[Game thread] Skull Ruins Pokerole

[Lord Windos]

Spoiler

The little pagoda makes a lovely silhouette in the half light when you all arrive so early in the morning. At 5:25, the first people come to sit on the marble steps in a half circle surrounding the pagoda. At 5:30 precisely, a little music starts playing, and all the slatted sides of the pagoda slowly open, creating an open-air pavilion with a parquet floor. A tiny ivory building left of the dance theater opens up too, but just on one side......

(...)

The music calms and the dancers pull aside like curtains. From a light mist steps the silhouette that has been missing for most of the dance: the rare Sylveon, the ultimate in grace and propriety. She prances forward like a show dog, right down the aisle, and slips a small cube of sugar into some of the cups, so rapidly it's incredible that she makes no mistake and never lacks for grace.

(...)

The music retreats to mere background noise. The dancers each pick up a tray and move among the crowd, bowing and offering tea to the guests before they drink themselves. From the coloration you can see a few different flavors of traditional teas: Green, Black, flowering, red, Oolong, or delicate. It becomes clear that the different dance steps obscured a complexity of different preparations for these different tea flavors, which require different heats and steeping times. And some don't require sweetener.

The Kimono girls retire to their divans and sip their tea. The Pokemon sit quietly and politely lap their tea from saucers. An elderly man walks among the crowd, answering questions in a quiet voice and passing out thin wooden flyers that explain in two languages that those who wish to may have a chance to battle with a Kimono Girl.

Seeing the Kimono Girls and their Eeveelution gayly dancings to and fro as they put on the Tea Ceremony was a truly fascinating and intriguing to Ventus, and it did ever so slight bolster his spirits with some much needed good cheer/levity! The Tea Ceremony being preformed was nothing like the slow, deliberate, and carefully orchestrated ones his home city practiced, and the sheer vibrant positivity and energy that was being channeled and extruded by the women and furry partners as they went about their no doubt painstaking dance moves with deceptive ease/florish was certainly different from how their Tohjo counterparts conducted themselves on stage! He can now say with utmost certaintity that Cheshire certainly did have a unique interpretation of the time honored tradtion!

Unfortunately the performance wasn't flawless, though, as Slyveon's showy debut on the scene did generate a faint sensation of nervous wariness that coursed through his body, causing the paranoid sociologist to minutely frown and carefully regarded the fae fox for a moment, before he closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, forcibly dispelling and quashing such feelings. 'The Slyveon means you no harm, and the ladies here wouldn't bring a Pokémon capable of doing vile things unless it was rigorously trained to restrain itself, so be calm, be calm.....' he thought to himself, as he marshaled his happiness back to the forefront of his mind once more and re-opened his eyes, and resumed watching + enjoying the ceremony. Having a fear of an entire type was hardly a stroll in the park, but never the less Ventus has long since mastered keeping it undercontrol.....for the most part, anyway.

Eventually the ceremony came to an fantastical end and gradually eased into a serene lull, resulting in the researcher letting out a small pleased sigh of content, quietly saying as he did so: "Wonderfull.....simply wonderfull....."  When it came for the dancers to pass out the tea, Ven took a cup of Oolong, saying to the quietly server "Thank you, madam," in perfectly fluid Japanese, as this was an opportunity to demonstrate his grasp on languages other than code speak and Common. Being a college taught doctorate and working with people who spoke the language taught him much indeed! He declined the opportunity to sign his own slip of paper and put in the basket for drawing, however, as he had other things he needed his Pokémon and time, and beyond that wasn't too interested in participating in such a randomized and restrictive battle format. Call him hard nosed or lacking in grace/nuance, but he much preferred regular fierce single battling by and large than other styles, with the occasional double battle as an exception.

That didn't stop him from happily clapping when Nathan ended up getting selected as the honored contestant in this battle, nor did it prevent him from enjoying the graceful match as his choice in Forthright as they pranced on the battlefield and exchanging 'Dance Moves' with the Jolteon. 'Shame Ralts is no longer a Kirlia, for they would truly be in bliss dancing in such a prestigious event, but a cute child playfully skipping about is certainly a fine enough choice,' the empath thought as he watch the ceremonial battle, and before to long he was once again clapping as the young trainer was declared the victor of the match!

'For few moments I thought Foreright would blow away by Jolteon's performance, but they've succeeded despite the odds! I guess youthful energy, cheer, and a little luck can compensate for skill and talent!' Ven thought, smiling a bit impishly + quietly chuckling at Nathan's flustered reaction over getting a simple chaste kiss from the Kimono Lady ('Oh, how precious.....I'd take a picture if I didn't know they would react poorly to such things....'), before waiting for him to finish his business and join up with group so that they can depart to Shiva's room for the meeting she called. He may have important 'business' to take care of, but he wasn't going to forget a request from his dearest friend, no way no how!

He did have something to say to Nathan along the way, though, gesturing to him with a polite and entreting smile as he did so.

"Nathan, may I perhaps purchase some Honey off you again? I've been out for awhile, and I wish to keep stocked up on Lilith's favorite sticky treat if at all possible. I want at most 3 jars/small barrels of it, but I'm perfectly happy to take less. $100 Poke per amount, right?"

Some time after the meeting, the research also head out into the city to purchase a large burlaps sack and buck knife for 0$ Poke altogether, neatly packing away those Items into his satchel until it their time for use comes....

He also went to his PC to configure his party as thus: Lucifer, Apsis, Michael, Hanael, Haziel, and Abaddon. Putting his precious archangel away was almost inconceivable to him, but he didn't want to risk the possibility of his plans causing them to react adversely/become Unhappy/Disloyal to him, like what happened when he razed the Forest Den so long ago. Better safe than sorry, as they say....

As for what he does after the meeting, Ventus proceeds to exit Cress City, and go find a large burrow of Patrets and deliberately provoking them to attack him en mass (Perhaps by throwing a rock at a sentry and saying derogatorily 'Rattatta make better rodents then you and your fellows will ever amount to be), before releasing Apsis to summarily scare the bejesus out of them and knock them all out with frightening ease. He would then order his beautiful snake NOT to eat them all ,earning him a pout unit he later explained his plan to her and the rest of his Pokémon far away from any would be spies (Will PM them to you Iron!) as he stuffed as many of the furry critters as he could into the burlap bag he recently bought, at which point she immediately ceased such action and instead let out an approving + diabolical *Hiiiiissss....!* Oh, that wretch light fixture won't know what him them when it comes time to exact their revenge against them, *Hiiiissss.....*

Oh, and Ventus also fully equipped his Disguise of Mask/Hat/Cloak when he was well out of sight of anyone. Didn't want to be recognized by his target or any would be rescuer of the damn spirit, now would he?

When ALL of that is finished, only then would the masked marauder begin his journey back to Mt. Sentry (preferably Teleporting near the entrance to save time/energy if possible), making a beeline for the Candelabra where Chandelure cravousnously hides......

'One two, I coming for you Chandelure.....'

Order: Wait for Nathan to finish his business with the Kimono girls, before asking them along the way to the Pokémon Center to purchase some Honey, paying $100 Poke each for each unit they are willing to give up, up to 3 unless they want more Poke for it, in which case some haggling will have to be done. Ventus will then depart from the group immediately and discretely after the meeting, taking care not to be follow by them/anyone else, before he begins Phase 1 of Operation Jack: Purchase all those Items, Knock Out a whole burrow of Patret (Like You Said, Iron!) and jam as many of them into the Burlap Sack as possible (Carted about by Apsis if necessary), before he tells his Plan to his Pokémon (PMing to You Iron!), donning his Disguise at some point along the line, and heading towards Mt. Sentry. The first Phase should take one Encounter, so this should go along smoothly up to this point! The rest of the plan....well, we will just have to wait and see, won't we?

The reason I'm announcing all these plans/doing them already is because Iron call roll out these Encounters while I/Ven simultaneously can be a part of the meeting during his own personal Flashback, for maximum efficiency on all parts! At least, I hope that is the case!