Baymod Helpers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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bopbay2025-11-10 10:43 am
bayhelpers) wrote in bopbay2025-11-10 10:43 am
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006 ⟡ NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE
⋆✩ test drive 06 ✩⋆
The day begins like any other.
Routines, eventful scenes, and boring errands — no matter what you were in the middle of, there's a moment where everything begins to feel wrong. A searing pain tears through your body, so intense that it feels like every nerve has been struck at once. Muscles spasm, joints scream in protest, and as you double over, you find yourself clawing or clinging at anything within your reach. As your attempts to maintain composure fail you, your bones begin to twist with an agonizing force, the pain rising in a crescendo until it becomes unbearable to even breathe. Then, as quickly as it began, everything stops.
For a single, terrifying moment, there's nothing. No sight, no sound, no touch, no taste, no smell — just the weight of nothingness swallowing you whole. The absence of sensation might even be worse than the pain, leaving you adrift in a void you can't escape. Hopelessness threatens every fiber of your existence, and try as you might to fight it, your darkest thoughts begin to surface, flooding your mind in an onslaught of suffocating feelings and ideas.
In the darkness, you hear a voice.
It's faint, a gentle flashing of something warm along the edges of your mind, like sunlight itself. It's a voice, but you can't identify who or what it comes from, how it sounds, or what it means — still, you know it's directed at you. Something tugs at your heart, a powerful ache that throbs once and ripples outwards. You can feel the aches again, like fresh sores throughout your body. You feel off, like something isn't quite right, like you're not where you should be, or who you should be. But the voice continues, whispered just beyond your understanding. The sound is warm like hope, and it wraps around you, distant yet intent, before you wake up.
i. arrivals
OUT OF THE FRYING TUBES…
The first thing you notice is the heat. It’s dry and sweltering, a pressuring thing that surrounds you in darkness. Opening your eyes reveals that it’s not just the temperature doing this however - no, all around you is a near total darkness, broken only by the soft glow of red gold that creeps in from distant cracks.
And perhaps, in some circumstances, yourself.
The tunnels here appear to be lava tubes, long faded from primary use by the caldera nearby. While the occasional pool of hot molten rock can be spotted throughout this impressive maze, it never seems difficult to avoid. In fact, the deeper you go, the more evidence you find that someone - or at least, something - even lived here!
Staying here is probably not going to feel comfortable however. Not unless you’re Fire or Ground type. Escaping the tunnels is only half the battle, too, as the exits lead to a desolate plain of ash and dust. The caldera of Furnace Mountain is hot indeed, and it seems that’s precisely where you wound up! But perhaps, another kind Pokemon will appear to help lead you to somewhere safer?
And perhaps, in some circumstances, yourself.
The tunnels here appear to be lava tubes, long faded from primary use by the caldera nearby. While the occasional pool of hot molten rock can be spotted throughout this impressive maze, it never seems difficult to avoid. In fact, the deeper you go, the more evidence you find that someone - or at least, something - even lived here!
Staying here is probably not going to feel comfortable however. Not unless you’re Fire or Ground type. Escaping the tunnels is only half the battle, too, as the exits lead to a desolate plain of ash and dust. The caldera of Furnace Mountain is hot indeed, and it seems that’s precisely where you wound up! But perhaps, another kind Pokemon will appear to help lead you to somewhere safer?
ii. BRISK BREEZES
KNOCK ON SUDOWOODO
For the most part Pokemon are encouraged to return to Bottlecap Bay as quickly as possible - rather, to be brought there for the first time. The Guilds are all located there after all, and it will be far easier to settle Pokemon into their new homes if the Leaders are able to meet them in person. With the winter season right around the corner, everyone is trying to avoid travelling unnecessarily; they held that mayoral vote for a reason after all!
While much of the food stores have been prepared, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do either. In addition to putting together warm materials for beds, or cutting and preserving the last of the autumn harvest, a good number of Pokemon have started their own efforts to prepare the guilds, and gladly accept extra help from these newcomers! In Cheri Guild, everyone gathers to build stronger, more weather resistant rooftops for the otherwise open tree houses, with some even gathering large leaves to make curtain walls - the more that the wind can be kept out, the warmer they will be, and starting a fire in these buildings is ill advised.
