farawayplace | in a thousand voices, you can find your own

[Alice isn't even a follower of Sail. By all rights, she probably shouldn't be the one running this. But, well, sometimes you do miss home, and it's not like it's Helixmas or anything. So, once she calculated the date, she figured she might as well do something.

In Turnbloom City throughout the middle of February, you can find Alice near the Gateway Port... running a booth? She's apparently built one out of scrap wood, and while it looks rather slapdash, it reads, FEAST OF THE SAIL -- FORTUNES. She's also cobbled together an odd machine sitting on the booth with two buttons: Regular and Romance.

If you approach, she'll wave you over.]

Happy Feast of the Sail! Back home, it would generally be a priest of Sail running these, but I seem to be all we've got. Go ahead, print out your fortune! I've calibrated the machine to a wide variety of semi-random outputs, so you can select either your normal fortune or -- well, the love fortunes were popular back home, I suppose it's only natural since Sail's domains include shipping as well as the future, but I can't guarantee their accuracy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Red's staring at the two options again. Romance... he was never interested in those but if no one other than Alice was around, it'd be fine to give it a try right? It's not like she'd poke fun at him like Blue would back home.

Although before he went to press the button he looked back to Alice once again.]

Can I try another one?

Oh, sure, of course! This is all just for fun. I'm not sure if the RNG is going to give any accurate fortunes, but you can press the buttons as many times as you like.

Thanks.

["For fun" was enough of a reason for Red to press the button for romance with much gusto!!! Not that he was there to believe in the results--but maybe he could share his fortunes to Alice so they could get a laugh or two out of it.]

[And the RNG spits out Society's rules are too complicated -- if you like someone, just tell them! Alice laughs and shakes her head.]

I think that one got in there a lot. You never know with random generators!

[There's a chuckle from Red too. Like the normal fortune he'll pocket it, regardless.]

...still fun to see. Don't normally do fortunes back home.

Oh, you don't? What kinds of holidays do you have around this time? I know a few months back, you mentioned having Christmas instead of Helixmas.

[...? Oh, right. Everyone celebrated different things here. That's why Alice was asking!]

Back home...... it was Valentine's Day. Mom'd make chocolate for Blue and me.

So your world has him too, huh... He does seem to be one of those universal constants. I wouldn't tell him that, or he'd get a swelled head.

You too?

[Of course he grinned at Alice's comment about Blue. There's a nod of his head in understanding. Blue would definitely find some reason to brag about that! Not that Red minded--it just wasn't Blue otherwise.]

Mmm, it'll be our secret.

Uh-huh. Things got a little bit awkward a while back, but I think we worked it all out. It is one of those things that keeps coming up, though. There's always another person in your position, or mine, or any of the other Reds or not-Reds. I could go on at length about the patterns involved in multiversal iterations and the significance of common and uncommon deviations, but I think your eyes might start to glaze over. That's usually what happens.

....that's good, that it worked out.

[He's smiling at that, but when Alice mentioned about their positions (as a Pokemon Trainer, he assumes) were taken by others on top of differences in the worlds he gave a sheepish look.]

....you're real smart. ...'d take me a while to remember.

Only about certain things. I've always loved science and studying the way the world works, but my specialties are in Pokémon biology and PC systems. I only know as much about multiversal physics as I do because it keeps coming up in situations I get myself involved in. And you've got things you're really into, too.

[Her explanation made sense to Red. He's nodding to indicate that he was understanding her. He does however think for a moment about what he's good at--Pokemon battles?

Well, he had to get strong wanting to catch up with Blue that's for sure.]

...meeting Pokemon and battling, that's what I'm into.

Right! [She nods.] That makes sense. You're always taking note of new ones we meet, after all. And I'm going to guess... you're a really strong trainer, then!

[A really strong trainer? He wasn't sure if he was ~~thought the Kantonian Champ~~ but thinking about how many opponents he faced, and the fact he's beaten Blue before has him nod.]

I like a challenge--and so do my Pokemon. What about you?

Hmm... You could say so. We have been battling for a long time, after all. It sounds like we've got lots of great trainers here.

[At the sound of more trainers, Red's hyped up. He'll nod in excitement even.]

...wanna battle all of them!

[And he meant every last trainer who makes eye contact with him, really. That's just how Pokemon Trainers were, right? (He'll be in a shock to learn that no, it doesn't work like that here.)]

That's a good goal to have. I wonder... Well, it's a little early now, it's only February! But it would be nice to get a look at the battle scene in Ultern.

Mm!

[Red nodded. He was excited at the thought of battling other trainers. Now... adjusting his bag strap, and cap he smiled up to Alice.]

I should get going. ...thanks, Alice!

Not a problem! It's always good to see you.

[She waves and starts looking over the fortune machines as he leaves.]

in a thousand voices, you can find your own

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject