Pokemon Tabletop United

Visibly relieved to be free of the pretense of ceremony, Lucian (southeast) slinks over to the salads and checks for anything with Wepear or Nanab.

Theo has loads of totally-excellent questions, but has to check their phone now that the ceremony's over. That and get out of this dumb suit as soon as they can. There's a message from Mum, asking how the ceremony went. Theo had tickets, of course, but had been reluctant about dragging their parents all the way out to Regipolis when (last they'd heard) they'd been working on a contract of some kind. Egg moves? Theo didn't really remember.

Response duly flicked, our intrepid entomologist scans the group for whoever looks the most agreeable to talk to. Ivy? Caroline? Yeah fuck it let's try Caroline.

"Sup," Theo (South) says to the girl in front of them, offering a handshake, wondering but not asking why she's wearing baseball clothes to an event like this. Theo jabs a thumb towards the tables on the right of the room. "I hate small talk, and that photographer's giving me the creeps, so do you want to make a dash for the food?"

"In a non-literal second, maybe. I've got something important I need to do. I mean, not important in the grand scheme of things, but... important."
Caroline rummages through her bag and pulls out a worn paperback edition of So You Want to Find Yourself Through a Pokémon Journey: A Guide to Success. She thrusts the book in the Champion's direction, knocking out a few loose pages in the process. "Autograph?"

Theo stifles a snort, not too put out at getting summarily ignored by Caroline. Nando's not exactly the subtlest guy in the room right now.

Lulubelle's shoulder unsuccessfully attempts to collapse in upon itself. "There are a number of ways," he rasps, "that it could have been worse."

Luce shuffles sideways, hopefully out of lethal range of whatever it is this interloper is radiating. "And I am currently experiencing one of them."

"Of course!" exclaims the champion, clearly pleased that someone has read her book, especially so thoroughly. "I was advised to keep it unpublished until I stop being Champion and my income went down, but meeting people who are here because of me lets me know I made the right choice!"

There's a somewhat awkward moment as she pats the front of her tabard fruitlessly.

"I... don't suppose you have a pen on you though? The ceremonial outfit doesn't actually have any pockets..."

Theo tears themselves away from the lovely little disaster over by the tables, to whip out a black marker pen and tap Caroline on the shoulder with it. "Yo."

"Oh, thank you!"
Coralei scrawls her name in a hand that makes you thankful for word processors and hands the book and pen back to their respective owners.
"And thank you for reading my book! Does anyone else need anything?"

The photographer fidgets and checks his watch, clearly disappointed that Nando found Lucien before he did.

"Actually, yeah," Theo asks, fiddling with the pen. "Barring, y'know, horrible accidents or whatever, none of us would have reason to run into you again for a while, soo... your Crobat." Theo whips out their sketchpad and twirls the pen around between their fingers. "Are they generally as well-trained as yours, or is Batsie here a special case?"

"Also," Theo grins a bit, sheepishly raising their cellphone, "would you mind if I took a picture of the two of you? My sister's a fan of yours, and would not shut up until I promised to take one for her."

"Than other Crobats? Hmm...
I'd like to say Batsie's a special one but it's quite difficult to coerce a Golbat into evolving even when it is physically capable unless it already trusts you! I think mine could take all of them in a fight but any trained Crobat's probably going to be at least as loyal and obedient, as long as it was raised from before it changed shape.
Wild ones are a little different, fortunately they're rare for similar reasons but I'd stay away from them if you find a nest somewhere. Batsie could easily lift my weight if I asked her to! You don't want that in a hostile, flying predator.
They're very quick but fortunately without training they tend to like to go in close so that nothing can steal their meal unlike Batsie who is good at fighting things from very far away where they can't touch her, so at least maybe you might get some advance warning if you see one? Not attracting their attention at all is the ideal.

It's pretty good for us that they are so reluctant to get big considering how prevalent their babies are!"

Batsie herself spreads her wings and chitters at her name, attempting to look suitably photogenic.

"As for pictures, sure! Being a public face is at least half of my job, honestly. It's refreshing when people ask first in fact!"

"Merely lost in thought." Lucian risks a glance back at WHY ISN'T HE WEARING A SHIRT AUGH "...Though I can imagine how you might confuse the two."

He takes another look at the sexual predator, inasmuch as he tries to look at anything else in that direction, and fails. "What are you, anyway?"

"Sweeeet."

Theo activates Sketcher as they line up Coralei and Batsie in their cellphone screen, their focus more on the Pokemon and especially how it's holding its wings in the resting position. Theo's gotten enough of an idea (and enough surreptitiously-shot angles with their phone camera) that they'll be able to sketch it up as soon as they've got their notebook and some quiet time.

Of course, they take one proper photo of Coralei, because you know sisters.

Theo taps in a few notes of the information they've gained, then puts the phone away and tries greeting Ivy this time.

"Right. Heya. Theo."

