Video 001 | New Bark Town

[dangerousidol]

[The video feed turns on to show a little fox cat like creature looking expectantly upwards. Its tail swishes back and forth like how a puppy would wag its tail when happy. This earns the little creature a soft giggle from the person behind the camera.]

You're so cute, Himiko!

[Himiko chirps in response, and the camera is panned around to show a young girl now with curly brown pigtails.]

Hey there~! If anyone is watching this, I'm Rise Kujikawa!

[The camera is put down and the girl sits down on the ground, Himiko climbing into her lap. She looks less happy now. Her backdrop is the small town of New Bark.]

So, what is this place, really? I woke up in a strange house, and a crazy lady who called herself my mom shoved a bag in my hand and told me 'Good luck!'. She didn't even let me ask any questions!

[She now pats Himiko's head, and the small creature enjoys this immensely.]

This old man gave me what he called a Pokéball, goes on and on about this 'world of Pokémon', calls me a trainer, and then sends me off. The trainer manual is confusing, and this whole thing seems like some little kids video game or TV show! I know that Himiko is an Eevee because this really loud voice from my Gear told me what she is. It's called a PokéDex, right? Can I go home when I catch them all?

[She's pouting now. Himiko does the same. She seems to enjoy copying her trainer.]

Oh! And this music is really annoying. How do you turn it off?!

Comments

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[fortunatetoaster]

[ you know, despite all her fevered wishing to the contrary, Labrys has stopped really believing that her friends would ever show up here. There's so many other people showing up month after month, and her friends hadn't been among them.

so when she goes scrolling through the network and sees Rise, there's a split second where her heart jumps into her throat... but it can't be her Rise, right? There's no way.

... or so she thinks, anyway. ]

Wh-- h--hey, Rise-chan! Wh--when the heck did you get here? S'anyone else with ya?

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[dangerousidol]

[Rise sees this new face pop up on her Gear, and she's all sort of confused. Does she know this girl? Was this a fan of hers?]

Huh? Do you have the right person?

[If this is a fan, she feels really horrible now. But her fans call her Risette... Rise-chan isn't that abnormal, though.]

Oh! Are you a fan of mine? I'm sorry if I forgot about you! It's totally not intentional! So you're from my world, too?

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[fortunatetoaster]

A... fan?

[ her voice and expression slowly register confusion and... hurt? Her lips are pursed in a thin line and she looks like she's lost for words.

This stings. She's not really that forgettable, is she? ]

Uh -- w--well, I guess that ain't wrong, but-- uh--

M'Labrys. Remember? From the... [ a pause. ] The TV thing.

[dangerousidol]

[Ah... she's upset this girl. Rise feels bad now. She was usually so good about remembering people.]

Labrys? Were you in a promotional shoot with me? I've done so many of those, it's all a bit of a blur.

[She's trying to think of what she could have possible been in that this Labrys girl would have done as well.]

Were you a backup dancer for one of my shows?

[fortunatetoaster]

Uh... n--not exactly... um...

[ she deson't just want to blurt out the whole PERSONA deal on the network -- partly for Rise's benefit and mostly because she doesn't want to spew her involvement with her own TV world fun all over a public channel like the network. ]

A different kind of TV thing.

[ she lifts a hand and after a moment of hesitation, makes a gesture, as if to mime adjusting a pair of glasses. ]

... y'get it now...?

[capitald]

[Hmm... Well, this is odd. By the looks of the girl's location, not to mention her description, it seems this girl's wound up somewhere completely different. A small, scenic town. Quaint, really. Ringabel's almost envious, but then, he's still trying to assess his current whereabouts.

Thankfully, he's already tested the 'Gear on another's post, so while the whole concept of video capture is still incredibly foreign to him, he'll spare her some awkward questions.

Though the girl is quite lovely for her age. A bit too young for him to feel comfortable flirting with, but that won't stop him from acting like a proper gentleman. Especially given her obvious distress.

So, here we have one young man seated at what looks like a desk, currently fiddling with a Pokéball. He greets Rise with a smile and a wave.]

Seems the locals have no manners at all! Really, what were they thinking, thrusting a charming young lady like you head-first into uncharted territory?

If it's any consolation, you're not alone. I've only just woken up myself.

[After all, this place certainly isn't Grandship's Inn.]

[dangerousidol]

[Oh! Another reply! She didn't expect any so soon! But this guy was definitely not in the same place she was. Was he in an office building?

He does get some points for calling her charming~]

It's not all bad! I've got Himiko with me~ Though... it's still isn't very nice of these people to just expect me to go on the road all alone...

[She gives him more of a pout. She's very good at using her appeal to get things out of people, like information.]

It wasn't a very nice wake up. She practically threw me out of bed! Who does that?

[capitald]

[Thrown out of bed? Forced to travel all alone? Ringabel's expression sours at the mere thought, and his hand clamps around the little Pokéball before he sets it back down on the table.]

The least she could have done was provided you with breakfast first. Don't they know how to properly treat a lady?

[He sighs.]

You have my sincerest apologies, miss Rise. If I were in your position, I'd be insulted by their carelessness.

[dangerousidol]

[Rise is actually surprised this guy was easy to manipulate. Must be one of those 'proper gentlemen' type. She goes from a pout to looking near tears.]

It's okay... I wasn't expecting much to be honest. I just want to know why I have to be here!

[She sniffles and gives him a very soft smile.]

But I'm really happy that someone as nice as you is being so kind to me!

text;

[freshprints]

[Kujikawa, hmm? The bubbly enthusiasm is...pretty much the antithesis of Kirigiri's usual demeanor, but you know what, she's been having a bad time of it lately and maybe hitting up someone chatty for a little while this afternoon isn't...such a bad thing. It can't hurt, at least, and it'll give her something to do.

BE SOCIAL OR ELSE, KYOUKO. COME ON NOW.]

Eevees are an interesting species, as Pokemon go. They're somewhat...unique, evolutionarily speaking.

[...Okay, that was terrible but guess what, she tried.]

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[dangerousidol]

[That's neat! Rise didn't know you could send texts with this! This technology was way better than her cellphone back home.]

She's so cute, isn't she?

[Unique? Was that bad? She frowns. Was there something wrong with Himiko? She knows evolution can throw some curve balls, but Himiko was so friendly and cute...]

What do you mean? Is there something wrong with her? Do I have to take her to a doctor or something?

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[freshprints]

No, I doubt anything is wrong with her. From the way she appeared on your video, she's both happy and healthy.

[Speaking as someone who lives in a house with 30+ Eeveelutions, she's got a given amount of...expertise in what a happy one looks like.]

The function you used to identify her as an Eevee, your PokeDex — take a minute to call it up again on your Gear, and this time when you point and click it at her, listen to the extended species information. Doing that with unfamiliar Pokemon will tell you a useful fact about them, along with just their species name.

Re: text

[dangerousidol]

[She reads the text and does what it suggested. Wow, Himiko could become a number of different forms. That was pretty cool in Rise's opinion.]

Himiko has a lot she can be. Though I think I'll leave that up to her. Are there pictures for the other ones? Mine's only got Eevee in it. Do I have to travel to find others?

[She can't help but feel a bit excited about this. She always loves finding out about new things. It's like being a detective all over again!]

[Video]

[babel_hacker]

[Huh, it's her! However, Atsuro haven't really talk to her that much, so he just vaguely recognise her as someone who used to be here.]

Yep, it's called a PokeDex and it'll be one of your most useful tools as a trainer. You can't turn off the music, unfortunately, just change it whenever you go to another area or turn on the radio music.

And I don't think anyone actually confirmed that. There's a lot of Pokemon out here and I don't think we have enough space for all of them for each trainer.

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[dangerousidol]

[There's a lot of boys answering her post. Rise's not one to complain about something like that. He is being rather nice.]

You can't turn the music off? But how can anyone handle this?

Really? It's so much like a kids game, I thought that was part of it... There's a lot of them, so I guess it would be weird to try and catch them all.

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[babel_hacker]

After a while, you just...sort of tune it out? At least grow used to them to the point where it's like a everyday fact of life.

[He barely notice it after being in one area for a while.]

Right. And some of the trainers might be the same, but I'm already got my hands full taking care of my own Pokemon. Some trainers might take it easy by catching or hatching a few Pokemon at a time.

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[dangerousidol]

Can't I change it like you do with an mp3 player?

[She misses JPop. And other things.]

Hatch them? So I can breed a whole bunch of new Eevee's?

[video]

[peach_boy]

[Oh, a cute new girl! Momo is inmediately pinged by it.]

You're in a whole different world! I know it might be hard to believe, but I swear it's completely true!

[video]

[dangerousidol]

[Rise blinks. This guy at least looks close to her age! And he is cute.]

I figured as much! This doesn't look like anywhere in Japan I've been to!

[video]

[peach_boy]

[At the mention of his homeland, Momo looks even more excited.]

Oh, I'm from Japan too!

[video]

[dangerousidol]

[Someone who knows Japan! Rise smiles brightly now.]

Really? I'm from a tiny little town called Inaba. There's not a lot there, but I still love it.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Rise has already undoubtedly talked to a few total weirdos who she's never met before who claim to know her-- or even claim to be her friend.]

[Heather is not going to add to that number... but her heart still skips a major beat when that familiar, chipper idol voice comes from her speakers.]

[Rise??]</sub>

... 'Fraid I got bad news on the music front.

The good news is that after awhile you'll barely even notice it anymore.

_{[She can already tell from the content of the video post that this Rise... does not remember being here before. So... she'll just respond like she would to any newcomer.]}

[Video]

[dangerousidol]

But this music is so annoying! It sounds like a little kids tv show!

[She's going to keep pouting. It was times like this that she wishes she had an iPod or something to listen to. At least then she could get other idols music, and some popular JPop.]

It's going to be hard to learn to ignore it. Can everyone hear this?

[Video]

[foolishwren]

Yeah. Like I said, eventually you just kinda tune it out.

I'll show you a trick, though.

_{[She leans out of the frame briefly, a muffled "Hey Henry, lemme borrow your 'Gear for a sec" somewhat audible. Then she settles back into place, holding up a PokeGear in front of the screen and gesturing to a little icon with a musical note on it.]}

See this?

You can listen to the radio with this thing.

Can't promise that the stuff on there isn't equally annoying, or that it doesn't mostly consist of people yakking about Pokemon, but it's good if you wanna drown out the background noise for awhile.

[Video]

[dangerousidol]

It's got a radio? Wow!

[She'll try this out as soon as she's done with this conversation. She's hoping her luck holds and there is something worth listening to on here.]

But if I want an mp3 player, is there a place to buy one of those? And music to go on it?