Set in the original region of Arciel, Legends Rising is a route-inspired, but not strictly route-based, Pokemon roleplay. Pick a faction, pick a class, and strike out into the wild to take on the League, master Contest coordination, research the mysteries of Pokemon and Arciel, and much, much more. Will you be a classic trainer? A criminal? A farmer? Choose your destiny on Legends Rising.
Three optional icebreaker questions are offered: 1. If you had one extra hour of free time a day, how would you use it? 2. Besides war and diplomacy, what would be the best way for countries to settle disputes? 3. What is one article of clothing that someone could wear that would make you walk out on a date with them?
Feel free to discuss any of these or use your own icebreaker!
This was where everything officially began. After her date with one of her best friends, it was time to find the potential love of her life! Walking to her assigned seat Arietta brought a small compact mirror up to her face, tilting her head this way and that to ensure she looked stunning, that she'd be able to snatch hearts so that she didn't have to overthink her words. This was all supposed to come naturally to her, she hadn't dated in... nearing a year now, it was always time to try something, something that make her feel less lonely, something that wasn't like going clubbing just to wake up alone in a strangers apartment and sneaking home to avoid paparazzi, something that wasn't being around her exe-
Out the corner of her compact mirror she saw him- Koray. Koray. Ko-"Ohhhh fucks sake." She closed the mirror with a snap, brows furrowing. Of course he was here, offf course, she couldn't catch a break, first Gabe and Shea, Gabe and Shea wh- and- and now. You're fine. This is your night. They are Exes, crosses, the past, you, Arietta, are moving on to your future!
Moving forward with the delicate clacking of her heels and brushing out the black lace of her dress she put on her best smile, took in as much air as possible and ventured forth, toards the future, towards... she stopped at her table, squinting at the card in her hand for a moment-
Towards Keone! Eyes moved up to the table to find a seafoamed hair cutie, and a giggle left her lips. Ah, this'll be fun! Yeah! Just ignore the exes, keep yourself steady, and rock your show. "Keone?" The girl slid into her chair as elegantly as she could, brushing off her skirt once more before crossing one leg over the other, hoping she didn't look intimidated by something that should be so familiar, whether it be surrounded by her exes or otherwise. Eyes seemed to take in the boy before her with a flick before attempting to meet his eye, "You don't look like the type of person who does this often, unless you're some sort of secret mega-flirt?"
She leaned forward then, a twinkle in her eye, "If so, i'd love to challenge that title~ Mega-flirt sounds kinda cool." She wasn't flirting, not yet. She had to get comfortable first. Leaned back then she brother her arms up and leaned slightly into them, soft smile on her features. "Kidding! I'm Arietta, great to meet you, really."
[attr="class","heart2text"] Keone was feeling pretty good after his first date! He wasn't really sure how well it went AS a "date", but he'd made a fun new friend and was looking forward to hanging out with Marshall some time. Maybe this event would go well after all.
Upon realizing he was at the same table, he decided to hit the refreshments table between rounds and grab a quick bite. He debated getting a drink, too, but decided against it. A few of these heart-shaped cookies were fine~
As he headed back, he saw his date had arrived. Oh... It was a girl around his age. Somehow that dampened his enthusiasm a little. Or that felt a little mean to think, maybe it just? made him nervous? He'd never been very popular with female peers. But he forced a faint smile anyway when she called his name.
"Wh--what??" Secret mega flirt? Keone couldn't help but be amused by the sheer audacity of the claim, and let out a confused laugh even as a bit of heat rose to his face. "I uh... don't think it'd be much of a challenge," he joked(?) back.
Okay good it WAS a joke. "Nice to meet you too." ...Now what? Um. Oh right, icebreakers. "Uh, if you had one extra hour in the day, how would you wanna spend it?"
Oh! She'd caught her date off-guard with the question, which caused her to smile a little more. Perfect, an impression was already made, whether than be good or bad. it gave her something to work off of! His uncertain laugh and awkwardness were kinda charming, to be honest! A hand moved to sweep through her hair and she giggled once more. "Of course, of course!" Her head tilted slightly as he jumped immediately to the icebreakers, ah, so it was gonna be like this? That was fine!
An extra hour in the day? Well.. you could do a bunch of things with that! "It depends when the extra hour is, doesn't it?" She brought her lips together in thought, a hand resting to gently press against the skin there. "If it was early in the morning, i'd definitely use it to sleep more- anytime after twelve in the afternoon and i'd use it for an extra hour of dance practice- there would be so much more time for memorization! And at night? An extra hour clubbing or just... enjoying the nightlife." She shifted then, eyes sparkling with interest. "Ah- sorry I should have mentioned before going into it- i'm a dancer and a choreographer... and technically a dance teacher for a bunch of little kiddos? I specialize in a whole lot of dancing, basically- which means..."
