MARCH UPDATE

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Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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POSTED ON Dec 11, 2023 17:28:45 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","isaac2"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","textbox"]"So you know."[break][break]

For a girl so insistent that she keep this a secret, Eris Halla was really bad at it. VIPs in the League and Rocket alike knew what she kept hidden. All it took was for one of them to blow the whistle, and it would all come crashing down around her. What if she tried Melody Miro's patience one last time? What if Cillian Quinn decided Mesprit was an asset better suited to Rocket than some traitor child?[break][break]

Secrets, too, were chains. But even as The Liberator, Isaac knew better than to break them so carelessly.[break][break]

"I hate that we have to feel that way." The distrust that Navy so transparently felt for the organization he'd joined was written in his voice. Would Isaac, too, end up so jaded? How could he not, when the League planned to drop the atomic titan? "She's a kid, man. This is all too big for her. We should be jumping for joy that we've got ins with people that can help teach and protect her, not . . . This."[break][break]

In a perfect world, AQUA would help Eris feel like she didn't have to run and hide anymore. They could help tend to Mesprit's cracked gem with the sum total of the League's legendary knowledge. If Rocket tried to hurt her, they could rise to her defense. They could let her connect with the legendary Pokemon she'd always dreamed of meeting and finally learn their stories.[break][break]

If that perfect world didn't exist, Isaac would have to fight for it.[break][break]

"We can punch all we want. But we're just a couple of mavericks. What happens if the League finds out before she's ready to say anything? Or if Rocket beats them to it and tries to collect? She shouldn't have to do anything she doesn't want to, but this whole deal she's got set up is so fragile."[break][break]

"I'm scared, man . . ."

[attr="class","oocbox"]
TAG — Michael Navidson [break]
NOTES — notes go here

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played by

Teddie

Navy

He/Him

October 13th

Slateport

Heterosexual

E4; Gym Leader

Sheriff

I'd go through hell

to hold your hand

5'10" / 177.8 cm height

In the warrior's code, there's no surrender. Though his body says stop, his spirit cries, "NEVER!"

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3,273 posts

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part of

TAG WITH @teddie

Michael Navidson

POSTED ON Dec 11, 2023 17:43:44 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","Navypog3"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-big-img"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-1"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
WAKE UP[BREAK]
IN A NEW LIFE[BREAK]
DOWN BY[BREAK]
THE SEASIDE

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-icon"]

“Arceus, don’t I know it.” His shoulders slump. Eyes stay focused, remembering the kindled hope. Someone can help Eris. Someone has to help her. Someone has to be in that room, and they have to be in there with power.[break][break]
“There’s gonna be a day where someone finds out. On that day, they’re gonna ask us both a lot of pointed questions.” Turning back away from Isaac, arms folded, he paces down the shore. Just a few steps, turning back. He looks like a general pacing before a war table, concocting plans in the surf.[break][break]
“All I know is…I don’t wanna have that conversation where I am now. Silph’s technically my boss. During the last AQUA meeting, Connors threatened to write me up when I charged your buddy Suicune – the dinosaur version. Young said I was grand standing. If they’d really pushed it…could’ve made my life hell.” Pause, letting the words sink in.[break][break]
“Goode and I talked about me taking over Young’s spot. I said no. She said the door’s open until there’s a ‘suitable replacement’. The more I talk with people and work with the League, the more I’m thinking about it. I could help Eris. You’ve been doing good with a gym leader’s help. Imagine if someone tried to hurt her when she’s got an Elite 4 in her corner. That’d go a long way.”[break][break]
Anything to protect her and the other children.

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,329 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Dec 11, 2023 18:11:44 GMT

Eva Morales likes this

[nospaces]

[attr="class","isaac2"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","textbox"]"I want her to beat that day to the punch."[break][break]

There was that hope again, boundless and indestructible. The hope that the worst wouldn't come to pass, and AQUA could give Eris that last layer of security she so desperately needed. The hope that, if it failed at that purpose, he and Teddie could beat the devil out of the system until it shaped up. The hope that, for once, this web of lies and secrets and traumas and tragedies could be beaten.[break][break]

"But I know her. She's never gonna." Unfortunately, even in his wildest hopes, he knew when he'd been beat. "The League failed her. She trusts us with her life, but I don't know if she'll ever trust them. And she's given them good reason to be wary, too. Til someone gets over it and reaches out, she's just . . . stuck. Forever.[break][break]

Arceus, how he wished the burden wasn't on a literal child to make things right.[break][break]

It all seemed so ridiculous. Eva Morales, John Sullivan, Razz Kingsman, him and Teddie, even Melody Miro if she found some forgiveness in her heart. That was, what? A third of AQUA? Among them some of the region's best and brightest? Did Eris have to live in fear, even with all of them there? Did they have to keep their hands tied, even when so many of them knew and trusted and loved her?[break][break]

"Maybe they said that. But you're still here." A double take at the mention of some kind of Jurassic Park Suicune barely lasted, far more important things on the table for both of them. "Sure, you gotta play the game. But now that you're at the table, they gotta treat you like a player. They can't have it both ways." The rest could run their mouths all they wanted, but if Navy was here to stay, they'd need to respect it.[break][break]

He wasn't just here to stay, either. He was here to move. "Buddy, you are the suitable replacement," he said, giving Navy a supportive clasp on the shoulder. "With how you've been whipping the gym circuit into shape, only fair you get to take the next rung. Just don't lose sight of the little guys, alright? If you can still find a way to start their journeys off right, you're golden"[break][break]

" 'Sides." A daring smirk spread across Isaac's face. "We never really got our battle, did we? So once you're all set up, I call dibs on breaking you in."

