struck_out | 001 Video / Action

001 Video / Action

Video

[The feed switches on to Leon propping his elbows on the counter, idly bouncing a baseball in his hand. He may be dressed for work at the Pokemart, but he...doesn't really look like he's working.

Thankfully for him, his boss is away on an errand so there's no one to yell at him to pick up his slack. It's a quiet day at the Pokemart anyway, so he can afford some time to goof off. Usually this would involve naps, but today he's got a question to pose for the network viewers. ]

So, I've been thinking lately. About dreams. I know what I gotta do to stay here, but...I don't have a dream. Something that keeps me pumped up and excited, you know? Is the Pokemon trainer thing the only dream we can have here? 'Cause I dunno, it still feels kinda off somehow. I can do it if it means I get to stay here, but it's not really my thing.

[A sign punctuates his words.]

It really sucks when you realise that a dream you wanted, might not be such a good dream after all. And I've been thinking for the past two days, and I still can't figure out what it is that I want! It's so annoying!!

[Leon stops bouncing the ball and picks up the Gear, grinning at the audience.]

So, that's where you guys come in! Tell me about your dreams. Something that you wanted to do, either here or back home. Doesn't matter how crazy it is, but just tell me about it because hell, maybe it's a dream worth working towards. Maybe you guys can give me an idea on what kinda dream I can chase after now. There's just one condition: your dream has to be cool. There's no point in having a dream that doesn't fit your standards, right? So my standard is simple: it just has to be a freaking awesome dream!! So gimme your best ones!

Action: Violet City

[Lo and behold, an amazing sight for all to see. The SHSL Slacker is actually working? If by working, you mean he's sloppily arranging stuff on the shelves, or napping over the counters, or even splashing water on the front and calling that a clean job. Did he accidentally splash water over you when he did that? Or did a whole bunch of cartons fall on you because he didn't stack them up properly? Or maybe you're impatiently waiting for this teen punk to get with his job and check out your items. The choices are yours!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

There's just one problem with soliciting that kind of advice: it makes you much more likely to end up chasing someone else's dream, and not one that's truly your own.

I want to be free.

[he doesn't seem to be saying anything else. thank you Haru, for that comment that told most people absolutely nothing.]

[oh hey
you weren't ripped apart by your own arrogance and monsters

...good for you. But, his dream? It's... not something he'd tell a stranger. Perhaps he'll just mention plans for the near future. It'd be rude to just turn on the camera without talking.]
Being a trainer - 'tis just another path in life. Not much of a dream.
[A pause. Guess who's looking at your baseball (which he doesn't know the name of whoops) ramza plz. HE IS CURIOUS.]
Was that your former dream?

[Hagakure's spending his jobless days wandering around town while his classmates are working ever so hard, and today he finds himself at the Pokemart to see what Leon's up to. Apparently he's up to a whole lot of nothing because Hagakure finds him asleep at the counter.

All he can do is smirk and shake his head. You shouldn't have let yourself sleep on the job Leon, because you've left yourself open to a sneak attack.

Slowly but surely, Hagakure sneaks up on the sleeping Leon and playfully pokes him in the side.]

[Too lazy to text back, Leon just switches over to the voice function.]

But what if that guy's dream rocks? Why shouldn't I follow his? I can just make it my own dream too.

...and that statement's supposed to tell me exactly what?

[Leon's telling it straight and true.]

You gotta be a bit more specific? Free from what? 'Cause this place is pretty much a free-for-all. No school, no parents, there's no one here to tell you how to live your life. Unless you're one of those criminal psychopaths, in which case just forget whatever the hell I said!

...do you seriously talk like that all the time? 'Cause I hate to break it to ya, but you sound like a total dork.

Hmm? Oh, this thing.

[Leon takes a look at the ball, shrugs, and throws it over his shoulder.]

Baseball's a crap game. It ain't worth anyone's time.

[Never mind that he didn't have to look to somehow throw that ball straight back into the open mouth of his backpack.]

So what's your dream? Heh, bet it's something like being an actor! You do the whole medieval thing pretty well.

[Thanks Hagakure, you are such a buddy aren't you?

Leon wakes up with a yelp, arms and legs flailing. Too bad the chair he's sitting on isn't a big one either, otherwise he might not have toppled over and onto the ground. And he really should've moved that stack of boxes that his boss had asked him to, because now he's gone tumbling straight into them. What was once a neat stack of cardboard boxes becomes something like a slight cardboard avalanche, the sound just loud enough to drown out whatever obscenities Leon might be throwing Hagakure's way right now.

One mess later and Leon shoves a box advertising Charmander Chips off his body, glaring daggers at Hagakure.]

The hell was that for!?

[...Huh?]
This is how I normally speak. Is it odd?
[it's not odd, it's a translation choice :p]
B-but, my dream - 'tis one I cannot achieve here. [To be honest, Ramza just isn't gonna tell you. He's just too polite, though.] I asked you yours, however. Or do you not have one?

That's not what it means.

When I swim Freestyle, the water and I understand each other. It's quiet, there's no one there to talk to or expect things. I'm free from all bonds, at peace with myself and the water.

I want to be that way all the time, neither accepting nor rejecting things that pull at me and having no obligations. That's my dream.

[he looks completely serious about this and like has has no idea what a weirdo he sounds like]

Edited 2013-09-10 12:34 (UTC)

Duh! In case you haven't noticed no one talks like the 16th century anymore! You're 400 years behind all of us, get with the times man!

