ARSON

callan's curry entry

thread summary: after the events of rangers rising, callan has a brief talk with lars on the elite four and why hoenn is a constant housewife drama.

why is it important?: Lars represents one of two people that he believes saved his life while he was at one of his lowest points, so to be able to announce it to the man is a point of both pride and a hope that Lars can see the good in people, even after the debacle that happened during the ranger's meeting. It also sets up Callan's understanding of the Leagues political manuevering going forward. It's always tough for me to actually provide an 'importance' factor on my threads, since I don't go into the most of the time looking to explore a theme, and yet the interacitons nevertheless affect or impact Callan's behaviour in the future.

ECCEDENTESIAST

Caleb Sharpe's curry entry

thread summary:

*Note: This thread takes place in 2020 (two years ago, one year after Caleb moved to Hoenn)

Caleb Sharpe is a broke unemployed deadbeat who's recent escape from Kanto and defection from Team Rocket haunts him to the degree that he cannot sleep at night without the aid of alcohol. Desperate to make ends meet, Caleb sees a flyer in the Slateport subway advertising the Slateport Rangers and their current recruitment efforts. Caleb decides to show up at the Slateport Ranger Headquarters to see if he can apply for a job. He is met by Tam Fawley, the current senior Ranger in charge of dealing with recruit candidates, who starts up an impromptu interview with Caleb. Expecting to fail because of his lack of experience and blunt honesty, Caleb is surprised by Tam's calm, patient demeanor and willingness to give Caleb a chance. In the end, Caleb's honesty and desire to do better - actually help people - convinces Tam that he would be a good fit for the Rangers. Tam invites Caleb to come do the necessary paperwork, welcoming him to the team.

why is it important?:

This is the moment when Caleb becomes a Ranger! This is significant for Caleb, because it is the beginning of his journey of redemption post-Kanto. Ever since working as a corrupt cop and member of Kanto Rocket's secret police, Caleb has been suffering deep guilt and depression for all of the horrors he was complicit in. When he made it out alive, and moved to Hoenn, he did not handle his grief well; instead of seeking professional help, he wallowed in his emotions, becoming a hermit, drinking and smoking and getting his hands on whatever drug could take the edge off his trauma. Becoming a Ranger is the first step in Caleb dragging himself out of the hole of despair he had fallen into. The Rangers become some of his first - and eventually closest - friends in Hoenn. Ranger work helps Caleb find meaning again, and feel like he is making up for all of the people he hurt by finally being someone who helps. Through the Rangers, he is also learning to care about people again and come out of his shell. This thread really kicks off that healing process for him.

*The word "ecccedentesiast" means "someone who hides their pain behind a smile."

IMPROVE

character's curry entry

thread summary: Theo tries to beat Mint's ass once again to toughen him up since all his battle is League regulated matches. [break]

why is it important?: After Theo beat his Blissey into the ground after Mint tried to forfeit, Mint had to change up how he trains his pokemon and their move sets. Loss after loss, he finally managed to pull a draw from him. An improvement.

found you

Alexei’s curry entry ft. Guillermo Marceliño

thread summary: (Note: this is ICly set right after the events of Cyberchase Conundrum.)

Two idiots in love, both have an adventure in cyberspace that… well, it changed them both. Physically they’re okay, but emotionally? Psychologically?

All may not be well as it seems.

Even if they front to the world that they’re okay, they’re… really not.

a.k.a. Memo almost lost Alex (for realsies? Who knows?), the two try to piece together what had happened after the train had been disintegrated by the feathers while there’s a lot of avians (hell it’s majority of Alex’s armada of Pokémon) on the ‘death watch’ outside.

The ‘watch’ had only happened once previously; a year ago, when Alex very nearly lost his life in a dark alleyway in Fortree.

While Alex himself isn’t that vocal when it comes to voicing his affection for anyone, it… well, in a subdued setting like this words are said and tears are shed (not his), and in a way, a promise has been made between them—the grounding, stable force that is the Frog, ready to catch the falling Bird and be there no matter what happens.

why is it important?: I did say he was coming out of Cyberchase alive, but not exactly whole… and this is it.

Due to what had happened in the Cloud, the ‘restore’ may have physically returned those who were deleted (Alex here being one of them) however there… may have been a few missing parts. One of them is this: there’s a rather sizable chunk of memories missing from the time they’d gone through the whirlpool and got taken into the digital world (Ven, no, don’t start with the SAO puns) that started just after the point where he’d helped destroy (disintegrate? Is wind that powerful to do it?) the incoming train that had come out of the golden hoops right when two four ‘legendary’ Pokémon were summoned from the datascape and made ‘real’ for everyone to witness (at least, in their terminal).

