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POSTED ON Oct 7, 2021 19:27:54 GMT

[attr="class","skycaptain"]

The small jet of water freezes before it can do much of anything. A curious gaze flickers to the shape of frozen water that has materialized over Lars' skin. Mischief peeks out from a narrowed gaze, blinked away when the Head Ranger speaks again. Gone for the moment.

"I'm not even sure it knows what words are."

In that, Kyogre and Articuno couldn't be more different. Even now she can feel the tether stretching between herself and the leviathan that roams the ocean's depths, written into existence by a wordless contract.

"The one time it communicated with me, it didn't use words." Instead its intentions had trickled into her mind, an elemental force absent of rationality. "Or images. I just... knew."

Free me, it had told her.

What from?

When another jet of water shoots out of the pool's surface to hit Lars' in the face, it becomes clear that Skyler's made a game out of this. Waiting to catch the Head Ranger distracted.

An unapologetic grin hides behind a bottle of tequila, the brief innocence that flashes over her expression fooling absolutely no one.

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Laurence Anderson

[newclass=.skycaptain] [/newclass]
[newclass=.skycaptain b] color: #6592A0;[/newclass]
[newclass=.skycaptain i] color: #6592A0;[/newclass]
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Lars

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POSTED ON Oct 7, 2021 19:39:34 GMT

“Well… I think I got the weird one, because out of the others I’ve asked if their chosen deity communicates with them—most of them answered in the negative.”

Moltres, for one. Another one was Tapu Bulu. Tapu Fini didn’t look like much of a talker—however, he believed there was one other whose chosen communicated with them; frequently.

Celebi.

But still—it put him (and Cait, by potential extension?) in the minority with deities who communicated frequently with their chosen human ‘champions’.

‘Oh, shut up.’

‘What? I speak the truth!’

“So it goes by instinct?” he clarified. “I don’t think all of the deities choose to communicate—well, Moltres mostly went off by emotion. No wonder Stormy Silph was such a hothead.”

And then it took him a few seconds to spot the incoming jet of water headed at his face.

Two could definitely play that game.

Chuckling, he then parried it away—only for something strange to happen. Instead of hitting his tequila bottle, the water froze upon impact with said bottle, therefore creating a jagged slash of ice that trailed off one side of the bottle he was holding.

“Strange. That shit’s not happened before.”

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POSTED ON Oct 9, 2021 14:07:42 GMT

[attr="class","skycaptain"]

When Skyler tries to describe the impossibly vast intent behind Kyogre's communication, she comes up short.

What could she tell Lars - really? That she'd heard waves crashing against faraway shores? That an overcast sky had filled her mind, rumbling ominously above a storm-tossed sea? That she'd seen rogue waves eating up familiar shores, drowning everything in their wake?

So instead the captain blinks at the information given to her about other avatars. She'd never asked Stormy about Moltres, the same way she'd never asked Lars about Articuno. It hadn't interested her - at the time.

"Can Arti hear me right now?" Skyler peers at Lars' eyes as if she could spot the legendary bird from behind grassy green. "Could we have a conversation?" She'd never spoken to a legendary, technically.

A pleased sigh leaves her mouth as the taste of tequila lingers on her tongue.

"What do you mean, that's never happened before?" As far as Skyler is concerned, Lars being able to summon ice is perfectly normal. Her eyes narrow at the jagged construction of ice that's frozen around his bottle.

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POSTED ON Oct 13, 2021 13:20:10 GMT

‘Oh, so she wants to talk with me?’

‘Come on, can’t you humor her?’

‘I would sound weird with your voice!’

‘Deal with it, then!’

He chuckled.

“Oh, they can definitely hear you right now. In fact we’re having an argument inside my head right now,” he said with a bark of laughter as he continued to examine the strangely-shaped shard of ice that was hanging off the bottle.

“They actually asked me if you want to know anything—not about myself of course, that’s blackmail!” he added with a chuckle, before hearing the same annoyed screeching noise in the back of his head.

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POSTED ON Oct 18, 2021 21:11:16 GMT

[attr="class","skycaptain"]

"If I wanted to know something about you specifically, spiky, I'd ask you." An eyebrow is raised, as if the statement should be obvious enough.

And, of course, because Skyler is Skyler, she can't let this prime opportunity to tease Lars pass her by. "Good to know there's another option though." Her lips curl sharply with mischievous intent. "You're the best, Arti."

It seems the nickname is here to stay.

As with most things, not much thought is put into the questions that fall from her lips, just after she leans against the pool's edge and wets her lips with tequila.

"What's it like being in spiky's head? Are you there all the time? Or only sometimes? How d'you survive all the salt?"

By the time her shameless row of questions comes to a stop, a familiar gleam of trouble peers at Lars, mercury-bright, from the edge of her eyes.

Her shit-eating grin is poorly concealed behind the reflective surface of a tequila bottle.

"Have you ever had an avatar before this guy?"

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POSTED ON Oct 19, 2021 19:36:16 GMT

The jagged spike of ice hanging off the tequila bottle has his attention, for the moment at least.

“They said to quit calling them that,” Lars began with a chuckle as he poked at the strange ice ‘sculpture’. “They’re more dignified than that, or so they say.”

‘Oh, shut up.’

“And they just sassed me again,” he added, watching as the ice slowly spread across the bottle, in a twisted kind of embrace, before he took another drink from it.

‘So many questions, is she really that chatty?’

‘Yeah, she is. Especially when she’s drinking.’

‘Oy.’

Maybe they could try something—he wondered if she was going to be caught off-guard at the sudden change in his voice since this was literally an experiment at the moment.

“Well, girlie, if you ask me, what melts ice? Salt. He’s saltier than that ‘Dead Sea’ or something, he keeps mentioning it in his head. You don’t want to know how thick the salt is. I’m here most of the time. I say most of the time because I also do need my rest, you know? Speaking from so far away, and yes I’m in Shoal Cave right now, this is a test, as he called it. Don’t know how far this connection reaches but seeing as he’s all the way over there and I’m out here at Shoal Cave, well… it works, as you’d say. How long? I don’t know.”

At the last question, though—it was Lars who answered instead.

“…they did. It was another Ranger, someone I’d met a couple of years ago. But they—they vanished.”

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POSTED ON Nov 20, 2021 11:49:31 GMT

[attr="class","skycaptain"]

For someone who thought Skyler talked a lot, the ice legendary is certainly talking a fair deal.

Nevertheless, hearing the slight change in cadence when Lars next speaks is slightly disconcerting. Her grip subconsciously tightens around the bottle of tequila, taking a swig before Articuno finishes their speech.

For a few seconds she wonders how it might feel to have another voice in her head all the time - then quickly decides that she is extremely happy that Kyogre doesn't seem to even know words.

Having an ocean crashing around her head is much preferable, thank you very much.

Still, Lars' last statement catches her attention and silver eyes narrow in deep thought. Or, well, as deep as it can be given the alcohol sloshing around in her brain.

"Vanished, you say." It reminds her of a recent conversation she'd had with Razz Kingsman , about Reshiram's previous avatar and their untimely death. "Does Articuno know more about this? D'you think they're dead?" Because it seemed like too much of a coincidence.

And if the two are somehow connected...

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POSTED ON Nov 21, 2021 21:12:43 GMT

“Well, that’s all they’re willing to tell me, because apparently ‘even a deity has their secrets, don’t you think,’ were the exact words I got when I tried to ask them about Senri.”

Damn, he really wondered what had happened in that time.

In that short time after the other Ranger was chosen and then just—disappeared.

Ah, and about that speculated death.

“Sky. During the second half of that meeting where I signed my fucking soul to the devil to protect the famiglia—they just mentioned it outright. Senri, the last guy who had ‘em before me—dead. Just. That. Dead.”

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POSTED ON Nov 22, 2021 11:46:42 GMT

[attr="class","skycaptain"]

Lars' reply only builds upon her suspicions. Given that he is Head Ranger and a major figure in the League, Skyler thought that he'd be in the know about certain things. And perhaps he is, but she'd rather not put her trust in assumptions. Not when his safety might be on the line.

"Senri wasn't the only one." Despite the warm waters that surround her, a shiver crawls up her spine. "Someone has been targeting Avatars."

Even the acrid aftertaste of tequila fails to chase away the shadows that settle over her expression. "I don't know much, but apparently there's a group of Avatar assassins out there." And while her own Avatarship was a well-kept secret, Lars' was not.

A hand settles on the Head Ranger's shoulder, demanding his attention. Silver eyes growi uncharacteriscally serious as she regards her best friend. "Be careful out there, kay?"

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Lars

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POSTED ON Nov 25, 2021 20:40:39 GMT

“Someone—do you—”

He trailed off, blinking as he took another drink from his own bottle before letting the heat settle momentarily and dissipating once it was gone.

“Is there… is there someone else out there who’s also… you know, ‘hiding in plain sight’ like you?” he inquired curiously, staring at the neck of his bottle for a few moments.

“…because I know there are several others, too.”

And while he didn’t want to namedrop, his thoughts went out to a certain… number of other people he’d encountered somewhere on Mount Pyre. At least those were some he knew that were ‘hiding in plain sight’ as well.

“I—I know, Sky,” he continued quietly. “At least… we were warned… somewhat. But so far, nobody knows what they look like or even if they’re around here.”

And then he’s taken off-guard by her seriousness.

Her, Skyler Dross, life of the party, suddenly clamming up and becoming serious? He blinked.

“Yeah… thanks,” he muttered, shaking his head slightly before looking at her again with this mischievous grin.

“I could say the same to you, too. Don’t let anyone else know about it. Hiding in the most obvious of places can only be done for so very long before the secret’s out, you know.”

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