pretend i actually posted this with the others shhh

[revolutionfalcon]

WHO: Shun and whoever is around to greet the firebirb
WHAT: A very late intro
WHEN: AT SOME POINT...we don't really have a calendar yet do we
WHERE: Entering Illumina
WARNINGS: None as yet, will edit if that changes.

[In the time he's had to deal with things like severe cold and exposure, Shun's never been particularly small. That and his coat meant he usually wasn't wanting for warmth, even on nights where the Resistance's supplies ran low and they were running out of places to hide. Unless he was lending it to Ruri, but then, he'd never had trouble enduring that either.

But sitting on a glacier with numb talons and numb wingtips, empty space between the Synchro Dimension and here and what the hell happened, he's realising what a disadvantage being small is here.]

What the hell--?

[He feels his mouth move, but it clicks like a beak, and when he sees himself in the glossy glacier he does a double-take before peering back into the ice, black and yellow eyes narrowed. He's a bird, certainly, and a bigger bird than any normal one in his world, but compared to his usual self he's miniscule. Even with his scarf wrapped around most of him, he can see himself tremoring slightly in the reflection, and he knows he has to find his way out of this cold or he'll die before he even gets to ask all the questions on his mind right now. Mind flipping between suspicion, confusion and trying to find what feels natural for this creature to move, he spreads his small wings - another two wing-like forms unfold beneath them, but even the most cursory glance at the thin, overfeathered joints would show they're not fit for flight themselves. They flail and shake as he tests them, just trying to get airborne to go towards that light in the distance, but his feet are numbing by the time he heaves himself into the sky and flaps towards the lights.

The chill is biting, though, and he finds himself stalling, fluttering downwards and having to recover far too often. The little body shakes again, like the feeling of something wanting to come up, but there's nothing in his lungs and nothing in his throat, and his wings don't seem to want to support him.

As he starts to dip again, the little bird's expression hardens, and the air almost seems to spark with its determination.]

It's not that easy to get rid of me.

[The bird's wings flare into heat and fire, melting a pit where he skims the ground and rises again, suddenly full of warmth and energy despite the situation he's been thrown into. Closer and closer to the city lights, the flame fades away but the new strength doesn't, and by the time he touches down neatly at the edge of the city, the cold tremors have faded like they were never there. He folds his wings with a lengthy, dismissive blink, gives the icy wastes one last look, and then hops through into the city proper.

He'll be approaching anyone who looks like a resident with a most sour look on his little birdly face.]

Explain what this is. Now.

Comments

[lazywater]

Why thank you.

[En shut up.]

This is Illumina City. The only actual town you're gonna find on this continent. Just gonna go out on a limb here, but I'm gonna assume you used to be human too, right?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun squints at him for the snarky comment, but this is more answers than he's gotten from anyone else so far, so he'll let it slide this time. Especially for that little piece of information saying he's not the only person in this situation.]

So this isn't just some one-off weirdness. [But the fact that one of them's a bird and one of them's a sloth raises more questions.] What are these things? They're not like any animals I've ever seen, even in Duel Monsters.

[lazywater]

[What do you mean snark? That's genuine thanks for a man who appreciates his sleep.]

Nope, I've met three other guys and a woman who've all been turned into Pokemon. It doesn't get any easier from here, let me tell you. Pokemon... is hard to explain.

...

[squint]

What's a duel monster?

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun looks around pointedly, then back to the sloth.]

Unless you have some pressing commitment other than sleeping on the floor, I'm sure you can manage explaining.

[Being asked what a duel monster is prompts the closest thing to a frown Shun can really make with the beak, though. All the dimensions he knows of have them, so it's almost absurd meeting someone who hasn't heard of the game.]

Duel Monsters are cards, not actual monsters. At least, not until we summon them. Some people use them for entertainment. [There's a mite of distaste in his tone at that, and it only gets worse as he goes on.] Some people use them for other things. It's irrelevant here anyway, since I don't have my duel disk.

[lazywater]

[He shrugs.]

Sure. If there's one other thing I can do, it's running my mouth. I tend to be good at elaborating things.

[En rolls onto his back, puts the apple on his belly and stretches out tiredly. Man, being in this body took out a lot more than he liked to admit]

Cards, huh? Haven't seen any cards here. What I have seen though, is a whole lot of Pokemon. You and I have been turned into these... elemental animals, is the best way I can describe it. This entire city is filled with Pokemon only, no humans. So far, the six of us are the only humans who've transformed. So far, no one knows why we're here...

[revolutionfalcon]

[Running his mouth is fine as long as it's running something useful, so Shun lets him ramble about the city to his heart's content. Mostly, it's things he could have figured out with some time regardless, but this speeds things along nicely.]

Explains how I apparently set myself on fire coming in here. [He doesn't sound or look particularly distressed about that.] Who are the other four, if there's only six of us? Or if you don't have names, tell me what they are.

[These creatures seem to parallel normal animals, from what he's seen so far, so surely they can be described in terms he'll understand even without having seen many of them.]

[lazywater]

Wow, really? I dunno what I can do besides make others sleepy.

[Whether by boredom or an actual power, even En doesn't know.]

Let's see... Well there's Amanda Ripley... she's this small, black fuzzy thing with a long, second head attached to the back of hers. She's very tough... seems used to dangerous situations. She doesn't keep to herself, but compared to the other three, she might as well. Finn, Chow and Ratso are like... always together, as far as I know. I dunno which one is which, honestly, but one is a black bird, another is a tall, bipedal chicken with sunglasses and the other is a green rat. They're very hard to miss, really.