After the doppelganger fight at the very end where Alex goes into the light unknowingly (as the glitch that had taken his heart, his memories and his eyes apparently turned out to be his doppel’s manifestation, see the colored text in Cyberchase that changed from purple to red) and gets spat out back into the real world, well, there’s a rather large part of the entire thing he doesn’t remember (which unfortunately Memo remembered, every last detail of it) which therefore left a rather sizable portion of his memories as this big… blank. Nothing. Nada.

And in turn, it inadvertently triggered something else within Memo as well—while Alex came out of this physically whole, mentally he’s missing this chunk and can’t remember the vital parts of what went down. This, in turn, would (indirectly) become the cause of poor lil’ Memo’s ‘night terrors’ come to haunt the other, because even he didn’t come out of this without some psychological damage, either.

Down the road, who knows what’ll happen. It’s definitely given Frog a lot of nightmare fuel, though. Alex’s nightmare fuel is mostly… the red eyes of his doppelganger and the cursed snide laughter he thinks he can hear from time to time in his mind when he’s alone.

(Don’t ever catch him alone.)

Also, props to Ceej for, basically, putting up with the insanity of what happened all throughout CC and—and ever onward! The two idiots are going to get their happy ending, it’s just that—when and how long would it take before it happens?

(I can be tooth-rottingly sickeningly sweet AND crank up the angst to eleven you know, is there even an inbetween?)

FOUND YOU

Guillermo Marceliño 's curry entry

thread summary: set immediately following cyberchase conundrum, memo takes alex to the hospital, and has to deal with the repercussions of his actions during the event-- which are compounded by the fact that alex seemingly has no memory of a large portion of what happened, so not only does Memo have to confess, Alex can't even be properly mad at him. It's a lot.

why is it important?: guillermo has gone through so much change since i brought him to Hoenn, finding a boyfriend nonwithstanding. he really started off as this power-positive, happy to a fault, good fucking guy soft-chavesque trope, but as he goes on adventures and encounters real responsibility for the first time i've really been peeling back these ogre (onion) layers. the boy's got anxiety, and depression, and he's been trying really hard to combat it; which is important for me, personally, because ooc i struggle with a lot of the same things, and a lot of memo's Coping Mechanisms(TM) are ones that I have, so, like, whenever you see me write Memo dealing with his anxiety In A Way, it's written from the heart, 'cause that's how I deal with things, too.

the THREAD is important because memo had an awful time during Cyberchase and it really. like, his empathy and positivity being deleted punted him back into that sucking mire of depression that he'd worked so hard to escape, by coming to hoenn. and it really ripped the scab off of a wound that was still too fresh to be closed. so now he's all tendy and sore, basically, and he has to live with these very vibrant memories and images of him being so AWFUL and out of character to the person he loves that it's just. it's sickening. It's like. when you remember something embarrassing you did as a teenager and that feeling you get but multiplied by a thousand because he thought alex was going to die.

so he's got that and then add to that the fact that alex doesn't even rememeber what happens so memo's at a crossroads, right; he can either say nothing and pretend everything is okay, but he's not that kind of person and the guilt would literally eat him up inside, or he can confess, but then he has to confess: he has to give life and word to all the horrible things he did and said in the digital world. and it's-- the horrendous enormity of everything is fucking visceral, it's why he keeps having to excuse himself to throw up.

so this thread is important because it's peeling back the layers of guillermo's character and then, sort of, shoddily reapplying it, like, he has changed, fundamentally, and he has to learn to deal with those changes in a way that doesn't totally affect his life. it's a lot (it's a lot for me i cried a lot during this thread LMAO). it's also interesting because we see Alex dealing with a lot of Stuff(TM) that is completely different from Memo's but they both need each other, in the end.

of course i owe a lot of this to ven who is amazing and memo never would have come quite so far without her assistance.

IGNITION

ana fell's curry entry

thread summary: Marshall Slade comes into Fiorelli Floristry to buy flowers for his girl and almost gets sidetracked nerding out about motorcycles with the delivery lady.

why is it important?: SO FOR AS MUCH TIME AS i've spent developing Cyg's lust for power and her desire to advance in the Rocket ranks, I gotta spend some time developing her hobbies and, like, Self(TM), as well, because she can't just be. A Rocket. She has to have more depth than that.

