OOC: Hey, no problem Melissa. Just as long as this doesn't turn into a complete chatroom or something like that, I'm fine with it. ^^
And in the interest of not further imbalancing the thread with pure OOCs; it's IC time!
IC:
Twilight City, also known as 'the city that never sleeps', a bustling metropolis and a small state in its own right, where technology, nature, and culture thrive side-by-side. The city is divded into two main sections, simply dubbed Undercity and Overcity, both alluring in their own way and split into a myriad of districts, each with their own speciality. Undercity is a place of living and commerce, connected together by a well-planed network of underground tunnles, in which the train stations are also located. The primary form of transportation is the city development section's pride and joy, a complex subway system operating on the power magnets (See appendix for additional information on the workings of this system) and capable of delivering people to their destinations fast, cleanly, and efficiently, producing no pollution save that required for producing the energy used. The districts of undercity itself are usually divided into two kinds; residence areas for the less privliged and market districts, markets in Undercity are primarily small-time bussinesses, small stalls and family bussinesses clustered together at virtually ever major crossing to be found, and as such, their methods of bussiness tend to be in accordance and it is customary ot overcharge people, particularly rich-looking tourists, on wares, so customers are always advised, and indeed to some degree expected, to haggle. A good rule of thumb is that usually at least 50% of the original price can be negotiated off, although experienced hagglers have been known to push them even lower than so. Care should also be taken in checking the quality of wares obtained from Undercity as there are, as a rule, no refunds to be had, and product quality varies greatly from store to store.
Overcity on the other hand stands in stark contrast to its hectic twin, consisting primarily of grandiose plazas, parks, luxurious estates, museums, theaters, and opera houses, as well as a few more respectable stores and restaurants. Where overcity is the heart of Twilght City's commerce, Undercity houses the culture and sophistication of the metropolis. The districts are fewer and better charted than in Undercity, and the air is purer, not to mention the increased amount of sunlight to be had, making Overcity a favoured place of visitors more accustomed to luxuries. This section of the city is built on hefty support pillars rooted in Undercity, which are connected to each other by walkways. The favoured method of transportation is walking, although there is a functioning, electric monorail system for those who are in a hurry. Travellers should note that Overcity, be it in terms of hotels, food, or merchandise, is a far more expensive choice than Undercity, although all establishments in Overcity are respectable ones and guarantee to deliver what they promise, making it more favoured by tourists. It should also be noted that-
"Next stop, Twilight City! Repeat, next stop, Twilight City!"
The sudden booming of the announcement in his train compartment caused Valen to look up from "A Complete Traveller's Guide to Twilight City", the boy tucking the handbook back into the right back pocket of his jeans and brushing aside his dark purple hair which had taken up hanging over his right eye again, disturbing his vision while he was reading. Despite the train being practically packed full with people heading for the memorial battle festival, none of the seats adjacent to the boy's one were occupied, although this was perhaps not such a peculiar thing considering the fact that there was a sizeable, and rather scarred, Arbok coiled around Valen's waist, hissing in aggitation and showing her fangs to anyone who had dared to sitt too close. The boy himself didn't seem the least bit worried about the large snake pok?mon's presence however, even though she could probably easily have squeezed him to death in a matter of seconds, absent-mindedly stroking the serpent's head and whispering something to her under his breath, the Arbok lying there and looking contented and surprisingly similar to a tame little puppy dog.
"Come, Seirini." the boy said simply as the train screeched to a halt "We have a job to do."
The snake pok?mon nodded, dutifully uncoiling herself from the boy's waist and slithering down onto the floor, following closely in Valen's footsteps as he walked down the corridor and past the crowd, that was wise enough to give way, despite the fact that its members displayed quite mixed emotions; some of them were simply terrified of the serpent, some were terrified of the boy, with his strange, torn grey shirt and the peculiar necklace of metal beads around his neck, not to mention the look of cold indeference in his misty grey eyes. Some, trainers by the look of them, looked like they wanted nothing more than to stand up to the boy and tell him to stop acting like he owned the place, but the problem was that Valen did nothing of the sort. He didn't act pompously, nor did he boss anyone around, mostly he didn't even talk to the others, mostly because he didn't seem to need to do so. He was the kind of person that caused those with a more well-developed sense of self-preservation to step back just in case, the kind that awoke a natural cringing instinct in a good deal of people, a person who seemed to bode nothing but ill for others, or, the way one of the caretakers in his old orhpanage had described him; trouble with a capital 'T'.
Valen was aware of this, aware that he was different, that he was despised, but he had truly expected nothing less. In fact, he found it alltogether fitting, for the rest of the world seemed to feel about him just like he felt about the rest of the world; he hated it, hated every last stupid rookie trainer and pompous bussinessman, every happy child who had gotten everything that he had always dreamed of having back when he had still had dreams. He hated them so much that he would have liked nothing more than to lash out at every other creature in sight, to spite them and hurt them untill they would have felt the same misery that he had gone through, to ram the understanding that eluded them right down their throats until there would be at least one, at least a single person who could really comprehend how he felt. Valen did not do so however, nor did he express his feelings on the matter in any other way, no, he was too sane for that, too sane and too controlled in his manner, too accustomed to concealing his thoughts behind a look of trained indifference and a comforting veil of spitefull thoughts and harsh words, storing his hatred for the world within himself and focusing on making it alive to the next day instead. People were too foolish to ever understand other people, this he had concluded long ago, there was only one person who could ever comprehend what went on inside his head...one who had faced exactly the same difficulties as he.
The boy cast a quick smile at the Arbok following him before returning his face to the previous mask of indifference as he stepped out of the train and onto the platform, scanning his surroundings. It was a train station much like any other, although the walls were painted in a light yellow colour in an attempt to make the place look more cheerfull, the floor, which was surprisingly clean for a train station's, covered in intriciate designs made by alternating between white and yellow tiles. Bright and well-kept lamps shone down from the dome-like ceiling above, bathing the station with its various rails, storage boxes, wending machines, colorfull advertising posters, and wooden benches in a surprisingly pleasant glow, not too far from the feeling of real sunlight.
While most people seemed to take kindly to the approach that had been taken in decorating the place, it only seemed to serve to make Valen more suspicious and guarded about his surroundings, a slight frown forming on the boy's face.
"This is too clean..." he muttered in quiet contempt, scanning the area for even the slightest trace of dirt or grime but finding none. This alone was enough to make the boy suspicious, there was always dirt where humans gathered, always a dark side to society, and the less of it you saw the worse it tended to be.
Although the boy had said very little, Seirini seemed to understand her trainer's thoughts perfectly, slithering a bit closer to her trainer and coiling up around his right leg.
{Perhapsss they have sssimply cleaned thisss area becaussse of the tournament?} she suggested, using her sensitive tongue to check the air for any feeling of hidden observers.
"Perhaps." Valen replied, stroking the Arbok's head, "But where there's light there's always shadow, stay on your guard."
The snake pok?mon nodded, uncoiling from the boy's foot again as the pair proceeded to walk towards the entrance to the underground tunnel system that the travelling guidebook had mentioned.
OOC: Anyways, just to make this absolutely clear;
~Sign-ups are now officially over~
From this point on, no-one else, and I really mean no-one else, will join this RP. And the list of approved RPers is as follows;
ybur_angel
Baker's Bulbasaur
Charon-chan
Deathspector
Kogenta
Light Azumarill
+ Mika +
Random Plushie
Alter Ego (Duh)