I had a dream, but something happened and now I don't want it anymore. That's why I'm asking through the network about it.

And anyway, you should be the one telling me about your dream! 'Cause I asked first. Otherwise, what's the point of answering the vid?

[...mixed feelings on this post. Mixed feelings that Walter wants to indulge by answering.]

I think this "Pokemon trainer" job's not so bad! Reporting to no man, free to go where one wills, as one wills...and there's money to be won simply for being better at it than the opponent. It seems to me that a Pokemon trainer could do...just about anything they wanted, provided they had the power. [grins.] I'd much rather this than settle and work evermore. And I think I'd like to take what challenges come, and see just how high I can climb. 'Tis pleasing to be the victor in something.

...so minus all the crap about the water and swimming, you just wanna live your life however the way you want, without having to deal with responsibilities or people pressuring you to do stuff you don't want to?

Join the club.

[As strange it may sound, Leon does get the idea. A life free of rules and regulations, and being able to do whatever the hell he wanted...that was the life he wanted to have.]

You think that kinda freedom's possible?

[...]
I know 'tis not the 16th century. [Yeah, dude, it's like... the late 90s, by Ramzas calender! A shake of his head - perhaps he'll ask, the next time he posts. He has noticed a different style of speech. ~~this is going to be the oddest post tomorrow i swear~~]
Something happened to mine, as well - only a little before I awoke here. [not gonna say what!!! (he does not like talking about it)] I've been searching for new passion - a new dream, as you'd say.

It's not bad, but it's kinda, I dunno, kiddy. Like the sorta dream you have when you're 10. It's OK I guess, but I'm just not that interested.

I like the freedom. But it's not exactly total 100% freedom, 'cause I've still got to take care of my Pokemon. Sometimes my Chimchar drives me crazy, y'know? He's a picky eater, so he keeps chucking out all the food I get'im. I've gotta get just that one flavour of Pokechow before he even takes a bite. What a pain in the ass.

You and me both then.

[Leon sighs and slumps back over the counter.]

I guess we could just talk about stuff then. Maybe that'll help somehow.

What kinda stuff do you like to do? Acting? 'Cause you talk funny. Maybe you acted too much till you couldn't stop talking like that.

[Yeah, maybe just... talking will be better.
A shake of the head. What does he enjoy? Well, he...]
I've always enjoyed studying. [Yeah, I am sorry Leon.] Though, without the ability to try out those abilities, it would not be as fun. For now, example, I've been teaching my Pokemon how to throw stones - as I would have thrown many objects, in my home land.
[He is still linefacing, by the by. Ramza is still trying to overachieve. He needs somebody to pull him into having fun.]
I've not acted, however. Do I sound like an actor? [Said in curiousity, really.
That's the word he used, correct? Ramza has picked up - an actor would be like the sort of person who'd appear in a play, or the sort. Just from the terms - he sounds like he's from another century, and the such.]

...There's nothing to be gotten without some effort. [It...kind of chafes to hear someone saying things like that.] I'd think it a waste to come to as simple and easy a life as this and let it pass by over fetching food.

Hey, I wasn't complaining about living here! It's fucking paradise compared to where I was before this. Just I don't agree that it's 100% freedom. For me, freedom is when I don't have any obligations at all to anyone or anything, and I can follow my own rules. It sounds impossible, but that's what I think freedom is.

And you think that'll make you happy?

It's fine to draw inspiration from others. But if you don't find a way of adding something of yourself to it, then all you're really doing is playing tag-along behind someone else. And in circumstances like that, you'll always lose, because their advantage is that they want it more than you do.

Uh, yeah. You do. You sound really authentic too, so if you ever wanna be an actor, I think you should go for it. You've got the whole knight thing down completely.

...so you like throwing stuff? Huh. I used to do something like that back home. It was kinda lame though; I was good at it, but I also hated it. So it was a pointless thing to be good at in the first place.

I dunno, maybe it could?

I've always known what I wanted to do. So this is the first time I'm stuck.

[Leon has an intense one track mind, he's got tunnel vision all the way. So long as he had a goal, be it throwing a ball or becoming a rock star, he knew he'd achieve it, so he never considered anything else.]

All my life I did just one thing. And now that I don't want to do it anymore, I don't know else is there left for me.

...[A bit of a sigh.] Would that there were such a place. I think I'd take the chance in a heartbeat. [Walter's not sure where his sudden sullen mood came from, but he doesn't like it. Let's rewind a little to something less depressing.]

So - when you say you want a dream, what is it exactly you mean by that? I'd think a dream would come as...well, as a dream, and not be dredged up by force.

I guess I just want to hear what people have to say and see if I can get any ideas from their dreams.

[Aka, he's too lazy to think up on his own dreams. :/ ]

I've been really trying to come up with something, but I got nothing. So maybe someone has a dream that I can, I dunno, find some inspiration for what I want to do.

[A dream? Jade's just hoping to survive and win the game she and her friends were hurled into, but--]

I dunno, my grandpa invented things, and I do like making robots and stuff. Maybe I will do that as well.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 4

001 Video / Action

text;

video

video;

[action]

Voice

Video

Video

Action

Video

Video

no subject

[video]

no subject

no subject

Video

no subject

no subject

Video

no subject

text forever;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[video]