[attr="class","oocbox"]
TAG — Michael Navidson [break]
NOTES — notes go here

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played by

Teddie

Navy

He/Him

October 13th

Slateport

Heterosexual

E4; Gym Leader

Sheriff

I'd go through hell

to hold your hand

5'10" / 177.8 cm height

In the warrior's code, there's no surrender. Though his body says stop, his spirit cries, "NEVER!"

awards

3,273 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @teddie

Michael Navidson

POSTED ON Dec 12, 2023 12:07:51 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","Navypog3"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-big-img"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-1"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
WAKE UP[BREAK]
IN A NEW LIFE[BREAK]
DOWN BY[BREAK]
THE SEASIDE

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-icon"]

The pause is pregnant.[break][break]
Navy takes out another cigar. It’s one of those statements that would have made him pack a pipe back in Galar. Only after a puff does he finally speak.[break][break]
“Don’t swing that way, buddy.” Another pause. He laughs. He needs this laugh. It’s higher, happier. Laughing with Isaac, not at the social faux pas. There’s nowhere near enough laughter in the world anymore. Humor with heart is rarer than gold.[break][break]
“I, shit, I see your point.” Wiping a tear from the corner od his eye, he tries to stand up straight. They’re serious adults. They’re having a serious adult conversation. One of them is the mortal champion of, perhaps, one of the most compassionate beings in the world. The other stands to be appointed Hoenn’s fighting master.[break][break]
“Told Goode this: if I take her up on the offer, I’m not giving up my gym. I’m not giving up on the people who live here, or the folks who live anywhere else.” Another puff of smoke. Another sharp exhale. Another frustrated sigh, mingled with optimistic courage. He can change this system. He must be the one who protects Hoenn from the people who protect Hoenn.[break][break]
“I have a lot of thinking to do. A lot of opinions I gotta get. But yours matters, Isaac. Matters a whole damn lot. And you saying that, well.”[break][break]
He shoots the man a smirk. Two can play at this game. Even Giratina can cite scripture if it suits his purposes.[break][break]
“You can be my wingman anytime.”

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,329 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

POSTED ON Dec 12, 2023 14:11:40 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","isaac2"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","textbox"]Isaac hadn't realized how that sounded until Navy needed a smoke break to process it. He flushed slightly at the goof, only for Navy to respond in kind with uproarious laughter. Isaac found himself getting sucked into it as well, and soon the breathless laughter of Hoenn's protectors swelled to fill the beachhead.[break][break]

"Yeah. Yours too, buddy." Isaac painted pictures of the AQUA that could be. Navy painted pictures of what AQUA was in the dark. The reality of this whole mess was probably somewhere in between, but that was why they were both here, wasn't it? They were the adversaries, the fallen hero of the world of man and the risen demon of the world of shadows.[break][break]

Together, in light and darkness and all those spaces between, they'd make a summit of gods accountable.[break][break]

"Good man," Isaac said as Navy outlined his conditions. "Dewford needs this place. And I kinda think you do, too. Elite business might keep you up and about more, but something tells me your heart's always gonna be right here." Being the Elite was a burden he shouldered for Hoenn. Being Dewford's hero was a choice he made for himself.[break][break]

"Glad I could lend a hand." It was enviable. For all he spoke about needing more opinions and time to think, Navy seemed to have figured most everything out. The conviction in his voice was as iron. Maybe it was just those inner demons keeping that fact from him. "Trust me, man. You're not the only one. But you're a hell of a lot further along than I am."[break][break]

"I still gotta figure out what to make of all this."

[attr="class","oocbox"]
TAG — Michael Navidson [break]
NOTES — notes go here

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played by

Teddie

Navy

He/Him

October 13th

Slateport

Heterosexual

E4; Gym Leader

Sheriff

I'd go through hell

to hold your hand

5'10" / 177.8 cm height

In the warrior's code, there's no surrender. Though his body says stop, his spirit cries, "NEVER!"

awards

3,273 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @teddie

Michael Navidson

POSTED ON Dec 12, 2023 19:59:17 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","Navypog3"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-big-img"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-1"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
WAKE UP[BREAK]
IN A NEW LIFE[BREAK]
DOWN BY[BREAK]
THE SEASIDE

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-icon"]

“Man, if you figure out what to make of all this, let me know.” Navy can’t catch himself before he says that. More words follow. A torrent of them. From his height, cascading out like an aurora across the night sky.[break][break]
“I’m just a guy from Slateport. You’re just a guy from Lavaridge. People have told us so much crazy shit. A trio of people from another world are trying to destroy our whole universe. Arceus’s disowned fourth son is sleeping in a rift just outside a hipster town. Every god known to man is popping out of the woodworks and either trying to kill us or naming people their champion. People talk about this like it makes any kind of sense.”[break][break]
Which makes him smile. There’s a wry quality to this smile. It plays at humor, but never quite makes it all the way.[break][break]
“Nah, all that’s way too big. What I make out of all of it’s this: you help the world around you. When someone attacks the people you care about, don’t matter if they’re a god or some punk with a knife, you punch ‘em in the nose. You do it until they get the bright idea to pick on someone else. You’re a good guy, Isaac. Eris gets so damn happy whenever you come up. Keep making a difference to the people you care about. Help ‘em. Save ‘em. Carry ‘em if they need it.”[break][break]
Someone has something to say about all this before he can properly finish. Navy’s stomach growls something fierce. It sounds like the rumble of a slobbering Garchomp.[break][break]
“…Arceus, I’m hungry. Ever had a crepe?” It is often said men have two brains, and it is far wiser to think with the top one. Navy has been commandeered by a secret third brain, located between the other two.

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played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

949 height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,329 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo