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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Why Werewolves Within Isn’t Your Typical Werewolf Movie

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The small town of Beaverfield is much like many others across the nation in 2021. There is political polarization, longtime residents suspicious of newcomers, a stark wealth gap, infidelity, gossip, and at least one guy who is either a scary loner or just wants to be left the hell alone. But in the new film Werewolves Within what really sets Beaverfield apart is their lycanthrope problem.

Based loosely on the multiplayer Ubisoft VR game of the same name, the film — which is now playing in theaters and hits Digital Rental & VOD on July 2 — is a horror-comedy whodunit where a handful of locals are locked down during a winter storm while a monster hides amongst them.

Directed by Josh Ruben (Scare Me) with a script by novelist Mishna Wolff (I’m Down), Werewolves Within shares cinematic DNA with Clue and Knives Out on the mystery side, as well as The Thing and An American Werewolf in London on the horror end, with a little Fargo thrown in for good measure.

The audience enters the world of Beaverfield through the POV of plucky pushover Finn (Sam Richardson from Veep), the new forest ranger in town before introducing Cecily (Milana Vayntrub, Die Hart), a welcoming postal worker hungry for a new person to meet. Through her, a cast of quirky townsfolk come into focus as the storm approaches, and everyone bickers over the proposed oil pipeline that will bring in big money but is environmentally devastating. And that’s before the corpse is discovered.

What makes the mystery of Werewolves Within especially fun is Beaverfield’s residents are played by a roster of character actors who bounce off one another in the way the cast of Clue did: Harvey Guillén (What We Do In The Shadows), George Basil (Crashing), Sarah Burns (Barry), Michael Chernus (Tommy), Catherine Curtin (Orange is the New Black), Wayne Duvall (The Hunt), Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll), Cheyenne Jackson (30 Rock), Michaela Watkins (Brittany Runs A Marathon), Glenn Fleshler (True Detective).

Ruben and Wolff joined Den of Geek for a Paranormal Pop Culture Hour to discuss their collaboration on the video game adaptation. In the following interview, they likewise talk of a shared love of werewolf flicks, as well as why murder mysteries and creature features go hand-in-paw.

Note: Quotes edited lightly for clarity and length

What were the werewolves you loved growing up? Mishna, since your last name is Wolff, I think that entitles you to go first.

Mishna Wolff: There’s so many. Joe Dante’s The Howling, for sure. Definitely Wolfen, starring Albert Finney. That’s a great werewolf story. He’s actually wasted in that movie, as well. I would say Silver Bullet has a fun kids’ story in it.

Obviously, An American Werewolf in London, but I was always like, “More decaying humans! Can we get more decaying humans on the screen?” I feel like he uses them so sparingly. I could’ve done twice as many decaying humans.

Josh, what scratched your lycanthropic itch?

Josh Ruben: Clawed, even. I mean, the first one that really hit me was the guy in Monster Squad. He was a blue collar, everyday fellow who you really seem to feel his excruciating pain and torment, and that really hit me. There was something about the kids that kind of went after all the entities in that movie, but the werewolf in that one was particularly terrifying, and so much of it came through his performance. I think between him and the one in Silver Bullet, ridiculous as it ultimately ended up looking, that is a dreadful — as in a good dreadful — terrifying film. It really felt like what would really happen if you and your drunk uncle had to take on a lycan.

Later in life, my most recent favorite is Late Phases. I think that movie is so good. It’s so brilliant, and it’s also a Hudson Valley production. I was shocked by how much I loved that one. That’s a new fave.

Video game adaptations are so often not very good movies. So what was your approach? Was it to just sort of toss away the entire game? What elements do you think were important to preserve from the VR game?

Mishna Wolff: The feel. I mean, I feel like that was always the thing. All screenwriters who you talk to about adaptations, and they talk about, “What do you owe the source material?” I think you owe it the feel, and I feel like certainly, in the midpoint of the movie, when everyone’s huddled in the inn and they’re trying to ferret out who the werewolf is, it does feel like that video game, even though it’s a different era.

