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.
Gaki Amabie & Sable Phoenyx are seated at the table.
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!
[attr="class","momoPBody"]After the last date had finished, Sable was feeling pretty good about coming out tonight. Now let's see, the next date is supposed to be... Gaki? Alright, now all that she had to do was find the table and start the date. Easy enough, except there were 19 tables and so many names. Table 16, right... oh! Here we are! It was actually pretty close to her last table. That was pretty convenient, and she was able to see the pretty Luvdisc sculpture up close and personal. It was really beautiful but ooh, those sweets looked much better right now.
I'll just get a couple of sweets for us and return. That sounded like a good plan to her at any reat. By the time Sable returned, it seemed the presumed Gaki was already at the table. "Nice to meet you, Gaki, is it? Did I say that right?" Sable asked, giving the girl a winning smile before handing a plate of chocolates and other sweets to her, "I'm Sable, nice to meet you~. Care for some? I have enough to share after all!"
Gaki didn't think she could handle another one of these dates- she already was certain her negative modifiers were piling up with every new cute girl spotted or every uncomfortable situation she thought up- the possibilities for systematic failure were endless, especially in an open world game like this. And, in getting caught up with a cute girl (and getting her pokecord in the process?!) she'd forgot the reason she was here- her mission. To watch out for her cousin, infiltrate their dates and ensure that whoever they were with treated them with respect, and were right for them- she'd throw hands if they weren't.
After leaving her partner she'd moved to fix her braids and adjust a few of her clips, she was almost starting to feel underdressed right now- had being in pastel overalls and a crop not been enough to blend in?! Perhaps she'd misjudged... but it was what instachu had recommended- and then... her makeup... and- it was fine! She circled the area for a second before her eyes found her table, currently void of anybody and she quickly sat herself down.
Right. Now- from where she was... where was her cousin? The girls eyes flicked around the premises, maybe they were far away!? Eh- uh- oh... oh... no- right infront of her actually was a very, very familiar head of white hair and she had to hide a yelp- oh pac-man she was going to fail her stealth check if Sid so much as turned around- uh- uhm- she'd.. she'd have to act casual then! Like she blended in so she wouldn't be caught by her cousin on her top secret mission-
As long as the girl wasn't cute she'd be able to focus, maybe make idle chat and go on her way! Yeah! Perfect! Phone flicked out, she'd all but intended to busy herself before her date got here, however her eyes flicked to the pokecord and she couldnt help but smile softly to herself... she'd managed this! A new friend- that she'd managed to raise maybe... an... affection point with?! Maybe??? A-
Gaki was distracted by the sound of a voice and looked up to see a... cute... a- cute... Gaki's programming short circuited for a moment and she could only blink at Sable. Great, a confliction to the storyline. Gaki could only blink at the girl once, twice before ducking her head- focus on the mission?! But- but the girl...
"....Yeah... it's Gaki... uh... hi." She barely managed to mumble her words out and instead pocketed her phone, she should have picked a character to portray for this event- it would have been so much better then... then- having to face these cute girls who she swore were only supposed to exist in video games in person. And- and- she was offering sweets?! Was she trying to raise Gaki's affection points??? The girl reached for a small chocolate, popping it in her mouth with a finger- she seemed to be avoiding eye contact with the girl across from her. "...t-thanks. nice to- er- meet you..."
[attr="class","momoPBody"]Awww, this girl was just adorable. The way Gaki stammered over her words at least assured Sable that she'd said the name correctly. At least she took some of the offered sweets but for some reason was trying to avoid eye contact? Looks like she had a shy one this time~. Time to try and make her relaxed, Elise seemed to like it when she'd used the glitter so... maybe that would help?
Setting the sweets down on the table, Sable took some of the extra red glitter she'd had and sprinkled some of it on Gaki's head. "There! My personal magic dust~, hopefully that helps you relax, Gaki. Oh! and one more thing!" Sable chimed, taking one of the roses from the table before sprinkling glitter on it, tucking it behind Gaki's ear, "There! Much better~. It really brings out your eyes," she continued before sitting across the table and popping one of the chocolates in her mouth. Mmmmm, those were good.
By the time Gaki had finished her chocolate and brought her gaze forward towards Sable she was thoroughly confused at the... red glitter- don't tell her the girl was about to- Gaki's eyes widened and a startled noise left her as red glitter was sprikled in her hair- her white hair- her white hair?! "O-Oi?!" Gaki spoke loud, partially confused and?? Her hair??? What?? Why was this cute girl?? Gaki was confused and slightly terrified, she was? She didn't even have an affection point yet, in her hair?! Everybody knows glitter doesn't ever come out, donkey-kong she'd used it for spells and some players had gotten super pissed.
Her... personal magic dust?! But- wh- Gaki was confused, hopefully it helps her relax?! Was this cute girl like a fairy, or a fae creature, trying to lull her into a false sense of security?! Gaki wasn't going to lower her defenses just like that, especially not for such a cute girl who just??? Gaki spent so long on her hair, but before she could even attempt to speak the girl moved forward and she was getting closer wait wait wait- wAIT-
Gaki was this close to walking away she couldn't deal with this. Holy fucking pac-man kill her right now. Was Sid seeing this?! No- no Sid was too busy with their date, and Gaki?! What did Gaki do?! There was- the girl had put a sparkly, glittery rose just, behind her ear, and ,it didn't have special abilities and effects, and if she even moved her head slightly little sprinkles of glitter fell off and onto her top.
"....Aesthetically... green doesn't go with red... it's cuter with softer colours." Gaki spoke slowly, still thoroughly stunned before moving up to take the rose away from behind her ear, eyes narrowing slightly. Help her somebody?! What the fuck?! She was confused, and this girl had some weird plot and... "Do you think things through before you do them?! I have... white hair that I spent super long on, and your magic dust spell gave negative effects rather than positive ones???" She didn't sound too mad yet but... why???
[attr="class","momoPBody"]Sable couldn't help but giggle at Gaki's reaction. Arceus, she was adorable but well, she did look quite the sight with a little bit of Valentine's flair added to the simple outfit. The initial reply had Sable sticking out their lower lip in an obvious pout. Awww, after all her "hard work," Gaki didn't even like the gesture! Oh well~.
As quickly as Sable seemed disappointed, a giggle escaped her thereafter as Gaki even tried to insult her. Wasn't that cute~. "What's the fun in that~?" Sable asked, smirking at that, "Besides, it's cute! Red and green do compliment each other after all. Besides, what sort of pixie would I be if I didn't share the love here and there, hmm~?" she continued, bopping Gaki's nose lightly before moving to sit down.
"Besides, this date just got started~. How about we lighten the mood by asking some of these questions, hmm~?" Sable mused, pointing to the card in the center of the table. Hmmm, the third one seemed interesting enough, "How about... what is one article of clothing that someone could wear that would make you walk out on a date with them~? Mmm, that's interesting~.."
Gaki just glared at the giggling girl, moving ti brush the glitter off her hair with distaste in her eyes, this wasn't funny. This wasn't funny at all. What was funny is this girl trying to jump affection points like it was no big deal, this wasn't the linear path Gaki was familiar with, this was weird, and she didn't like it. "It's not cute." She clicked her tongue. "If you can't tell, i'm wearing pastel. Pastel- even if they do 'go together' it still clashes with something- just because it's a date thing doesn't mean a free pass is given to splash strangers with glitter- do you find that cute? As a way to unlock some sort of special event?"
Pixie. Yeah, a stupid mischievous pixie. She shouldn't be pulling moves like this on a barbarian- was she right?Like- was she insane? Who programmed her like this- pac-man there was so much glitter! And- the girl booped her nose- noooo. Gaki didn't like this. Personal space invasion wasn't until sixth level!
But fine, whatever, she was asking about the questions now. That, that was supposed to be what they were doing, question asking things. This could give her a chance to check on Sid! Glancing over her shoulder, she was certain nothing sketchy was happy, Sid looked comfortable, right, okay- and if anybody tried putting moves on them she'd have something to say about it! Her secret mission!
Oh that... was a weird question... She couldn't think of something though, if somebody wanted to express themselves through clothes then she wouldn't be the one to judge them for it, she'd seen all sorts of stuff when LARPing after all. "If they wore nothing at all i'd press the escape button." She said it with a shrug, still not too happy with the girl infront of her- sure she was cute, but- but- she ruined her outfit! Glitter assault wasn't funny!
[attr="class","momoPBody"]As Gaki continued to insist that it wasn't cute, Sable had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. Yeah, yeah, alright. But even if Gaki was trying to be angry or stern, Sable just smiled back at her. "I know you're cute~," even if she was angry at her for the whole glitter thing. Elise at least had found it rather endearing but that was the last date. Ah well~. Maybe she could still turn this around.
As the question was asked, Sable couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up. Well, of course that would be something to want to escape from. "Well, I think anyone would want to escape from that situation~. Too bad there's no escape buttons in reality," Sable mused, propping her chin in her hand before thinking about what she would answer with. While she could call Gaki out on not answering the question, Sable opted not to poke the bear. Who knew that glitter would be such a horrible thing. Gaki clearly needed to have a little more fun and chill out.
"Hmm, I think I would skip out if my date was wearing a ridiculous outfit like a banana or one of those skin tight suits without a face. Fun for a joke, sure, but not someone I would want to associate with. Costumes are a different story though and carry a different kind of intrigue~," Sable mused, wondering absently what question she should ask next if that didn't start some sort of conversation.
She wasn't being taken seriously! A large pout rested on Gaki's face, she didn't like her aesthetics getting ruined. And-then- did the girl just call her cute?! Gah! Ack!?!??! Her face bloomed a bright shade of pink and a fist was brought down suddenly on the table. No! Noo- there wasn't a linear path to compliments yet, and this girl had gotten Gaki in the negatives rather than in the positives?! Why was- she was not cute! "S-Shut up!" Her voice came out a lot louder than intended and the white haired girl quickly pulled herself back, crossing her arms tighter across herself. "You're ignoring everything i'm saying! If you're going to jump thirty steps ahead which doesn't fit in at all with my own heart route- unless you're not even going for that and messing with me- at least do it without cheating!" Gaki was more flustered than mad, and it probably read all over her face.
Who did this NPC think she was?! You can't just call people cute- you can say that they're not cute because it's too much to even think of calling somebody cute at stage one, even if they are already cute, but it doesn't, at all, line up with how story progression is supposed to know! Gaki would know, she owns every single harvest moon and story of seasons game there is and has cycled through almost every bachelorette- all except for the harvest goddess but she'd get there!!
At Sable's next words Gaki sent a harsh glare her way- there was so escape buttons in reality- they're called door knobs. But she couldn't find the words to tell her, instead she just huffed and averted her gaze. Whatever. At least her anger let her spy on Sid more... they were with a pinkish haired stranger... hmmm... a cosplayer?! Oh- wait no dyed haired people can be people other than cosplayers, Gaki- but still, a cosplayer would be great for her cousin, they could do couples cosplays and Gaki could be their boydgua-
Oh. Oh right. She was brought back to Sable as the girl was talking again, and she made a show to pick at her hair and dust out more red glitter, looking fairly agitated- but at least her blush had died down! She... had to agree with Sable, what she described barely sounded like a costume, and she'd seen way too many people tarnishing the faces of conventions coming in with such gross pieces!
...Costumes... Costumes! Her expression lightened somewhat, as if a switch was flipped. "...Like...cosplay, costumes?" That had seemed to grab Gaki's attention, "Or- or are we talking battle-ready armour, like ones used in LARPs?! Or even costumes to make you fit a specific character, Like I recently bought a fairy one- or maybe you're talking something similar to the vampire LARP I did a few years ago-" She cut herself off, forcing a breath as if realizing the sly trick the pixie had pulled. Nooo- no way. She was trying to unlock her secret character event that was clearly her passion for LARPs, and Gaki wasn't falling for it, no matter how cute she was! "-nevermind. I forget you're a noob. I don't care."
[attr="class","momoPBody"]Sable just smiled even after being told to shut up. Nothing Gaki said was going to change her mind at this point. She was just adorable, really and it was quite amusing hearing her compare everything to some sort of game. Heart routes? Press escape? It was quite charming. Aside from that, Gaki's only outfit of choice that would make her want to leave was nothing. Had she never been on a date before? That was so cute.
Then Sable changed the topic to her answer, mainly those gastly costumes that were walking memes rather than anything serious. But the mention of costumes had Gaki lighting up and Sable smiled lightly. Gotcha~. Though, she was admittedly a little lost at all the different kinds of costumes there were. Namely all this mention of LARPing had Sable rather confused. Hmmm, but she could milk this topic until the end of the date, it sounded intriguing after all~.
"You're right, I am new at this~. But LARP sounds intriguing~. Tell me more?" Sable mused, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth. From the sound of it, Gaki would have more than enough to say about this LARP stuff.
At Sable's words Gaki was fairly close to throwing in the towel and doing a full one-eighty. The Pixie was undermining her beliefs- Gaki didn't say she was new at this, she called her a noob! There's a difference! She can't just tell the secrets of LARPing to some random piie who, for one, doesn't respect boundaries and thinks it's great to ruin a whole characters appearance with a dosage of red glitter- that just wasn't cool! But... but again... "Why should I tell you, when all you're here for is to undermine what I stand for?" Eyes narrowed again, "I'm clearly upset about the glitter thing and you act like it's nothing- i'm going to have glitter in my white hair for days- " Gaki moved then to grab the flower she'd disregarded on the table, moving to rub it inbetween her hands as if to scrape off the excess glitter, at least as she spoke.
"But even a lowlife should at least know the basics of LARP." Eyes flicked up to Sable, Gaki wasn't having fun. At all. "LARP stands for live acting role-playing, which you obviously have no idea about- you're not new at it, you're uncultured! Anyway- it's when you play a character in a campaign, like- you're in a group and you can dress up as a sword-weilding goblin, slash down 'enemies' which are either other players or props, and you all play along in a story- and- stuff. You can be literally anything- not that you care."
Gaki moved then to stand up, putting the flower down to lean over the table and promptly rub her hands together- all over Sable's hair. The lose glitter she'd scraped off of the flower now falling right into the girls dark locks. There was a victorious glimmer in her eyes as she moved to quickly sit down, before the girl could try anything else. "And now you have to deal with the after-effects of your spell, too- hah!'
[attr="class","momoPNotes"]6/7 Sable is Done woops
[attr="class","momoPBody"]For whatever reason it seemed that even agreeing with Gaki didn't help her mood whatsoever. A slow blink would be given at the first question. Undermine....what even-?? Well, the glitter was really nothing and Sable did think that Gaki looked pretty with the red sparkly accents. But to be called a lowlife because she didn't understand what LARP was? Sable bristled at that and narrowed their eyes. Too bad she'd opted to leave the gym pokemon at home, her Zoroark might've made this insolent girl think twice about insulting a gym leader.
Well, at the very least Gaki was explaining LARP after all and Sable leaned in with clear interest (after the bitch decided to stop insulting her). It sounded intriguing, and something that she wouldn't mind getting involved with... at least up until Gaki threw it back in her face with yet another insult. To top it all off, Gaki even tried a glitter attack of her very own. That made Sable laugh and even posed for Gaki.
"Oh sweetie, don't you know? I'm the Dark Gym Leader, Sable Phoenyx? A little glitter doesn't bother me. In fact~, if you get one of the riddles wrong in my gym, let's just say you'll have to deal with more than that little sprinkle I gave you~," Sable mused, winking at Gaki thereafter, "You shouldn't be upset about the glitter though, you do look beautiful with it in your hair, Gaki," she continued, her voice softening slightly, if briefly. Now if this girl thought she could insult her and get away with it, Gaki had another thing coming.
"LARP does sound fun, but perhaps you shouldn't insult someone that shows interest just because they don't know what it is. Really, I am interested in it, and I do care. Of course, maybe not after being called 'uncultured' or a 'lowlife' for not knowing what the acronym stands for. Surprised you would still think that after literally calling myself a 'pixie' for half this date. Newsflash, it's a huge turnoff if anyone insults my character because I don't understand something that might be common knowledge to the other person. Or for anyone, I'd assume," Sable stated, giving her cutest smile despite her rather curt words. How much longer was this date supposed to last?, "Who knows~, I just might have been interested but I suppose this is one 'uncultured lowlife' that won't ever find out. Unless you give me a good reason why I should care~?" For as smiley as she was right then, her voice did have an overly cheerful customer service tone to it.
Gaki wasn't happy. Not even a little bit. Settling back in her seat after her glitter attack and debating the best strategy of how to make a stealthy exit while still having Sid in her range of sight, she was already thinking of just leaving the good-for-nothing Pixie who threatened her livelihood and everything she stood for. But then Sable was speaking, and didn't even seem effected by her surprise attack- did she have glitter resistance?! And then she started talking, and Gaki's eyebrow twitched.
Oh- oh that 'Sweetie' was from the mouth of a dragon right before they posed to summon a fire attack. That gave nothing but disappointed parent in an adventure game vibes and Gaki wasn't here for it. Of course this NPC was a gym leader, of course Gaki's blade was aimed at the wrong target. Her lips pressed together, Gaki wasn't happy. No, not even a little bit, but she didn't speak, she didn't even breathe- which resulted in her needing to take a gulp of air in right at the moment Sable complimented her once more.
This stupid Pixie! She was using weird words and a high persuasion skill to try and annoy her, while calming the intent of her words! Gaki wanted to scream and run for cover, maybe drink a resistance potion or two,but instead her cheeks tinted but she held her ground. "I don't care if you use it all the time- does this look like a challenging environment to you- I don't do gym challenges. I'm not a trainer- if I wanted to be assaulted by glitter and have my defenses dampened during one of the most important missions of my life, I would have gone and taken your gym challenge." She should have thrown an insult in there, but Gaki was deep in her strategy...
She could... crawl under the table! Or she could get up, excuse herself to the toilet and then spy on Sid from the doorway to get the best vantage point, but that'd be too obvious- uh- she could... pretend to be one with the ice sculpture! Though she'd have to shade match with herhair which... is covered in red glitter- damn that witch!
And then the pixie started talking, blah blah fucking blah. Maybe she shouldn't insult somebody for showing interest?! Nah, that was just a cover up for the pixies tactics! And it's not like calling her uncultured or a lowlife were wrong- she was uncultured because she had no idea what LARP was- and in a sense was a lowlife. Gaki didn't care about this chicks turn-offs, she wasn't even trying to turn her on! She was trying to... uh... talk to... a... girl... aND SPY ON HER COUSIN! YEAH! That was the point of today- but- still.... a cute girl was yelling at her... aaah...ahhhhhhh....
Tears pricked at Gaki's eyes and she shoved her fists into them- no weakness! But- ugh- uhm- cute... pixie was mad, a cute pixie who had no right to lose her shit at Gaki and undermine her very credible character! "D-Don't just assume things!" Her voice hitched slightly and she brought a fist down from her eye to slam into the table. Gaki was frustrated. Gaki was mad. "I- d-don't care if you're high level! Anybody would think you didn't care if you go on to treat this whole mission like a joke and then suddenly turn t-the tables! News-fucking-flash, a Pixie is a creature notorious for being villainous and ensnaring and luring people i-in!"
She stood up then, she'd had enough. Her fist moved to push at the frustrated tears trekking down her face. "You are uncultured because y-you don't know about the culture- it's not a damn insult! I'm not even trying to fucking impress you- i'm- just- m-making sure my cousins fine. I don't care about your lectures when y-you know nothing." Oh shit oh fuck oh- oh pac-man wait- wait her makeup- wait- but... she'd spent so long on it... wait... She began crying harder. Gaki was no happy. Not even a little bit, not even at all. This was worse then when she spent ten days back to back trying to beat the final boss but he just flicked her everytime she made it to the top of the castle. Oh, Gaki hated this.
[attr="class","momoPNotes"]7/7 Sable is Done woops
[attr="class","momoPBody"]Sable didn't even give a response to the first set of Gaki's responses. As far as she was concerned, she had already addressed these complaints and what was the harm in using glitter to tie in an aspect of her gym? She'd thought it'd been great fun. Then Gaki had to go and ruin the little game she'd been playing. Hmph, now who's uncultured. It certainly wasn't her. Except then Gaki went on to start crying and Sable inwardly groaned. Not again... that made two in a row now? Granted, for different reasons but this was growing old. Fast.
Of course then Gaki started spouting some nonsense about a mission and treating it as a joke? This was a speed date, it was supposed to be fun and yet all Gaki had done while Sable was trying to have said fun was argue and get mad. Ah, but time was coming to a close, thank Arceus, which meant that Sable had to think of some way to either leave gracefully or win Gaki over. The latter wasn't exactly something Sable wanted to do, but the prior would be the same as giving up. At this point, Sable was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The explanation about what Gaki thought uncultured meant had Sable internally face-palming... that... wasn't what that word meant. Unfortunately for her, poking the bear would only result in more insults when apparently Gaki was only here for their cousin. Standing up now, Sable crossed the distance to Gaki and slowly took her hands and wiped those tears away. Enough to at least save some of the makeup that was trying to fade. "Hold still..." Sable's makeup bag would be fished out and a few touch ups would be done, thankfully hers was waterproof but it was also notable glitter eyeshadow that now graced Gaki's eyes.
"You know, you could teach me the culture. Do you know why I call myself a pixie? Because pixies can be mischievous as well, just like unseelie fae. I also work with dark pokemon so it seemed to fit perfectly~. The glitter is like a splash of pixie dust. I like the glitter because it adds an element of my own gym out here~." Just as Sable finished with the makeup touch ups, the bell chimed. "Ah, seems like time is up~. Now sweetie, do try to have fun, ok? And if your cousin's here, it's because they want to be. Don't be so worried about them and have fun~. Who knows, you just might meet someone just right for you~." With that, Sable spun around on her heels and started over to the host. Hopefully her next date wouldn't be a complete nightmare like this one.
Owww Gaki's chest hurt- stupid sobs. They just wanted her to beat them up! And she wasn't afraid to- uhm- her breathing was labored and her face was wet, her whole mission was going to be ruined, Sid was going to hear her, and she was here for Sid so nobody hurt them again! And yet this really cute girl was just- she was such a villain! A villainous pixie, yeah! She was a second from fleeing, maybe two seconds away if she was lucky, to take a hasty retreat to the bathroom to up her HP and boost her stats before returning to her mission when the sound of footsteps nearing had her peeking open an eye- only to see Sable. She very nearly threw a fist, the last thing she wanted was this girl to get to her while her defenses were down, but she couldn't find it in herself right now, only sniffling and whimpering softly as her hands were taken.
This was unfair- this was cheating. The girl had weapons out and was prodding at Gaki's face, all the while the girls shoulders shook and soft sobs left her lips- this was against the rules of the game, damn it! And if she peeked open an eye the cute girl was way too close for comfort, which made Gaki feel even worse. All her strategising hadn't prepared her for this. Couldn't she just... run home and cry? She was poked a few more times before the brunette revealed to her a mirror and she could only shudder in her breathing, pulling her lips together.
Sparkly. Why was glitter this enemies secret weapon!? But.. it was... a decent gesture- it doesn't change the fact the girl obviously doesn't even know what she did. Gaki must have had at least fifty negative multipliers on her defenses right now, and all she could mumble was. "...i-i'm not going to thank you..."
Sable was talking, and Gaki could only bring her arms to wrap around herself, still shaking. At least her tears had stopped but that didn't stop the shuddering of her breath, or the way her eyes sought out her older cousin, seeking comfort from the one person she trusted. Sable said something about Gaki teaching her the culture, something about pixies and stuff, and then... the bell rung... and... Gaki just bowed her head, mumbling. "...yeah... w-whatever..." as Sable left.
Gaki didn't like losing. Gaki didn't like it at all. This girl had just challenged her. Gaki was going to teach her about LARP, this stupid pixie, nobody made a fool of a high level warrior like Gaki. She was here to protect her cousin and now everything had become side tracked! uGh! Dark gym... it looked like Gaki had a destination. And she'd have positive multipliers next time, she'd be ready, nobody makes a fool of Gaki Amabie- no Pixie gets the better of her! Especially not somebody cute!