In Oran in the meantime, an enterprising Tinkaton has started work on a bilge pump system - an incredibly relieved Mightyena is happily telling everyone who will listen that if they’re lucky, they won’t have to worry about flooding until the seasons warm up again.
Even the Lum Berry Guild has their hands on something, even if it isn’t anything quite as impressive; given the weather preparations they haven’t had time to put together any special escape rooms this time, but they’re at least willing to send out less busy members to give tours of the town.
Though of course, the quality of the tours vary, and it’s hardly as if the new Pokemon can offer to help tour themselves!
…Right?
While much of the food stores have been prepared, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do either. In addition to putting together warm materials for beds, or cutting and preserving the last of the autumn harvest, a good number of Pokemon have started their own efforts to prepare the guilds, and gladly accept extra help from these newcomers! In Cheri Guild, everyone gathers to build stronger, more weather resistant rooftops for the otherwise open tree houses, with some even gathering large leaves to make curtain walls - the more that the wind can be kept out, the warmer they will be, and starting a fire in these buildings is ill advised.
In Oran in the meantime, an enterprising Tinkaton has started work on a bilge pump system - an incredibly relieved Mightyena is happily telling everyone who will listen that if they’re lucky, they won’t have to worry about flooding until the seasons warm up again.
Even the Lum Berry Guild has their hands on something, even if it isn’t anything quite as impressive; given the weather preparations they haven’t had time to put together any special escape rooms this time, but they’re at least willing to send out less busy members to give tours of the town.
Though of course, the quality of the tours vary, and it’s hardly as if the new Pokemon can offer to help tour themselves!
…Right?
iii. FREEZE THE DAY
WINTER HAS COME
It happens without warning. A sudden chilled wind from the coast - a darkening of the skies that would normally entail thunder, and rainshowers. Rather than the anticipated storm however, weather experts at Lum are quick to sound the alarm: a blizzard is here!
With just moments to spare, all Pokemon residents - and even some visiting wild Pokemon, who are confused but grateful all the same - are herded into the nearest shelter. Houses, Guilds, even storefronts become temporary homes as the snow blasts through the streets, freezing anything in its path. While some Pokemon might find the conditions tolerable, the leaders of each region are enacting a No Exceptions policy to the rule, even making use of Pokemon abilities to locate anyone who might be in danger.
With the snow storm in full force, it’s on the various guilds to find methods to pass the time. The winter storm can’t last forever, but if it does they’ve fortunately prepared. At this point in the year, there was very little food that would need to be sourced from outside each building - each and every location has at least a small connection to the storage tunnels below, and the Oran berries even have access to sheltered portions of the ocean. Even the newly planted Winter Gardens are well protected, with one of Lurantis’ first orders of business being to put enough fencework up that they could roof things in if need be.
Entertainment will be the true struggle, and each Guild Leader has their own method at the problem - as does Lurantis, back in Skull Town. And fortunately for those with Grumpig Pearls, it’s possible to make your own fun as well!
Unless you actually enjoy the ice breakers, of course.
With just moments to spare, all Pokemon residents - and even some visiting wild Pokemon, who are confused but grateful all the same - are herded into the nearest shelter. Houses, Guilds, even storefronts become temporary homes as the snow blasts through the streets, freezing anything in its path. While some Pokemon might find the conditions tolerable, the leaders of each region are enacting a No Exceptions policy to the rule, even making use of Pokemon abilities to locate anyone who might be in danger.
With the snow storm in full force, it’s on the various guilds to find methods to pass the time. The winter storm can’t last forever, but if it does they’ve fortunately prepared. At this point in the year, there was very little food that would need to be sourced from outside each building - each and every location has at least a small connection to the storage tunnels below, and the Oran berries even have access to sheltered portions of the ocean. Even the newly planted Winter Gardens are well protected, with one of Lurantis’ first orders of business being to put enough fencework up that they could roof things in if need be.
Entertainment will be the true struggle, and each Guild Leader has their own method at the problem - as does Lurantis, back in Skull Town. And fortunately for those with Grumpig Pearls, it’s possible to make your own fun as well!
Unless you actually enjoy the ice breakers, of course.
IT’S SNOW MUCH FUN!
When the winds and snows of the blizzard settle down, Bottlecap Bay and Skull Town wake to a beautifully sunny landscape covered in white. It’s just warm enough during the day that snows start to melt, and trees drip water and handfuls of snow onto everyone’s heads. (Sometimes entire heaps come sliding off at once - if you’re a smaller Pokemon, careful you don’t get buried!) The ground cover is far too deep to disappear completely, though, so the first order of business everywhere is digging walkways through the snow.
Once that’s done and everyone’s had a breath of fresh air, though, Pokemon find ways to take out all the pent up energy of being snowed in! It’s very easy to find a snowball fight, or join in on building a fort - or both! Or if all that’s a bit too frivolous for you… there’s rumors going around of a giant snowbeast that’s been glimpsed around the borders of Bottlecap Bay, ducking in and out of forest. Descriptions aren’t consistent, so it might just be gossip that’s been blown out of proportion, but maybe it’s worth investigating?
Over in Skull Town, Lurantis flits to and fro frantically, visibly stressed. The harvest was practically done, so very little has actually gone wrong. However, it’s very early in the year for such a bad snowstorm, and she has terrible feelings about what it might mean for this winter. Pokemon who don’t seem busy with something else might get pointed toward collecting more firewood, or better insulating Skull Town buildings, or other winter preparation tasks.
On one particular day, one of the mountains around Crowncork Valley experiences an avalanche - snow shears off near the top and tumbles down in a giant sheet, piling up at the bottom and invading the very edge of the valley. It’s an impressive sight - nearly all Pokemon in town pause and watch in awe before returning to their tasks. Good thing that wasn’t closer! Hopefully no one was out there…
✩ OOC NOTES.
⟡ TDM CWS: Skeletal Remains, Hard Wintering conditions, Pokemon Typical Violence
⟡ TDMs are game canon and act as events for the month they are posted.
⟡ New characters can link to their top level beneath the NEWBIE DIRECTORY
⟡ All new arrivals are not assigned to any one guild. However, they may assume themselves to share rooms within any one of them during the course of the TDM.
⟡ Remember that at least one thread for your application must come from the TDM! There is no comment minimum, but we will be looking for engagement, as well as for players and characters who take the time to delve into things like character thoughts, emotions, morality, and other deep themes. Take this time to engage with the setting as you would in game!
⟡ As a reminder, reserves and applications are permanently opened. Please see their respective pages for details on processing time.
⟡ Rough Timing on the prompts are as follows: the Blizzard will begin on November 20th, and lasts until the 23rd for a full three days. The avalanche in Crowncork occurs on November 27th. Thank goodness it didn’t happen to the town somehow right?
⟡ Have any questions related to the TDM? Ask here! If your question is more general for the game, please make sure to direct it to the FAQ page instead. Thank you, and happy threading!
⟡ TDMs are game canon and act as events for the month they are posted.
⟡ New characters can link to their top level beneath the NEWBIE DIRECTORY
⟡ All new arrivals are not assigned to any one guild. However, they may assume themselves to share rooms within any one of them during the course of the TDM.
⟡ Remember that at least one thread for your application must come from the TDM! There is no comment minimum, but we will be looking for engagement, as well as for players and characters who take the time to delve into things like character thoughts, emotions, morality, and other deep themes. Take this time to engage with the setting as you would in game!
⟡ As a reminder, reserves and applications are permanently opened. Please see their respective pages for details on processing time.
⟡ Rough Timing on the prompts are as follows: the Blizzard will begin on November 20th, and lasts until the 23rd for a full three days. The avalanche in Crowncork occurs on November 27th. Thank goodness it didn’t happen to the town somehow right?
⟡ Have any questions related to the TDM? Ask here! If your question is more general for the game, please make sure to direct it to the FAQ page instead. Thank you, and happy threading!
no subject
If Froslass was happy, then so was Noelle. So why did she say that she could be however Shoka liked? Which part was really Noelle stripped of all fear and hesitation—the kiss that might not have even been a kiss, or the promise that it was only a joke done thoughtlessly, without her own consent? Was Shoka something she wanted and felt she could take?
The thought sends a shiver down the spine she doesn't have, ending with a sharp pang of guilt. She can't just—assume things like that, and now is so far from the time to let her mind slip into the gutter.
All the worst parts of herself...]
Which were...?
