Interviewing a Ranger [Social]

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park

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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
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1,640 posts
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TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 7, 2022 10:05:14 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
With the Tiered Tea Room teasing a bunch of mysteries that were left unsolved, Andrea Vaneau was determined to put all the puzzle pieces together at any cost. Brainstorming with hadn't been enough to uncover the truth. She needed to get information from one of the few people who knew of Moltres' fate. Perhaps he could even help her deduce the legendary bird's whereabouts.

The young PokéManiac arrived at the rendezvous point in Lilycove City, flying on the back of her Salamence. The ferocious dragon landed near the seaside restaurant with a resounding thud, knocking a few unoccupied tables and chairs over with the mere flapping of his crimson wings. The woman certainly had a way of leaving an impression, for better or for worse.

Climbing off her draconic steed, the pajama-clad girl ran up to Lars' table with an excited look on her bespectacled face. "Hiii there! Sorry I'm late. How are you? Is Ro doing okay?" She casually asked. Nothing like breaking the ice when all eyes were practically on her in the wake of her obnoxious entrance.
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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
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3,790 posts
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TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 11, 2022 16:48:33 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


Thankfully he’d chosen a location that had an al fresco dining area, and was therefore not surprised to see that she’d literally come crashing in on the back of a Salamence—who practically sent tables flying without a single care in the world.

Sure, there were people that were whispering among themselves, but the moment Lars turned his gaze on them (it was a cross between a gaze and a soft glare) they quieted down.

“I haven’t been waiting too long, don’t worry,” he remarked as he tilted his head in greeting.

“Well, Ro’s doing fine—however he’s been asking me when the next rematch is. I told him to wait, because I know you’ve got to be planning something good,” he added with a grin on his face.

Now that they were here, one of the wait staff came over and placed two menus down. He picked one up and slid the other across the table.

“Pick anything. I got it covered,” he continued.

Once they were settled down, he then thought to get straight to the point—

“So what exactly do you want to know about Moltres? How far back do I have to recount?” he asked her quietly, looking around just to make sure nobody else was listening in on their conversation.

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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 13, 2022 9:21:30 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
The dragon-hooded girl grinned too when she heard how anxious Ro was for another rematch. "Oh, we're definitely planning something good. Chomper evolved again actually, and he's stronger than ever. I just need to teach him a new technique that'll definitely help him get the upper hand. You'll see." She winked, being playfully secretive.

The young PokéManiac sat on the table proper, while her Salamence Roosted nearby, tucking his four legs underneath his chest like a gigantic kitten. Soon, a waiter arrived to take their order. Andrea ordered two cheeseburgers and a Soda Pop. Afterwards, the head ranger got straight to the point, asking her in a low voice what she wished to know.

"I wanna know as much as possible, of course. When and how did Moltres and her avatar disappear for example? It must've been a pretty big deal if some random Kindler was talking about it." The girl whispered back to him. "By the way, why are we speaking quietly? Are you about to tell me a big secret?" She inquired.
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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
awards
3,790 posts
part of
TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 15, 2022 2:24:32 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


It was all well and good that his Pokémon had rivals outside of the usual training regimen he had set up between all of them.

Man, wouldn’t his Lucario Alpha be jealous of this.

“Bring it on when you’re ready,” he remarked before taking a closer look at the menu and placing his own order—while he didn’t go for a burger like she did, he did order a rather… large… serving of fries. Because he needed all the salt in the world.

At the same time, though, he’d also picked up some pasta. Nothing too heavy, just something to counterbalance all the sodium he’d be inhaling once the fries had been dropped off.

He wanted to order something hard to drink but let’s not set a bad example in front of the young lady shall we?

Once the menus had been taken away, he gave a few moments of silence before he began to share.

“See, the thing is, Moltres had long been associated with , however the last that anyone’s seen of the flameborne mirage was during the Star Soiree ball. It was—a mess and a half, really.”

He sighed.

“By any chance, did you encounter… hmm, did you meet someone, anyone at all named ‘Father Winter’?”

This was how he was going to preface the next part of his explanation.


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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 16, 2022 12:33:39 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
Stormy Llewellyn, a name that rang exactly zero bells. The more Andrea listened to Lars' explanation the more confused she got. "Star Soiree? Wasn't that some kind of big event that happened last year? What was it about again?" The girl inquired, barely having enough time to type the name in a search engine.

The next figure being name-dropped sounded far more mysterious. "Father Winter... Is that the jolly, fat guy who flies on a Stantler sleigh every year and delivers presents to all the good boys and girls?" The dragon-cosplaying girl cluelessly asked. "I thought he was just a myth and that it's actually Delibird leaving those presents." So she'd heard anyway, but then again most myths in Hoenn ended up being true.

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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
awards
3,790 posts
part of
TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 16, 2022 22:10:11 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


“Yes, the Star Soiree was a big-ass shindig held at the Mossdeep Space Center—to celebrate the arrival of the Litleonid meteor shower. However, at the same time the meteor shower started happening… strange Pokémon started appearing. Specifically, Unown. Know anything about that particular one?”