So since she started dating(?) Isaac Merlo she's decided to build him a new motorcycle because his old one is, in her opinion, super ugly and dangerous (and also, it has exploded, RIP). But the quandaries she's running into with building the bike reflect the quandaries she has in her life, mostly about her relationship and where she wants to go in the world.

Enter Marshall, who is going to unknowingly spur her onto this realization that she really, really likes customizing vehicles, and that will expand from there, ideally into, you know, building an entire robot body and downloading her consciousness into it because flesh is a weakness she must overcome. But we'll get to that part. ANYWAY this thread sits in my CYG HAS HOBBIES character arc because probably after the meteor providing we all sort of survive she's going to open her own customs shop :Freeloader: and this thread is a key player in helping her figure out her identity outside of just being a Rocket Grunt.

SANDWICH DUTY

Marshall's curry entry

thread summary: As part of the efforts of Valor, Marshall and Amelia Livy volunteer to help make sandwiches for struggling families. While they work, they discuss the dangerous and hostile events that have rocked Hoenn for years.

why is it important?: After spending his time in Hoenn having fun between work and play, Marshall is finally getting involved in more serious matters. He is learning about the history of the region and the turmoil the citizenry faces every time. He's asking mature questions and trying to understand locals' feelings on the troubles that impact their lives.

arson

Lars’s curry entry ft. Callan Young

thread summary: After an accident wrecks a significant portion of Oldale, people pitch in and help out—a task force of Rangers come by to help.

Of course, who should show up among their number, a region-wide rock star and one of the Head Rangers? The two help out in a corner and get to talking about things—

At the moment their conversation is getting interesting, which is going to get a follow-up in the form of another Dawn of a New Day Valor mission!

why is it important?: This is where Callan basically drops the bomb on Lars that the other had been chosen to ascend to the Elite Four. How far can one person go, on the power of being changed by another?

Their talk about morals and what makes the League, the League is getting interesting, because it’s here Lars reveals his actual thoughts on why the League acts the way it does.

(He wants to set the Rangers apart from the rest. See how that turned out looking at you, RR, however he is desperately trying to change shit and carry on a certain redhead’s mission as well. But that’s a story for another day.)

At the same time, though, he can’t help but be proud of the other—from literally zero, Callan has taken the meteoric rocket to superstardom and he’s not going to burn out anytime soon.

A CURIOS VISIT

Elinor's curry entry

ft. Amor Rose

thread summary: After Elinor ascends to the Council position. She sets out to right some of the wrongs of the League, in this particular case the bridge that leads to Amor Rose has been burned, and she figures that his resources can continue to provide a great asset to the league.

A meeting is arranged between the two, at his mansion.

Promises are made in an attempt to mend the bonds. Leading to Elinor and Amor setting out to research the Meteor from which our dear alien Deoxys spawned.

She also lets Amor in on a little secret regarding the Primal Activity, which his Primal Energy detectors picked up on. He in return makes her aware of the existence of a Legendary Dragon-Skull-look-alike Pokémon (Regidrago) that fought Groudon. And so she leaves this meeting

why is it important?: Not only is this the beginning of what Elinor perceives to be a rather decent partnership between the two. But it sets in motion several threads/plots between Amor Rose, Melody Miro, and the rest of the Council.

EVOLUTION INQUISITION

Shalin Nariya's curry entry

thread summary: Following the events of Space-Time DIstortion #8, Shalin had a...lot of questions about Hisuian Pokémon as well as the influx of unusually large Pokémon showing up in Hoenn. She even had several on her team, including Queen Zing. She flew all the way out to Ever Grande City to meet Dr. Eva Morales, and they had a long Q&A session covering Prance's evolution to a Wyrdeer. She also learned about Kleavor and Ursaluna, two Pokémon she may look to add to her team in the future. She also learned a little about the Alpha Pokémon phenomenon, which was the primary reason Space-Time Distortions were so dangerous.

While Shalin was able to get a lot of information about Prance's evolution and learn that the Ancient Power evolutions and Hisuian evolutions were not related, Dr. Eva had very limited information about the Alpha Pokémon phenomenon, as well as very limited insight as to why they were showing up. Suspecting Alpha Pokémon were genetics related, she ultimately referred her to Dr. illeana reyes, who specialized in that field. This interaction is being threaded in Alpha Status

why is it important?: As an explorer primarily driven by historical insight, learning more about Hoenn's past, whether ancient or more recent, is very important to Shalin. The effects of Space-Time Distortions, which she has experienced multiple times first hand and in life-threatening situations, warrant further, safer study. Depending on what she learns in her study with Illeana, this could drive Shalin to do original research on the matter and give her a whole new plotline other than dungeon diving.

