I believe magic's real, but I think it's a lot weirder than people give it credit for.
I believe magic is as much man-made as it is a force of nature, and is shaped by human concepts but not in ways we control.
I believe a spell can totally be botched because you cast it on a Thursday, while it's raining in Hoboken(which you are nowhere near), and you used store brand thyme instead of Mccormick.
I believe you can be cursed to have your food order be wrong statistically more than average because you annoyed a house spirit in your late teens.
I believe a tarot deck can work, but only when it feels like it, and they can be incredibly snide about it.
I believe modern life has created a lot of new, weird magic. Things like spirits of the radio, a metaphysical plane of the internet, radiation ghosts, and a whole cosmology of minor deities to things like probability and firearms.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what I believe of this postmodern magic.
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I managed to pull this together in the middle of an Absolutely Horrible work day! Yay! (Writing this is probably part of what got me out of a stress and caffeine induced panic attack) Unfortunately I didn’t get it edited on time to post on time, but Hey! It Exists :D Anyway, people should write more characters having autism shutdowns. It’s very frustrating being barely able/unable to talk (I am autism btw)
Anyway, this one’s very environmental. I feel like the timespace distortions in PLA could have been a LOT more horrifying, and I’m here to deliver! Warnings: animal attack (again), uuuuhh what do you call this.. time and space are being bent and torn around him and it is some sort of cosmic horror or something idk what that term means exactly I just know it’s what comes to mind, but uuuh yeah this one’s kinda tame actually.
All of mine so far have been pretty tame, let’s be honest. I promise I can write other stuff we just haven’t gotten to the Good Stuff I Have Planned yet
Day 5: Reckless
Takes place some time after the battle atop Mount Coronet. (After day 4 of this event, far before day 3, which happened before days 1 and 2)
~~~~~
Volo should have known this would happen when a strange energy started to fill the air. He should’ve known this would happen when sparks started to fly.
He thought he had more time before it did, thought he could pick a few more berries from this tree and run.
He should’ve known better than to test his fate, especially in a distortion that he had indirectly caused. Arceus has a sense of humor, after all, and Volo is no stranger to the cruelty that fate seems to love to bring him.
Scents from past and future flow into the air, and he can hardly breathe, stumbling as the ground morphs and shifts under him. One moment, he’s standing on the grassy hill, and the next, a structure he doesn’t understand appears out of nowhere, trapping him inside.
He scrambles his way out a window and brings his fingers to his mouth, whistling as loud as he can.
But Toge doesn’t come. She can’t hear him in the storm.
I could die here.
The realization sends chills down his spine.
He’s been confronted by his own mortality plenty of times in his life. It’d be a surprise to hear someone hasn’t, really, in a world as dangerous, as cruel as this one. Wild Pokémon attacks that aren’t immediately deadly can still be incredibly dangerous later, after all, and there’s a myriad of other dangers in this world.
Volo happens to be particularly good at getting himself into bad situations, and fate has always seemed to be especially cruel to him. He’s faced death plenty of times.
But it’s never felt so close.
He could run from murderers and wild Pokémon. He managed to strike a deal with Giratina when they met, he learned everything he could forage so he would never starve, he had even escaped the wrath of a particularly powerful zoroark, which is an impressive feat, considering the fact that even the normal zoro put plenty of people on the death toll.
But he can’t run from this. Not when he can’t breathe and the ground itself doesn’t seem to work as it should, flickering in and out of existence at the drop of a hat.
He curses himself for his stupidity as a terrified steelix shrieks, a sound like boulders tumbling down a mountain. It’s moving too quickly to see where it’s going, barreling straight towards Volo.
He just manages to dodge out of the way, ducking and rolling behind a tree- but an electric attack hits him, and he shrieks as his whole body jolts from it, falling to his knees.
It’s hard to move, he’s shaking, his muscles are spasming.
He can’t run.
Paralyzed.
I’m going to die here.
