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Taste of Memory (17) : A small pop-up food stall has appeared among the usual winter vendors. The menu offers simple, traditional dishes that seem to rotate daily. They're not always common dishes either--sometimes they're incredibly niche, and smell unmistakably like home--no matter where “home” is for you. The moment you take a bite, warmth floods through you, followed by an overwhelming wave of nostalgia so vivid it’s almost disorienting. For some, it’s the comfort of a childhood meal; for others, it’s the precise memory of sitting in a familiar kitchen, the echo of a loved one’s voice, or the feeling of being safe and held. The sensation is powerful but harmless, fading after a little while and leaving only a lingering warmth.
characters in this rp: Yseult/Rhiannon, Kaito, Soyala, and Ilmari.
characters in this rp: Yseult/Rhiannon, Kaito, Soyala, and Ilmari.
Chasing Pokémon out in the park usually wound up being a solitary activity for Yseult. Even though Niantic had done their level best to encourage players in connecting with each other, that took a lot of extra steps. Getting on Discord, switching to one of the local area’s PoGo servers, putting up a whole post to ask if anyone was around for a trade, a raid, or helping boot another team out of a gym with no promise of getting any responses.……
Like, Yseult did do all of that often enough, but when going out and hunting Pokémon to de-stress, it usually proved easier to go out by herself.
Today, though, Kaito had come with her, which had her on a bright, bubbly, pink cloud. Maybe it was cold out, and maybe they were standing on the snowy grass, opposite a bronze statue of some dead guy Yseult knew nothing about, but Kaito was out here with her. Some other people in the park were apparently out here for the same reason, or so Yseult inferred from how many people popped into the Kyurem raid that had hatched at the gym attached to the statue. But Yseult had Kaito standing with her as she picked out her Steel and Fairy-heavy team.
Yseult looked cute in her little Galarian Ponyta hoodie (under an actual winter jacket because she was enthusiastic about catching ‘em all but not, like, insane), a similarly colored skirt, and thermal tights, and she had her best friend beside her. Close enough to lean toward his shoulder, and ever so gently brush her arm against his arm. Even that little bit of very innocent contact between them was enough for Yseult’s cheeks to flush (only a little! she hoped!! maybe it would only look like the breeze and cold were getting to her sensitive skin?).
Well, whatever the case, everything felt so much better, thanks to Kaito’s presence. As the prep countdown ran out and the raid started, Yseult had no doubt that the eight other people in the raid would help out fine? But she and Kaito would be the real stars of this raid.
Despite the winter holiday season being manifestly made of all things evil, Baz had managed to do quite well for himself (so far). Part of the reason why he’d had an easier time this year than last, he suspected, had to do with the disarray that his Negaverse team continued dealing with. How all of them were still managing to live like this, he honestly didn’t know anymore. Everything felt messy and more than a little bit upside-down, Ilmari had yet to see any material improvements for literally anyone (despite their best efforts from parties like Miss Hestia and Haymitch), and there was very little actively within Ilmari’s power to do about any of this. Little about this ongoing situation over which he had any control.
But he could control himself. His actions. His own choices. And he could dedicate himself, as he had, to collecting enough energy to cover for any deficits that could’ve cropped up in the team’s collective performance while his people tried to deal with the struggles and hardships that had come for them.
All of it added up to this: Ilmari itched with hunger, but he looked better than he had in ages.
Lingering among some of the city park’s pine trees, draining energy as people passed by, he felt less than ideal. Heavy and swimmy in the head, in ways that the cold was not helping (not least because his fuku offered weather protection, when it could’ve, like, not done that and made his life easier). Standing so close to one of those rancid pop-up shops that had been showing up all over town? Distinctly not helping. Ilmari didn’t even feel like he was that close to the shop and whatever nasty-a** calorie-bombs they were selling—and ******** yet, the smell from that awful place wafted his way. It was a warm scent, something that smelled welcoming, and safe, and altogether too beguiling to be allowed. Smelled like home, and that was why Ilmari couldn’t trust it.
Tricks like these were how the temptation demons got inside your head and made you slip up.
Starseeding somebody would’ve made him feel better, though. Ilmari just needed somebody to end up standing on their own, instead of all the couples and little families who seemed to be out tonight.
As the raid came to its conclusion and Yseult’s screen flipped over to the catch screen, she couldn’t help a delighted squeal, or stop herself from fistbumping into the air. The telltale sound effect and swirl of little stars played, as the Kyurem on her screen revealed the pink formation on its face and the overall darker hues of its body.
“Shing! Shiny sparkles,” she cheered, before settling down so she could focus on throwing the catch. Just because PoGo guaranteed catches on shiny legendaries didn’t mean she didn’t want that sweet, sweet Excellent Curveball EXP—which she got. Quite easily.
“Did yours come up, shiny,” she asked, turning to Kaito with a smile. And with some distinctly more room in her attention span freed up for Less Pokémon Things, she sniffed at the air, picking up the scent of something that was probably delicious. “And if it didn’t, I think I could go for whatever those nice-smelling snacks are? D’you want some too?”
Noir Songbird
