Ex Rocket Leader

Syd [He/Him]. 28 years. Semi-Exclusive Giovanni RP blog. Art occasionally. Header by @//okiroash

[earth-master]

Rules Post

Giovanni’s Pokemon  * Public and Private Knowledge * Headcanon Tag *

MUN:

I’m 29, He/They, and go by Syd.

I don’t typically RP stuff of a explicit sexual nature, however, for my own comfort, I prefer to RP with people who are 21+.

Zero-tolerance for any OOC queer-phobia, ableism, racism, or sexism here. Mun is mixed indigenous. No one is entitled to my medical history or ancestry.

I use dice/D&D as writing tools for probability, chance, and skill check mechanics. If that bothers you, DNI.

I will add rules as I find necessary.

Do not use me for whump. I'm not interested in one-sided emotional labor.

Personal Writing Ethic:

Sensitive and common triggers will be tagged, if you need me to add a tag to something, let me know! My format is "tw trigger".

Sensitive topics on threads need to be discussed in IMs. My d.iscord is available upon request.

I prefer to discuss and plot out threads, and typically use dice-rolling systems to determine a fair outcome in stuff like battles or skill check threads!

That being said, I also have no issue predetermining winners at all, but know everything you see on dash has been done fairly, whether it is discussed behind the scenes or resolved using said dice roll system. I do not god-mod. But most of my usual partners do D&D. That’s how we treat it.

I use dice because Showdown is NOT accessible to me. Period. I will not use Showdown. I value what little time I have to write, I’ve heard too many stories of fifty turns of stalling, which I find to be overkill when trying to resolve a thread.

I do both short-form and long-form, with a preference for narrative driven plots.

I work full-time, and mostly use mobile. My only days where I am really available are Thursday and Friday.

Memes, Format, and Etiquette:

You can reblog memes from me, I don’t really care. Most RP etiquette asks you reblog from the source, I do not require that, but if you do reblog from me directly, try to send a question in turn. 

When sending in inbox memes, I ask that you SEND TEXT. Mobile not supporting emojis and my issues with color make pure symbol very, very difficult to figure out.

Icons are fun, but not necessary. I draw my own, and really only use them with people who already use them. I don’t use icons on long-form writing. 

I block excessive negativity.

Dash Commentary- As a default, do not reblog my dash commentary. Dash commentary isn’t my invitation for interaction.

I DO NOT USE AI, NO AI IS TOLERATED. Art is about human expression, and if you can't be assed to write your own replies, draw or paint your own art, then it's not worth my creative output to interact with you. I do not consent for my writing to be used in training engines, I do not consent for my art to be used in training engines.

Event Running:

When my friends or myself run an event, we expect everyone to follow guidelines for behavior. If behavior falls outside of acceptability, we reserve the right to remove people from events. If we feel that behavior OOC does not reflect our values, we remove offenders and retcon as necessary.

If you insult me or my friends, you don’t get to play. Trust me, we will know.

If you have a problem with a Code of Conduct, you do not get to play. Consider that every rule that has been put into one has been broken by someone at some point. 

If you are playing with us in an event that we run, I encourage you to report and save any behavior that violates our Code of Conduct, so that our mod team can handle the issue as quickly as possible.

Blog Management and RPC:

I do artwork here too. Tag for it is “my art” if you don’t want to see it.

As above, I do not do AI, and I may occasionally reblog art. If I reblog something that is AI generated, let me know so I can remove it from my blog. I'm usually very diligent about not reblogging AI in the first place.

I do not reblog callout posts. If someone’s behavior is genuinely harmful, I will take that into my own hands.

I don’t respond to anon hate. 

I am mutuals only. I just can’t keep up with everything otherwise. And I don’t have energy to RP with everyone, sorry.

If I follow you, it’s because I want to write with you or I like your stuff. I may just take a WHILE to come up with a good hook, or just enjoy lurking.

You are more than welcome to reach out and ask me to be mutuals. I try to follow people that I am committed to RP with.

Keep me out of drama, if you have a problem, communicate it with concerned parties and not me.

Muse:

This is a Post-Rocket Giovanni. Rocket still exists in the continuity, but this Giovanni is not running it.

However, due to the dubious nature of information, it is completely reasonable that muses may think he is still involved.

It’s completely reasonable that Giovanni will come into conflict with people either he, or Rocket hurt, whether directly, or indirectly.

Giovanni still will not tolerate being a ‘punching bag’ for another muse, and is no stranger to violence himself. A man of high patience, he still has limits, and if you go in with intent to antagonize, he’s not always going to take the high ground.

I’m not opposed to RP with heading Rocket, but all events with my Giovanni at Rocket’s head, will be set before the events of RBY/FRLG.

I am not interested in a restart Rocket arc at this time. That’s been done, and frankly, I’m not interested in doing the same.

I do not ship with people I don’t know. Both ships on this blog are with people I know very well in real life. NSFT tag is #nsft.

I do not consider this a ‘redemption’ story. 

If you’re interested in interacting, DM me!

[separateways]

there's an almost imperceptible twitch in her upper lip at his first observation, like whatever mask she's decided on wearing is settling in. her air is more cordial than the trenches dug out from under her eyes convey, her face fizzling out like a dying firecracker, a forgotten battlefield painted in dark browns & swelling skin. ada does itch for a return to form, to reply with a simple, cliché you have no idea & pretend she's regained her lost spark, but she just sits there blankly, rolling her fingers over her coffee.

no classic ada wong-ism can say what every public & private channel of communication hasn't for the past year already. that she's damaged goods—dead in the water, quite literally—her last tour de force an exercise in self-immolation, torching her reputation such that very few people would ever work with her again, & those that would have all the ammunition necessary to make her not a business partner but a slave.

maybe if they saw what she's been getting up to since, ada would get the satisfaction of seeing shock of their face before they clasp a leash around her neck.

when sakai makes his joke, or his equivalent of one, she does laugh, “ my sleep has been shot, but nothing as bad as, well, let's say my head hasn't been ... foggy. ” she smiles like a woman who can't help herself.

“ but i know the reason, & speaking of surprises, i have quite a few up my sleeve. ”

[earth-master]

"All in good time, I imagine?"

Surprises, she had in spades.

Sakai didn't know what to expect from her, but her low mood was plainly written. The dry and wry humor seemed to be good for her morale, and Sakai offered a small smile in turn at her small, if somewhat morbid, joke. "Ha! I agree, there's nothing worse than poor sleep compounded by a foggy mind," he mused.

"And the Kanto prefecture has you to thank for these recent restful nights," he ventured, "It's a pity that you can't benefit from the same."

He nodded quietly to himself. Any suspicion that this woman before him was a kind of doppelganger had vanished with that reference to their victory over one of Umbrella and Silph's ghosts. Sakai folded his hands in front of him, and rested them on the table, "What can I do to help?"

[separateways]

@earth-master

[separateways]

[text]: o'coffee club, terminal 3

he really doesn't need any more directions than that, he can find his way. for a man of his discretion, she imagines sakai travels light, no more than one small courier bag with all the bare necessities & just the one change of clothes. just in case anyone's pores start leaking black sludge again, now that was the kind of embarrassment she would've left out of her report, had she haggard back to her handler with that drive in hand.

but her week in tokyo just had to get complicates, not just by underground fighting rings & old ties between umbrella & the local yakuza, but by the surprise of someone using her alias while destabilizing a country in the baltic—at least when she had a go at breeding civil war in eastern europe, she made sure to step in right as the conflict was reaching a boiling point.

ada bites into her cheek, she's sure if she could draw blood it would taste as bitter as her filtered coffee. she's lived a thousand lifetimes since they've last crossed paths, & she certainly looks like it, like the black fog & the nanomachines robbing her of sleep were just an appetizer for how cruel her fate would be. now she has another parasite doing the same, & this one she can't just excise like an infestation, no, she's chosen to nurture it—her, ada shudders in a breath. for all the chrysalid coursing through that child's system system, the only risk the virus poses it to the host, it will stunt her growth, liquify her organs, ensure she doesn't get a childhood.

sludge again, seems to be the theme of ada's recent past.

whenever he reaches the warm, wooden interior of the coffee shop, ada greets him with a half-hearted wave from the terrace, watching him glide in from between the palm leaves. ada wong is always bold, be it saturated reds or stark blacks, & even despite her apparent death & the dead littered around the globe, the only change in her appearance is a curlier texture to her hair. she hasn't had time to straighten it out.

“ long time no see. ” is the classic line.

[earth-master]

"It feels longer than it's been," he replied.

Sakai pulled out the seat across from her, sitting down to join the woman without hesitation. Face to face, he was a better judge of character and intentions. His assessment? Despite the boldness of an allegedly dead bioterrorist sitting in public at a coffee shop, there was no mistaking the fatigue.

He'd become well acquainted with how it looked on her when she was infested with malicious nanomachines.

He bowed his head slightly, and folded his hands in his lap while scanning the interior of the O'Coffee Club. A habit, from years living quietly as a fugitive.

No one seemed to be disguising furtive glances, nor listening in.

Still, he refrained from asking immediately what exactly had happened since Ada departed Tokyo.

"Glad to see you are in... decent health," he started.

It wouldn't have been honest to say she looked to be in 'good' health.

"I have to say, I wasn't expecting to hear from you. It is a pleasant surprise," he mused, "How have you been?"

[earth-master]

"You're still alive?"

"Presently," the older man confirms.

Though there was a brief period that he wasn't. The recovery from that experience was long and arduous- and a great factor in his decision to retire from the public eye.

He rested his hands atop his cane, watching the younger trainer.

"How's the situation in Hoenn?"

[earth-master]

waves!!

[Helloooo]

[earth-master]

@yngai || Somewhere in Singapore, Late 2013.

Six months. Sakai hadn't heard a word of or from Ada Wong since the start of the year. When he did hear of her again, the manner was alarming.

Near-simultaneous attacks in the United States and China both were claimed by an outstandingly equipped organization calling themselves "Neo-Umbrella". And their leader? Was Ada Wong.

Allegedly. If it wasn't for his own insights into the spy's way of operating, his own experiences with mutant shapeshifters, and the clear case of mistaken identity from her pursuers in Tokyo, Sakai might have believed the two were one in the same.

It didn't make sense to him why someone who had no obligation to help him beyond saving her own skin would risk her life to fight and shut down the Black Fog AI and save the world in no uncertain terms... would then turn around, and seek to destroy it.

So, a few months after Tall Oaks, USA and Lanshiang, China got added to the list of Biological Exclusion Zones, he received a message from Ada asking for him to repay his debt, the ex-yakuza didn't hesitate to answer the summons.

(txt:) I've landed. Where do you want to meet?

[earth-master]

BITES !!!!!!

[Hey Sappy!]

[earth-master]

Sakai Taro (Giovanni) and Kimiko (portraits) done for a TTRPG game that translated Pokemon into Resident Evil

[earth-master]

Bites

Is bitten.

[earth-master]

[working on a resident evil verse ]

[earth-master]

[Tentatively brushing off the dust on this blog, whether or not I want to be involved with broader community or not again remains to be seen, but for now I'm back for a few friends.]

[earth-master]

"Hey Hey! Glad you're moving around, you making a smooth recovery?" Blue gave Giovanni a grin hoping for things to go back to normal after all...THAT.

"All things considered, I'm doing quite well."

He wouldn't call it smooth. There were still a few scares and hiccups, but the process overall had been a positive one.

"It'll still be a while before I can do things in the field, and manual work, but I have things to occupy myself."

He'd been writing down operation guides for the pylons for future reference, and his own studies on the biotech that made Jack... along with the invention that did preserve his "soul" for lack of a better term.

"And you. How are you holding up?"

[silentchamp]

Red's lip twitches with uncertainty at the way Giovanni seemingly glosses over his death; no doubt the elder had already made peace with the matter, but to Red it made his blood run cold.

Again--their conversation. It replayed in his head over and over again as he rested his eyes upon the ex-mafioso's cold, crumpled body.

He'd never forget the dread in the professor's voice as they left them both behind.

It's the kind of thing that plagued nightmares. It at least made good fodder for staying awake.

Speaking of that, Red would rub his eyes with exhaustion, grumbling to himself as he tilts his head downward, shifting fingers to temples to account for the oncoming headache soaring throughout his cranium. Red maintains a frown, trying to wrap his head around the situation. He'd begrudgingly sigh, giving up and turning his attention back towards both bodies.

[ At least you prepared for this. ] Molars grind in the back of his jaw. [ You know we're getting you back into your body, right? ] His disregard for the laws of nature had swelled to a head in this climax with the Fog.

It was a beast that defined that of which people and pokemon knew. It didn't care to abide by nature's set decisions. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, remorse, or fear. More than that, it absolutely will not stop until it has engulfed everything and everybody around it into his reality: ultimate death.

Red deserved to pine after his almost fictional brand of heroism, if this beast was allowed to exist, because it sure didn't give a shit about reality, either.

[ I don't care what anybody says. You're coming back. ]

[earth-master]

"..."

Giovanni stares quietly through Jack's vision, observing the alternate reality Red's conviction for something they weren't even sure was possible at this point.

But he wasn't going to kill the young man's hope, either.

"Listen," he says, voice crackling out of the tiny Porygon, "We can worry about the state I'm in once the Fog is gone."

They fold their hands behind their back, nodding once to Red, "I've not given up, but there's not much that can be done about it right now. Even if we could find a way to return myself to my own body right now- I would be in no condition to help you. And you need me on the field."

They needed all the help they could get, and Jack and Giovanni in the state they were in now were a better chance for victory than either one of them separate.

"I just don't want you to despair or think that I've somehow been cheated. Of course, I would love to continue to live and experience things, and make new memories. If I can't? I'm alright, too. I'm lucky to have made it as far as I have."

He pauses, "I am going to figure out a way back. The Professor is very confident, and that makes me confident. First thing is first, though. We have to win. Got it?"

[earth-master]

There’s barely words exchanged before she reaches out and draws him into her tightest hug possible, burying her face in his chest, but otherwise being quiet.

Outwardly numb in her emotions, but gods she was happy to see him none the less.

Numb.

He's had an absence of feeling since returning to his body. Long periods of such a lack of sensation, Giovanni couldn't even gauge correctly the passage of time.

Rika is also quiet, and embraces him with hardly a word.

Giovanni breathes in, filling his lungs to the brim, and exhales slowly, wrapping his good arm around her.

"I'm alright," he says, voice hoarse, "It's over."

[learnstrength]

@earth-master / cont.

"She's been all over me. I would have brought her if I thought she wouldn't scare the nurses."

He steps inside fully once greeted, trying for casual but missing the mark due to how tight his shoulders were. He slinks over to sit in one of the chairs provided for visitors, motioning for Giovanni not to make himself uncomfortable for his sake.

"Things, uh, sure have been crazy. Haven't they?"

It's hard to ignore the rescue and rebuilding efforts across Kanto and Johto that showed on the television. A freak wave and then the sickness in Saffron at the same time had taken its toll.

He'd been busy helping out where he could, which had put an uncomfortable amount of attention on him, but it was what felt right to do.

Even more uncomfortable was trying to avoid staring openly at Giovanni's injuries, but he can't help it as he speaks.

"You made it out though."

[earth-master]

"Heh. I suppose I did."

On a technicality. Part of him wonders how much Silver had heard about the events of those forty-eight hours, and the nature of Giovanni's plight to begin with.

The fact that he could have just as easily failed and been lost to Silver forever.

But there were better things to occupy the mind than imagining a possibility that never came to fruition.

"Things are crazy. They always are," he shrugs, "I've known more pandemonium than placidity to last four lifetimes over. But this is new."

He gestures vaguely around the room, "I didn't expect things here to be so... quiet. But I guess I was out for most of the scares."

Giovanni's lips quirk up at his attempt at joking and making light. It doesn't last long, shifting to look over at Silver again.

"... You. Are you doing alright still? No other complications?"

[earth-master]

It's anxiety inducing to be in this building. Hospitals made his skin crawl, and there's age old worries that authorities would be waiting around the corner for him or his father.

His father. The words still find a strange taste in his mouth as Silver signs himself in to visit. They make quite a pair, recovering from strange injury all around.

"Hey."

It's all he can muster to say when he steps in, scuffing his shoe against the floor.

"The, uh, professor called and said you'd be open to visitors now."

The days since the end of the battle passed quickly. To be truthful, Giovanni was hardly awake for most of them, being brought back into his body slowly and painlessly as possible.

It's been quiet.

Usually, he'd be restless being stuck in the ward. But other than a few small bouts of paranoia, he was content to endure procedures, and watch whatever happened to be on the small screen in the room. He'd been audio recording his thoughts to revisit for writings when his arm was less sore and properly healed.

He looks up when he's greeted, blinking to see Silver at the door, the sounds of shoe soles scuffing against tile.

"Hey," he echoes sitting upright as much as he can, "Good to see you. Sweetheart taking care of you for me?"