The problem I have with actualizing a post right now is that we are currently in a class where the only professor is Jason, and I don't think (?) you intended to give us control of him. I'm not sure if you meant we were allowed to skip ahead to whatever classes we felt like or what, but it seemed like you expected us to be able to pick up what you were putting down from just that post and I didn't feel like my question was actually answered in the specific. In the current circumstances, where the students are in a lecture hall and the teaching content is completely ambiguous, Ryoka is going to default to listening quietly like a "good" student, so there's nothing of any real substance to post about.
From context I'm guessing you want to run a sandbox-style RP where everyone just does whatever they want, as opposed to something more rigidly on rails, but I'm not sure to what extent, and if you explained the way you want to run the RP anywhere, I must have missed it.
So, yeah. To repeat myself, how do classes work from here on? Specifically this class, and when we're allowed to leave/end the current class and transition to other classes or non-class settings. I'm not sure what I'm allowed to do in terms of the overall narrative, my character's class scheduling, or arbitrary time advancement. As an example, can I make up an event (e.g. a battle tournament), skip ahead to another class, and start talking about said event to another character in that new class? What about skipping to the end of the day to follow up on preparations for that event in my next post?
I'm in a similar boat. @Ryik is articulating much of what I'm confused about. As a non-GM, my expectation is always I can do whatever with my character (or characters in this case given we have a team of Pokémon). Even in a casual, sandbox RP, I'm not assuming I can control any other characters or even how other characters react to my actions. So learning we could control Professor characters was news. I was expecting us to have to propose classes and delegate time for them OOC, but I'm not sure how you want that structured.
I guess to put it in simple terms, if you take a dungeon crawler RPG, I expect to be able to maybe set my character's loadout, describe their background, and determine how they interact with the dungeon laid out in front of them based on that information. The dungeon itself, what the monsters do, what's behind the door, NPC dialogue, etc. is going to be up to the GM, with some input from the players upon request. If you want us to take some ownership of components I would usually expect a GM to take care of, that's cool but I feel like it needs to be communicated better. Because if we can just totally control a class and what happens within it whenever, it sounds like a mess of us sharing short stories as opposed to an RPG.
Not trying to be critical, I'm just a bit confused is all.
Hopefully my last message wasn't too metagamey. Seemed in-character for Jenny to use her Officer skills to determine some of the thesis statements. Happy to retcon if needed :)
Jenny hears Callum whispering, and her attention is drawn towards him. Her eyes light up as she reaches into her bag, producing a Pokeball and an additional notebook with a group of Combees illustrated on the cover.
She quietly has Milkshake the Growlithe leave her Pokeball as she opens up the notebook and uses an orange highlighter to create brackets around the lower portion of a page to draw attention to it, then hands the book to Milkshake. As Jenny turns her focus back to the lecture, Milkshake leisurely delivers the book to Callum. As it flops open, he would likely notice how the book contained a list of fellow students with their thesis statements jotted down; it seems Jenny had been researching other people's research.
Attention had been drawn to Callum's project, one with a fairly extensive amount of notes. What if Pokémon traditionally labeled as less than cute were treated in the same way cute Pokémon were? Or cute Pokémon treated as if tough? stood out as a more cohesive thought. Most of the notes were a bit more scrambled, though: Disguises? Ditto aided disguises? Feebas in pink? Trubbish in a contest? Cuddling a Stonejourner? In the margin was an illustration of a Pachirisu with an eyepatch and beefy arms that resembled a Machoke
Jenny arrived shortly after Jason. She sat down towards the front of the class, but still at the very edge of the room. She reaches into her faded bag, producing a spiral bound notebook decorated by an illustration of a Tangrowth playing the drums. Her three Pokemon were with her, but rested in her pouch within their Pokeballs, out of sight. They rested along side some gum, a few empty Pokeballs, some snacks, and some other odds and ends. She reaches past them to fetch a pencil. As she waited for class to begin, she gazed out of the window, looking down and soaking in the campus from her view in the third floor. She had been on the third floor only once before, and had not really had the opportunity to admire the grounds from a higher vantage point.
Jenny was excited to take this class and would have likely taken it if it wasn't a requirement. Many of the introductory classes had fascinated her, and she couldn't wait to peruse a wide variety of subjects. Her mind raced with possibilities, distracted until Professor Birch - er, no, his TA - spoke. As soon as he addressed the class, she sharply turned her attention to the man.
She grabs her pencil from where it lay in waiting on the desk. Jason Yew = TA she jots in her notebook before opening her Rototop to pull up the syllabus. She will scan it for any major information she feels needs emphasized on her notebook.
Flaming Feebas! That poor guy looks sleepier than a Slaking! she thinks to herself.
She raises a hand and, if called on, she will ask the following: "Sir, will we be traveling as a class, individually, or in groups? And what constitutes a 'basic' biome or habitat?"
(Could not find an image of how I actually wanted her to look like - she is a member of the Officer Jenny family and shares the facial features and build of a typical Officer Jenny, but has a slightly different hair style. I'll expand more on what she looks like in "Appearance" blurb below.)
Quote: The black Mareep of the family
Full Name: Jenny Baobab
Age: 24
Year at the Institute: First
Favorite Color: Orange
Thesis Subject: Leaving Stones Unturned: Unusual Evolution Methods Exploring more unusual forms of evolutions, with a focus on measures difficult to quantify. For example, evolving an Eevee into a Vaporeon is easy - just use a Water Stone. But an Umbreon? A bit more involved. Riolu, a fighting-type Pokemon, doesn't need to be in a battle to evolve, just needs properly pampered. If a Pokemon hasn't evolved yet, maybe it simply hasn't done the right thing because nobody has thought to do that with the Pokemon?
Appearance: Jenny is, obviously a member of the Officer Jenny family, and shares many of their physical features. However, since she doesn't share the same profession as most of her relatives, she doesn't feel the need to quite present herself in the same way. While she has the hallmark green hair, she does not tie it back unless undergoing specific experiments, nor keep it quite as short. Instead, she often let's her hair flow freely, unless she's working on a specific experiment, in which case her Ditto will morph into a headband for her. Her clothing is often blue, but she often has splashes of orange, her favorite color.
Personality: Jenny's mind runs at a million miles an hour. She'll often pick up something, work frantically on it a bit, and then jump to something else. She's quite prone to dig her teeth into something for a bit, then discard it for some other fascination later.
Bio: Some parents are distraught when their ten year old child leaves to start a Pokemon journey. For Jenny, her parents were floored when she showed an interest in dentistry instead of working as a Police Officer. It's not that there was a problem with an Officer Jenny not going the routine route, it's just that it seldom happened. A year later, though, she was yet again interested in becoming an officer. She received her first Pokemon, a Growlithe, who she very much cherished; in retrospect, Milkshake the Growlithe was likely the source of her love of the color orange. It seemed, at least for a bit, she would go the traditional route, likely serving to patrol Route 216 near Snowpoint City. Then it became clear she was only interested in joining her sister so she could fiddle around with and pick apart the motorcycles. So, a mechanic, perhaps?
That stuck for a bit, but this interest in mechanics would lead to a fascination with aviation. It was settled. She would be a pilot. In fact, there was actually a decent chance she would settle with this as her career. She always did want to travel a bit. Her parents sought out for a flying pokemon, something that would glide gracefully through the air... a Starly, perhaps! But she got a Doduo. Another companion she became fast friends with. The bizarre method in which they flew changed her interests yet again. Next, it became Doduo racing. Snow skiing. Then battling. Then aviation again. Then Kayaking. Firefighting. The list continued. While most explored the world, she explored hobbies and careers. She became a cave explorer in Mt. Coronet. Then a farmer in Floaroma Town. She took up fishing for a while in Canalave city. One miniature adventure after another. That was until she met her Ditto.
It happened when traveling along route 218 when she came across a hurt Glameow. She took it back to nurse it to health at her apartment in Jubilife City and when she got back to her apartment, she had a... Spinda? She had found herself a Ditto. She was fascinated by the Ditto, capable of being both everything and nothing all at once. She began to study it, but she soon found studying Dittos was a hefty task. To understand Ditto, you sort of have to learn a bit about all sorts of Pokemon. And so that she did. One thing lead to another, and she had enough research under her belt to make a good candidate for LI. She has a love of learning, and is hoping to meet like minded people.
It is worth noting, she is sort of a jack of all trades, master of none. Jenny has learned a large variety of things many would not have, but is by no means an expert, nor some savant or genius.
The interest in her thesis comes from being exposed to the many ways she has seen Pokemon used and treated in her time. Of course, there are the obvious contests and battles a typical trainer would see. But she saw some Pokemon work along side her in warehouses and restaurants; helpful, but not exactly ones she would say she bonded closely with. Ominous Absol's with no human companion showing up to warn people of a dangerous storm, treated with more fear than anything. Certain Rare Pokemon being treated with a sort of reverence instead of as a companion. And, unfortunately, having worked briefly with Officer Jenny's, people who treated Pokemon poorly. Of course, Jenny is not going to do anything to harm a Pokemon, but her experiments often involve having Pokemon just do things nobody would likely think to ask - asking a Kriketune to learn the Violin, having a Smeargle participate in a hot dog eating contest, having pokemon that would normally herd Wooloos herd Aipoms, etc.
Pokémon:
Milkshake the Growlithe: Milkshake is a Munchlax in Growlithe form. She is constantly napping or eating anything she sink her teeth into. She seems to have no desire to evolve, mostly because then she couldn't hide away in her favorite nap spots as easily. It's probably for the best- if she grew into a Arcanine, Milkshake would probably eat everything in Jubilife City. She has had Milkshake for over a decade and the two have a special bond. Jenny chats to Milkshake (who blissfully sleeps through most of these conversations) to help gather her thoughts. Oranges and Apples the Doduo (Oranges on the left, Apples on the right): Oranges and Apples are her diligent research assistants. Her Doduo is a fiercely loyal companion and often trots around her room to help her sort through sprawled notes whether it is in her research or in her past when she was studying any number of things.
Also the Ditto: Also sparked Jenny's interest in Pokemon-specific research to begin with. Also will often morph into a model or diagram to help her visualize something. The two work in harmony with one another. Also often will slide into her hat or into pockets of her lab coat, gleefully trying to form silly shapes to make her laugh.
Quirks: Someone you want on your team at trivia night, Jenny's eclectic knowledge isn't always the most useful, but it sure is impressive. She loves a good pickled slowpoke tail. Jenny does not stay awake late using coffee, but instead pitchers of lemonade and sweets to give her a sugar rush during those late nights. Despite not going down the same career path as her relatives, Jenny has a strong sense of justice and fiercely opposes anything she believes is wrong.
@RisingRobin Yes - I meant to add a sentence to her backstory about that somewhere in there and it slipped my mind. I will go back and add a blurb about that after a good night's sleep. Getting kind of late for me.
I may tweak my character to accommodate the tree joke. I was dead set on doing that, and then I was writing and just had that Nurse Joy idea manifest. I'm thinking perhaps giving her a nickname that's the tree instead of the last name of one and just have it so that *technically* it's Professor TreeName (It's part of why Orange/Peach is a prominent thing throughout (Orange Tree, Peach Tree))
I'm also playing around with tweaking her into an Officer Jenny instead of a Nurse Joy primarily so that I can do the tree last name bit lol.
Dusting a bit of rust off - as you can see if you look closely at my account, the last time I was active on here, the Szechuan Sauce from Rick and Morty was relevant.
(Could not find an image of how I actually wanted her to look like - she is a member of the Officer Jenny family and shares the facial features and build of a typical Officer Jenny, but has a slightly different hair style. I'll expand more on what she looks like in "Appearance" blurb below.)
Quote: The black Mareep of the family
Full Name: Jenny Baobab
Age: 24
Year at the Institute: First
Favorite Color: Orange
Thesis Subject: Leaving Stones Unturned: Unusual Evolution Methods Exploring more unusual forms of evolutions, with a focus on measures difficult to quantify. For example, evolving an Eevee into a Vaporeon is easy - just use a Water Stone. But an Umbreon? A bit more involved. Riolu, a fighting-type Pokemon, doesn't need to be in a battle to evolve, just needs properly pampered. If a Pokemon hasn't evolved yet, maybe it simply hasn't done the right thing because nobody has thought to do that with the Pokemon?
Appearance: Jenny is, obviously a member of the Officer Jenny family, and shares many of their physical features. However, since she doesn't share the same profession as most of her relatives, she doesn't feel the need to quite present herself in the same way. While she has the hallmark green hair, she does not tie it back unless undergoing specific experiments, nor keep it quite as short. Instead, she often let's her hair flow freely, unless she's working on a specific experiment, in which case her Ditto will morph into a headband for her. Her clothing is often blue, but she often has splashes of orange, her favorite color.
Personality: Jenny's mind runs at a million miles an hour. She'll often pick up something, work frantically on it a bit, and then jump to something else. She's quite prone to dig her teeth into something for a bit, then discard it for some other fascination later.
Bio: Some parents are distraught when their ten year old child leaves to start a Pokemon journey. For Jenny, her parents were floored when she showed an interest in dentistry instead of working as a Police Officer. It's not that there was a problem with an Officer Jenny not going the routine route, it's just that it seldom happened. A year later, though, she was yet again interested in becoming an officer. She received her first Pokemon, a Growlithe, who she very much cherished; in retrospect, Milkshake the Growlithe was likely the source of her love of the color orange. It seemed, at least for a bit, she would go the traditional route, likely serving to patrol Route 216 near Snowpoint City. Then it became clear she was only interested in joining her sister so she could fiddle around with and pick apart the motorcycles. So, a mechanic, perhaps?
That stuck for a bit, but this interest in mechanics would lead to a fascination with aviation. It was settled. She would be a pilot. In fact, there was actually a decent chance she would settle with this as her career. She always did want to travel a bit. Her parents sought out for a flying pokemon, something that would glide gracefully through the air... a Starly, perhaps! But she got a Doduo. Another companion she became fast friends with. The bizarre method in which they flew changed her interests yet again. Next, it became Doduo racing. Snow skiing. Then battling. Then aviation again. Then Kayaking. Firefighting. The list continued. While most explored the world, she explored hobbies and careers. She became a cave explorer in Mt. Coronet. Then a farmer in Floaroma Town. She took up fishing for a while in Canalave city. One miniature adventure after another. That was until she met her Ditto.
It happened when traveling along route 218 when she came across a hurt Glameow. She took it back to nurse it to health at her apartment in Jubilife City and when she got back to her apartment, she had a... Spinda? She had found herself a Ditto. She was fascinated by the Ditto, capable of being both everything and nothing all at once. She began to study it, but she soon found studying Dittos was a hefty task. To understand Ditto, you sort of have to learn a bit about all sorts of Pokemon. And so that she did. One thing lead to another, and she had enough research under her belt to make a good candidate for LI. She has a love of learning, and is hoping to meet like minded people.
It is worth noting, she is sort of a jack of all trades, master of none. Jenny has learned a large variety of things many would not have, but is by no means an expert, nor some savant or genius.
The interest in her thesis comes from being exposed to the many ways she has seen Pokemon used and treated in her time. Of course, there are the obvious contests and battles a typical trainer would see. But she saw some Pokemon work along side her in warehouses and restaurants; helpful, but not exactly ones she would say she bonded closely with. Ominous Absol's with no human companion showing up to warn people of a dangerous storm, treated with more fear than anything. Certain Rare Pokemon being treated with a sort of reverence instead of as a companion. And, unfortunately, having worked briefly with Officer Jenny's, people who treated Pokemon poorly. Of course, Jenny is not going to do anything to harm a Pokemon, but her experiments often involve having Pokemon just do things nobody would likely think to ask - asking a Kriketune to learn the Violin, having a Smeargle participate in a hot dog eating contest, having pokemon that would normally herd Wooloos herd Aipoms, etc.
Pokémon:
Milkshake the Growlithe: Milkshake is a Munchlax in Growlithe form. She is constantly napping or eating anything she sink her teeth into. She seems to have no desire to evolve, mostly because then she couldn't hide away in her favorite nap spots as easily. It's probably for the best- if she grew into a Arcanine, Milkshake would probably eat everything in Jubilife City. She has had Milkshake for over a decade and the two have a special bond. Jenny chats to Milkshake (who blissfully sleeps through most of these conversations) to help gather her thoughts. Oranges and Apples the Doduo (Oranges on the left, Apples on the right): Oranges and Apples are her diligent research assistants. Her Doduo is a fiercely loyal companion and often trots around her room to help her sort through sprawled notes whether it is in her research or in her past when she was studying any number of things.
Also the Ditto: Also sparked Jenny's interest in Pokemon-specific research to begin with. Also will often morph into a model or diagram to help her visualize something. The two work in harmony with one another. Also often will slide into her hat or into pockets of her lab coat, gleefully trying to form silly shapes to make her laugh.
Quirks: Someone you want on your team at trivia night, Jenny's eclectic knowledge isn't always the most useful, but it sure is impressive. She loves a good pickled slowpoke tail. Jenny does not stay awake late using coffee, but instead pitchers of lemonade and sweets to give her a sugar rush during those late nights. Despite not going down the same career path as her relatives, Jenny has a strong sense of justice and fiercely opposes anything she believes is wrong.
I'm going to scrap the Rainbow Mafia thing (at least for now) and pretend Mrs. Pickles just got promoted. I'll fill in the gaps between the promotion and this meeting with other things, that I'll elaborate on later, if that's alright.
xVampire3go
Antlers
Fetzen
King Xerxes
Azure Bubbles
Theyra
