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Noah had found himself a seat next to Hailee Jacobs near the pizza, along with the rest of the Slateport Rangers, like a unit. Clearly the best behaved group out of all the other rangers here, even if Calliope Marks was being a little aggressive, with good reason though. They had been given their orders, they had been pretty much told what to do. Fighting right now was nothing more than a pissing contest in all it's glory.[break][break]

For the most part Noah would keep to himself and bite down on a pizza slice, he was a Ranger Cadet, everything being spoken about was far beyond his pay grade. In his food filled mind he shouldn't even be here, this felt like something that only the captains and anyone above that, noting that he didn't even know anyone that was above Tam, nor did here really care at this point. Speeches were being given, threats and insults were being thrown and nothing would be resolved, it was amazing.[break][break]

As of right now Noah would only really care about Tam's opinion and the fact that they were already given a task to complete so the only saucy thing he cared for was the pizza in front of him. Now witnessing @arashi leave, Noah would lean over to Hailee Jacobs and whisper. "Could you pass a message to Tam Fawley and ask if we could also leave? We have our orders already." Hoping that she could pass on the message to the Slateport Ranger next to her until it reached their captain. There was no point on staying and watching the Rangers fight each other. Foolishness, Noah, Foolishness. [break][break]

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Talia's expression shifted the more the Rangers around her spoke, disharmony sparking from each direction as her topaz eyes flitted from one heated individual to another. The applause that had begun for Guillermo Marceliño and annalise henderson faded as instead discussions turned into spats, and eventually, emotional outpourings of frustration and hurt feelings.

So this was the way the Rangers handled strife. Disappointing.

The shyness and nerves that had held her at her arrival dissipated in the light of something more serious and somber. Life-and-death matters couldn't allow for impulsivity.

It was why she nodded to Tam Fawley when he spoke of where they ought to head next, as her Slateport Captain. It was why everything in her screamed in agreeance with Calliope Marks, who knew unpleasant truths as she did. It was why she silently offered her agreement to Raziel Beckett when he spoke beside her, heart falling when he spoke of the Megalopian War.

It was why she stood up, now, when Josh Devlin shouted at her new companion, something indignant glimmering in her eyes.

"There is a meteor coming that will wipe out all of civilization as we know it. As you say, the future looks grim," she said coolly to Josh Devlin, her displeasure nonetheless clear in each soft-spoken syllable. "Shall we keep sowing division by demanding apologies? We don't have the luxury of time."

It angered her, that such trivial matters could overshadow something so significant. Had Kanto or Johto been similarly divided as Hoenn had? She prayed not.

"No one's home is safe. As Guillermo Marceliño has said, it is not our place to question orders, not now. That time has long past. We are Rangers, and we will do our job, and we will do it admirably. So let us clear our heads and focus on the actual threat at hand. Together."

She watched @arashi leave, but did not follow, returning to her seat with her hands pressed on her lap. Her Swablu flitted back to her shoulder, resting as Talia exhaled a breath she'd not realized she'd been holding.

It's fine for them to be scared. But we can't let fear rule us, not now. Not with so much at stake.

Josh Devlin Guillermo Marceliño Raziel Beckett Calliope Marks @arashi annalise henderson Tam Fawley ● rangers rising ●

For the better part of the discussioned-turned-argument, Callan watched as the rangers went from a relatively open and chill atmosphere of a get-together into a spiralling turn of emotional spats between one another. He pursed his lips, before stepping forward to speak. "If I can have everyone's attention for a moment."

"I'd like to give a background to some of the cadets on how specifically these Primal Points were selected. Head Ranger Anderson does not make the decision himself, these points are chosen across a board of stakeholders. Naturally the fact that Fortree City is a populous city is not lost in their eyes. Lars is just the messenger, this decision cannot be overturned or changed by any amount of rage that we feel. I don't disagree with the sentiment, but our efforts are better put into how best to mitigate the problems that are being put forth. That is our duty."

Callan moves over to the map, using his HoloNav, he begins to speak. "I suggest we follow standard Ranger protocol for evacuation procedures when it comes to natural disasters. Temporary shelter can be set up near both Lilycove and Mauville city so that the total population of Fortree isn't a huge factor. While it's not ideal that the avian sanctuary is likely to be damaged in the process, Pokemon can be relocated to the Safari Zone, which will have similar facilities, though they're not as optimal as an avian specialised one of course." He opens a bottle of water, taking a sip, before continuing.