IT'S UN-RAINING MEN

Ruby Garcia's curry entry

thread summary: Ruby joins the Splashfest fishing contest with her younger sister, Jade. It's supposed to be a family bonding moment, but then Ruby fishes up Isaac, who was scouting out the seabed for good catches. Ruby hates the idea that someone from Rocket knows about her little sister, yet Isaac and Jade get along swimmingly (pun intended). Jade even thanks him for befriending Ruby, who's been through her fair share of hardship.

why is it important?: Ruby has been terrified of anyone from Rocket finding out about her younger sister. They might try to hurt her or, worse, convert her to their cause. Ruby doesn't want that; Jade's too good for Rocket and deserves a normal life. So when Ruby fishes up one of her coworkers, she's worried her greatest fears have come true. Yet not only does Isaac bond with the most important person in Ruby's life, but he also plays along with Ruby's "freelancing" story since she doesn't want Jade to know about her involvement with Rocket. Isaac and Ruby have had an interesting relationship on-site that's been a blast to write, and this thread, despite being a simple event fishing thread, helped develop it.

UNDER PRESSURE

Julia Davis's curry entry

thread summary: While going Clamperl Diving, Julia stumbles across her new friend Isaac, whose arm is stuck in a salt cliff. While fighting her own trauma when memories of the accident that took her leg creep in, she uses what she has at her disposal—her Pokémon—to save Isaac before it's too late.

why is it important?: Julia had a lot of reasons for becoming a Ranger, but one was to help people caught up in natural disasters or other forces of nature, just like the Rangers saved her when she was younger. Here, she got to see that dream realized, even if she was afraid for her friend's life while saddled with her own trauma. Wanderer helped with the logistics of the rescue, and writing Julia using her wits and limited resources was a lot of fun. This is also setting up future plot threads between Julia and Isaac. Julia knows both sides of Isaac, but only separately; she has no idea that the person she saved is the same Rocket she chased down before. And that dual identity is going to keep popping up until the mask is finally peeled off. Arceus knows how Julia will react to the betrayal.

clean

illeana's curry entry

thread summary:
following the aftermath of nadir with FERNANDO SILPH and tolerate it with Greyson Connors , illeana pays a visit to Eva Morales and confesses what she's been up to...

why is it important?:
the science sisters r fighting!!

i think this thread really is the final nail in illeana's coffin. in a sense, it marks a turning point for her current development with the league and finding palkia. her decisions have grown increasingly selfish, greedy, and impulsive because she's so hellbent on finding palkia, finding power, finding a solution to everything wrong in her head.

Eva Morales , on the other hand, lays the foundation in this thread for illeana to realize "hey, maybe i really fucked up this time." and i think clashing with eva, her science sister, is almost more painful because of that. she's been doing her own thing regardless of what people think and it's really... coming back to make her into someone she's not certain she really wants to be. there's a sense of feeling lost and powerless woven throughout the palkia arc for illie and i think while she's finally beginning to admit it to others, it's highlighting she's not as good as she believes. she's become too blind, perhaps, to see how doing anything to achieve her goal is destroying everything else she's worked so hard to build and achieve.

additionally, illeana is starting to understand her actions have consequences (as shown in aapt3). it leaves this disconnect between her and her colleagues, a rift of her own making from the events in lilycove during the primal points mission. and for the life of her, she can't quite figure out where to go from here.

this thread is, for me, something that i think will end up kickstarting the path to redemption after breaking down majority of the relationships illie has in the league. she's lost fernando and greyson, has fought with MATIAS SILPH , and now the breaking of her connection with eva puts a lot more into perspective than she'd like to admit.

i absolutely adore BD and eva and to be able to add another layer to their friendship (once it's been mended...) is an honor ♡ i think for illie, she hasn't quite felt as important or accepted within the league since returning after my hiatus. this argument with eva gives her... i guess an opportunity to understand exactly where she's going wrong, why she's doing this, and provide the option for a different path should she choose to take it.

i look forward to having more threads with BD to both add a little further to this but also mend the relationship to stronger than ever. this curry summary is all over the place but hehe i'm excited about this c: