ANSWERS

SOCIAL

“THAT WON’T WORK.”

despite their varying reactions, each with their own level of patience, fernando is keen on ignoring them altogether. he pays them no mind as newfound light bleeds into the room and coats the walls in a myriad of dancing shadows. his own extends, coiling at his movement, shrinking into itself.

“mauville remains our safest depot. i know it’s impossible to extend our supply lines at a moment’s notice but there’s no way to know where rocket will show up.”

the chatter is ignored. the tea sits, untouched, steam wafting through his projections.

“yes, delibird deliveries is fine. i don’t care if they add war to their slogan, as long as we make it happen.”

he touches a button on his earbud and the color shifts. is he on mute?

“have devlin facilitate that then. tell him if he can’t do it then there’s no point in funding his beloved silph cup.”

of course not. he’s simply swapped calls.

“master of faster my ass. for someone so adamant about not battling, this is the least we can ask for. tell him silph said so and if he doesn’t want to be known as master-of-the-speed-limit, he’ll find a way.”

ultimately, it is noel who steals his attention away by forcing himself onto center stage. fernando continues on with his conversation, glaring at him with the most expressive look of disappointment illeana reyes has ever seen, before shooing him away with a dismissive wave.

“sorry. i have an intrusion—”

he moves the mic away from his mouth, and take a moment to realize who’s here. his vision focuses on the familiar face he knows the least: Navy.

“if you are all here to cry about how hererra somehow killed your entire team with a single pokemon with both arms tied behind his back, you should be complaining to miro, not me. i’m busy.”

which clearly shows how little he’s heard of noel’s outrage.

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
Navy John Sullivan illeana reyes Andrea Vaneau Noel Parker

Josh Devlin MATIAS SILPH Melody Miro

ANSWERS

ft. Navy, illeana reyes, Noel Parker, Andrea Vaneau, FERNANDO SILPH

"SNRRK." Doug snorted audibly as he leaned over the map projection, squinting at the little figurines with familiar faces on them. "And here I was beginning to think ya were humorless, Mr. Silph."

Matias, winning against him? lol.

There was a flurry of chaos following the councilman's little jest; some were staying on track, and others were Andrea Vaneau.

At illeana reyes's observation, however, he just shrugged his shoulders, looking up from the map over his shoulder.

"Maybe." A mildly worrying possibility.

If the man were to confirm that they were, indeed, looking at actual League law, a little revolution was likely to start in that offic—

"Wha— 5?!" Doug gasped as he found himself in the holo-map, waving over the number irritably. "This is some ol' bullshit."

---

TL;DR:

ANSWERS

SOCIAL

A WINCE conveys his regret well before it sets in. entertaining this intrusion is a mistake yet he cannot focus with their constant buzzing in his ear. he knows this yet is unable to avoid it, which is his greatest cause of frustration.

the scrunched wrinkles of his nose and eyebrows contrast the peak and valleys of his patience. a passive ‘tch’ picks up the poster, taking a brief moment to scan it over. he reads it over, once, before crumpling it and tossing it back at navy.

“it may very well be,” he finally answers, “and it should worry you. greatly.”

a click of his tongue helps swallow the distaste that surfaces in his throat.

“and yet none of you have made such a dramatic entrance when it comes to team rocket. they plague our region and undermine our stability but it isn’t until they threaten you directly that you come to me with such fervor.”

a passive swipe of his hand moves all faces away from SOOTOPOLIS. the numbers on hoenn’s coast inflate dramatically but none of that matters. he knows there’s no way to convince freya morningstar away from her home.

sentimental bitch.

“our populace have stood by for far too long. if they do not rise when their gym leaders are slaughtered, and their cities captured, then their inaction stands with our oppressors.”

his look of disapproval for andrea hides an underlying smirk.

“it is up to those who champion action, those like devlin, who will carry this region on their back. they are my primary concern and those who toll in preparation while you stand here, idle, while rocket mounts their attacks, and cities like dewford fall to abandonment and decay.”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
Navy John Sullivan illeana reyes Andrea Vaneau Noel Parker

Josh Devlin freya morningstar

ANSWERS

ft. Navy, illeana reyes, Noel Parker, Andrea Vaneau, FERNANDO SILPH

He rubbed at his temples as Fernando finished talking down to them, eyes rolled into the back of his skull.

Fernando thought they were wasting his time? Fair enough, they were all certainly saying a lot more than was strictly needed to make a simple yes or no question, he would give the man that.

Pot calling the kettle black there, but whatever, he didn't expect self-awareness from people anymore.

"Oh my Gods." He groaned, dragging his hands through his face. "Yes, yes, we're all awful, and selfish, and fucking dumb. Now please just answer the damn questions so we can leave you to work in peace."

He poked at the paper.

"Did you know about this?" He asked bluntly. "You're Fernando Silph. Yet all you can say is that it 'may' be real?"

Who was Fernando F*cking Silph?

The longest serving councilman and right hand man of the commissioner. The man behind all of Hoenn's logistics. A 24/7 workaholic that never left the office.

If he couldn't give them a bloody yes or no answer on whether or not the paper was real, they were cooked.

"If you don't know the source, why can't we dismiss it as a fake? A rocket Psy-OP? No way Morningstar put this up, and Livy can't just bypass ya two and the commissioner to do this. Right?"

He didn't think the commissioner could do it either... or that she even would, for that matter.

---

TL;DR:

ANSWERS

SOCIAL

“IDLE IS WHAT I WOULD LABEL THIS—” is a wide sweeping generalization for those present. “—while your colleagues are out in the field, tolling for the days to come. when rocket attacks, and they will attack, will you not regret having wasted your time here today?”

his nose wrinkles at navy’s comment.

“lofty claims from the grand sheriff who promised his great contributions would make kino obsolete. after the GRANITE CAVE¹ debacle, shouldn’t you be there instead? or do you too need a break to wash your hands of it?”

he says nothing outright to noel’s claim but illeana’s defense undresses him. literally. the headband around his missing eye comes undone and he holds it in his fist, so that he may stare down the man who would pit his sacrifice against fernando’s own.

“it is quite simple; team rocket is the predator and hoenn is the prey. if you do not resist, then you should expect to be devoured. as selfless as the league’s officers and rangers have been, i bear little sympathy of those who would make light of their sacrifices. the time for inaction is over. the civilians must fight for their survival, just as we do.”

finally, it is a mix of andrea and noel’s comment that put the pieces together. a point that was implied but never stated outright.

an outlandish claim that causes him to scoff in disgust. he turns his back to them to return to his hologram.

“ah,” he says in a moment of clarity. “is that it?”

“hmph. i would expect this from a young and naive livy. not you, sullivan.”

his voice strengthens and his volume rises like the sea, boiling under an unnatural sun and electrified by the engines of war.

“you ask today who approved this measure? was it not you reyes? or you navidson?”

[attr="class","spiralpee"]
Navy John Sullivan illeana reyes Andrea Vaneau Noel Parker

Hideo Kino PENELOPE LIVY

1. This in reference to an eventual development in the thread, "Hyperborea".