"Maybe we should open the forum up to see how best to handle the situation. What's important is to make sure everyone in Fortree gets out alive and with their families." Callan smiled, "Save that rage so we can thrash out at a concert."

Everyone

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Hailee now currently sat in her seat with her mountain pile of food now comfortably resting in her stomach. The only thing that wasn't comfortable now was her. She looked around the room as this little potluck delved into straight chaos. Wide crimson colored eyes glanced around the room as her fellow rangers lunged at each other's throats. [break][break]

"Well that escalated quickly." Hailee muttered under her breath as she continued to mind her own business and take long sips from her drink. Hailee wasn't quite sure what was supposed to be going on but she was no longer feeling comfortable in such a heated and emotionally intense situation. Honestly, she'd be the first one to say she really was just here for the free food. Save the drama for your mama, some wise t-shirt maker once said. [break][break]

Now more than ever Hailee was glad to know she had such a strong, rationally thinking, and mild mannered Captain. He'd addressed the Slateport Ranger's orders and that was all Hailee needed to know. @arashi also seemed uncomfortable considering how he just left in a huff. Hailee wished she could go with him. Maybe on their way out they could grab some ice cream or something. Anything to get her out of this awkward situation. Hailee wasn't good with confrontation like this.[break][break]

Noah beside her leaned close to her ear and whispered causing her to jump and the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. "Wha--" she began to protest. But Noah continued with what he had to say, "Could you pass a message to Tam Fawley and ask if we could also leave? We have our orders already."[break][break]

Hailee flashed him a look of approval. Not a bad idea. Hailee was seated in between Noah, on her right and Orion Lykos on her left. Leaning over Orion, Hailee tugged on Tam's sleeve and cupped a hand over her mouth to whisper to him. "Hey dad, the adults are fighting. Do you think we could leave since we already have our orders?" Hailee asked him in the only way she knew how, with a little joke.
[break][break]

Elinor stayed silent, eyes composedly going from one speaker to the next. A small pang of guilt tried to nudge its way into her for she knew she had been among those who helped force this choice upon them. But she said nothing and pushed the guilt away. This had to be done they did not have the time to argue the logistics.

Even as ollie morales suggested that Elinor could help write a strongly worded letter. Though she sensed some measure of jest from his choice words. She was about to reply that though she could the effort would be wasted. But she never got that far as voices continued marching on to the beat of their own drum.

While there were a lot of them Raziel Beckett and Josh Devlin’s speeches definitely reached her, one due to being a measured call to action, the other a plea for corporation delivered with perhaps a bit too much volume. She couldn’t fault him for that.

Then some Rangers left, leaving a message of ‘this could have been an email’ behind, and she had to agree with that. Dragging the cadets into this might’ve been unwise. But hindsight is 20/20.

She figured now would be a good time to join in on the conversation. Alas, a certain someone was quicker. Callan Young addressed the forum. She listened and nodded approvingly as he gave a short summary. She appreciated that he used stakeholders rather than outing the Council and AQUA as those who had picked, but perhaps he was simply making educated guesses. Either way, the notion was appreciated.

And with Callan’s contribution to the conversation, she was left with no other choice but to await and see how the people responded to it.




OOC: Elinor has so far acquired the Move Tutor + Green Shard (added to inventory)
TLDR:
- Quietly observes, once again. (Why Y'all gotta be so quick)

@toobloodymany

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No sooner did the floor open for questions did things get—a little more than heated. It was the kettle boiling the underside black, from the way things were going.

‘Forgive my Kalosian, but what the fuck?’

‘An unfortunate side-effect of having so many clashing personalities all in one room, I know.’

‘Are your kind always this… maligned?’

‘Not all of them. Not all of them, I can assure you.’

‘Whatever’s going to happen hasn’t even happened yet and everyone’s already at each other’s throats?’

‘It’s… I know you were listening in during the actual meeting, and I know you know shit too. But—’

‘This is the family you’re trying to keep together?’

‘Well, key word trying, but yeah. This is them. Rough around the edges, but yes, this is them. Most of them, anyway.’

He was supposed to keep quiet and address everything in one go however the sudden and unexpected appearance of the other person he was hoping to have joined them from the start—well, then.

The loud scraping of chair legs cut through the silence not too long after Sénon had come in and addressed pretty much everyone in the room would announce that the man of the hour himself was going to speak.

(Maybe it was time to employ a little something that GABRIEL BLACK had suggested in the actual meeting. Let’s see how this will go.)

