JANUARY 11

374 infamy

We're in a world, our very own, sharing a love that only few have ever known.

awards

1,052 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @lars

POSTED ON Dec 10, 2019 11:22:17 GMT

So close to Christmas, and there was someone missing.

Well, people normally went exploring around Eastern Hoenn all the time, right? Diving, talking with the deep divers who spent their time underwater… but then word reached them that there was an extreme athlete who’d not shown up after several days. Last they heard was that the person had gotten stranded somewhere on the underwater routes.

…and if there was something Lars didn’t like, it was diving so far down it made his ears pop. Thankfully, Ryujin was more than willing to dive that far, and was even enthusiastic as she swam through the deep waters of Eastern Hoenn with Lars hanging on for dear life, hoping that the waterproof backpack he brought along with his spare clothes didn’t lose itself in the current.

Eventually, he would arrive first at the entrance to the Seafloor Cavern, a place full of waterways so wild and twisted, he knew he was going to need some patience to traverse the wild currents down in the interior.

Now, the question was, was this a rescue or a retrieval operation?

And where was his partner?

they have to talk... and Lars figured that the Seafloor Cavern is the safest place to do it. Also, they're doing the deadly job mission.

close tab

played by

thorn

orion

he/him

twenty eight

august 9th

lilycove

homosexual

councilman

elite ranger

272 infamy

what if i say i'm not like the others?

awards

744 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @orion

POSTED ON Dec 11, 2019 17:02:30 GMT

Laurence Anderson likes this

[attr="class","orion"]

It's not every day your boss summons you to the bottom of the damn ocean.

Orion can't help but to be a little intimidated as his Swampert carries him deeper and deeper toward their destination. It wasn't just a social call: someone else had gone missing. He feels like it was just yesterday that he'd been saving a hiker at the top of a mountain, and now he had to brave the Seafloor Cavern for another search-and-rescue.

He'd been pessimistic when it came to his first missing person's case. Now, it felt more like realism to expect that they were searching less for a survivor and more for a body. In an ocean like the one surrounding Hoenn? Orion didn't find it likely.

Still, he would do his job.

Schism's superior vision in the water this deep allows him to spot their colleagues before Orion does, one Swampert cutting a path through the current to another. Orion swallows his nerves as he finds himself face to face with his boss, glad for the diving gear that hides much of his expression.

"Any sign of them?" he asks, doubtful.

notes:
hehe

[newclass=.orion] width:300px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.orion b] color: #9e76b1; [/newclass]

close tab

played by

Ven

Lars

he / him / his

twenty-nine

july 26

Sootopolis, Hoenn

bisexual

ranger & courier

head ranger

374 infamy

We're in a world, our very own, sharing a love that only few have ever known.

awards

1,052 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @lars

POSTED ON Jan 3, 2020 17:45:37 GMT

“I just got here, give or take five minutes before you did,” he began, taking off the diving mask and shaking his wet hair loose. It looked… incredibly wild, to say the least. Dripping with seawater, he then runs a hand through it in an attempt to make it lie flat.

His Swampert sniffs the air, before looking over at its fellow brethren, and then gesturing at the entrance. Whatever it was, she’d picked up on the scent of something, and it was best to move quickly otherwise they would lose it.

“Ryujin, what the hell—“ he began, before watching as his Swampert bounded off toward the actual ‘entrance’ to the Seafloor Cavern, footsteps fading into the dark. He didn’t know if the other Swampert was going to follow her, but she wanted to get a head start… or maybe she wanted to give them privacy?

Once he was sure his Swampert was out of earshot, he then looked over at Orion.

“…I’ve heard something. Through the rumor mills. Surprisingly, sometimes the fake stories they spin have some truth to them,” he began, figuring that this was the best way to preface the situation.

“Were you… doing… some kind of tasks? Or something? For that man who was recently brought in,” he added, hoping Orion would understand with that much context.

Lars gets the ball rolling, so to speak. Context clues, lol

close tab

played by

thorn

orion

he/him

twenty eight

august 9th

lilycove

homosexual

councilman

elite ranger

272 infamy

what if i say i'm not like the others?

awards

744 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @orion

POSTED ON Jan 4, 2020 3:25:30 GMT

Laurence Anderson likes this

[attr="class","orion"]

"Go with her," Orion orders.

His Swampert had hesitated upon seeing the other rumble off into the cave, glancing at Orion as if uncertain. With his trainer's command, he follows.

Orion glances back to Lars, and his blood goes cold.

He knows. Breath catches hard in his throat as Orion realises the implication. It's with a panic that he also realises he's trapped here, at the bottom of the ocean, unable to make some excuse to get away. Had Laurence intended this? Fuck, he knows.

Orion's going to lose his job, isn't he?

And — and what Cotillard was doing had been illegal. Sure, Orion hadn't known at first. At first, it had just been another job. Then, when things started to become suspicious, he reasoned that he was only playing along for the sake of evidence. When he'd been requested to bring back a body, well... he wasn't going to do it. Not at first.

His thoughts flash back to Meteor Falls, to bright blood against white stone.

He swallows.

