[ORP] Makko Shore Festival

[Gwennythe]

Advertisements were an easy thing to get circulating around the island; word of mouth, tradition, or more conventional means conveyed a message effectively.
Thus, Makko's Shore Festival was no secret.

Music lilted through the air, tinkling from steel drums, pan pipes, and various other instruments, providing a soundtrack to the various activities the festival had to offer.

Pokémon, of course, were welcome; small battles cropped up in various places, while others competed in things like impromptu water gun contests, or even offered rides.
Artisans worked hard on sandcastles, trying to outdo each other, or simply have fun, with builds of varying complexity, water sports involving banana-boat rides and pedalo boats occupied areas of the beach and ocean very strictly set aside for them, the smell of various fried and seafood based snacks wafted through the air, accompanying the music, while other vendors sold souvenirs and knickknacks appropriate to the venue.

The jetty, and an area of ocean around it, had been very carefully restricted to a fishing competition using signs and netted buoys. Competitors could take up a spot on the jetty and fish in an attempt to catch the largest Luvdisc they could. There were simply rules of 2 cast offs per fisher, and, of course, an 'end time' of an hour before sunset.
Starting at lunchtime, though, the organizers thought that gave plenty of time for competitors.

(OOC Note: The fishing competition is also an OOC chance to roll for prizes! Generate a random number between 1 and 25 to see what score you get- 0-9 means no fish on the end of your line but you may, if you wish, spoof catching an 'old boot' or various other junk prizes, 10-25 means you caught a fish! A Luvdisc, most likely, in fact! There are 3 secret prizes within the 20-25 range for those who roll certain numbers- prizes other than a Luvdisc!

Additional Note: This ORP is open to anyone, Rocket or Trainer, though please be aware that Rockets should attend inconspicuously and try to cause no trouble.  

[Suudonym]

(( The fishing contest prizes are staff-sponsored, so if you'd like to keep what you catch in the fishing contest, stop by the certing thread and drop off your certing information! ))  

[TawnyAngel]

Parties, was there anything better in the world?

KO pondered this as he moved through the crowds soaking up the festive atmosphere. Top end sports cars and driving said cars much faster than was legal was perhaps better than parties but if it was it was only by a narrow margin. Parties meant people, life, food and drink and just generally having a good time and he didn't feel that he got to have enough fun around base. Alas, the lot of a grunt.

Dressed in casual sand-coloured slacks and a light blue buttoned shirt KO sauntered his way over to a jetty with a knot of people clustered around it, and people with rods dotted along it. "Humm?" Well a little competition never hurt right? It had been a long time since he'd been fishing too, it might be fun to give it a try again. Taking part meant hiring himself a rod of course but that was easily done. Picking a free spot on the planking KO cast his line in a semi competent fashion and waited to see if he might get a bite.  

[Gwennythe]

KO would find a Luvdisc on the end of his line!  

[TawnyAngel]

Somewhat to his surprise KO felt a tug on his line after only a couple of minutes and hastened to reel in the... whatever it was, hopefully a Luvdisc seen as that was what they were after. As he hauled it out onto the jetty KO discovered that yes, he had a Luvdisc. He had no idea what he was going to do with it of course but it would look cute in a tank, maybe he could keep it just as a pet and persuade Lu to share responsibility for it with him.  

[Venti Mico]

Festivals? Um, heck yeah. The moment Aija heard about it, she'd gotten herself ready, read up on fishing, promptly gave up on reading about fishing, and figured out how to get to the festival. She'd never been big on fishing but Aija always loved festivals; even if she wasn't at home anymore, she'd go to as many as she possibly could. Aija donned a dark blue sundress and found her way to the festival. If she caught something, maybe she could eat it! ... Or, keep it. Whichever. She cast her line and waited patiently as she could.  

[Gwennythe]

Aija would find a Dratini on the end of her line! In fact, there was something unusual about this Dratini... On the end of Aija's line was a shiny Dratini!

(Note: As one of the first 3 people to get a result in the 20-25 zone, Aijaa, you have fished up a Dratini. In addition to this, you have gotten the number 23, which was randomly selected before this ORP began to be the 'shiny number'. Congrats!)  

[TawnyAngel]

Funnily enough fishing with one hand was kind of difficult, or at least it was going to be if he actually hooked anything. Rose was standing next to him prepared to do the reeling but a Sawk's hands were not exactly precision tools. Still, better than nothing right? Aulus wasn't entirely convinced that he was going to keep what he caught even if he was successful but....

He recognised that mass of pink hair.

He also recognised the fact that she had just fished up a shiny Dratini.

Aulus stared.

"Well, some people have all the luck," he muttered as he turned his attention back to his own line.  

[Venti Mico]

Huh.

Oh. Okay. Shiny. Maybe she shouldn't eat that.

