Intro post - Winding up in Ultern

[red_berry]

[STARDUST BEACH]

It's a windy day in Ohritori Island. Not stormy, but the waves are high. And on Stardust Beach, a man is standing alone, watching the waves. He's tall and thin as a beanpole, wearing an oversized plain white T-shirt that makes him look even thinner, like the wind could make him fall over any moment now. But he stands there without falling, motionless. It's a bit of an eerie sight.

If you approach him, he looks at you, hair blowing in his face and covering most of it.

"...Not Alola," is how he greets you.

[POKEMON CENTER]

Later, you can find Red sitting at the cafe in the Pokemon Center, hair still a complete mess from the wind, typing on his phone and ignoring a cooling cup of tea front of him. There's a slightly grumpy Pikachu, also with wind-frazzled fur, sitting on his table and nibbling on a rainbow Pokebean.

But if you're not at the Pokemon Center, you might instead see a post on Pippi, the Ulternian version of Twitter.

[ONLINE]

Red Sr. (@)scarlet_ellipsis posted:
[Image of a Pikachu standing in heavy wind with his face scrunched up. The caption over it says "it fucken WIMDY"]
he hates this weather!! [several laughing emojis]

(ooc: This is Gold's player, bringing in a different character from the same AU! Come say hi to Red, either in person or online! He's a lot easier to talk to online though XD)

Comments

[red_berry]

Oh, he's being followed. Well, he doesn't really mind going together either.

"Green," he replies, then pauses. "...Looking for Green."

[radleyslittleevie]

"Okay!" Evie says happily. "Where should we look?"

[red_berry]

"...This way."

Red points in the direction of the city. He figures if Green's somewhere here, it'd probably be somewhere with a lot of people.

[radleyslittleevie]

"The city is fun!" Evie trots along happily, leading the way.

[red_berry]

"Nice," Red says with a completely flat voice. He means it genuinely though. It's nice that the city he's going to is fun for an Eevee. Maybe his Pokemon will like it too.

Now that he thinks about it, he should bring out one of his Pokemon. Maybe Pika would get along with Evie. And so, Red brings out one of his Pokeballs.

"Pika," he says, and a Pikachu appears out of the Pokeball next to Evie.

"(Oh, uh, hi!)" Pika says in Pikachu language, a bit surprised to suddenly be brought out, and waves awkwardly at Evie.

[radleyslittleevie]

Evie is delighted!

"Hi!" she exclaims. "Do you like it here?"

[red_berry]

Pika is kind of thrown off by the question.

"(Uh, it's-)" and a sudden burst of stronger wind blows sand into Pika's face, and he closes his eyes, spitting sand out once the wind slows down again. "(Buh! Bleh!)" Then he wipes his eyes and carefully opens them again. "(...It's a bit windy! Not, um, a big fan of that.)"

Red snaps some photos while that's happening.

[radleyslittleevie]

"Oh. Yeah, that's not fun! Sand here doesn't taste good even though it looks so pretty!" Evie says.

[red_berry]

"(Well, I doubt - bleh - sand anywhere else tastes better,)" Pika says with a bit of an awkward laugh, still spitting a bit of sand out. "(So far, I can't say I like it here! Er, where is "here" anyway?)"

Red's still taking pictures, both of the Pokemon and the scenery around him.

[radleyslittleevie]

"That's true! It's really nice here in other ways, though!" Evie says. "It's Ultern!"

[red_berry]

Ultern... Red, who's been listening to the half of the conversation he can understand, makes a mental note of that. And opens his notes app and makes an actual note too. He gets the impression from Evie's words that it's the name of the place they're in. Maybe the beach, maybe the city, maybe the region. Either way, probably important to remember.

"(Ultern, okay. Well, I'll take your word for it!)" Pika says. Then his ears droop a bit. "(Uh, but... Could we go look for Green somewhere indoors? At least until the wind's not so, uh, windy anymore.)"

[radleyslittleevie]

"Oh sure!" Evie says. "We're going to town, so we can go in a store or something!"

[red_berry]

"(Good! Well... which store should we go in? Any you like?)" Pika asks.

[radleyslittleevie]

"I like food stores!" Evie says. "But craft stores are really nice too! Everything is so pretty!"

[red_berry]

"(Ah, that sounds nice... Well... How about you choose which one we should go to? We'll follow your lead!)" Pika says. He really just wants to get out of the wind as fast as possible.

[radleyslittleevie]

"Okay!" Evie happily leads them to the nearest store, which ends up being a toy store. She looks at everything in awe. "So fun...."

[red_berry]

"(Oh, this is... pretty cute, huh?)" Pika says awkwardly, then mutters under his breath, quiet enough that Evie probably doesn't hear, "(I guess this is where we'd end up, following a kid...)" Still, it's nice being indoors! And there are a lot of interesting things to look at, so he takes a look around.

Red's been just following along after Pika and Evie, and pauses at the entrance, looking around, before just stepping in. He's not sure why he's here, and he probably sticks out like a sore thumb, but maybe he could get souvenirs for some of the kids he knows back home.

[radleyslittleevie]

[Evie is older than she looks, but still has a childlike attitude. Mostly, though, she came in here since it was the first building they came to.

She walks around looking at Pokemon figures and plushies and little couches and chairs for toddlers. They're the right size for her too, and she hops up on one.]

So soft!

[red_berry]

Pika wasn't sure how old Evie really is, since she seemed a bit older than she acts. But now, Pika's decided she probably is a kid after all. But hey, since he's hanging out with a kid, he might as well let himself play like a kid too! So he hops onto a little chair too.

"(They are soft!)" Pika says, delighted. Though he glances around, hoping they won't get scolded by a shopkeeper or anything.

Red, meanwhile, goes to look at Pokemon plushies. Hmm, a Weedle, a Charmander... Oh, some Pokemon he's never seen before, too. He picks up an Ulternian Sunkern plushie and turns it around in his hands, examining it.

[radleyslittleevie]

[The staff doesn't seem to mind, as long as they behave themselves.

Evie looks around and sees arcade style video games with joysticks.]

Oh, that looks fun!

[She hops over and onto the machine, trying to figure out the controls.]

[red_berry]

"(Oh, I've played those before!)" Pika says, following Evie. The big arcade machines with just a few big buttons are so much easier to use than the kind with small controllers made for human hands. Pika presses the buttons and turns the joystick, and manages a bit of gameplay! It's a simple puzzle game about matching same-colored bubbles to make them burst.

[radleyslittleevie]

[Evie plays her game too. It seems to be a space travel game blasting asteroids.]

"This is so fun!"

[People gather to watch the Pokemon in fascination. They're playing games and the Eevee is talking?!]

[red_berry]

"(Haha, yeah! Kind of difficult though... Oh!)" Pika exclaims in surprise as he gets a game over. "(Darn... Huh?)" He looks around, noticing all the people around them, and gets shy. "(Ah, ahahaha... h-hello!)" he says, waving at the audience awkwardly, one ear drooping.

Meanwhile, Red's just ignoring the crowd gathered in the other corner of the shop and looking through toys leisurely, carrying a Sunkern plushie under his arm. He's going to buy it as a souvenir.

[radleyslittleevie]

Evie gets a Game Over too. "Aww...." She looks to the crowd. "Hi!"

[red_berry]

Pika is really bad with being the center of the attention.

"(Ah, erm... Wh-where did Red go? H-hey, Evie, do you see him anywhere?)" Pika asks, frantically looking around. The crowd's thick enough you can barely see Red's head sticking out from the opposite side of the store, looking at Beyblades and such.