How did you set out to play with archetypes and the role women often play in these films?

Mishna Wolff: The movie started out with a lot of thinking about archetypes. I happen to love movies with pretty clearly-drawn archetypes. I like archetypes. I feel like it’s reassuring when you walk into a movie and you feel like “Oh, I know who that guy is.”

I like upsetting archetypes and having little things be different about the archetype than you expect, but feminism certainly plays a role in those archetypes and women in film haven’t always been given life and death stakes, so that was a huge thing that I was thinking of.

Josh, in Scare Me, there is a werewolf sequence. Was that in a strange way, a being a bit of an audition of sorts for Werewolves Within as your second feature?

Josh Ruben: I think it ended up being the case in Scare Me because it is the creature that freaks me out the most and that story, silly as it is, the first one out in Scare Me, is an idea I’ve had in the back of my head forever that just kind of collects cobwebs. It’s all crazy coincidence, and I’m happy to find my brand in recessed shadows, creatures in the dark and quirky, emasculated human beings. I think I’d be fine to tell those stories again and again.

Why do werewolves and murder mysteries pair well?

Josh Ruben: Going back to Silver Bullet, you have that priest character who, once it was revealed he was the big bad, it became that digging your fingernails into your knees, like “Oh my God, they have no idea they’re in the presence of this awful thing.” That’s terrifying, more so than a vampire or pretty much anything else. It’s the true movie monster, where they can walk amongst us during the day and be our brother, best friend, mother, father, whatever, but turn out to be the most violent thing, and terrifying thing imaginable.

And we can all have a monster within?

Josh Ruben: It makes sense, in the allegory of it all. In a film like this, everyone can be implicated. The allegory and theme of it all is, we all have violent, dreadful thoughts every once in a while when pushed to our limits. Even Sam’s character, as wonderful a protagonist as he is, he’s pushed to his limit, as well. Every character could have reason to be a werewolf, hence the wonderful mystery of it all, but it played lockstep for me. It’s a testament to Mishna’s incredible work. I just opened it and was just like, this feels like Arachnophobia and Fargo.

Sam Richardson’s Finn is the new ranger in town and he’s a nice guy. But there’s the notion that either nice guys finish last, or nice guys are too good to be true. So why are we so against nice guys?

Mishna Wolff: Well, yeah, a person can be too good to be true. There’s a couple of nice guys in this movie that are suspicious, and the reason Finn is such a nice guy is because the movie that we fashioned is his worst nightmare. He’s afraid of conflict, he’s a nice guy and he’s about to enter the epicenter of meanness. This movie’s designed to torture him and break him, and it almost does.

Josh Ruben: Nice guys have werewolves within them, mean guys have werewolves within them. Oh, it’s just fascinating to play with the archetype because I think Bundy was a nice guy, at least in his circle, and Gacy, so it’s fun to play with those kind of expectations. There’s a wonderful moment, without giving anything away, where even this wonderful protagonist reaches a breaking point where he has to match everyone else and it should raise the question “Well, shit, could it be the nicest character of all?”

Was there any version of this movie where there may not have been an actual werewolf?

Mishna Wolff: No. I thought about going there and just having it be more cerebral and meta, but I always start everything with the end in mind. Josh was super collaborative, and he had some tweaks on the ending. The werewolf is the werewolf, and that didn’t change, but he made some really nice changes to the ending and I thought it worked really quite well.

Josh, what did you discover about the challenges of tackling a werewolf movie where you’re ultimately going to have to show the monster?

Josh Ruben: When it came down to the werewolf, it’s like, “Well, we don’t need to see skin breaking, we know what this is going to be, we can evoke that visceral transformation and the terror of it all, but let’s just get to it.” At that point, when it came to the werewolf itself, it was nothing too extravagant. It was just like, “Oh shit, this is going to happen.”