While he didn’t have a copy of the Unown Report on him, he knew quite a few people who did, and that supposedly, there were some who were collecting the strange, letter-shaped Pokémon like madmen. Or madpeople, who really knew?

“Well, supposedly this ‘Father Winter’ called people to Granite Cave, of all places, and then… I can’t believe I’m saying this, but apparently some of those who went there were like… taken to another dimension.”

Normally this sentence would’ve sounded strange had this been a normal conversation in a normal region; but then again who said anything about Hoenn being a normal region by a long shot?


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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jun 18, 2022 14:21:49 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
Father Winter, the Star Soiree, the Litleonid meteor shower... How could all those things be related? Andrea pondered that questions while carefully listening to the head ranger's story, until something finally clicked...

"Wait! Did you say Unown?! Like, the one that looks like a floating doodle with a big eye?!" The dragon-cosplaying girl exclaimed in sheer surprise. "There was an Unown at the Tiered Tea Room! We had to hit it with a typeless move! Then its trainer summoned a weird pink Pokémon called Enamorus and she gave us all a springtime blessing!" She prattled on. It was her turn to do exposition.

Speaking of, didn't Lars mention something else that sounded familiar? Right, being taken to another dimension. "Yeah, something similar happened with us too... I think." Andrea continued. "We found ourselves in a pitch-black room. That's where we saw the Unown. But when we later asked the atelier's staff, they said they didn't know anything about a dark room and that it wasn't part of the challenge. Could that room have been part of another dimension?" She casually theorized, as one did in the totally normal region known as Hoenn.

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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
awards
3,790 posts
part of
TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jul 3, 2022 14:53:15 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


“Yes, that exact one. I have… one myself,” he nodded quietly. “Looks like a question mark, which is really strange.”

How long would it be before their food—ah, there they were.

One of the wait staff approached and then laid down her order of two cheeseburgers and a soda, while on his side it was… a heaping order of fries, along with a plate of spaghetti Bolognese, topped with the biggest, baddest meat ball one could ever imagine ripping apart.

“You saw an Ena—what?” he blinked in confusion as he reached for a smaller platter and scooped up some of the fries before sliding it across for the girl to take for herself (she didn’t order fries with her burgers, whoops) while he began working on shredding the meat ball down.

“Were you able to like, get a picture of it? And what else happened when you went to the—the Tea Room?”

It looked like he would have to reach out to his friend again about that, since at the time the Tea Room was taking place he was busy handling so much work that involved a lot of newly-recruited Rangers.

But first… good food! And lots of it!

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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jul 5, 2022 10:19:03 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
If this were a manga, a floating question mark would have appeared over Andrea's own head. "You have an Unown too? Ooh, can I see it?" The young PokéManiac requested with sparkly eyes.

Unown sure were mysterious, but the real mystery was what kind of restaurant served a cheeseburger with no fries? Luckily, Lars was enough of a gentleman to share some of his own. Their discussion came to a temporary halt, as the young lady grabbed the delicious burger and took a huge bite out of it. "Mmmm... dewithious!"

The ranger wanted to know what Enamorus looked like. Andrea put her cheeseburger aside for a moment and grabbed her colored crayons (why yes, she did carry crayons on her at all times), doodling on a white napkin. "It looked like this." She replied, showing him the finished doodle.

enamosus

What a masterpiece.

"Like I said, Enamorus gave us a springtime blessing, and by that I mean she taught our Pokémon a new move." The dragon-costumed girl further explained, before going back to her burger.
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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
awards
3,790 posts
part of
TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jul 9, 2022 16:25:49 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


When he said ‘picture’, he was hoping that there would be photographical evidence presented.

What he got instead was—well, to be fair, since she’d mentioned that they may have been potentially warped to another dimension during that time—a rough sketch of the approximation of what the ‘Enamorus’ looked like.

Fact of the matter was, he was slightly alarmed—but only because he remembered a certain friend of his who was supposedly searching for something that maybe slightly resembled this? A cloud…?

“It—it doesn’t have legs?” he blinked as he looked at the rough sketch, very much interrupted from his food. “It has a cloud for the lower half of its body?”

He then put the fork down and fished his phone out, snapping a picture of it and making a mental note to send said picture to that friend later after they were done.

“A new move? What does the move do?”

So many questions, very little in the form of actual answers…

Just what was the entire region coming to?


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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jul 14, 2022 9:07:47 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
The young PokéManiac nodded at Lars' question concerning Enamorus' anatomy. "Yep, it sure did. It looked like cotton candy. I wanted to eat it!" She replied, before grabbing the second cheeseburger and holding it near her Salamence's mouth. "Meatloaf, burger."

The pseudo-legendary sniffed the cheeseburger curiously, before swallowing the girl's hand whole. Thankfully, her appendage was left perfectly intact, albeit coated in drool, but the burger was gone, disappeared into the dragon's insatiable stomach. The girl then opened her can of Soda Pop, put a straw and let Meatloaf drink from it. "There you go, that should help you digest."

