Day 273-277 | OPEN | Your Pokemans, let you show me them!

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Who: Rob, anyone
Open: Open
When: Day 273-277
Where: Anywhere
What: Various things Rob's doing over these five days.
Format: Will match
Warnings: Nerdy. Gross. Smelly.

[A - Day 275 and on]

Okay it's not a Pokédex per se, but when Rob got the Monument to make him one of Colin's datapads he made a few modifications, one of which was adding the data and functions of the various Pokédexes in the Bastion. Of course the seen/caught counts are at zero, a detail which needs to be remedied.

So do you have a Pokémon with you? Or six? Or a house full? Rob's going to approach you, still wearing his rabbit-skull necklace, holding a green and black datapad in his hand.

"Hey, um, can I see your Pokémon for a sec?"

[B - The whole time]

The Disciple had set aside the hide, brain, and tendons from the mammoth she had killed, and Paar had some mammoth hides sitting around as well, so it was about time that someone did something with them. Rob, having already tanned the hide of the rabbit he'd killed (and used it to make the cord of the necklace he's still wearing), has decided to see if he can't tan mammoth hide as well. Paar's stack has gone rock-hard and/or started rotting since nothing's been done to preserve them, and while there are still uses for them Rob's not prioritizing them. That leaves the hide of the Disciple's kill.

Brain-tanning is a labor-intensive process that takes several days, made even longer by the sheer size and weight of a mammoth hide. The steps are roughly as follows:

1) Soak the hide to clean and soften it. For this stage Rob's just putting it in the river and weighing it down with rocks for a bit.

2) Scrape the inner side of the hide to remove every last scrap of flesh and fat. Rob has immediately given up on keeping the hide in one piece for this and has cut it into more manageable pieces, which he's stretching on wooden frames to make scraping easier and get a good end result.

3) Let the hide dry taut on the stretcher.

4) Soak the hide in a mild acid to loosen the hair. ...Urine. It's a tub of urine. Rob's not any happier about this than anyone else will be when they learn this. Ignorance is bliss.

5) Rinse the hide, soak it again, and then wring it out until it's just damp dry. Wet mammoth hide is heavy. Rob has cobbled together a wooden stand to hold one end while he twists the hide, but any offered help here would be appreciated.

6) Boil the brain in water and mash it into a fine slurry, then rub thoroughly into both sides of the hide. Yes this is gross.

7) Roll the hide into a bundle, cover, and let sit for at least 24 hours. This would be break time normally, but there's so much hide to deal with that he still has stuff to do while he's waiting.

8) More scraping to remove the hair and any leftover bits of flesh and fat on both sides, while periodically removing the hide from the frame to stretch in all directions. He's rigged up a way to do this on his own, but assistance would be useful here too.

9) Loosely sew the hide into a cone using the tendons as thread and suspend over a fire made of rotten or green wood until the smoke color comes through to the outside, then turn inside-out and repeat.

10) Collapse in exhaustion. Congratulations, the hide is now leather!

As might be inferred from the above, this process is smelly, sweaty, and time-consuming. Rob will set himself up near the edge of the Bastion by the river to try and keep from tormenting everyone with this process, frequently referring to his datapad once he has it and letting it play nature documentaries or something to listen to while he's working. He's not going to ask anyone for help with this, but any offers of assistance will be appreciated.

[C - Somewhen]

Remember those hides that Paar had? Well before anything can be done with them they need to be softened by being soaked in water. The easiest way to do this is by leaving them in the river. The problem is that a bunch of them have kind of hardened together into a mammoth-hide boulder of sorts. So here Rob is, unable to lift it onto a cart and thus trying to roll it towards the river. Progress is slow. Help is appreciated.

[D - Day 275 and on]

For the times when Rob makes his appearances at the Distillery for meals, he has his pad next to him while he's eating and scrolling through documents, occasionally switching over to a notepad program and scrawling something down. A glance at what he's reading will reveal different things at different times, but pictures include such things as various Pokémon, trees, and gears.

And of course, throughout all this he's still going on a couple Skyway runs with Colin and morning swordfighting classes with Zuko. "Keeping busy" is perhaps a bit of an understatement right now.