“As much as everyone has the right to freely express themselves within this room, and I know that some of you want to jump at each other’s throats and have at it like a pack of angry Lycanroc, please do not, because what’s happening right now is nothing but absolute proof that the rest of the League would take us for the laughingstock. And that is something I will not stand for.”

Hoping that his first statement had enough weight for everyone to rethink their priorities, it was time to address everything that had happened since then.

To annalise henderson first, “What’s going to be installed at each of the locations is the countermeasure that the other branch of the League has come up with to save our region.”

There’s another part to that sentence though, however he’d keep it to himself for now at least until he was further questioned.

To Kaida Adachi, he couldn’t help but quirk his lips up in a bit of a tiny smile. The tiniest little thing he would allow himself, because he knew how passionate she was about protecting Pokémon.

“It’s out of my hands, you know,” he said her way with a heavy sigh. “However, should you wish it, you can help out Fortree, because I’m sure someone we both know would appreciate the help.”

While Lars had no idea about what had happened in mid-July (he would have to ask for reports about that later), the next bit is turned to LANCE VOLLANS, and here his brows quirk together.

“I’d appreciate if whatever I said about the higher-ups stays in this room. The decision wasn’t mine to make, and I know some people are definitely upset about it. However, the die has been cast, and what I can advise right now is to set all of your petty differences aside and, for the sake of protecting anyone and everyone you hold dear, to work together. If there’s one thing we need right now, it’s unity. And clearly what happened here doesn’t show that.”

When Callan Young spoke up, another brief flash—this time, a knowing smirk—made its presence known before his usual resting bitch face returned.

“For now, Callan—I can say they’re not. We were just asked to get them set up, remember that?” he mentioned to the other. “At least, not yet active anyway.”

For someone only recently promoted, Lars made sure to take a mental note to send Sénon Game something later—turning to Guillermo Marceliño, he nodded.

“That actually brings up something that another member of the council proposed,” he went on, looking at Elinor Anderson in particular. She would know what he was going to mention next.

“Once things get down to the wire, I’d want for everyone in this room, regardless of location—to coordinate with the Gym Leaders of your respective cities or towns, like what ollie morales had mentioned, and suggested by Councilman GABRIEL BLACK at the meeting prior to this. Work together with them. We may be one branch of what keeps the League together, but without our counterparts to help us out when crunch time happens we’re as good as toast.”

It was a shame that DEREK HOFFMAN wasn’t a Ranger anymore, because that left Petalburg in a rather interesting situation.

“For the Ranger Captains present right now that aren’t assigned to any of the locations, I may relegate responsibilities to the others that are near the particular areas that need attention, going by proximity. At the same time, though, I don’t want to spread our forces out too thin.”

If there was one thing he hated, it was smaller voices being drowned out—what he wasn’t expecting was the way that Josh Dragomir would stand up from his corner. Even if it wasn’t time for the other man to take the floor yet he did have choice words to say.

Thank the Weather Trio there were some cool heads in the room.

At the younger Josh’s words, his eyebrows went up—for a few moments. Turning to the young man, he gave his cousin one look, before—

“If anyone—and I mean anyone, has been in that—what he saw,” he began as he composed himself before tilting his head in Josh Devlin’s direction, “…please send in your reports to me directly. Handwritten, email, Pidove messenger, I don’t care. Just get them in, don’t skip out on any details, as soon as possible.”

He had no idea how many of the people in the room were present at that event, but if the younger Josh was one of them—and he was banking on a guess there were others too… well, clearly there were a few things that were skipped over at the other meeting.

(Hmm.)

“As for assignment distribution,” which was the next part of what he wanted to discuss as he was taking mental notes about everything that had gone down.

“Ollie, thanks for your suggestion. However… I’d need for you to stay at Evergrande with your unit. Word on the ground is that the center of logistics is going to be there, we can’t leave the Final Frontier unguarded.”

Because that’s what it was: Evergrande, the event horizon for anyone who wanted to challenge the Elite Four. Turning to LANCE VOLLANS, he had to bite back another sigh from escaping him. But that’s what he was here for.

“The Lilycove unit can help out at the Cemetery,” he continued—indicating the position of Mount Pyre on the projection as he mentioned the location, “As I know the sexton of the entire mountain can’t guard it alone. I’ll get in contact with samuel carter as soon as possible and get pertinent details for your unit to follow while keeping the sanctity of the burial grounds intact.”

As for boruta maher?