[Ruthlessness, Shoka guesses, along with that same lack of inhibitions—but what she knows about Noelle's "dream" is that she had ice powers, apparently killed, and was accompanied by someone dressed as a knight. Shoka wonders if there was a Froslass present then, too.]
no subject
... I guess that's how they were able to make me do those things. My... friend, I mean. It had been a long time since I saw them, and I thought they wanted the best for me, and I wanted to make them happy. [When Froslass showed up, it felt like filling in a role that she had missed.]
And even though I was horrified and felt really disgusting, I... I kind of liked it. Feeling strong. Taking things I wanted. And... being useful to someone. Important to someone. I don't know.
no subject
... I get it. Gives you a real rush, huh? Getting to feel actually kind of powerful for once...
[Shoka is no people pleaser, but she understands it in her own way. She felt it the first time she learned to use her psychs, effortlessly tearing down Noise and fellow Player alike; she felt it when she was granted her Reaper wings. She felt it with Froslass, too: power and security and belonging. Adored and looked after; never alone again.
But even then she was still a weakling, letting Shiba string her along and only finding the strength to stand up to him after it was already too late for Shinjuku, already too late for Ayano. She hadn't been able to stand up to Froslass for Noelle's sake either.]
Listen, Noelle... I'm not gonna blame you for something someone else started—even if it was screwed-up, and even if you liked parts of it anyway. And... I don't blame you for getting messed up about it after Froslass showed up. Especially not when I could've handled things better...
[If she couldn't do anything about Froslass, she could have at least heard the truths in what Noelle told her and listened without losing her composure, but that was apparently too much to ask of herself.]
It just—pissed me off. Hearing you talk like that. Asking how I wanted you to be... And then when you disappeared... [It scared her, more accurately—made her panicked, desperate, and sick with guilt.] You don't have to go through all that to be important. Not to your actual friends. And not to me.
no subject
['Not to me'. Is it wrong that still makes her heart skip a beat? She isn't sure if it's right to want to be loved so badly. If Shoka told her to kill someone, would she do it?]
... I'm sorry it ticked you off. And I'm sorry I ran away. I really am.
no subject
[She can't even bring herself to blame Froslass either. They all became her playthings once she arrived and Shoka couldn't bear the thought of confronting her in any way, but her influence over them all seemed to be mostly passive. Volatile as she was, her presence alone was enough to change the Pokémon around her. She was the queen of those who died in cold, lonely places, and that made her Shoka's queen, too.
Shoka really doesn't feel like she saved Noelle at all. She pulled her from the water, brought her to the clinic, and then what? Noelle just disappeared again, and Shoka's desperation to find her nearly made her lose Bigby and Siffrin, too.]
You don't have to be sorry, or try to make me feel better or whatever, okay? Like I said, I don't blame you. I just—wanted to say this.
I could've at least listened. If I'd just figured out that parts of what you were saying were actually you, I might've... reacted differently. [Or maybe not. Would she really have panicked less knowing that it really was Noelle that was that close to her, calling her cute, leaning in for...] I don't know.
no subject
... Shoka. Um. There's one more thing I have to say sorry for. I lied to you. [She looks away bashfully. Is it Shoka's imagination, or is her nose kind of red...? And the flower on the Deerling's head seems to smell more like sweet peppermint than usual.]
It... it was all actually me. I mean, it's like I said. Froslass was encouraging me to please her and bringing out the worst in me. But she never took control of my body or anything.
[Her ears twitch. Her voice comes out quiet.] ... the, um. The kiss was really me. [Then, all at once:] I'mreallysorryohmygosh-- I know I totally forced it on you and it was super gross of me and you probably don't even like girls that way haha--
no subject
(Something smells good. She smells good.)
There's the panic, right on cue. But this time... This time it really is Noelle, isn't it? This time Shoka won't recoil. This time she'll say something.]
H—huh?
[Try again, Shoka.]
S-so... the girl who wasn't getting your hints...
will anyone save her...
[Breathe, Noelle.]
B-but. Yeah. It was, um. You.
doomed. no hope for her even at all
Suddenly, it feels like she's back in the Northern Forest again; her Pokémon form is shadow and vapor, lacking any flesh or blood, but she can still feel a phantom heart hammering in her chest. She feels a swoop of happiness—then a plummet of pure terror. She must have tricked Noelle into saying those things. Cheated, somehow, no better than any of the other people who made Noelle think she had to do anything to keep them happy.
But they were just talking about how she didn't have to do that now, weren't they? Noelle believed her, didn't she? The least Shoka can do now is believe her, too, when she said that it was all actually her.
A clipped, disbelieving laugh escapes Shoka. Her jagged, skeletal hands find their way up to her disguise's ears and yank sharply down.]
... You—said she was cute. You don't even know what I look like under here...
no subject
You were just... really nice to me when I got here. Even after I froze you a little bit. You protected me during that fight with Zubat. You gave me a scarf when we were in the cold. [She's still wearing it now.] But I also... really liked it when you would scare me, fahaha. Because... I knew you wouldn't actually hurt me. And it meant that I could get you back later. And it's, like, really cool. I don't know what your human form looked like, but your form right now is so cool. Though I bet you were cute before, too.
[This is the wrong time. Noelle wants to kick herself.]
... um. There's... no need to say anything about it now, by the way. It's... a lot. I know that we were just talking about killing, and your sister, and all that stuff. [She's on the same wavelength.] But, when I think about you... I don't know. I feel warm, even when it's cold like this, or even when all this awful stuff is happening. I feel... normal. In a way I haven't in a while.
1/2
But that's not giving Noelle enough credit. Noelle, who likes being scared; Noelle, who doesn't need anyone to tell her what she wants. As she continues on, Shoka slowly works up the courage to look at her again, wide-eyed and staring, a little dazzled. This might as well be the opposite of what she was expecting from wandering out here. Is this even allowed? Really happening?
Her first impulse is to ruin it. Say something cruel, like she's good at, and chase Noelle off before she can realize the mistake she's made and leave on her own for good. But the thought of losing Noelle again is so much worse than any other fear. After everything that's been said, Shoka's not sure it would even work on her, anyway.
If it's Noelle, maybe it would be okay to show her. Not right now. But sometime. Maybe.]
no subject
... I... really missed hearing you ramble like that...
[Not about her, of course (that's making her feel like she's going to burn into dust, even if she likes it, too), but anything. The more silence Noelle's voice occupies, the better.]
I'm not really girlfriend material. I don't even know how—anything would work, with us like this. That part's so far from normal... [What do couples do? Hold hands? Noelle doesn't have those. Cuddle? Shoka has no body heat to speak of. Kiss? With what lips? But—] But I... feel it, too...
no subject
Once she's acclimated to the feeling, she just begins to process Shoka's words. She missed her motormouth? 'Girlfriend'? She feels it, too????]
I-- I, um. I... [Gah! Say something, Noelle!] I... wouldn't mind. Figuring it out. With you.
[She can't really hold her hand in return, and Shoka may have even tried to pull the tendril away upon seeing Noelle's reaction. All she can do is lean in just a little again, maybe bump her cheek against Shoka's disguise head.]
1/2
Oh—crap, s-sorry! [She tugs down on her ears again to conceal the blush that can't physically be there but absolutely is in spirit.] They just—do their own thing sometimes...
[I wouldn't mind figuring it out, says Noelle. With you. Relief slackens Shoka's grip then, even if she still seems to find it difficult to look directly at Noelle, jittery and overwhelmed.]
W—well, you're in luck. 'Cause I wouldn't mind it either...
no subject
You're way too cute, Noelle. Your freckles, and your dorky laugh... Sorry it took me so long to say it. I just didn't want to— [Drag her down. She exhales a short sigh.] You know...
[That, and she's never been the best at talking things out. As much as she's tried to practice, she has a long, not-so-proud history of waiting too long to say things. She's still scared (Scared? She's definitely losing her touch...), but now—
Now, she gathers her courage and looks right at Noelle, eyes on hers.]
But... it's you I wanna figure things out with. If I ever make you feel that way again... Like you have to change who you are just to make me happy or whatever, then—I want you to tell me. Tell me off and leave, okay?
1/2
2/2
... and... yeah. Okay. I'll... I'll try. For you.
[That makes it sound like it's only for Shoka's sake, not her own... but that's as good as she can promise right now.]
no subject
As Noelle gives her answer, Shoka considers it, then nods.]
Okay. That works...
[It's asking a lot of Noelle, she knows—especially right now—but it's a step. She had to make sure Noelle heard it.]
And yeah... I really think it's cute. [Borrowing Noelle's wording, she adds,] Feels very you. I wanna hear you laugh like that all the time...
no subject