Comments

[Day 275]

[gianthobo]

[Well, Eevee seems excited about Rob's presence, at least. She and AZ are walking back towards the daycare, and she yips excitedly and runs up to him. Pettings! Give pettings now, please.]

I think she says 'yes'.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob hasn't exactly sought out any of the Pokémon trainers before now despite his curiosity about how real-life Pokémon compare to their fictional counterparts. Mainly this is because of the whole "fictional" thing, which is a lot harder to ignore when dealing with actual people and not just animals. But he's determined to both fill up his "Seen" count and not let on that he's played a certain game series, so here goes nothing.

He's quite willing to give Eevee pettings; Eevee may not be among his top six Pokémon but they're still adorable. Less so when they evolve, but at least Leafeon is a good-looking option for them after several generations of boring dross. He makes sure to crouch in a way that doesn't result in a rabbit skull hitting her in the face and commences petting, soon switching to experimental behind-the-ear scritches as he holds up the pad with his free hand and taps the icon with his thumb.]

Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. A rare Pokémon that adapts to harsh environments by taking on different evolutionary forms. Thanks to its unstable genetic makeup, this special Pokémon conceals many different possible evolutions.

[His goal with Eevee has been completed, but he's not so heartless as to stop scritches so soon.]

She's pretty cute.

[gianthobo]

[A Pokedex? Interesting. That's useful...]

She is, and she knows it.

[Yay! She rolls over, presenting her belly. You may continue with the pettings. You have been accepted, Rob.]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob smiles.]

I can tell.

[Pettings of belly it is.]

Is she your only Pokémon? I'm trying to get all of the species in the Bastion registered on this.

[A small waggle of the pad. In terms of Pokédexes it's closest to Calem's, but only by virtue of it being a tablet with a screen between two sections of casing, in this case colored in green and black. It's much more reminiscent of one of Colin's datapads.]

[gianthobo]

No, she's not. Let's see... another one should be around here somewhere...

[He whistles, high and then low, and the answering cry of Flo~ette! comes as Floette floats over. She twirls her flower, and floats over to them.]

She'll likely look different from what your Pokedex pulls up. The flower she has is extinct in our world. I had the Monument grow some more here, though.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[That Floette. Rob blinks a few times and wipes some dust out of his eyes with a knuckle of his pad-holding hand while continuing to pet Eevee.]

So that's where that flower came from. I didn't think it was possible for a flower to be that black. Not much of a flower person myself, but [He smiles at Floette, though there's an inexplicable touch of sadness to the smile.] they're really neat.

[Help this is getting too emotional. He brings up the pad for a scan and a distraction.]

Floette, the Single Bloom Pokémon. It flutters around fields of flowers and cares for flowers that are starting to wilt. When the flowers of a well-tended flower bed bloom, it appears and celebrates with an elegant dance. It draws out the power of flowers to battle.

[Indeed, the image displayed is of a Floette with a red flower. Rob takes a momentary break from petting Eevee to tap some buttons, switching the default image for the Floette entry to be of Eternal Flower Floette.]

It's not really a Pokédex, it's one of Colin's pads, but when I had the Monument make me one I had it add the functions and data of all the different Pokédexes in the Bastion to it. It seemed like it'd be useful to have a copy of that information. Registering all the species in the Bastion'll give me a list of which ones to read about first.

[gianthobo]

I used to garden a lot when I was younger. My mother was a grass-type specialist. Though Floette isn't a grass type, she knew a lot about them, too.

[Floette frowns a little bit at Rob's hair, and floats over to try to push it back in place.]

... Floette likes taking care of people, too. But that's useful. I have a few others, but Eevee and Floette don't like being in a Pokeball.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob isn't exactly delighted about someone else touching his hair, but he doesn't shoo Floette away.]

I'm kind of surprised that any of them would be okay with being inside such a tiny thing, but I guess it must not be as strange an experience as it looks. Would I be able to see the others for a few moments?

[gianthobo]

No problem. ... Floette, stop that.

[She huffs a little and flies back over to AZ. AZ pulls out his Pokeballs and releases Golurk, Torkoal, and Sigilyph. All of them look at AZ, who gestures to Rob.]

He's just scanning you, it's fine.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

It'll only take a minute. I won't keep you out of your Pokéballs for too long.

[So saying, he begins the scans.]

