FIRST CURSE: video/action

[cawsforalarm]

public gear video - location unclear

Oh, hey! It did a thing!

[Two faces pop up on the screen, against a beautiful blue sky; the framing makes it clear that the Gear is on the ground, and neither of the two figures are making any attempt to frame their shot whatsoever. One is a young man who is smiling at his incredible achievement of turning on a Pokegear; the other is a rather exasperated-looking Vulpix. The latter reaches a paw out, puts it on the screen, and begins chittering to the human… who actually seems to understand.]

When the red light is on, it’s recording… okay, got it.

[The Vulpix squeaks again.]

“Say something”? Alright… [The young man rearranges his position in front of the Gear a little bit. One can see that he appears to be wearing purple-and-tan robes with really creepy eye designs on the collar.] Well, people in there, my name’s Henry and I’m from the country of Plegia! My interests include dark magic, nature walks, explosions, murders, explosions with murders— what?

[Henry looks down. The Vulpix can be heard screeching angrily, probably telling him to stop before he gets himself turned in to the police on day one. There is a short scuffle for control of the PokéGear; flashes of amber fur and claws can be seen, the audio becomes nothing but extremely staticky wooshes, and eventually the feed cuts out.]

action - goldenrod rocket hq

[Good morning, Goldenrod Rocket Base. How’s your day been so far? Woke up, stretched a bit, eaten breakfast? Picked up the cup of dirty water that passes for coffee in this joint? That’s good. Everything you’ve just done is normal, and in here, normalcy is a valuable commodity.]

[A commodity that won’t last for much longer, because Henry the dark mage has just woken up in the building.]

[This morning, yet another Grunt seems to have joined the ranks. It’s a young man who can’t be much older than twenty, with snow-white hair and a standard issue uniform. ...Well, “standard issue” except for the part where he has some kind of cape thrown over it. (Uniform regulations? What uniform regulations?) By his side, a Vulpix is walking and grumbling bitterly, and if one looks closely they might see a Murkrow making herself comfortable in the Grunt’s collar.]

[He’s also going around touching things. The walls, the furniture, his Pokemon, your face…]

Ooh, your skin feels nice! It’s super soft!

[Look, just bear with him. He hasn’t had a working sense of touch for quite a few years.]

Comments

[freecssgonwild]

Right? I'm setting off soon to start collecting my own!

[cawsforalarm]

Cool, cool! I gotta wait a little longer, but maybe if she'll have me I can go along with Cynthia when she does...

...ah, Cynthia's my daughter, by the way!

[He looks no older than twenty.]

1/2.

[freecssgonwild]

[ ... Huh. Oh-- ]

[freecssgonwild]

I'd like to meet her, too, then. [ One of his teachers was about 50 or so and she looked her age. This kind of things doesn't surprise him... ]

[cawsforalarm]

[That wasn't the response he was expecting.]

Hmm? You aren't surprised?

[freecssgonwild]

Uh-uh. I know someone that's the same as you.

[cawsforalarm]

What do you mean by that?

Did that person have their kid come back from the future too, or...?

[freecssgonwild]

[ If she comes here and she sees this, he'll be punished for sure... His smile is a little more wary. ]

She looks as old as me, but she's lived for longer than we have.

[cawsforalarm]

Oh, gotcha! Yeah, I don't have that, but my friend Nowi does. She's a couple thousand years old but she looks like she's fourteen.

[freecssgonwild]

Is that another type of magic?

[cawsforalarm]

Nah, she's just a dragon.

[freecssgonwild]

--A dragon? Really?! That's really cool!

[cawsforalarm]

Nya ha! Yeah, I think she's pretty neat myself.

[freecssgonwild]

Are they common in your world? I've always wanted to meet one!

[cawsforalarm]

Nah, they're pretty rare. I didn't think I'd ever meet one, myself!

[freecssgonwild]

They're rare in my world, too. Though, I bet my Dad's gotten to meet one. [ He doesn't know. He should've asked when he got to meet him... ]

But, I've heard there's types of dragon Pokemon.

[cawsforalarm]

[Quietly ignoring the bit about dads...]

Man, it seems like there's Pokémon for everything.

[freecssgonwild]

It's amazing, isn't it? There's even a keychain Pokemon.

[cawsforalarm]

Mmm... I saw that! On this weird thing, that is. [He points to the Pokégear, which... doesn't actually work because Henry doesn't get this concept of "lenses" yet.]

[freecssgonwild]

Huh? It's not on. [ His was always on... ]

[cawsforalarm]

I saw people talking about 'em?

[freecssgonwild]

They didn't tell you what it was when you first got here?

[cawsforalarm]

What, Pokémon, or that specific one with the keys...?

[Now Henry's all confused. Which admittedly is not at all hard to do.]

[freecssgonwild]

No, about the Pokedevice!

[cawsforalarm]

Ohh~! Well, Embers over here is showing me how to use this thing.

[He reaches offscreen and pulls a Vulpix into focus. She doesn't seem very happy to be there.]

Let go of me, cretin!