Hearing Lars' next question, Andrea turned back towards him. "I can show you." She said, pulling another Pokéball from one of her costume's pockets and sending out an Alolan Exeggutor that made this writer thankful that this was an open air restaurant, lest its enormous neck might have pierced through the ceiling. "Lola, use Springtide Storm."

The Exeggutor obliged, shaking its large palm leaves and summoning a beautiful breeze of cherry blossom petals that made many of the patrons 'ooh' and 'aah' at the breathtaking sight.

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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
awards
3,790 posts
part of
TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jul 17, 2022 16:45:06 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


He was about to ask why there were two burgers when he realized—ah, there we go. His unasked question was eventually answered as the Salamence literally chomped down on her whole hand—

Before he realized that she had her trusty ‘onesie’ on. At least she still had a hand after the burger disappeared—

And yes, this writer is also thankful that the two are dining outside at an open-air restaurant because imagine the mess the coconut tree dragon would’ve caused if they were dining indoors!

This attack—was definitely a strange one.

It was the first time he’d heard of it.

“Does it—does it affect any Pokémon, or is it just supposed to be that? A light, refreshing wind?”

Surely there was something else hidden underneath all this.


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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Jul 31, 2022 11:15:56 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
Lars had made yet another fair inquiry. "Hmmm, I'm not sure how it affects other Pokémon. We haven't really tried using it offensively. It's a pretty strong wind, so maybe it's a Flying move? Or maybe it's a Fairy move, since the wind is pink." The young PokéManiac casually speculated, her Alolan Exeggutor making confused grimaces, since not even it knew what its new move did.

Of course, the original purpose of their meeting was not to discuss the intricacies of the move Springtide Storm, but to figure out exactly what had happened in that stargazing event. "So, what happened in the Star Soiree after the Unown appeared? You said people were taken to another dimension, right? What was that dimension like? Was it also pitch-dark like the one we found ourselves in? And what happened to and Moltres?" Andrea barraged the blonde ranger with even more questions.

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played by

Ven

Lars
he / him / his
thirty-two
july 26
Sootopolis, Hoenn
don’t know, don’t care
ranger & courier
ex-head ranger
tonight
is gonna be the loneliest
1210 height
1210 height
nessuno vince.
awards
3,790 posts
part of
TAG WITH @lars
Laurence Anderson
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Aug 3, 2022 20:02:32 GMT
Laurence Anderson Avatar


Ah yes, back to the matter at hand.

“I’ll be getting back to you after this about the Springtide thing,” he remarked as he grabbed some fries and consumed. Yes, he needed some sodium right about now, because things were about to get real messy out here.

“Okay, so—after the Unown started appearing at the Star Soiree, pretty much chaos broke out. Like, there was one Unown that practically everyone started chasing after, trying to catch it, because… well, I know someone who has this strange thing that records letters? Something like that,” he continued, remembering as much as he could around the fries.

“So, after that little debacle was settled—honestly I don’t know who managed to catch the Unown—strange colored mist started appearing. And yes, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a smoke machine, because smoke machines can only ever make white mist and stuff… at least the proper ones I know of.”

He then cleared his throat and had some pasta before he continued.

“So see, the moment that strange-colored mist started appearing, everyone—well, a lot of people at least—started seeing… things? I know, call me wild, call it crazy, but this mist started showing people their deepest desires and shit. Like… some kind of mind-addling fog, or something.”

He waved the fork around, before continuing.

“And then, while everyone was literally lost in their heads, or at least that’s what I remember happening, some… some strange people appeared from the shadows? That came along with the mist, I think.”

Another beat of silence before he continued.

“These strange people that started coming out of the shadows were attacking those who were caught unaware—and that was, at least if my memory serves me right, the last time that was seen.”


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played by

Kost

Dragon-hooded girl
she/her
20
August 10
Fallarbor Town, Hoenn
Asexual
Minor Gym Leader
Ace (Civilian)
5'11" (180 cm) height
5'11" (180 cm) height
I wanna become a Pokémon!
awards
1,640 posts
part of
TAG WITH @andreavaneau
Andrea Vaneau
Interviewing a Ranger [Social]
POSTED ON Aug 7, 2022 13:17:48 GMT
Andrea Vaneau Avatar
According to Lars, after the Unown had crashed the party all hell broke loose. A bunch of trainers had tried to capture the weird, letter-shaped Pokémon, while others were confronted with a peculiar mist (not the byproduct of a smoke machine, as the ranger was quick to point out) and manifestations of their deepest desires.

"So, it was a mist that could manifest people's dreams. I believe I've heard of such a thing being researched in the Unova region." The young PokéManiac recalled skimming through a hard-to-understand academic article on the subject during one of her many internet searches for a 'scientific' method of humans transforming into Pokémon.

Lars dropped yet another bombshell; a group of mysterious individuals had also been sighted in the Star Soiree, and those same people were seemingly responsible for the former avatar's disappearance. "You mean those strange people have the power to make strange things happen and transport people to strange places? And they're somehow connected to the Unown?" The dragon-costumed girl gasped, coming to a most disconcerting conclusion. "T-this must mean... that strange lady from the Tiered Tea Room could've been one of them too!"