001. Audio / Action for New Bark Town

[nullorvoid]

[AUDIO]

[Well, it seems one of your new arrivals is having a bit of a moment with the smartphone, as the first thing to hit the network from this device is...well, thirty seconds of static, followed by noise that sounds like someone's moving downstairs, and then some really muffled conversation in the background that's not particularly useful in terms of figuring out what's going on before the sound cuts off and switches to text instead.]

[TEXT]

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[AUDIO]

[Okay. Okay, let's try that again. It seems something has been worked out, though there's still no video; whoever this is, it seems they're feeling both irritable and to-the-point today.]

...Is anyone going to help that woman, or is she just a part of the experience?

[...Yeah. Good afternoon to all of you, too.]


[ACTION FOR NEW BARK]

[While that certainly was a thing that just happened, it doesn't seem Ginti is going to be helping Mom himself; that said, he doesn't seem to know what to do with himself as it is. For the time being he's content to lean up against the side of Mom's place, near the door, looking like he's not altogether sure what to do with himself but trying to give off the impression that he does anyway. He's dressed like your average twentysomething bartender, all monochromatic with sleeves rolled up and collar open underneath his vest like he is just about out of damns to give; the effect is dampened a little by the bright blue seahorse poking its head out of the apron at his waist, about where the tips should be if he were on the job.

At the very least Prima is quite unlike her trainer in that she's perfectly happy to be here, as is evidenced by the light trilling noises she makes every time anyone happens to go by; Ginti is making no effort to hide the eyerolling he's doing every time she does it, but he doesn't seem too inclined to stop her, either.

Really, he looks like he's waiting for something, though god only knows what; it could be anything from basic instructions to the immediate end of the world for all he seems to care.]

Comments

[video]

[paladinlost]

Considering she's been the same for nearly five years, you could indeed consider her part of the experience. But have no fear; her neighbors appear to give her support as needed.

[Not that she often needs it, as far as he can tell.]

[nullorvoid]

Good to know someone does, I guess. If that's just her thing, then it is; she's not the first person I've met that's weird like that.

[...]

So you've been here for five, from the sound of it. That's the longest I've heard of yet.

[paladinlost]

She... Some of us believe she must have lost a child, and taken that loss poorly.

[That, or she's a particularly dedicated actress.]

It's been closer to four years and two thirds in my case, but I do recall that the earliest arrivals were around three months before my own. Some are even still present.

[nullorvoid]

Maybe. Either that or it's her job; I wouldn't be surprised either way.

[He is...surprisingly blasé about that notion either way.]

I'm going to guess you don't have any more answers than the rest of them?

[paladinlost]

That depends on the sort of answers you seek. I cannot tell you why or how we came here, but I can tell you about our... history in this world, so to speak. Along with the ways it has changed over the years, perhaps due to our presence.

[nullorvoid]

[...Huh.]

See, that actually sounds interesting. Go on, then.

[paladinlost]

For one, you must have seen the ferry that leaves New Bark Town for Pallet Town in Kanto. What few remember is that it did not exist until years after we first arrived. Even the train from Goldenrod to Saffron did not run for over a year. ...In fact, from what I can remember of those earliest days, even mentions of Kanto were nearly unheard of. Almost as if they were trying to hide the existence of a whole region from us, somehow.

[nullorvoid]

...You ever get a reason for why they'd want to do that? The whole region-hiding thing...that doesn't make much sense, even for a place as out of it as this one seems to be.

[paladinlost]

Never. And now that we can visit Kanto as we wish, they've stopped bothering to hide the existence of other regions such as Kalos. It's almost as if they now trust us with what should be basic knowledge for tourists.

[nullorvoid]

[He'll just...kind of mull that over for a moment.]

I guess it makes sense. If a bunch of strange people just showed up claiming to have no idea how they got here, and they were doing it in large numbers, there's a good reason to trust them less than your average tourist, don't you think?

[paladinlost]

Considering how many we were at the time and how some acted upon their arrival, I can understand being wary. But hiding such a large aspect of their world for so long must have taken an enormous amount of resources, along with the cooperation of each local in Johto.

[nullorvoid]

You find it that hard to believe, that they could have arranged something like that?

[paladinlost]

I am. Even if everyone was willing to play along, with or without receiving compensation, the chances of a slip of the tongue would have been too high.

[nullorvoid]

It'd be difficult, yeah, but not impossible. Depends on what their rules were like before we got here.

I'm not unfamiliar with things like that - you'd be surprised what you can convince a good amount of people to do at the same time if the stakes are high enough. But then, I don't know how many people are here, either.

[paladinlost]

Many. More than there are in my whole kingdom, I'd say. Even mind control could not suffice against so many, and I doubt anyone has the means to pay them all off.