take care, sleep well, and good night.

Kris and Togore matching headbands

I hc that togore's horns don't start growing until his very late teens

But Pokopia fully does not do that. The world is lonely without humans and lesser for humanity's absence. So much of the game is about how Pokemon miss humans and are struggling to make sense of a world without us, how the ecosystem is just as hurt by our absence as any other species, and how the things we left behind, even in ruins and burned shells, are often beautiful and strange and helpful to the Pokemon who find them.

Pokemon have always been this allegory for the natural world- back to the original idea of the games inspired by children who caught bugs and kept ant farms- and thus the relationship between Pokemon and humans becomes this allegory for the relationship between nature and humans. And Pokopia looks you dead in the eye and says "the world would be poorer without humans, and if we all vanished tomorrow the echoes of who we are and the things we did would still ring out for eons uncountable. We would be missed and mourned and searched for and the wound of our absence would be deeply felt on this earth for the rest of its turning. The actions of a few greedy short sighted humans will never change that."

I, knowing that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, waited carefully for the lab director to be deep in conversation with someone else on the other side of the laboratory. And then I took my chance.

Test tubes, as it turns out, are really bad as shot glasses. Their shape turns any liquid inside into a stream, so you really can't knock it back quickly - it takes a couple seconds. Additionally, the best way I can describe the taste of virus concentrate was "sterile rot". A very unique kind of bad! Made worse by the test tube's inefficiency as a shot glass.

(by the way we were studying bacteriophages, not animal viruses. these viruses are too specialized on attacking prokaryotes to even recognize our cells as targets at all, according to studies.)

(but also like. if the viruses managed to successfully switch hosts and killed me with a violent infection, itd still be worth it.)

So unlike Mario, who continues to be essentially a void with no internality, I actually act with thoughts and intent and already did do that when writing this post.

This is simply a small, independent establishment that Sees a lot of foot traffic and very interesting guests :) how has it been going you ask? Well, long story short…

The fateful Mass Ritual: in which a curious Archivist spurs on an attempted apocalypse, for enrichment. This attract attention from all across the fearscape, kickstarting a sudden rush of activity toward its humble Archive. Things will never be the same.

The dreaded Homestuck night: in which the Archivist is slowly pushed to the breaking point and forced to talk about a Forbidden Subject.

First date with War: in which a Slaughter avatar attempts to make the Archivist pay for aforementioned Homestuck crimes.

The puppets’ tarantella: in which the Archivist’s amicable ties with the Web deteriorate.

The victory sleepover: in which the Archivist and its students and friends relax in the the aftermath of a few days of dancing to the Spider’s tune.

Cursed book club: in which a Vast avatar and one of the Archivist’s pupils study an interesting old tome.

The fly’s gamble: in which the Archivist agrees to a foolish game of blackjack against a mysterious Spider.

A Strange conversation: in which the Archivist speaks with a Doll and learns an unfortunate story.

Teddy Rescue: in which a young Flesh Hive newly arrived to the Archives speaks with a kindred spirit.

Basement showdown: in which a dispute over an overdue loan of the aforementioned interesting tome devolves into a friendly Vast vs Buried deathmatch.

SPIRAL SLIDE!!!: in which everyone has a Twisty Fun Time.

A tour of artifact storage: in which the Archivist makes good on a promise made to one of its pupils.

History repeating itself: in which one of the Archivist’s students goes snooping where they shouldn’t have.

A deal with the Devil: in which the Spider returns with an offer.

Devil’s Bellow: in which the Archivist oversees a fascinating experiment on musical theory.

Another damn Vast ritual: in which Mike Crew is a little bastard.

Second date with War: in which the Archivist loses its shit again, and flirts with the Forever War in more way than one.

A Spider visits artifact storage: in which the Archivist makes good on its part of a newly-signed contract.

David against Goliath: in which one of the Archivist’s pupils takes on a very foolish challenge.

A little fly in the Web: in which a young child comes asking for help, and the Archivist again makes good on its part of the contract.

Down with the Church of the Singing Choir: in which an ex-member of a Church of Shadow comes to the Archives looking for help tearing the cult to the ground.

The Unknowing Again: in which a Stranger starts an impromptu party in the Archives.

The Threads snap: in which the Archivist has had fucking enough. All hands on deck and to battle stations. There’s a storm coming.

A little light preserved: in which a young child comes asking for help, and the Archivist fails to quite make good on a promise made to itself.

The strategy meeting (cookies provided): the Archivist calls on a few friends for a council of war.

The dreaded Homestuck night… 2!: it’s the first of April. Guess what funny little joke the Archives’ visitors decide to play.

For once I'm not actually doing a bit; those "any resemblance to real persons living or dead" disclaimers genuinely exist because of Rasputin.