Something falls into his hands, a strange device. Some sort of bracelet, with a thick, flat face.
It lights up as he touches it.
He frantically presses back against the tree as an alpha raichu steps forward, holding the strange device up.
He’s about to move to throw it in desperation-
And then something he touches on it creates a shield of pink and blue energy, surrounding him just as the raichu tries to hit him with a Thunder.
He can breathe.
Volo scrambles to his feet, catching his breath. “Is this- some sort of shield..?” It moves with him as he walks- no? It’s moving with the device.
He scoops it off the ground, shaking his limbs out to try to get the rest of the electric attack out of his system, and he sprints towards the outside of the distortion, carrying the device with him. The ground materializes beneath his feet, holding steady even as it breaks around him, and he thanks fate for finally giving him something good.
Some attack hits the shield, and he yelps as he’s thrown, but he isn’t hurt by anything except his own bad landing. Scrambling back to his feet, he runs the rest of the way out, jumping through to the outside of the bubble of distorted land just as the timespace storm starts to swirl.
Terrified pokemon shriek as they’re swept into it. Volo nearly throws up as he sees human remains inside, swirling with the rest.
And, in a flash, all of it is gone, leaving no sign of what just happened but specks of shimmering pink dust, floating softly to the ground.
He’s in a cold sweat, shaking as he stares at where he was almost swept away. The trio would RUN INTO these. For FUN, to collect the things inside.
What the HELL is wrong with them!?
He takes a few shaky breaths, collapsing to his hands and knees. The device makes a clicking sound as it wraps around his hand, but he pays it no mind for now.
Okay.
Okay, I’m okay. I’m alive. I’m okay.
..I have nobody to blame for that except myself. I shouldn’t have stayed when the storm started to gather. And for what, a few handfuls more of berries? That wasn’t worth the risk!
He stares at the strange device, which has moved to his wrist. There’s numbers on the front, though he’s not sure what they’re for.
It’s a miracle I made it out. And it’s because of this wondrous device..
It’s locked itself around his wrist somehow. He can’t see the locking mechanism- it looks like a clean band, aside from the face. The only sign as to its origin is some strange lettering on the side, though he doesn’t really recognize the characters. He knows he’s seen them somewhere before, though.
With some experimentation, he figures out he can move the device up and down his arm, but he can’t take it off. It’s comfortable no matter where it is, fitting perfectly to his skin, but it won’t go over his hand, despite obviously having the capability of doing so.
Fascinating..
Okay, he’ll deal with that later. He stands, making his way back to the little camp he’s set up.
He’s still feeling a little stiff with the after effects of a fairly mild electric attack paralysis, but he’s not too hurt- he must’ve not been hit too bad, thankfully.
Volo sits at camp, dumping out his bag and counting the supplies he’s managed to gather.
If he finds a way to preserve the food, what he has gathered today will be enough for a few days. So the progress towards what he and his Pokémon need to survive the winter is slow, but it is progressing.
The extra berries he grabbed are enough for two extra meals for Toge, so there’s that, at least.
Was it worth the risk? No, not in the slightest. Not when he can easily gather that safely.
But does it make him feel a little better about it?
Absolutely.
He looks up as a shadow falls over him, quickly moving to catch Toge as she flies into his chest. “Hey!”
She squeaks happily, shaking her bag- and that’s the sound of a bunch of apricorns. He can also see the leaves of a few different edible plants and medicinal herbs sticking out.
Volo smiles, cuddling her close. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he murmurs, burying his face in her feathers with a quiet sigh. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
~~~
PARADOX DETECTED
A young woman leans over to look at the alert, brushing curly red hair out of her eyes. “Oh! Well, that explains where he got his watch.. That is a dangerous paradox, wow. Very lucky it didn’t break anything. Dialga must have helped..” She sighs, tapping a few buttons on her watch and sending a quick message to Management. “..Dragons. I need to figure out how Eclipse got it off so I can update the security systems.. What a bother.”
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