Ivy fidgeted nervously through the entire ceremony, nearly tripping over her own feet when she was called up to receive her license. It was a relief once the admittedly small audience was ushered away; she'd never been comfortable in spotlights, even when sharing them with five other people apparently. The fact that the dress she'd borrowed from her sister was at least two sizes too big and this was the longest she'd spent in dress shoes since she'd graduated from school wasn't helping things.

Her fellow pilgrims seemed to sort of gravitate to one another when Coralei'd finished speaking; a rather stern blonde woman was the only other not engaged with anyone and Ivy briefly considered introducing herself, but frankly she was incredibly intimidating. Instead she slipped off, careful to avoid making eye contact with the overeager photographer, and gathered a small plate of berry bits skewered with toothpicks.

She'd been distracted when Theo wandered up, idly wondering if it would be rude to let Gingham out of her pokeball, and swallowed the rawst berry she'd been about to bite into whole. She sputtered for a moment, but quickly grinned and shifted her plate to extend a hand towards Theo.

"Oh, h-hi! Nice to meet you, I'm I...vy...?"

The impromptu rock performance pulled her attention away, her mouth slightly agape until she turned back to the blessedly sane-seeming Theo with a nervous little laugh. "I'm Ivy. Wait, sorry, already said that. Quite the um...eclectic group we have, huh?"

Woah it's some visible rolls.

Sketcher:

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SpoilerNot that I think you particularly care about the value of this one.
(Perception) (3d6 +3) * p20 = p240

Roll for incredible keytar solo:

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Spoiler
(Charm) (3d6 +3) vs 15 = 14
Not quite incredible then. Aww.

You wow everyone with your musical skills, though maybe it just turned out as "pretty alright" rather than "amazing". Whether that will be enough to crack Lucian's shell is another question entirely. Don't count on it.
Coralei claps politely.


OOC:

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Spoiler
I also clarified one of the rules in the OP so that it makes more sense based on a question about levitate yesterday:

Flying Pokemon are Resistant to Ground attacks instead of Immune, however:
Any pokemon currently flying or using a levitate movement capability (that meaning, not currently in contact with the ground) is immune to moves with the "Groundsource" keyword, which covers all but nine ground moves, three of which are only learned by the Cubone family.

Ylva's shoulders relax an iota once the ceremony's over. Tucking her new trainer's license into a uniform pocket, she fixes her eyes on the food. While the speech didn't really rival some of the marathon presentations she's had to stand through back up north, there's a pressing matter she has to attend to.

While the rest of her fellow graduates crowd Coralei or the eastern buffet table Ylva quickly steps to the one on the west, grabbing a plate and loading up on everything the spread has to offer. Turns out military supply trains don't have much in the way of a dining car. With the journey taking all night she hadn't eaten since before yesterday's training...

"Excuse me? Ms... Vitstal? I'm from the Regisalam Daily, and I'm sure our readers would love a chance to get to kno-"

The photographer promptly cuts off as Ylva turns to glare at him, all the while still shoveling food onto her plate. He beats a hasty retreat to his former vantage point before she has the chance to politely point out she's busy.

With him out of the way, Ylva quickly glances through her pile of gathered food before wolfing down a particularly tempting piece of pie. Oran? Delicious.

There's a burst of music from the other side of the room, and Ylva shifts to catch the end of Nando's performance. She keeps eating while Coralei bursts into polite applause - they don't serve food this good back in the barracks, and she isn't about to put down her plate for the musician's mildly amusing antics. Ylva's about to stab into another chunk of pie when she notices Ivy and Theo chatting nearby. The planned chunk quickly becomes a small bite, and she settles for listening in on their conversation.

Entirely nonplussed by this madman's jams, Lucian extracts a controller from his coat and taps the large central button. Boxbot, roused from its slumber in the southeast corner of the stadium, tromps over to its master's side. For this incredible feat it is crowned with a salad.

"I?" Lucian takes a sip of punch, only to find yet another thing he doesn't especially enjoy. "Am weeping."

Taking advantage of the bard's brief respite, the engineer strides maybe a bit too quickly back to their batty host, robot trailing in his wake. "What happened," he calls out on approach, "to the others?"

Theo gives the salad bar a once-over, opts for something with Tinymushrooms and a bunch of unidentifiable nuts in it, pausing to get a load of Boxbot before picking out some dressing. There's some vaguely-recognisable dried fruit as well, which Theo unabashedly pours onto a napkin before folding it up and slipping it into a pocket.

"Yeah, those two guys are going to be a riot," chuckles Theo, bothering (at least a little bit) to keep their voice down. "Full credit to whichever one of you can keep them in line. Not it, by the way." Theo flicks a Mushroomed fork-tip Ylva's way.

"How about yourself? You seem like one of those no-bullshit Northern types, you've probably already got experience dealing with... personalities like these. Wow."

Theo takes a moment to just marvel in Lucian's general direction. "Damn, if I hadn't last seen him being airlifted out of a Cacnea patch, I could've sworn that's my friend's old supervisor. Y'know, about twenty years younger, half as fucking cheerful, and without all the needles."

Theo laughs a bit. "Fuck that guy."

