Video + Action in Union's commerce district!

[sparrowfeathered]

A: Video

[And it's Rose. She's grinning brightly, leaning down and looking at the monitor. Behind her, her Blaziken has his arms crossed and is watching. While Rose beams at the camera.]

I tell you, I take one business trip to Caldera and... uh... another god shows up! This got pretty intense, huh? Is everyone all right?

I'm a little worried about you guys!

B: Action

[True to promises made, the Spearowfeathers have set up a shop. There is a storefront with a brightly painted sign of a Spearow on it, and the word "SPEAROWFEATHERS" written underneath it. Rose is standing outside the storefront. They're not open yet; instead, her people are moving things into it, carrying wooden crates and everything else.]

[Rose has her arms crossed. But she looks proud.]

[They're moving up in the world! But it's also quite a sight; it's not every day that a new storefront opens up after all. (Thank Lenna for the loan.)]

Comments

[Video]

[vulcanblazer]

[Adell answered her call, smiling back, maybe not as brightly, but with some relief.]

Yeah. We're fine, thank goodness. It was a hell of a thing that happened back here. We were lucky... we managed to get it all resolved without much fighting. Thankfully.

I don't want to think how bad it would've gotten if violence had been the only option.

[And coming from a fight-happy guy like him, that probably said a lot.]

[sparrowfeathered]

It sounds pretty intense, Adell. What did he want? Was it... some kinda test or something?

[She's heard of gods doing that.]

[vulcanblazer]

[He frowned, and shook his head.]

Revenge, ultimately, though he and his fellow Pokemon claimed they wanted justice. I'm not quite sure I understand everything that happened, but from what I do know... I think they were artificially created Pokemon. Created by humans. I have no idea how.

But... they had a bone to pick with humans after that. Believed their lives and deaths had no purpose because of their origin. They wanted their own notion of justice from that... with the intent of wiping out humans.

[His frown softened, though. The look in his eye was reflective, but... sympathetic. Perhaps oddly, for someone he just described as genocidal.]

...They were confused. Hurting. Lost. They felt betrayed and aimless, and thought humanity hadn't, or couldn't change. And they felt that they'd speed up what they deemed was inevitable. They had lost all hope and meaning in life... and lost sight of what justice really was.

We showed them that there was still purpose... and hope. That we weren't the same as whoever played God with them and hurt them. That things can and would be different than what they experienced. Some of them are still skeptical, I'm sure. But we saved Union... and may have won over some new friends, allies, and partners in the future.

[sparrowfeathered]

Artificially created...? That's... [That's terrible. Rose frowns as she looks down at the ground, then she nods her head. Her eyes are locked on something below the view of the camera.]

...I don't blame them for being angry. And for losing hope. It can't be easy, to feel used like that. But... I'm glad it didn't end in violence. It could have, y'know? That isn't easy for them to look past.

What are they gonna do now? Are they... helping us?

[vulcanblazer]

For now? I think a lot of them are just watching. Waiting. I think some have bonded with Unionites. But I can hardly blame the ones wanting to observe for awhile. They've been burned before. They have to make sure they can trust us.

[He paused, hesitating to admit to what he was thinking about.]

And yeah... I was afraid of their leader. I mean, we've seen gods before. We've seen how powerful they are, and how awe-inspiring they can be when their fury is unleashed. That they're nigh-unstoppable.

...He was just as strong. Maybe stronger. I felt like my head was going to explode when he released a wave of Psychic power. And I think that was his warning shot.

[Video]

[soulofmagus]

It's good to see you, Rose.

[ said sincerely, even if Sophia still look very tired after the fact. Even with the psychic energies no longer being quite as disruptive, sleep has not been a comfort lately - and it's beginning to show. ]

Union does seem to have that attraction, doesn't it? But yes, I think it is safe to say we are all doing quite well right now. How did your business trip go?

[sparrowfeathered]

Thanks, Sophia. You okay, after everything? You look pretty tired.

[Maybe she should check for an energy shake. They have some drinks like that.]

It was pretty good. I wanted to make sure we kept our supply chains up. Especially with everything with Gigas -- and who knows what we'll import. I'm sorry I missed all of the excitement, though.

[soulofmagus]

There were a lot of sleepless nights.. Mine still have yet to recover, but I'm sure that's only a matter of time.

