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POSTED ON Jul 28, 2023 2:32:30 GMT

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

When he had first finished drafting his plans, the commissioner, a key component to so much as getting them off the ground (on good footing, at any rate) had... drawn a big, white blank out of his 'noggin.

No face, no voice. There hadn't been much reason to think about a woman with whom he had never once exchanged any real words in Galar, and his brain was still muddled from that... experience.

Memories of his time as the Saint Healer were fading away, becoming blurred around the edges... But it didn't seem like his memories of Hoenn were in any way rushing back to fill in the blanks left.

Galar was swiftly becoming a dream, and Hoenn a blank slate. He knew none of his soldiers anymore— and his soldiers didn't know the current him, either. He had little if any memories of colleagues— he felt fondness for those he had seen in 'galar', and drew a blank for all others.

He could remember his childhood with almost depressing accuracy, but it seemed as though his brain didn't consider his time serving the Hoenn region to be quite as precious... or perhaps more accurately, traumatic.

"Hn. I must've brought some bad habits back with me. Somehow, I expected something more... opulent." He said with uncharacteristic eloquence as he closed the door to the office of Hoenn's most important VIP behind himself, his gaze settling on the woman of the hour.

dahlia goode... There in all her beauty, splendor and— was that a swivel chair?

No throne? No crown? It boggled the mind.

"_{Gods bless.}"

Liberal democracies weren't worth a damn, but he would still take this over any monarchy, any day.

"Good day, Madam Commissioner!" He finally said cheerfully, raising a hand from where he stood, seemingly waiting for permission to approach. He offered the woman a smile, folding his hands behind his back.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sullivan, here for your 10am. I won't be taking much of your time, promise."

Mission: Post Goodbye Galar

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POSTED ON Aug 2, 2023 23:10:23 GMT

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[attr="class","dahlia"]

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"no need to worry about time. my 10AM is my 10AM. take a seat." dahlia gestures to a chair.[break][break]

on her desk, an unfinished cup of kalosian coffee sits. it is now cold and rests among overread papers. yet, its oily scent persists.[break][break]

"how can i help you today, doug?" she says, moving to her own seat. "are you rested?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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[newclass=".dahlia .bottom a"]font:bold 15px 'Poppins';[/newclass]
[nospaces][newclass="credit"]FREE TO USE! coded by mad, partial credit to milky for text styling <3[/newclass]

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5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

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POSTED ON Aug 3, 2023 19:00:38 GMT

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

"Thank you kindly."

Taking seat before her desk, his eyes wandered briefly before settling back on the Commissioner, her questions bringing a quirk to his lip.

"I tried." He said with a laugh, smiling. "But I just kept waking up. Seems like I've been nurturing some bad habits."

20 years ago, or 72 or so hours depending on whom you asked, Doug Sullivan firmly believed sleeping was optional so long as he could get his daily work loads done and over with.

As Hoenn was Hoenn... Charja Cola and Zapsi had often pulled double duty in sleep's stead.

"Most of my fridge was energy drinks, if you can believe it." He mused with a laugh, shaking his head as he fished into his jacket, producing two letters.

As he set them upon the woman's desk, his earlier joviality slowly melted away into a pensive gaze, a brief moment of hesitation freezing his hand in place—

"Ma'am." He said, finally setting them before her. "I am formally requesting military leave of absence."

The first letter was the mandatory request; detailing the period during which he would be absent, as well as those who would take care of his responsibilities in the meantime.

The second—

"And... I'm giving advanced notice of my intention to conclude my military service, come January 2024."

Mission: Post Goodbye Galar

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POSTED ON Aug 11, 2023 20:23:38 GMT

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"i can grant the leave, but why the end to your military service?" the commissioner asks.[break][break]

her hand wanders to her cup. it's heavier than expected. idly, she brings it to her lips and takes a throat shocking sip of the cold.[break][break]

after a wince, she continues: "i thought you loved working with the military?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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Viridian City, Kanto

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5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

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POSTED ON Aug 13, 2023 21:35:23 GMT

dahlia goode and Thomas Benoit like this

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

That was either a really black or a really cold coffee. Either way, Doug empathetically joined in on her wince.

"I did wear the uniform better than anyone ever has or will forever now and for the rest of time—" He agreed with a 'grave' nod. "But—"

He gave a playful smile, before finally slapping his hands together.

"My otherworldly charms aside— I'm not a good soldier."

He wondered if his words would seem honest.

He had a basic idea of who he had been at this point in his life— and he had been many things, but humble had not really been one of them. Oft teetering between overly self-assured and obviously insecure, he had struggled with his desire to be taken seriously for the entirety of his time serving the league, going above and beyond to excel where people would notice.

On the field, at the gym, at a certain summer tournament. He acted more serious than anyone else on meetings and kept his mouth shut to prevent himself from outing his ignorance in front of his older, wiser peers.

Looking back, the act had probably been paper thin, as far as his colleagues were concerned. Switching between overly serious commander and overly friendly, overly foolish bugcatcher when on and off the job couldn't have helped the act.