Her hand moved to her cheek, and with an innocent hum followed up with, "I'm super flexible.'" Before leaving little time for that to hang, immediately flipping to a cheerful: "So! What about you? An extra hour in the day, whenever you want!"
[attr="class","fadedkeobanner"]But the more I try to move on, the more I feel alone.
[attr="class","fadedkeotext"]
"Huh? Ah, yeah I guess so." He hadn't even thought about what time the extra hour would be. He assumed the question was more like, 'what would you like to spend more time doing', but using it to extend whatever activities usually happened around the same time made lots of sense.
As she went on with her answers, he nodded a bit, then looked a little surprised when she mentioned clubbing, but ultimately smiled when she said she taught kids. "That's awesome~"
...Annnnd then she ruined it with that innuendo, bringing a fiercely awkward blush to the boy's face. O-oh. Okay... Fortunately, she moved on, even if it was a few seconds later than he would've liked. Swallowing his embarrassment, he gave it some thought. "Umm.."
Hm. "Extra time to groom and care for my Pokemon would be nice, I suppose... Or... if all that sort of stuff was done, I guess I'd probably... spend it on hobbies? I like... reading comics, and making models. Especially model mechas, heh." He rubbed the back of his neck, amber eye falling to the side. "Sorry, that's probably kinda boring, huh." He wished he could say he had a neat job like her.
The blush didn’t go past Arietta, who simply tilted her head ever so slightly. Either he wasn’t comfortable with the implication of anything orrr he was flustered, or embarrassed, or both! Whatever the case, she’d totally have to put more thought into what she was saying. As he answered his own response Arietta grinned, shaking her head a few times at his last words.
“Nuh uh, that’s not boring at all!” Hands moved to gently tug through her ponytail, to adjust it slightly before allowing them to fall on the table. “I actually find that kinda sweet! More time to focus on the little things! Pokemon care is like, super important, they’re such good friends and deserve all the low- oh, and hobbies are fun! That’s basically just saying you want more time to have fun, and really, doesn’t everybody?” There was a pause though, the girl blinking dumbly for a moment or two, “...Uhm...But… what are mechs?”
Model mechs… she knew what craft models were, like, clay and stuff, but she’d never heard mech used before? Mechs… Mecca! That’s such a good makeup line, did he… model the makeup… boxes? That didn’t sound right...Her painted lips pursed for a moment, more in confusion then anything. “Annnyway! My point still stands! Not boring, and actually kinda cute.” Another blink, “...But… i’m gonna imagine 'meks' isn’t the makeup brand… what is it? Being able to model it sounds cool!”
[attr="class","fadedkeobanner"]But the more I try to move on, the more I feel alone.
[attr="class","fadedkeotext"]
Hm? She didn't think it was boring? O-oh! When she put it that way... Yeah, it sounded pretty nice. His expression softened, pleased with this turn of events. Her words about Pokemon and having fun were all really nice and-- and...
A small piece of Keone died inside as she asked what "mechs" were. He... She... It wasn't technically wrong to say "mechs" but he'd said "mechas" even and... Oh Arceus. Some little voice in the back of his brain warned, 'Give up now, Keo, she's not the one.' The thought was so overdramatic he couldn't help but chuckle softly despite everything.
"N-no, not makeup." He did experiment a little with eyeliner occasionally but not too often really, and didn't find it worth mentioning. "Mecha are like... giant robots in anime, you know? Like Gundams or in Neon Genesis Evangelion or..." These words probably didn't mean much to her huh. "Usually they're giant robot suits people pilot. But I build like, tiny replicas of them. I like all the intricate parts, like a really tough 3D puzzle kinda, heh."
Arietta batted her eyes inquisitively, not makeup? Well, yeah you can’t really build makeup, though she totally went to a store and made her own lipgloss once, it even smelled like razzberries! Wait, that kinda proved her point wrong… errr… ah! She was getting sidetracked. As Keone explained her lips parted slightly, oh! She didn’t watch anime, she’d seen react images used on some of her pikitweet posts of big eyed cartoon girls in puffy skirts who… were probably idols? But that’s the extent of the brunette’s exposure to it. But still! She could respect it, passions were what made people interesting... and... maybe if she showed interest... the strager before her could open up and- aaah!! She had a plan!
“…Sooo… like transformers, not the car-bit but like when they have bodies, but instead of the transformers being, like… sentient, they’re like big suits with people in them with controls and stuff?” She at least knew what transformers were! As limited as her young childhood was she’d seen the show on prime-time TV before switching almost immediately over to some cliché teen drama show, but still! “And then rebuilding them all bitty like…” She squinted, trying to visualise, and her index and forefinger brought themselves together as her thoughts slowly pieced together, attempting to imagine these things.