Surprised by her catch(and glad that thing hadn't managed to catch her instead), Aija admired the pokemon before catching it in a ball. It was pink and shiny, two things she was very fond of, so Aija held the ball out and laughed rather loudly before she headed off the jetty to find an acceptable place to sit on the beach and watch others fish. Victory!  

[TawnyAngel]

The hook caught and tugged; Aulus gave a little cry to triumph and nudged Rose. "Come on!"

"Sawww!" The bipedal blue pokemon nodded and started trying to reel in the catch but the little reel thing was hard to keep hold of, and it was hard to keep in sync with Aulus and- Oh. Oh dear, the pressure on the line was gone. "Saaaaaaawk." Rose gave his trainer an apologetic look and shrugged.

Aulus took a deep breath it and let it out slowly again, shaking his head. "Reel it the rest of the way in then, I'll cast again." Just another thing that would have been easy if he had the right number of hands. He could feel people staring at him, it made the hair on the back of his neck prickle and his muscles knot. As soon as the empty hook came back in Aulus cast it again, determined to give everyone around him a stiff ignoring and to damn well catch something; he'd show them he wasn't pathetic!  

[Shaddaling]

Sand scrunched under his bare toes as Lex swung off his Crobat and onto the shore. He stood still for a moment, basking in the warmth and chilled water of the waves. "Ready to go back darling?" He questioned, and called her back to her ball before heading for the jetty.

What was going on up there? Ooh, a fishing contest. He walked up on the dock and ran a hand over the rod, pausing when he found one he liked. Well, he could give it a try. He breathed in and then out before lifting the rod and casting off into the water.  

[TawnyAngel]

Again the rod caught, Rose started to reel in the catch, and then something went wrong and whatever it was got away. For a few moments Aulus stood perfectly still, staring out over the water. It was no big deal, right? It was just a stupid fair game- just a stupid fair game that other people were doing well at and that girl with all the hair had caught a Dratini so why hadn't he?

Couldn't he do anything right anymore?

Aulus shoved the rod into Rose's hands with a muttered order to return it to the hire desk and stalked off the jetty, his hand knotted into a fist. So help anyone that go in his way, or stared, or laughed! Why had he even come here, it had been a damn stupid idea and... and... he was being ridiculous again, he needed to just calm the hell down and do something else. It was easier thought than done.  

[Shaddaling]

He reeled in the cast slowly. Empty line, he had expected that, one quick tug and the line had went slack. It wasn't surprising, fishing was a lot of luck, and some water pokemon got very, very smart.

Lex hummed slightly and decided to use both casts up, then he wouldn't have to worry about remembering to use them. He cast the line out again.  

[Venti Mico]

Oh, dear. It looked like other people weren't have quite as much luck. Normally, she'd love to go rub it in and laugh at people, but she was trying to be more discreet here. Plus, she didn't know anyone here, it wasn't as much fun to laugh at strangers than at people you knew.

...Hold up, she knew one of them! Yes, he was a Rocket. No doubt about it. And he did not look like he was having any luck with fishing; yikes, he looked mad. Alright, she knew him, but it was never wise to mock your superior officers. So, Aija pushed herself to her feet, brushed the sand off her rear, and approached Aulus.

"Hello!" She greeted, popping up next to him. "The fishes did not bite you, I see. What luck!" Aija did her best to sound sympathetic and not patronizing.  

[Suudonym]

Shoyo had been waiting for this since the beginning of summer. He didn't really know what to expect - probably nothing quite like the summer festivals he'd experienced back home - but he was sure it would be fun! Convincing his mother to let him go all the way to Makko alone had been an ordeal, even with the logic that he wouldn't really be alone (Giant would be with him, of course) and that kids six years younger than him did stuff like this all the time. He'd take a bus and everything. Finally he had won with the plea to turn the trip into a belated birthday present, which of course needed to be something really cool since it would be his first time spending his birthday without any friends around to celebrate with him.

The trip had been tedious, but the destination was worth it. Makko was really tiny compared to Camphoreon, but its atmosphere gave it a massive presence. Shoyo wandered around the festival area wide-eyed and slack-jawed, "ooh"ing at everything and generally enjoying himself just by token of being there and being around other people who were enjoying themselves. He passed by the fishing area just as a kid (or he assumed she was a kid, given she was even shorter than him) fished up a pink Dratini, regarding the feat with an excited "whoooa!" He wasn't a fan of the color, but a Dratini! So cool! He kinda wanted to try too!

Naturally, Shoyo knew absolutely nothing about fishing, but he understood the principle well enough: throw the end of a string into the water and then reel it back. He rented a rod and took up a place at the edge of the water, fiddled with the reel and sinker as if he had any idea what he was doing, and finally cast out with an excessive amount of strength and a battle cry to match.