Also, within the mythology of this character and this thing, and how fast it killed, it was fun to think about it having control over its changing as part of its, again, mythology and how it went about its business.

Mishna Wolff: That was such a conversation in the room, too, about, “Can it control? It can’t control? How come it can control? What kind of … ” It’s like “Doesn’t matter. Trust me.”

Josh Ruben: No one will be writing mean letters if they’re along for the ride, if they feel taken care of, whether the claws retract or extend, whether they change quickly or not, it’s just got to be a fun ride.

Mishna Wolff: I think the creature features that Josh and I grew up loving were always done a little bit on the cheap with the exception of maybe The Thing and Alien, which were really crazy expensive, but I think that’s part of the fun of the creature feature, to me at least

Josh, with Scare Me, you used the word “incel,” which you filmed before it was part of our lexicon. Now, this is neighbor against neighbor, people are either hiding the truth or rejecting it, and there is the idea that being grouped together can lead to your own death. You could not have predicted the relevancy of this, so how is it landing for you now?

Josh Ruben: It’s pretty phenomenal when people like Michaela Watkins improvise a line like “Antifa.” You think “Oh, that’s going to be the shelf-life joke that will end up on the cutting room floor.” And no, it remains to be one of the more relevant pieces of the film and of this character.

I mean, she’s a Karen. She was a Karen before the Karen thing. With incel, it’s funny, too, because Aya Cash was the first one. She improvised that line, “What are you, an incel?” I didn’t know what the word meant and Fred quite was.

It’s unfortunate how relevant it is, but I’m thrilled that it is because I’d like to think that the film is a ride so, hopefully, regardless of what people take away from it, regardless of the relevance of it all, I’d like to think that it’s coming out at a time where, after the trauma of it all, from the insurrect-y through the pandem-y, that people can at least forget the trauma of the past 16 and a half months and sort of go for the ride. We’re offering less bleak fare; we’re offering more fun fare coming out of this dark chapter, but it’s both wonderful and terrifying that it’s so relevant and will remain to be. There will always be people who are narrow-minded in small corners of the world and narrow-minded in the most liberal corners of the world, as well. The newcomers are no better than the townies, in some cases, in many cases in the film. Mishna Wolff: I think we were banking that people would be ready to laugh at everything that’s gone on, at this point, that people would be ready … Can we make fun of it now? Is it too soon? No?

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Werewolves Within is in theaters now, and will be available on Digital Rental & VOD July 2, 2021

The post Why Werewolves Within Isn’t Your Typical Werewolf Movie appeared first on Den of Geek.

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coffeefairy · 7 years ago

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Partners - Chapter 6

Thanks to everyone who has shown this story so much love recently, it’s been super inspiring to see you’re enjoying! In recognition, here’s chapter six! If you need to catch up, start from the beginning here

Title: Partners

Fandom: Once Upon a Time

Pairing: Red Cricket and tiny bit of Rumbelle, mentions of Swanfire, Snowing and Mad Whale.

Rating: Not for kiddies. Mentions of violence and darker themes.

Plot: Cop!Archie and FBI Agent!Ruby AU. When Special Agent Ruby Lucas is assigned to lead a taskforce to assist the Boston Police Department she is not immediately impressed with her new partner, Detective Archie Hopper. But first impressions can be misleading and sometimes opposites can be the best match.

As the next week passed, Archie would find that more and more evenings, Ruby would come to his place after work. Though she hadn’t said, he got the impression she disliked her hotel room. He found he didn’t mind having her around. She had an innate feeling for how to put him at ease and he couldn’t deny it was nice to have another person around. Pongo enjoyed it as well, finding a new friend in Ruby. So most days they when they finished, they’d go to his place, cook together or order in. Sometimes they read, the agent taking advantage of his well-stocked bookshelf, or watch a movie. She’d introduced him to Netflix and they’d spent a few evenings bingeing on a whole season of some show or other.