Golurk, the Automaton Pokémon. It flies across the sky at Mach speeds. Removing the seal on its chest makes its internal energy go out of control. It is said that Golurk were ordered to protect people and Pokémon by the ancient people who made them.

It seems strange to think that a Pokémon can be created. My world isn't able to do something like that, at least not yet.

Torkoal, the Coal Pokémon. You find abandoned coal mines full of them. They dig tirelessly in search of coal. It burns coal inside its shell for energy. It blows out black soot if it is endangered.

Have you been able to find much coal here? I haven't been looking for anything like that, so I don't know how common it is.

Sigilyph, the Avianoid Pokémon. The guardians of an ancient city, they always fly the same route while keeping watch for invaders. They use their psychic power to attack enemies that invade their territory.

[Rob's opinion on Sigilyph: "This is even more bizarre in real life."]

I guess once a Sigilyph is captured it stops patrolling?

[gianthobo]

We haven't really found any coal, but there's a few Pokemon that are created in my world. It just sort of... happens sometimes, and no one's really sure of the exact process.

[Sigilyph flaps down to hover in front of Rob, inspecting him.]

It does. If you're in the area again it might start to do it once more if the behavior hasn't been trained out of it yet.

[Torkoal plods over to Eevee, sitting down. Eevee curls up next to him, basking in his warmth.]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[He avoids eye contact with Sigilyph. Which part is its face!?]

Does not having any coal have a negative effect on it?

[Rob holds a hand over Torkoal. That is warm. The ambient temperature is already too warm for him, but he can see why Eevee would like it.]

[gianthobo]

No, it's fine. He gets by, it's just his favorite food. We aren't around places with coal very often.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Mm. Well if I stumble across any, I'll make sure to bring you guys some.

[gianthobo]

It's appreciated.

[Eevee reaches out and pushes at Torkoal, who nudges her back, sending her sprawling in the grass. They both laugh a little, which makes AZ laugh too.]

They can be difficult to deal with sometimes... but I think it's worth it.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob chuckles softly and nods.]

We have two cats at home, but... Well, from what I've seen Pokémon are a lot more intelligent than the animals I'm used to. How does that work out for taking care of them?

[gianthobo]

It helps knowing what they like. It does make it more challenging, though, since they often know exactly what they can get away with and what they can't. And sometimes they break things when they don't like what's going on... but that hasn't happened with mine in a long while.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Hm. How do you handle temper tantrums thrown by something with super strength or the ability to breathe fire? Or generally convincing them to do things they'd rather not do?

[gianthobo]

Get out of the way, usually. Or have something on hand that can fight or talk it down. Fire extinguishers help.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[Rob gives a small amused snort.]

I guess it helps if you have other Pokémon already, doesn't it?

[gianthobo]

It does. Most households have at least one that's been in the family for a long time, and those who don't receive one from a Professor when they come of age generally have one caught for them by their family. It may not be a powerful one, or one from a particularly good breeding stock, but it's enough for people who don't travel around that much.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

[He nods. He'd never really thought about how this sort of thing would work for non-protagonists, and it's actually kind of interesting. Unfortunately he can't ask some of the questions he'd like to without tipping his hand.]

What if you don't already have a Pokémon? Like, if I end up coming across a Pokémon in the database I'd really like to have and get the Monument to make an egg of it, what would I need to know? I mean, I'm not sure if I'd be any good at taking care of something like a Pokémon on my own, and I'm not sure how I feel about getting the Monument to make something that'd kinda exist for the purpose of fighting, but I'm just kinda wondering what I'd be looking at getting into if I did?

[gianthobo]

Well... we always have some Pokemon food that we get from the Monument. And a lot of the Pokemon born here aren't trained like we would at home. There's less fighting for them.

And not everyone trains a Pokemon for fighting. Some people just enjoy having them around to be members of the family, or for having them as a sort of therapy pet.

Really, most of them can fend for themselves in a lot of ways. Remember that while a lot of them are domesticated, they're still wild creatures. They may appreciate you as someone who brings them food, but the biggest thing to remember is that they do have their own personalities and not all of them are friendly.

... I've known many Pokemon who simply prefer to act wild more than domesticated most of the time.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Hm. Sounds less like a pet and more like a roommate.

[gianthobo]

They can be, in some ways. It depends on their personality.