even get here?]

Well he hasn't done it since the 80s; I just found this in a secondhand shop while I was looking for something else. Thought it'd surprise him.

[empathiser]

[... Huh. Wait.]

That guy there is your husband?

[He hadn't actually looked at the magazine since he got it, so he leans forwards just a little to get another look.]

He's a model?

[heartswapped]

Oh, he hasn't for years now. Burnout, suddenly not being relevant anymore, you know how it is.

[empathiser]

Too much all at once?

[He's very used to doing everything he can to remain irrelevant in the eyes of most people. It's easier.]

When did you meet him? Before or after the whole burnout thing.

[heartswapped]

Something like that.

[It's his own story to tell, anyway. ]

It was... at least ten years or so after he quit? Yeah, he's a little older, but most people who have careers working with Pokemon get started real young.

[He was a teenager himself when he started, and Cheryl doesn't remember him being past his 30s.]

He can't be older than 22 in that picture.

[empathiser]

A little like show business then. [When you think of all the people you'd see in magazines in America, a lot of them start young.]

If he was in magazines he must've been well known.

[heartswapped]

Over in Sinnoh, sure. He tells me sometimes he still got people who'd recognize him while he'd try to buy cigarettes or head over to the Pokecenter.

Must've been why he jumped at the chance to live in another region when it was given to him.

[The Internet wasn't really a huge thing in her time, and really, how many people in America are gonna recognize a guy who's basically a former Japanese idol who's since faded into relative obscurity?]

He's a little older now, not as glamorous. Says he used to be a self-absorbed douche back when he was young and popular. I can't really say I wish I'd found him back in his quote-unquote glory days?

[Fame's never really been something she longed for, and if burnout and fading into obscurity was what it took for him to calm the fuck down, then hey, she'll take him as he is.]

[empathiser]

And you met him when he moved to your area, from... Sinnoh?

[Hm. You're giving your husband quite a great first impression there, Cheryl. (Elaine? Cherylaine?)]

That's the joy of growing up and growing older. If you're going to grow out of being [how did she put it?] a "self-absorbed douche", you will. Eventually.

[heartswapped]

[Unless your name is Oda, it's still very much Cheryl for now. She gives a smile and a nod.]

It's another region that's way out east, over by Johto and... eh, Oda says he's from Kanto, but it's not exactly the same as the Kanto I've heard about.

[Still, that elicits a "pfft" from her. She loves him, but she's not above ribbing him a little.]

I found it a little hard to believe; he's so goofy these days. He's a total sweetheart, but I guess if you're like that now, you'd have the self-awareness to know that sort of thing...

[empathiser]

Or if you've had cameras filming your attitude and you get to see it back later on, I imagine it's a good way to make you aware of your worse attributes.

[Like attitude problems, or self entitlement.]

The only Kanto I can think of is the one in Japan. But there's no [how did she say it?] Johto out there. Then again, I only know from maps.

[heartswapped]

Pfft, I guess. [She's never really had that problem herself.] My parents didn't really like him? Everyone else seems to get on with him just fine, though.

That's...also what Oda said. You mean the region Fukawa and Leon are from, right?

[empathiser]

Does any woman's parents really, really like their daughter's boyfriend? It's an overprotective thing.

[Also maybe if they saw him being kind of a douche on TV they might have had some pre-conceptions.]

I think so. It's a long way from where I live.

[heartswapped]

Yeah, I guess.

[If her powers hadn't been nerfed she'd tell you that Unovan TV doesn't normally get stuff like that from other regions, or at least it's not mainstream, but.]

Well, all those regions are a long way from where I live, too. I think... it's kind of weird to think about how the language kind of sounds the same from how Oda and Leon remember it and what I'm remembering with Ren?

I guess that's kinda normal for multiple universes, but I dunno.

[empathiser]

I spoke to Leon about this briefly when we first got here. I wonder how language works around this place.

I definitely don't speak Japanese, but the people from that side of the world don't have any trouble understanding me.

[heartswapped]

[She thinks about this for a moment.]

And Max doesn't sound like she's from a time and place too different from me, either.

Ren's taught me a little, but honestly, I'd have been lost back home if his [Insert name for an Alternate Fantasy English Language here] wasn't already pretty good. Akande sounds like he'd come from somewhere around [a brief description of what basically sounds like a collection of regions that make up Poke-Africa], but like-

Do we even know how it works for someone like Pyrrha? Or Varric- where I'm from, stuff like elves and dwarves is made up. The kind of thing you know a lot about if you spend a lot of time drinking Mountain Dewgong and have a bunch of 20-sided dice.

You know what I mean?