He learned a bit more about her, finding out she adored Thai food, liked historical novels and preferred horror movies. Her i-Pod collection contained a lot of names he didn’t know but found he mostly didn’t mind. When she was off duty she liked to pull her hair into a messy ponytail and lounge around in her sweats. And she didn’t snore. The first time she’d stayed over they had been going over the case until late and she had fallen asleep on the couch. He hadn’t had the heart to wake her, knowing full well how little she already slept, so he’d put a blanket over her and let her stay. Now she’d remain a few times a week, cuddling with Pongo who was delighted to have someone allowing him to sleep on their bed.

The proximity, day and night, at work and at home, made them comfortable with each other, growing close at a pace Archie had never experienced before. He was normally slow to trust, a result of his fractured childhood, but the link to Ruby had been as quickly forged as it seemed unbreakable. It surprised him, and it surprised him it didn’t bother him more. They had to be naturally suited to be partners.

It was a Saturday, one they had decided to not go into the office for, and rain was drizzling outside, pattering against the window. Ruby was wearing a big woolly jumper, leggings and thick socks, a cup of tea in her hands and a case file open on her lap.

Working on his laptop across from her, he was contemplating a break. They could re-heat some of the food from last night, maybe read something fun for a while after. Rest their brains.

Then Ruby put the file aside, stood. With her tea cup in her hands, she looked out the window for a minute, turned away. Paced, then returned to the window. Sensing there was something she wanted to say, he just waited.

“You’ve never asked why...Why I am the way I am.”

“What way do you mean?” “Don’t play ignorant. I know people find me...cold. Distant.”

“I don’t think you’re cold, Ruby.”

“No?” She gave a mirthless laugh.

“No. I think you’re reserved. I think you…” he weighed his words carefully. “I think you were hurt and you’re trying not to be again.”

She smiled humorlessly and looked out the window. “Almost. I hurt someone. And I’m trying not to do it again.”

“How do you mean?”

She edged to sit on the windowseat, her knee bent and almost touching her chin.

“I...I was in the Army, I don’t know if you know.”

He nodded. “It was in your file.”

“Right.” She looked away and sipped her tea. “I did two tours. There was...I don’t know, I don’t think you can explain what it was like.”

He didn’t interrupt or prod and she relaxed a little.

“In my platoon there was a man...A man I cared for. A man I...loved. Peter.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “It was against regs, he was under my command but we...we didn’t care. It was love at first sight. Nothing else mattered.”

Archie shifted in his seat, wanting to reach out to comfort her. But he knew there was nothing he could say. He could hear in her voice Peter wasn’t in the world anymore.

“He..died. He died because of me.”

She looked out the window again and knowing she wouldn’t be comfortable with him getting closer, Archie tried to stifle the impulse to hold her in his arms.

“It was my fault.” She drew a deep breath. “We had orders. We were in enemy territory and we had clear instructions. Peter did everything he should. But I...I saw a child. A little girl. She was just standing there and I couldn’t help it. I went to save her. I put the whole squad in danger. Risked our hold in the region. Peter, he...he covered me when he saw it and because of it he was caught in the the crossfire. He was just 23.”

Seconds ticked by and Archie waited for Ruby to come back from the memories that had taken her. In a few minutes she looked at him for the first time since she started the story, her eyes glittering and the gaze tortured by guilt.

“Do you think I’m a monster? Do you think I killed the man I loved?”

“No.” Archie stood, walked over to kneel in front of her where she could see him clearly. “No,” he repeated.

“I killed someone.”

Gently he put his hands on her arms. “Ruby, you saved someone. Whoever shot Peter is his killer, not you. You put a little girl first and it’s how it should be.”

“Not for a soldier.”

“Then maybe for a minute you were human first.”

She brushed her hands over her eyes, smudging tear tracks of salt and kohl.

“I just miss him so much, Archie.”

“You’re allowed to, Ruby. You’re allowed to feel.”

Tears fell from her eyes unhindered and Archie didn’t hesitate to wrap her in his arms for a hug. She sank against him until they sat on the floor, rocking her gently. He didn’t know for how long they sat, with him holding her, just stroking his hand over her back, her hair, mumbling gently. But slowly her sobs subsided and faded into shaky sighs. He loosened his hold and she wiped tears from her cheeks.

“I’m...sorry about that. I don’t know what got into me.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Ruby.”

“I’ve cried more since I met you than I have in the last five years.”

“I’m glad.”

“You’re glad?” She blinked.

“Wait, that’s not what I…” Colour crept up his cheeks. “I meant, I’m glad you feel comfortable enough with me, Ruby. It’s...I’m happy we’re friends, is what I’m trying to say.”

She relaxed and a small smile shone through the tears like the sun peeking through mist.

“Me too.”

o.O.o

When Emma had heard his evenings now included Ruby, she’d not wanted to take no for an answer until he brought her. Knowing full well his previous partner wouldn’t give in until he took her around, he’d caved easily. Arguing with Emma was like beating your head against a wall anyway.

So he promised to ask Ruby.

Predictably, she wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

“Dinner? With your old partner?”

“Yes, and her husband.”

“But why?” She asked as she sorted through files on her desk.

“Ah…” He didn’t think the fact that Emma wanting to scope her out was an acceptable excuse to anyone but her. So he rephrased. “She’s curious about you.”

“Curious?”

“Yes. Emma’s my best friend. She’s curious about you since we’re friends too.”

Ruby gave him a long unimpressed look that showed exactly how far she believed him.

“Very well. I’ll go, since she’s so interested. But please don’t make me small talk.”

Archie chuckled. “Oh, I promise. Emma detests small talk.”

“Small blessings.”

Now they were standing outside the house and Ruby was quite obviously counting exits, windows and streets leading away. Knowing it helped her with her nerves to rely on her training, he didn’t say anything but rung the doorbell.

o.O.o

The door was opened by a boy of about eight, with straight brown hair, serious eyes and a missing front tooth.

“Hi Archie!” He hugged the detective and smiled so the gap in his teeth winked. “Who are you?” He directed at her.

“I’m Ruby Lucas.”

“Ruby’s my new partn...temporary partner. She’s with the FBI.”

“No way!” The boy was all enthusiasm. “Can I see your badge?”

“Ah...sure.” She took it from her belt and flipped it open.

“Cool! Do you have your gun with you?”

“Henry,” Archie chided softly. “Ruby didn’t bring her gun to dinner.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s fine, we’ve got Mom’s anyway.”

Ruby stifled a chuckle and followed the boy inside. Hanging up her coat, a blonde woman she recognised as Emma Swan came into the hall. They’d met before so Ruby summoned a dutiful smile.

“Did you ask who it was before you opened the door?” Emma directed at her son, putting a hand to his shoulder.

“No. Did you invite some murderers to dinner with us?” The boy grinned and ducked under her hand.

The blonde chuckled and shook her head before directing her attention to the two arrivals.

“Archie. Ruby. Welcome, come on in.”

Ruby had no problem hearing the warmth in Emma’s voice when she said Archie’s name and the cool reserve then she said hers. The two of them are friends, she reminded herself. It was completely normal she was a bit suspicious of Ruby, especially since she was Archie’s partner now. Temporary partner, she reminded herself.

“Thank you. Here, for you,” she handed Emma a bottle of wine. “I wasn’t sure what you like but hopefully it’s okay.”

“Oh, thanks. I’m sure it’ll be great. Come on in and meet everybody.”

“Everybody?” Ruby hissed under her breath as she and Archie followed Emma into the next room.

Archie shrugged in reply and Ruby made a mental note to get him back. She should have expected a friend ambush. It had have been too long since she spent any time with friends if she’d forgotten anyone possibly becoming part of the group had to be put through a trial period.

They entered a kitchen-living room, the kitchen part to the left with a dining area behind it. To the right was a homey living room and den. Decorated in bright colours it was warm and welcoming.

“Everyone, this is Ruby, Archie’s new partner,” Emma said and the people in the room fell silent.

Emma turned to Ruby, pointing the guests out in turn. “In the back there is my son Henry who probably didn’t introduce himself because we’re really behind on his manner classes. August, Marco’s son and Grace, Jefferson and Percy’s daughter.”

The children waved in between laughs and whooping at some videogame they were playing on mute in the den.

“There’s Marco, he’s Archie’s first partner, he’s retired now,” she nodded to the older man. “And over there is David Nolan, the captain of the force, currently my partner, and his wife Mary Margaret. She’s a primary school teacher. Next to them is Jefferson Madden, he’s in Vice, and his husband, Percy Whale, one of our MEs. Slaving away in the kitchen there is my house boy, Neal Cassidy.” They all greeted her in turn as Emma spoke their names and Ruby felt like the new kid in class.

“Now that I’ve told you all the names, can I get you a drink so you forget them?”

“Please.”

Ruby had been prepared to have a bad time, had told herself it was just one night of her life. She could manage. To her surprise, she didn’t have a bad time. The people Archie surrounded himself with were funny and warm, all interested in her and how she was finding her time in Boston. She found Emma’s husband funny and relaxed, liking his easy going attitude and cheeky grin. The ME, Percy Whale, was intelligent and sharp, with a biting sense of humour that had her laughing out loud more than once. The children were all outgoing and friendly and she thought she scored some points with Emma by sitting down and thrashing her only son in Halo.

The second thing she noticed, after realizing she was enjoying herself, was that all the couples were so...together. From the dinner conversation she’d found out all of them had been together for a good number of years and still, she saw all of them being so...joined. Not that they were excessively lovey dovey, but they all had something intangible between them that declared they were joined. It was in Jefferson Madden’s eyes when he looked at the doctor, in the way Neal smiled when he listened to Emma, in the way the Captain leaned closer to Mary Margaret to mumble something to her. It put a little prick of regret in her stomach, showed her something that had been missing from her life a long time. An empty space that sought to be filled and held.

Archie’s hand was suddenly over hers on the table, catching her attention. Meeting his eyes, seeing them twinkle with warmth, she forgot about the feeling.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she automatically responded. She held his eyes for a little longer and knew it to be the truth. She was okay. “Yes, I am.”

#red cricket #once upon a time #archie hopper #ruby lucas #partners #silkywrites

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mortivern · 7 years ago

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Lillie’s wearing a new outfit today. She’s ditched the old Sunday school getup that she had before (that her mom picked out for her apparently?) and has on a new set of…well, they’re kinda schoolgirl-ish clothes, but way cuter. A nice skirt and blouse. She seems way happier. More confident. I guess getting kidnapped by your own family will do that. Or will it? I’m not really sure. Gladion stopped by earlier that morning to drop off the Sun Flute, saying that we would need it along with the Moon Flute in order to summon the legendary beast that would take us to Lusamine. I tucked it into my bag. Hau made a comment that Lusamine must be pretty generous if she would be willing to loan us an ancient artifact. Lillie just sorta looked at her feet. Gladion snorted.

We took the same chartered boat we arrived in over to Seafolk Village, the main establishment on Poni Island. It’s on these floating docks with house-boats tethered to them. It actually reminds me a lot of Pacifidlog Town, which I stopped by when I visited Cadence in Hoenn—both towns that seem to be built into the sea itself. I know Pacifidlog is built on the back of a Corsola colony. I wonder if it’s the same here? Even though it’s a super low-key town and doesn’t seem to be a tourism hub (not a lot of money coming in and out of Seafolk Village, I’d imagine), people here seem super chill, sure of themselves. I really dig it. Hapu met up with us later in the day for some fish and chips (a hearty dockworker’s dinner, she said proudly) and told us our next step was to head to the Poni Wilds. Lillie said she was tagging along and was excited to see it. Hapu said that no one could call Lillie lily-livered! Lillie didn’t get the joke. Hapu seemed flustered. Nervous lesbians.

We rode some Mudsdale that night along the Ancient Poni Path for Hapu’s home. Her grandmother plied us with fried plantains and some sort of salty canned meat cooked up in a fried rice, with malasadas for dessert and Salac Berry ciders the entire time we were sat at the table. I talked with Hapu and her grandmother about our journeys, how helpful Hapu had been lending Vera and I some Mudsdale to cross Ula’ula’s unforgiving terrain. How I looked forward to sparring with her someday! I looked over to Vera to see if she had anything to add, but she was sitting on the sofa in the living room, petting their Meowth. I think she was too drunk to hold a good conversation anyway.

Next morning we woke up to a note from Hapu that she had gone to the Ruins of Hope down Poni Breaker coast. Her grandmother was awake, and made us some egg and salted meat breakfast burritos and strong coffee. When we had eaten and our bags were ready to go, she took our Ride Pager and registered her Machamp. Said he could push boulders for us if need be. We talked about being swept up by strong, muscular men until we reached the coal-black sands of Poni Breaker Coast. The shore stretched as far as the eye could see and then some. Vera elbowed me and said that there was probably a better way to get to where we needed to go than walking, or even riding a plodding Mudsdale through the wet sand. She paged a Sharpedo over and jumped on. I gave chase not long after. We raced around the dark waters of the bay, laughing and chasing each other. The jet streams from the Sharpedo stirred up the sands beneath, revealing glimmering bits of Nuggets and Star Pieces. We dove for them until we were exhausted, then jetted down the coast so that we weren’t too too late to our meeting with Hapu.

When we got to the Ruins of Hope, we found ourselves faced with some sort of….ancient puzzle. Huge stones were blocking our path, but there were gaps in the bridge that looked like they’d fit the stones perfectly. I took this as an opportunity to page that Machamp that Hapu’s grandmother gave us. He swung me into his capable arms and shoved the boulders around until we had clear passage to the back room. Hapu was kneeling in front of a shrine, apparently communing with the local Tapu. When we approached she told us that she had been selected as the new island Kahuna, to replace her dad’s old man, who passed away a few years ago. I offered my congratulations and said that I’d hold her to that battle that we talked about! She grinned that lesbian grin and said that we’d best be heading to Exeggutor Island to find the Moon Flute. Lillie appeared from behind her and said that the Tapu hadn’t made itself available to her and offered no insight as to how to cure Nebby, so that she wanted to tag along with us to see if maybe being near the flutes would do something.

Hapu arranged a boat for us to Exeggutor Island. I hadn’t actually seen one of these in person before, and boy let me tell you, these sentient palm trees are fucking HUGE. And apparently they’re part Dragon-type, too?? They were thrashing around when we got there, the whole lot of them. And no small wonder, since they were being chewed on by a horde of Pinsir! After bargaining with her for ten minutes to get her help, I finally convinced her to chase them off. In thanks, one of the Exeggutor actually gave us a boost to the highest part of the island, which was super helpful since it looks like the path climbing up had long since crumbled. We grabbed the Moon Flute. I couldn’t help but feel like I was gonna be smitten—smote?—I don’t know, given some kind of reckoning by some sort fo deity for just…taking an ancient artifact.