“That actually sounds so cool! I’m not like the most arty person so I have total respect for all that… but like, would you use superglue? Or are you like… finding tiny gears and stuff?” Her head tilted a little, eyebrows furrowing once more. “Sorry, I’m probably a little frustrating, I’ve never been exposed to that sort of stuff before so I’m soooorta curious!” Curious and trying her hardest to ignore the presence of someone familiar a few tables away.
[attr="class","fadedkeobanner"]But the more I try to move on, the more I feel alone.
[attr="class","fadedkeotext"]
Transformers? His eye lit up. "Yeah, like that! Exactly like that! You totally got it~ Though some of the designs are more sleek and less boxy, but that varies so yeah." Oh he was so glad she had some frame of reference for this, and more that she still didn't find it dumb or boring.
As she asked about how to put them together, and particularly at the suggestion of tiny gears, Keone snorted slightly into a laugh. "S-sorry," he quickly said. "I don't mean to laugh at you or anything, that was just..." His eye averted and a light blush came to his face as he admitted, "Kinda cute..." He hoped she didn't read too much into that, but did hope she'd accept it as a compliment too. "B-but yeah, it's mostly super glue and/or pieces that slot or snap together. But sometimes it's best to put a little tiiiiny bit of glue on either way unless the piece is made to move, just to make sure it stays." It always sucked when he was almost done and something came out of place! "Anyway, I wouldn't call it too artsy. Sometimes I paint them too but mostly just flat colors if so, no detail work or anything. I've never considered myself to have too much of an artistic eye, though I like watching other people do pretty stuff, like coordinating~ But yeah, I like models because they're... formulaic I guess. You just follow the instructions and it makes something cool~"
Realizing their time was about half up, though, he tried offering her the floor. "B-but uh, hearing me ramble about that for the next few minutes probably wouldn't be a very good date, huh?" He let out a small laugh. Ooh though... "I guess I could find a picture of one of my recent models while you talk if you wanna see one?" He pulled out his phone, but would wait for her to say yes before unlocking it. "In the meantime uh. You said you like dancing and... clubbing?" The latter was honestly a bit of a red flag, but he ignored it for how nice she seemed otherwise. "Wanna tell me more about that, or maybe about some other hobby?"
Sleek and.... less boxy? She'd have to do chuugling or something, but that sounded cool! Although, the girl blinked momentarily in surprise at Keone's slight laughter, hands falling to the table and clasping. The smile on her face seemed to grow slightly, now that was a positive reaction! Maybe she could like, try get him to do that more! Totally! One of the most attractive things about people was their laughter- though, given the day Arietta could literally find whatever somebody did attractive if she gave it .5 seconds of thought... but thats besides the point! She let out her own soft giggle as Keone made it clear he wasn't laughing at her, but rather that he found her explanation... cute?
...Ah! Arietta's features brightened slightly more, as if that was even possible, and she shrugged her shoulders back slightly. "No! Don't apologize! I'm glad it's because you find me cute and not because i'm like- totally clueless! Thankk you~" That he wasn;t laughting at her? That he found her cute? Who could tell at this point. As he went into further explaining she tried her best to give him her undivided attention, this was like, a speed-date after all! And hobbies were super important. "So, like a ro- mech puzzle?" Hooboi. Arietta was awful at puzzles. "That really does sound so cool, though! It's like, the exact reason people like lego, just because you're following instructions to make something and not going all out doesn't make it any less important!" She'd hold off telling him for now about her coordinating, unless she wanted to go into a full ramble about it... maybe if idol work came up she could mention it! But Keone seemed super passionate. "It's like, I make my own dance costumes for comps but i'm not a fashion expert or anything, it's just following patterns and using mums machine, so I totally get what you're saying, i'd love to see some of what you've done!"
She blinked in momentarily confusion at his slight stutter and attempt at changing the subject. "I mean, hearing people ramble about their passions makes for a fun date, as long as you can talk too- shows they have personality and interests~" And, throwing his compliment back at him, a tiny smug smile graced her features as she shifted to unclasp her hands and instead use a palm to prop up her chin. "I find it super attractive in a person, sooo..." And then she let out another laugh, shaking her head once more. "Oh! But, if we are gettng into it..."
..."I've been dancing since I was like, a teen? And ebfore that I did gymnastics! I just... it's so freeing in a way, and an amazing way to exend energy, I could dance for hours, getting lost in the music, teaching others how to, once you know the basics dancing is really as simple as breathing- and clubbing..." Is a great way to forget her sorrows, get drunk and make terrible mistakes- and an excuse to not have to be at home around her parents for a night. She brought her lips together for a moment, befoe quickly picking up her pace and brushing over it "Is just liiike a social version of that! Oh- but I don't just dance, y'know? I'm actually in a group with a few of my friends- do you know what idols are?"