[ She can hope, anyway. ]

You made the right choice, especially so soon after the second treaty with Gigas being put in place. And, fortunately, this last encounter had far less blood shed. Would that we could say the same about other times.

[sparrowfeathered]

That's not an easy thing to say, is it? We've had some bad brushes.

But it sounds like this god and his followers were victims, too, of people in the past. I'm glad that it didn't come to blows.

Action

[my_father_is_a_tycoon]

[Once Lenna hears that the storefront is up and running, she comes along to check it out. And hey, look - she's brought a friend!]

Hello, Rose! This is Mr. P.K. Boo.

[She gestures to what is clearly a Pumpkaboo wearing a fake mustache.]

He's an art dealer from Caldera who stops by Union every few months to look at new pieces. I brought him by to have a look at your shop.

[Either Lenna has gotten really good at straight-faced deadpan jokes, or she actually believes what she's saying. It's hard to say.]

[sparrowfeathered]

[Er.]

[Rose stares at Mr. P.K. Boo for a second, not quite believing; she looks away from him, to Lenna, and she waits for a cracked smile or something that would tell her this is a joke.]

[...She doesn't see it.]

H-Hey, Lenna. Um. Mister... Boo, was it? So, um.

[A long stare.]

An art dealer, huh! What... kind of art?

[my_father_is_a_tycoon]

Pumpkabooooo~

[It does its best to sound haughty and important, trilling its name in a high pitched voice.]

All kinds of art! He loves it all.

[sparrowfeathered]

...huh. Is he, like, a socialite back in... er... Pumpkabooland?

[She tilts her head, curiously, before she looks at Lenna.] He hasn't started redecorating the place has he?

B

[rainsrespite]

[Well, isn't this cute? Yuuna can't quite recall the last time she saw a new store open up. That's a lie she can remember down to the minute thanks to her eidetic memory. Wandering up, she nods towards the shopkeeper.]

I like the sign.

[sparrowfeathered]

[Rose turns to look at Yuuna, as she approaches. She smiles at her, lifting a hand to wave at her.] Hey! Thanks, huh? We worked really hard to get this place set-up!

It'll help us sell a lot more stuff.

[rainsrespite]

Well that generally is the idea. [Yuuna chuckles to herself.]

What is it you guys sell, anyway?

[sparrowfeathered]

Little bit of everything! We're an imports company, so we bring stuff in from Caldera, Sanctuary, Citadel, and Refuge. We're working on getting stuff from Glacier and probably Gigas, now, too.

It's stuff you can't get too easily here! Things like food, spices, clothing... y'know! Not just something they make here and somewhere else.

[ video ]

[divine_braid]

Welcome back. You missed all the fun.

[He grinned.]

[sparrowfeathered]

Yeah, tell me about it. It sounded pretty... intense?

[divine_braid]

Intense is one way of putting it. There was a lot of ... mind stuff going on. Feelings and emotions and psychic things.

But, it looks like things are okay? [He shrugged.] Not really sure. Either way, I've got this Gengar following me around now. One of the Pokémon that showed up. A lot of them stayed behind after Mew-Two left, and they sort of bonded maybe with some of us? It's hard to tell.

[sparrowfeathered]

Yeah... it seemed complicated.

Sounds pretty cool, though! Glad some of them are helping us.

[ B ]

[wise_maiden]

[ Raine just happens to be passing by the area today. The ongoing lack of sleep from the last couple of weeks had mostly led to a need to wander around in the fresh air, despite her tiredness. Perhaps strange for a bookworm, but of course she does have some manner of books with her, a travel cup of coffee, and the usually accompanying pikachu. ]

Oh... I see you're finally settling in around here.

[sparrowfeathered]

[Rose recognizes Raine right away -- she remembers talking to her before, and some of the trouble she'd ran into. She waves at her, flashing her a quick smile, and nods.]

Sure am! We finally got our own place. Watcha think?

[wise_maiden]

[Her ruin obsession is certainly a contrast from her ordinary behavior. At the question she nods, taking a better appraising look at the building, before offering a small smile.]

It certainly stands out. You'll get a lot more traffic with a stable building to work out of.

[sparrowfeathered]

Mm-hm! We're gonna be able to get a lot more people what they want. And we'll have a system for taking special orders, too!