"I've never mentioned this before to a superior— but I've never really killed anyone." He admitted, leaning his head atop his palm. "Not because the chance never came up— I've just never been able to seize upon it."

He should've realized he wasn't meant for such things when he failed to capitalize upon his chance against dorian westcliff, back at the freighter.

It took him 20 years of bored self-reflection instead.

"I won't pretend soldiers aren't needed— but I can't be MATIAS SILPH or Thomas Benoit." He said, turning his gaze over to Dahlia's. "I've stood over the man I hated the most in the world with a gun in my hand— and I still failed to pull the trigger... even though I wanted to. I just don't... have it in me."

Mission: Post Goodbye Galar

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POSTED ON Aug 26, 2023 23:58:42 GMT

John Sullivan likes this

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"being able to kill a man is no measure of your worth, doug." The Commissioner says, the bitter coffee still lingering against her tongue. "you're young. you're learning how complicated and difficult this world truly is."[break][break]

She takes another sip: a personal reminder made to herself.[break][break]

"team rocket has forced many of us to grow up much too fast. how old are you now?" She asks. "and how many of those years have you spent fighting?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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Viridian City, Kanto

It just works

Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps

AQUA Initiative

5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

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POSTED ON Aug 27, 2023 0:20:52 GMT

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

"You're not wrong, ma'am. But..."

He stared at his hand silently.

There's an old image that comes to him, when his finger is on the trigger, and the enemy's eyes are on his own.

A skull, caved in and cracked like a melon between the jaws of a dragon. A young man riding atop it, egging it on to viciously end a 'monster's' life.

He truly did love his old friend Andy Blackadder. But the boy had left more than just fond memories for him.

He raised his gaze back to Dahlia, giving her a wry smile.

"Are we counting Galar?" He asked with a laugh. "Just kidding. I'm 19 now. It's been..."

He paused, Thinking. How old had he been, when he was first forced by rocket to fight for his life...?

Ah, right. dorian westcliff.

"I guess it's been 7 years now."

Mission: Post Goodbye Galar

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POSTED ON Aug 31, 2023 8:34:48 GMT

John Sullivan likes this

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galar was a complicated matter. [break][break]

although she can not fathom the experience of living through a phantasmic twenty years, the slightest attempt to imagine what doug and others had gone through is enough to pain her heart. she does not notice the fingers gracing her clavicle and her palm pulsing guilt-tinted warmth against her breast.[break][break]

"seven years." she echoes. "it doesn't matter if not all seven years were in service. seven years is reason enough for a leave."[break][break]

she hums a thoughtful note.[break][break]

"what do you plan on doing during your leave, doug?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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20 (40)

March 3

Viridian City, Kanto

It just works

Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps

AQUA Initiative

5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

You're being healed. Please do not resist.

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POSTED ON Sept 2, 2023 19:37:21 GMT

dahlia goode likes this

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

Had he become jaded? He liked to think not. Maybe it was his involvement, however brief, with Ballonleah's politics that made him wary of the commissioner's seeming empathy.

Could a woman who unflinchingly ordered the destruction of another civilization of people for the sake of her own truly be good?

Yes. If she carried a heavy conscience wherever she went, she could be.

Was dahlia goode such...?

Perhaps once the conversation was over, he could take a critical, more mature look at the woman's long, long term, and decide for himself.

For now... she deserved the benefit of doubt.

"Thank you, Commissioner. Let me precede my plans by saying... My time in Galar was very formative." He said, leaning back on his seat while looking Hoenn's leader in the eye. "From my perspective... I lived in there for longer than I did in Kanto and Hoenn combined. Some of us forgot as soon as we woke up— For me, though... it all still feels like yesterday."

Which in turn, meant—

"Which makes the actual yesterday, well... it feels like it was 20 years ago." He explained, to the best of his ability. "I don't... remember much about the Hoenn region. I never forgot rocket— how could I— but I still feel very... new to Hoenn, again."

New, and disconnected from its struggles. After 2 decades worrying about the skeleton and the knight and all that nonsense— returning to Hoenn to find even more problems, when he had been convinced that Galar had been occurring in real time, was... Not good.

"... So!" He clapped his hand, putting on his most cheerful smile for the commissioner. "I thought I needed to get back in touch with the region and the folk in it."

He brought a digit over the table, dragging it across on an invisible path.

"I'll be traveling around the region, and learning of its people's plight first hand." He said simply, leaning his cheek onto his palm as while staring at the table. "I wasn't sitting on my butt for 20 years— and I'm still the avatar of Tapu Lele."

He brought his eyes back to Dahlia's.

"I learned as much medicine as I could back in Galar because I wanted better people's lives." He said. "That hasn't changed. That'll never change."

Not in 20 years. Not in 100. Not in an eternity.

Mission: Post Goodbye Galar

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the good commissioner

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i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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POSTED ON Sept 23, 2023 6:58:16 GMT

John Sullivan likes this

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"a good reason. honorable, even." the commissioner says of doug's plan. [break][break]

time has eroded the geography of doug's memory, seemingly. spending so much time in that poisoned place... what roots doug must have settled in hoenn must have loosened. the dirt dried. the coastlines frayed by sludge he had to tread through.[break][break]

"i'm thankful for trainers like you, doug. even having lived in that version of galar for so long, you never stopped thinking about hoenn and its people." the commissioner says. "that is our job after all. no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the scenario, we have a duty to serve our region's people above all else."[break][break]

she smiles. and when she does, there are wrinkles.[break][break]

"refamiliarize yourself with our region and our constituents. then let me know what you've learned."

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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Dr. Doug

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20 (40)

March 3

Viridian City, Kanto

It just works

Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps

AQUA Initiative

5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

You're being healed. Please do not resist.

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POSTED ON Oct 16, 2023 17:37:43 GMT

dahlia goode likes this

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

His stomach twisted on itself as the commissioner smiled, the slight wrinkles on the corner of her eyes each a bump for his stomach acid to do sick flips on.

For almost 7 years of those twenty years, he lived in Galar without sparing Hoenn a thought, the land that had once taken him in all but forgotten— a distant memory that seemed to only grow further away from him with each passing day.

"Understood, ma'am." He said, nodding slowly. "I'll bring you everything I've learned next time we meet."

In retrospective, he probably should've accounted for impromptu AQUA meetings.

His gaze dragged down to the letter in the woman's hand. Given where the conversation was leading, they were just about done.

Not for the first time, it occurred to him that this was the first time he was speaking directly with the commissioner without anyone else present. Normally, he took these chances to fraternize— even on stonefaced, iron-walled bastions of antisocial behavior like Fernando.

He liked making friends, and he worked better when the people working with him closest, the people who depended on him, were people he liked.

Dahlia Goode was different from most, though— she was his boss, everyone's really, as well as supremely busy in ways that couldn't be delegated in good(e) conscience.

How was one even supposed to start when trying to befriend The Commissioner?

His eyes inevitably went back to the wrinkles around the woman's eyes. The sight brought back an old, old memory from way back in 2020— or about 22 years ago.

Back when he first met FERNANDO SILPH— even back then, he thought the man seemed... thoroughly exhausted. A candle burnt on both ends for far too long.

"Putting me aside..." Doug finally said, fixing the commissioner with a smile. "You look a bit weary, Ms. Goode. How do you feel?"

Eh. Your doctor could be your friend.

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the good commissioner

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POSTED ON Oct 21, 2023 9:07:45 GMT

John Sullivan likes this

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"oh i'm all good. we're all tired."[break][break]

the commissioner laughs, but the question reminds her palate of coffee. she drinks the rest. sets the cup on the desk and is quick to stand, as if to allow the beverage to plummet to her gut as fast as it can.[break][break]

"but it's nothing i can't manage. you should worry about yourself." she says. "but do i look that tired to you?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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Dr. Doug

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20 (40)

March 3

Viridian City, Kanto

It just works

Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps

AQUA Initiative

5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

You're being healed. Please do not resist.

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POSTED ON Nov 3, 2023 20:10:26 GMT

shiv likes this

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Gotta look my best to meet the Commissioner!

Worry about himself?

Pffft. He crossed his arms into an X dramatically.

"I categorically refuse." He declared.

"As a doctor—self-appointed, license pending, _{give me a couple months}— being a busy body is my job. No, my calling!" He sounded a little too proud while saying that.

"I'm prrrretty tough anyway, don't worry about it." He said, giving her a thumbs up and a wink.

One could almost picture the man snorting Lele scales for sustenance like crac— er, sugar.

"And..."He leaned towards the table, dropping his cheek atop his palm as he gave her a pretty obvious once-over, his gaze lingering on her face.

"... Yeah. I would say ya do. Er, ma'am!" He said, remembering his manners a step too la— er, just in time. "Have you had your health checked recently?"

He would've liked to say that everyone made it a habit to get a check up with their doc at least yearly—Those lucky or privileged enough to be able to afford it, at any rate— but he knew for a fact that workaholics tended to put their own health as a far, far second to their duties.

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the good commissioner

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i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.

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POSTED ON Nov 14, 2023 4:08:22 GMT

Gwyar Wledig likes this

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"i believe i have."[break][break]

but time is easily distorted by the flipping of pages, the tangling of press conference mic wire, and sleep. broken sleep. nights where the body remains restless, not because the mattress is too hard or soft, but because the gravity of all the world's problems tugs and tugs and tugs.[break][break]

"another check up wouldn't hurt." the commissioner says. "but people do not enter seats like mine by resting on their laurels. like a hopping spoink, if i ever stop, there is a chance i won't ever bounce back."

[break][break]

[attr="class","bottom"]John Sullivan[break]
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Dr. Doug

He/Him

20 (40)

March 3

Viridian City, Kanto

It just works

Lt. Colonel, Medical Corps

AQUA Initiative

5' 11" (181 cm) / 180 lbs (82 kg) height

You're being healed. Please do not resist.

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