'You know it. I just need a moment to get ready.', Thomas would respond to Lars.

As Thomas got the message, he was finishing up training. With this coming up, Thomas quickly took his shower, and changed from his training clothes, into a more casual outfit of a plaid button-up shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and black boots worn under the pantlegs. His hair would be tied into a ponytail. Despite Lars being in on the secret, Thomas placed his eye patch over his Shinigami Eye, in order to obscure its corrupted form.

Thankfully, the surfaces were kept cleared and organized, so prepping the area for his visit was only a matter of retrieving the half-empty bottle of his favorite Galarian Whiskey, and a couple of glasses. And if he so desired, Thomas would fill a vessel full of ice cubes, with a small shovel-like scoop for loading in the cubes into the glasses.

When Lars approached the Ranch, he would spot Kalameet flying overhead, racing a Flygon. A Lucario and a familiar Scizor were sparring with one another, with the Scizor clearly having the upper hand. Otherwise, various Pokemon were either doing work, or simply relaxing on the grounds. He would find no interruption as he approached the door.

Thomas would greet the Head Ranger. "Lars, it's good to see you.", he'd greet him warmly. Thomas would gesture the for the Head Ranger to come inside, and follow him to the 'drinking area' he set up.

Two very comfortable looking seats, with a stand, would greet him in the cozy room. On the stand were the two glasses, and the vessel with the ice inside. "Feel free to put your tequila on the stand. And if you'd like, help yourself to some ice.", he'd tell Lars, before taking his own seat.

---

tags: Laurence Anderson
notes: tl;dr

In the time it took for Lars to get there, the other man had prepared their rendezvous location.

The stand with ice was much appreciated, too.

“Thanks, and how have you been lately?” he would greet in return as he took one of the shot glasses and began messing with it as he took his seat.

Hilariously, little flecks of ice would form on the outer and inner surface on the glass, before he chuckled.

“You know I can do that, right?” he continued with a smirk. “Hand that whiskey over here, how cold do you want it? Save the ice for your glass,” he went on, as after touching the bottle of tequila, it didn’t take much time for it to be chilled with little contact on the actual ice bucket whatsoever.

Okay, right.

“So. I guess you heard what crap they’ve been up to this time. I also saw the livestream—what happened? I know you’re like, one of the most… forgive the term, overzealous supporters of the League. What suddenly made you do the 180 and quit the Elite Four?” he began, addressing the first obvious Cufant in the room.

The bottle of tequila was then cracked open before the shot glass filled, and knocked back in one.

"Just peachy.", Thomas remarked.

Of course Thomas should've accounted for Lars' gift. "Force of habit.", Thomas told the Head Ranger. "I'll take mine nice and cold.", he'd tell Lars. As Lars got to work on the bottles, Thomas took his seat.

Thomas took a moment to pour himself a glass of whiskey before speaking. "Like I said, I feel that the League has failed to adequately handle Rocket. They effectively allowed them to regroup and rebuild, despite the warnings that the top brass below Silas managed to escape. And now they're managing to con the people of Hoenn into siding with them, despite the shit they pulled under Silas.", he'd tell Lars.

"In short, we didn't do nearly enough. And now we're getting railed for it.", he'd continue.

Thomas would take a moment to get in a sip of whiskey.

"So what's going on, exactly?", he'd ask Lars.

---

tags: Laurence Anderson
notes: tl;dr

Another shot was poured, before he decided to get straight to the point as well.

There was something just—cheesing him off entirely about—

Knocking the second shot down, he sighed.

“Have you heard who got elected to the Council as of late.”

That was all he was going to remark about it. Clearly, not even the deity was powerful enough to help him stay calm, because this was one monster of a festering wound that had only been exacerbated lately with il vecchio’s apparent return.

He then poured himself another shot.

“Whoever in their right minds decided to give him a Council seat is making a big-ass mistake.”

"Bill Anderson, yes.", Thomas would answer him. Truth be told, Thomas knew little about the man. But he assumed that he was related to Lars, and if that were the case, Lars clearly knew something that the public didn't.

"What do you mean?", Thomas inquired, the matter suddenly having his full attention. If there was something to be known about Bill Anderson, it was good to have the intel now. He could already tell that from the sound of it, he might have to take care of this problem.

As Lars would explain his position, however far he chose to elaborate upon it, Thomas would begin to sip at his glass of Galarian Whiskey.

---

tags: Laurence Anderson
notes: tl;dr