“Bo, I know things have been quiet on the Rustboro front, and I thank you for helping keep the peace. Can you get your unit to help out with the Petalburg unit when the time comes?”

He was more than certain that annalise henderson’s unit would have to go to the Desert, as they were the closest in terms of location. Calculating for locations, he did some quick math in his head, spinning a pen in his right hand as he mapped out what the potential itinerary would look like.

To Tam Fawley: “I know you have the larger unit among all of us present here. Would it be a problem if you sent some of your number to help out at Mauville, just in case they’re short-handed? I wouldn’t want to leave Lavaridge unguarded as much as possible.”

Because there it was, the ever-present possibility that a certain team might be in the shadows, ready to sow chaos.

“As an afterthought—don’t spread yourselves out too thin. I trust you can assign your unit to the locations that need covering, and you have Dewford’s unit to help out with the Wishing Cave,” he continued in Tam Fawley’s direction, pointing at Granite Cave on the projection.

Then, he realized something important.

“Let me clarify something to everyone present here—the installations that are going to be placed at the chosen locations are going to be used as part of deflecting the meteor. It’s not going to blow up anything in the nearby vicinities—that’s what we’re here for, right. We keep the wilds as undisturbed as possible, because as nature operates, any strange or unknown presence in a familiar place to wild Pokémon is definitely going to draw attention to it. Again, and I repeat this: they aren’t destructive devices.”

Much tempted as he was to chill the room, he decided not to—and was about to say something when, surprise surprise, Sénon Game himself appeared.

“Thank the Weather Trio you’re here,” he hissed quietly to the redhead. “I thought you were with your family, though?”

The animosity slight from Raziel Beckett wasn’t missed at all either—however he’d get to that later. For now, they had to get their collective shit fixed together.

“I would also appreciate it if anyone else who doesn’t have helpful contributions to bring to the table to wait for further orders from your Ranger Captains.”

He really wanted to get in touch with DEREK HOFFMAN, but with the way the other man had just up and left the Rangers—that wasn’t an option right now. He’d have to do some shuffling in the meantime—temporarily, at least.

“If anyone in this room wants to help out with the Petalburg area, please approach Bo over there. For now, he’ll be in charge of the area alongside Rustboro, until such time Petalburg has its own Captain.”

It was then he remembered something—

“Red. Can you help Fortree out when you can? I mean, parental duties aside, I’d not want to bother cait alfric and ask her if it’s alright to borrow you when the time comes. I’m going to have to deploy to another location, because who knows what in the ever-loving shit may happen elsewhere. We’d need to have our best spearheading each of the five locations,” he asked Sénon.

Turning back to Guillermo Marceliño, who pretty much had the Fortree side covered, he had this to say; “I’m trusting you to keep the Eagle’s Nest safe. You, Julia Davis and Red here. SACHA ROSIER, in case you need any help with your family—I think your mentor may have something for you? I know you two have families of your own to consider, that’s why I had her come out to oversee your Ranger training.”

One that was done, he took another deep breath, before finally setting the pen down on the table.

“Everyone. And I mean it. Everyone in this room. Don’t let your pettiness get in the way of helping each other out. If you have differences that you can’t reconcile, I would very much appreciate that you take your grievances elsewhere and settle them outside—just not in here, not in this room, where we’re discussing what we have to do to step up and help protect our home. Everyone has their own personal agendas here, that much I can tell. However, look at it this way—asides from your own families, your own friends, your fellow Rangers—every single fucking one of all of you, are here, together, working for a common cause.”

His nostrils flared.

“I’m pretty sure none of you want to be remembered in a humiliating manner if and when shit hits the fan, right?” he continued after his statement.

“Let’s show the rest of the League what we are. What the Rangers really, truly are. That we’re not the joke of the population. We’re not just a ragtag bunch of misfits. I believe that everyone in this room is better than being petty and vindictive.”

‘Holy.’

‘Well, if that didn’t work, then what else would?’

‘All I can say is—’

‘Yeah. I know. I can’t show you to everyone else yet though. Some of them might piss their pants.’

For a few moments, it looked like Lars was going to say something more, but he stopped himself from doing so.

“Now if anyone else has any other complaints, or objections to what I’ve outlined and discussed. Bring them forward, and don’t be a dick about it.”

---

• the weight of leadership is bearing down on him.
• Lars takes his time and addresses as many viable, plausible points of discussion as possible (please see all associated tags)
• and then he comes out with the Speech™