And that's everyone I know. There might be more humans, but I haven't met them yet.

[revolutionfalcon]

[If Shun had any suspension of disbelief left, that probably would have destroyed it. Sounds like he's not even the worst off of the group here - having a second head doesn't sound remotely pleasant, and "bipedal chicken with sunglasses" sounds even more ridiculous than whatever he's supposed to be.

The result is that his expression settles somewhere in the range of mildly perturbed.]

This sounds completely ridiculous, but I suppose I can't do much but believe it at this point. [He gives an annoyed huff that comes out a little like a chirrup, and it doesn't improve his mood any.] Strange that there's so few, though. If something here needed us, that's not enough to rely on. If this is some kind of attack or punishment, then we can't be the only people they want.

[lazywater]

[With how Amanda was just glaring at the head, En wonders if she has a history with something that looks like that. It's rather worrying, actually.

And wait until Shun sees the chicken... the dick chicken.]

Yep... welcome to Illumina. Hope you left normality elsewhere, because this place doesn't have a lot of it. [En yawns] I'd think we'd know if it was an attack or punishment but... If... something here needs us? Like summoned us with magic for a mission?

... Wombat...

[revolutionfalcon]

Illumina. [He says it to himself, as if committing the name to memory, and then inclines his head. It's more information than he came into this conversation with, at least, and it'll give him something to think about.

He does side-eye the sloth a bit at that last little murmur, though. If he still had proper eyebrows to raise, rest assured he'd be raising them.]

What are you talking about?

[Seriously, to him that sounded like the most complete non-sequitur ever spouted.]

[lazywater]

... Guy at home. He's gotten me and my friends into some crazy shit before. I'm worried this whole transformation/teleportation thing is the work of one of the monsters he asks us to fight.

[He's not even trying to keep the magic boy thing subtle. No one's gonna believe him or know anyway.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun can't say he's not at least familiar with the idea of moving from one world to another, but this isn't exactly normal fare for him. It's probably telling that he doesn't have much of a response to the mention of this person having transformed before.]

Is there any reason a monster like that would make it out of your world to attack others? If it can't or wouldn't, I doubt it's that.

[lazywater]

... You're probably right, but still. Wombat... Aliens...

[He scowls a little and bites his apple. He's done with being a magic boy. It cuts into way too much of his nap time and he wants out.]

Sorry. It's all not important right now. What's important is probably trying to beat the cold... unless you don't feel it cause you're a... fire bird.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun gives a noncommittal shrug, his wing feathers bristling a bit.]

I felt it more when I was in the snow outside, but it's not an issue in here. I'm used to not having ideal cover from the elements.

[The presence of the apple does remind him of something else important, though.] What food and shelter does this place have?

[lazywater]

... The apples here are ridiculously filling, I swear they're magical. Ah... but lots of berries and fruit, really. Seeds... I haven't seen any meat around here, oddly.

Shelter? I'm staying at an inn. There's these walrus creatures that run it... It's an igloo place.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Foraging for food isn't ideal, but it's enough, and it's something he's used to in one form or another. He's less surprised about the absence of meat here - they're all somehow civilised animals, and he can't imagine the food chain going too well in a society like that.]

An igloo. I shouldn't be surprised by that since this place is all ice and snow, but obviously getting out of the cold isn't an option here.

[Not that he cares all that much, but if they get some less hardy sorts he can only imagine the petty complaints they'll be fielding.]

[lazywater]

Yeah, everything bought at the market is really nice.

[There's no where to forage, as far as En knows.]

Yeah... It's actually really warm in the igloos, and the guys who run the place are really easy-going. I can show you if you like, man.

[revolutionfalcon]

[So there's a market, too; another tidbit of information to add to his slowly growing store. It's not the kind of place he'd visit frivolously, but maybe it's worth checking out sometime just to see what's on offer.

At the offer to show him to the in, he gives a small shake of the head.]

Describe it to me, and I'll find my way there later. There's still things I'm interested in learning about this place. [Like how long it's been here, if there's any issues...things he can find out from the natives, probably.]

[lazywater]

Can't miss it. It's the biggest building carved right from the ice, that way. [En raises his arm the direction towards Sealo's inn. He points at there for a while before he groans and flops over.]

Yep... It's there... You'll see a strings of lights lining the path directly up to it. Inside you'll see a blue seal and a tiny seal that looks like a ball. You can get a room for rent there.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun looks in the direction he's pointing, and gives a firm nod. He'll remember it for later. In the meantime...]

You mentioned a market as well. Which way is it? [Not to buy anything, but people at big public gathering spots are more likely to be chatty about this place, so he'll take the chance.]

[lazywater]

[En quietly groans as Shun asks him another question. He yawns sleepily before he flops onto his belly, using his momentum to push him onto his belly. He extends his arm again.]

That way. Lots of shops. The green cameleon runs the food store; there's only one cafe, so lots of people hang out there;\ the living of keys is the locksmith, and that's really all that's important...

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's not looking likely that he'll get much more out of this sloth, so Shun hops back and turns in the direction of the market, giving the creature one last passing glance.]

That should be all I need to know for the moment. But if you've been sleeping here all day, I doubt there's anything more you'd have to tell me.

[He inclines his head in place of an actual farewell, then opens his wings and flutters off in the direction of the market.]

[lazywater]

Eh... not here all day, but you'll see what I know some day.

[He lazily waves Shun off and then lies down. Maybe a nap right now would be good]