But nothing happened, nor did anything really happen until after we had picked up Lillie from Hapu’s place and headed down the road to Vast Poni Canyon. A row of Team Skull grunts were squatting across the length of the entire row, arms locked, demanding to know where Guzma went and why we had taken him. From above us we heard a deep, raspy voice command them to stop. It was Plumeria, the Skull admin with the bad pink and yellow ska hair. It was interesting to see the grunts react to her presence. It was a mingled fear and adoration, one that I’ve seen many of my younger sibs look upon me with. She was the big sis of the team! She chastised them for trying to chase us away when we were only trying to help find Guzma. They scattered once she told them to find something more productive to do with their time, then pressed two Poisinium Z’s into my hand. Plumeria paused as she passed Lillie, and apologized for treating her the way she had. Lillie nodded curtly, but once Plumeria walked away I saw Lillie smile. Boy oh boy does she ever continue to give me Kio vibes. Speaking of! Where is my sis? I should send her a message. Give her some heads up about what might be happening with this whole Necrozma deal and Ultra Beasts and legendary Pokemon and…whatever else is waiting for us. I’ve gotten pleasantly numb about it to be honest. The edibles that I bought back at Seafolk Village might have something to do with that. I barely registered fighting the Ultra Recon Squad and their Poipole again. They asked if they’d fight Necrozma when it inevitably came, and soon. I said sure. Like I had a choice.

Vera and I led Lillie and our Mudsdale down through the deep, winding Vast Poni Canyon. There were layers and layers and layers of stratified earth, which had to date back several hundred thousand years. When was Alola founded? Somewhere around three thousand years ago? Had to be longer, right? I don’t know, it was weird to think about how long this island had been around without humans, and was I even supposed to be here, were these legendary creatures trying to tell me to just like. Fuck off back to the mainland. Vera kept us moving at a steady clip deeper and deeper into the canyon. She was quick to tell me about little holes and caverns hidden behind rocks or brush, and instruct me to go through and see what was in there. I don’t know if she just wanted to find what was there and keep it for us (or herself) or if she was trying to keep me kind of present and engaged, but it kinda worked. By the time we got to the trial, I felt energized enough to tell Lillie some dirty jokes. She laughed at some of them.

I guess Vera’s reward for keeping a sharp eye out was that she caught a Jangmo-o, a scaly little dragon that thumped its tail against the ground and rattled its scales at us as we approached it. It called for help often—and successfully—but Vera finally caught her in a Luxury Ball. I think she’s still mulling over what to name her. But this nameless Jangmo-o quickly evolved into Hakomo-o, so it must have been right on the brink of evolving when she caught it. I was prepping my team to enter the trial site when Vera firmly put her hand on my arm and said that she’d take the lead on this one, and let me know that I’d be invaluable as backup. I think she could tell I was still not 100% present. And to be honest, I was happy to take a back seat and watch this Hakomo-o violently flinging the attacking dragons away from us. This thing had a dangerous glint in its eye and was unafraid to make its presence known, rattling its scales every chance it could to warn oncoming Pokemon. I was apprehensive about it being a good fit for Vera at first, but really it seems like both of them want to be left alone and will give people plenty of warning about it.

The Hakomo-o battled the totem Kommo-o with all its might, and I swear to you this, the timing couldn’t have been more dramatic, but as this Hakomo-o was down on the ground after taking a direct hit from the totem, it evolved into a Kommo-o as well, locking arms with the totem. Both of them were rattling their scales so loudly that we all had to cover our ears. But in the end, Vera’s Kommo-o overthrew the totem and sent it scurrying for the canyon. We took our Dragonium Z’s and took a moment to sit and rest. It had been a long, grueling day of hiking. We were ready to head back to town, but needed to catch our breath for a moment. Lillie handed out some malasada. I ate mine while I watched my sister cleaning the scales on the Kommo-o, which rumbled contentedly, even though she was keeping a close eye on Vera.

Lillie has her own place to stay in Seafolk Village. Vera said she couldn’t sleep, and was going to spend some time with her new teammate, trying to figure out her name before we headed back to Vast Poni Canyon tomorrow to make our way up to the Altar of the Moone. Why do they spell it like that? Why couldn’t they just say “Altar of the Moon?” I shouldn’t make fun of other languages. I can’t speak another language! I should call Ren. I’m not sure what tomorrow brings. Should I call Mom and Dad? Of course not, that’d just worry them. I think I’m going to pop a few more of these edibles and take a walk along the beach. Clear my head. I mean, what else can I even really do?

#pokemon #vera

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