"Cotillard?" he asks, as if he doesn't know damn well who they're talking about. He has to think quickly: if Lars had heard things, had he heard them about Orion in particular? If he flat-out denied ever speaking to the man, would he only be digging a bigger grave? Cold sweat creeps down his neck."I-I met with him a couple times. Thought he was harmless at first. I — I swear, I didn't realise what he was getting up to was illegal."

Despite his attempts at composure, desperation curls at the edge of his voice. I can't lose my job. I'd have nothing left.

notes:
orion is scared, man

[newclass=.orion] width:300px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.orion b] color: #9e76b1; [/newclass]

close tab

played by

Ven

Lars

he / him / his

twenty-nine

july 26

Sootopolis, Hoenn

bisexual

ranger & courier

head ranger

374 infamy

We're in a world, our very own, sharing a love that only few have ever known.

awards

1,052 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @lars

POSTED ON Jan 10, 2020 21:28:17 GMT

Orion Lykos likes this

Once the two Pokémon were out of earshot, he turned to face Orion, who looked like he was a criminal placed on trial. Was that… was that actual sweat beading on his forehead?!

He listened quietly to the… confession that came pouring out of him. While missing a few details here and there, the gist of it was pretty similar to what he had gone through. Of course, he didn’t reveal his high ranking during the time he was completing the deals—it was with that very last one his eyebrows went up so high that he had to ask himself if it was going to be actually worth doing it.

…and then his Gallade had to go and do something really stupid, which resulted with him having to dispose of a decapitated Vikavolt’s body. Thankfully, there was a way to dispose of the evidence, but…

Who knew that the guy who was asking for favors was actually involved in something illegal?

Lars himself didn’t know that the weird Pokémon he had with him was the Vikavolt he had to dispose of—and what better way than to hand the evidence over to the man who had gotten his ass arrested? But then again, there were other pressing matters to deal with, and this was one of them.

Once Orion was done sweating like a criminal on trial, he found it was time to speak up at last. Time to get this shit over with once and for all, he thought grimly as he tried to flatten his hair and began walking after the Swamperts that had bounded into the cavern.

Time to do their job, right?

“…so you noticed that too, didn’t you? About how… more and more dubious the requests were getting? To be honest… I got sucked up in that, as well.”

What a wicked web we weave, Lars.

dun dun DAAAAAAA

close tab

played by

thorn

orion

he/him

twenty eight

august 9th

lilycove

homosexual

councilman

elite ranger

272 infamy

what if i say i'm not like the others?

awards

744 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @orion

POSTED ON Jan 11, 2020 12:03:42 GMT

[attr="class","orion"]

"You did?"

He's too surprised to moderate his tone and expression, and the relief shines through like a light through trees.

He laughs, then — not because the situation isn't serious, but because it's so serious that he'd been downright convinced this was some kind of trial. It's strained and utterly devoid of humour, echoing in the underwater cavern.

"Arceus, Lars, you coulda led with that!" His shoulders slump with the weight of the burden he'd been carrying ever since he'd examined the data. Since he'd followed through with what it had asked him to do. Had... had Lars gone that far? It was best not to get ahead of himself, in case Laurence had pulled out of the job sooner than Orion himself. "I thought I was going to get fired."

There's a tense beat of silence.

"... I'm not, am I?"

Sure, maybe Laurence had also followed through with the requests, but perhaps he could justify it to himself as Head Ranger. Maybe he didn't want people working under him that were potentially susceptible to the guile of a man like Cotillard.

Droplets of water on the back of his neck give way to beads of sweat once more.

notes:
he's so paranoid

[newclass=.orion] width:300px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; [/newclass]
[newclass=.orion b] color: #9e76b1; [/newclass]

close tab

played by

Ven

Lars

he / him / his

twenty-nine

july 26

Sootopolis, Hoenn

bisexual

ranger & courier

head ranger

374 infamy

We're in a world, our very own, sharing a love that only few have ever known.

awards

1,052 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @lars

POSTED ON Mar 11, 2020 3:16:56 GMT

“I mean, take a look at this, and tell me I’m not going to be in a whole ass load of trouble when word gets out,” he muttered—mostly to himself, but he hoped that Orion would understand as well. A flick of his wrist revealed a Dusk Ball expanded to full size, before a thudding noise announced the appearance of…

Well, it wasn’t Ro.

Instead it was his own… strange creature, thing, whatever he could call it, that made an appearance. Cold, unfazed, the weird Pokémon looked around before turning to face Lars with this unsettling stare in the singular eye he could make out.

The mask was frightening, to say the least, and it looked like a cobbled, mishmash representation of something that should never see the light of day—on the most part.

“Look, if I fire you, it would look strange on the paperwork,” he began, looking around to make sure that they were alone. “That, and I’m not sure how many of these… of these things exist. Do you have yours with you?” he asked a few moments later.

He figured, it was now or never. His ears prickled for any sign of the Swamperts returning, but thankfully, nothing was returning in their direction.

w e l p

close tab

played by

thorn

orion

he/him

twenty eight

august 9th

lilycove

homosexual

councilman

elite ranger

272 infamy

what if i say i'm not like the others?

awards

744 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @orion