Coralei blinks at the unexpected question, "Your guests you mean? They're downstairs somewhere in another hall, with their own refreshments.
The idea was that we have a little chat and then you set off, to be honest even my being here isn't really on the itinerary I just like doing it. Did you miss out on saying goodbye?
You were supposed to have been told it was your last chance before we went on, going to have to talk to someone about that..."

"You went," snaps Lucian, "on one of these fun-filled romps yourself. I've my reservations about sending six undertrained underprepared children across the country on a potentially dangerous quest of learning and self-discovery, but to send one person to learn about what people can accomplish together would be both nonsensical and suicidal."

He takes another sip of the dreadful punch. "You came out of the Pilgrimage and became... the Champion. But what happened to the others?"

Caroline jumps in front of Lucian, wildly waving about her well-loved copy of So You Want to Find Yourself Through a Pokémon Journey: A Guide to Success. "You know, she wrote all about this! Life is all about learning and self-discovery! Without those things, it's completely pointless; if you don't find your place in life, you're stuck just going through the motions. Life becomes meaningless!" Caroline beams as she thumps her chest. "I would know! So what's dangerous here? What's there to lose?"

With a crazed look in her eyes, Caroline throws the book down at Lucian's feet, sending loose pages everywhere. "I got nothing!"

"Uhh..." Coralei is slightly taken aback by the aggressive show of support and surreptitiously takes a pace backwards towards the stage and away from her biggest fan. Setting her face straight she turns to address Lucian.
"I guess it's understandable to be having cold feet right now... I certainly can't rightly claim we didn't get into a few scrapes now and again before the thing was done and a couple of the people I graduated with even called it quits before they finished the whole journey, but that wasn't because they were scared! They just realised they had other things that they thought would be a better use of their time.

I can't deny that I probably got more out of it than most of you will either! Or than everyone else who set off as the same time as I did for that matter, but I have kept contact, and none of mine died out there or anything!
As well as people doing jobs like mine you'll find a lot of finished pilgrimage cards at pedigree breeders, labs and in the council house. People here have to come to appreciate what someone with a wealth of life experience can bring to their business.

Besides that, you're not children! Everyone in this room is an adult!"
Coralei studiously avoids looking at Caroline.
"I'm reasonably sure even the youngest of you is probably older than I was when I got going, and look where I am now. No sense giving up before you've even had a go is there?"

Ylva just stares at the trainwreck taking place around the Champion and sighs. After taking a sip of the - admittedly mediocre - punch, she turns back to Theo.

"Did you actually have a question for me, or were you just stating the obvious?"

Theo raises a finger, opens their mouth, closes their mouth, puts the crook of said finger to said mouth, turns fruitlessly to Ivy for a smart way to respond, raises a finger, raises both eyebrows, and turns back to Ylva with a rather defeated grin.

"Alright, Eva-"

The look Theo gets has no actual animosity, per se, but Theo visibly flinches. "Uh-"

Theo is suffering, while Ylva just fucking stands there, patiently waiting for Theo's sorry ass to remember her name.

"Ava?? Yana???" Theo turns enough toward Ivy so Ylva can't see their face, and mouths "help".

"Oh I'm sure everyone is just nervous or excited!" Ivy says with a grin, the forced smile and dark circles under her eyes combining to make her look just a touch off kilter. "They'll probably warm up and cool down respectively once we've all gotten to uh...know each other, yeah?"

Her cheery speculation comes, of course, mere moments before Lucian's conspiratorial inquiries and Caroline's impassioned defense. Her grin falters for a moment, but she puts it back on along with a nervous little laugh. "It, um, it's Ylva." she murmurs to Theo before scurrying off, careful not to step on the scattered papers from Caroline's book.

Grabbing Nando's arm, she pulls him away from Lucien, looking as nervous as someone trying to separate a seviper and a zangoose.

"H-hi! I um...I...liked...your song? Yes! I liked your song! Um, my name's Ivy. You were...." she trails off for a moment, trying to recall what name Coralie had said when he'd gone up to retrieve his trainer's license. "Um, Maurry, right?"

Theo doesn't get a chance to thank Ivy, instead sucking air through their teeth and worrying (probably unduly) that their nervous grin is being misinterpreted as a fear-rictus as they turn back to Ylva.

"Ylva. Yes. Ok. Sorry. Please don't murder me in my sleep."

Theo laughs a little bit, because that was totally a joke and jokes are things you laugh at, right? Right. Suddenly very keen to make sure Ylva doesn't think too hard about murdering Theo in their sleep (even as a joke, hahahahahahahaoh god), Theo changes the subject to something they hope is more mutually enjoyable.

"So, Ylva. Ylva. How was your trip here? Must've been a long ride if you were by yourself, I thought the Fort normally sends t-"

Theo gets that sharp feeling, right in the stomach, like when they've thrown on one layer less than was appropriate for hugging a prickly little poisonous ball of centipede. It starts with a sharp prick of warning, followed by a few cognitive jumps successfully cleared, and then a graceless and very urgent scramble to grab an Antidote.

"You know what, just- forget what I just said! Ylva! Where are you most looking forward to visiting on this pilgrimage?"