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POSTED ON Jul 3, 2022 21:24:54 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

What had started as an awkward exercise in balancing became something smooth and effortless as Talia glided over the gentle waves, her eyes fixed upon the finish line.

Somehow she had not expected this challenge to be so... affirming? That so much of it would in truth be a measure of her own self-worth, the skills she herself had honed in childhood and practised many days and nights to walk the path of a dancer. There had been a part of her that had been ashamed of all the time lost to this profession that no longer seemed practical in an age of chaos and war.

But now... Now, as she reached the end of her journey for this badge? Her heart swelled with pride.

"We did it," she whispered breathlessly to Lyra as the two arrived at journey's end, hugging the neck of the Dragonair as she stepped off the board, then turned her beaming smile to Beau Fontaine.

Beau Fontaine ● dewford gym badge ●

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Tali, Celes

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POSTED ON Jun 25, 2022 22:36:08 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

"Why, this is a familiar sight!" Talia said with a bright laugh, taking he board into her slender hands with no small trace of amusement. Giggling, she looked to her Dragonair and nodded briskly. "We can do this, Lyra," she said confidently, tying up her turquoise-dark hair in a ponytail.

Balancing herself on the board took some effort, not because she wasn't graceful, but because the very nature of the surfboard was unsteady. Water shifted underneath her feet, threatening to move her every which way as Talia attempted to channel her dancer's expertise into this new medium.

Her Dragonair followed, a splash of her AQUA TAIL gently sending benevolent waves her way to guide her on her course.

Beau Fontaine ● dewford gym badge ●

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Tali, Celes

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Ecruteak City, Johto

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Gift: Marill

POSTED ON Jun 25, 2022 22:30:44 GMT

Sorry for delay <3 Accepting gift

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Tali, Celes

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January 21

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Board but not Boring [DW]

POSTED ON May 26, 2022 22:34:19 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

"Zenning out," Talia repeated, as if testing the phrase, and deciding she liked it.

She giggled at the sight of Beau Fontaine and the Cramorant, her eyes sparkling with laughter, before a gasp left her own lips as her attention was drawn to a sandy dune in the centre of the water.

"A Gastrodon!" she breathed with delight as the curiously slug-like Pokemon came into view. "Oh, Lyra, would you?"

The Dragonair obliged with a DRAGON PULSE, evading the mud slung from the Gastrodon with ease.

Beau Fontaine ● catching gastrodon! ●

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POSTED ON May 13, 2022 21:29:26 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Talia cried out with mild surprise and alarm as the rope bridge began to sway even more, having anticipated a far easier time after the Poliwrath was compromised.

Her fingers curled tighter about the rope, holding herself steady as she tiptoed forward. Inhale. Exhale. Pretend you're still dancing.

As if encouraging her, Lyra continued to follow around the expanse of the obstacle course, her beautiful big eyes never leaving her trainer for a moment as she advanced forward.

"Ah! The end is in sight," Talia whispered, anxious as she continued across a particularly frayed and challenging part of the bridge.

XtIfCNki

Beau Fontaine ● dewford gym badge ●

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POSTED ON May 13, 2022 21:17:35 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Gavin's sneering didn't invoke a reaction of words. Instead, Talia's face flushed with silent anger, her hand gesturing towards the Dhelmise as her Dragonair slithered forward like a viper to strike with a sizzling THUNDER WAVE.

This was a doomed encounter, from start to finish.

It didn't matter how many blows she landed on Cillian Quinn. It didn't matter how many Pokemon she defeated. It didn't matter if she even defeated Lugia, impossible as such a thing was.

There were always more reinforcements that Gavin could call forward.

And Talia stood alone, and would remain alone. No matter how hard she fought or how loudly she screamed.

"How can I believe you?" she whispered, the raw fury in her indignation palpable. "How can the word of someone like you mean anything?"

One thought and one thought alone moved her: If she was going to die, it was better to die on her terms.

Cillian Quinn ● make it double ●

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ECHOED

POSTED ON May 13, 2022 21:05:47 GMT

MATIAS SILPH likes this

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Receiving the card in her hands, Talia turned it over thoughtfully, the skepticism in her expression relaxing somewhat as she listened to him speak.

"Thank you," the Ranger said, and the words echoed with sincerity. A hand pushed back a stray strand of her turquoise hair, fiddling with it as she awkwardly replied, "I don't have anything like this to hand you back... But if you look for me in the Rangers, you can find me."

Like it or not, Talia stood out among the recruits -- visually, if in no other respect.

"I will. Reach out, I mean, if need be." It seemed an odd thing to promise, in some ways. How great danger could Talia find herself in, to call on someone like MATIAS SILPH? At the same time, having him to contact was reassuring.

It reminded her that she was fighting alongside others, not alone. Never alone.

MATIAS SILPH ● social ●

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Tali, Celes

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Over Sky & Sea [M]

POSTED ON May 13, 2022 20:58:53 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

"Oh, that sounds heavenly," Talia agreed, her mind's eye now filled with the picture of the seasoned Magikarp and the delightful sauces. Did Corsola eat Magikarp? She wondered.

As Locke continued talking, Talia shut her eyes to imagine the bodega and the docks, the smells conjured by the imagery making her terribly hungry. "How wonderful," she murmured, smiling at the story of the sneakily hidden pork buns. "My aunties at the dance studio where I worked were all so proud of their cooking. They'd argue over who was better at this or that, and we'd sometimes get to eat and break ties. It was stressful because you didn't want to offend anyone!" Lowering her voice, turning her head to and fro as if conveying a great secret, Talia then whispered, "But it was delicious."

The Ranger giggled, the memory bringing to mind silly squabbles she hadn't dwelled on in a long time.

"Did you ever give one of your buns to the Purrloin, or was the poor thing always left hungry?" she teased.

Locke Jamison ● corsola conservation ●

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POSTED ON Apr 20, 2022 10:47:07 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

It stung, this dismissal. Not from Gavin, no, but from Lugia.

The red glare of those eyes cut Talia to the bone, shame that she had ordered her own Dragonair to attack Lugia -- no, to attack this nightmarish imitation of Lugia that existed in Gavin's possession -- flooding through her, only to twist and contort itself into rage.

Cillian Quinn was not incorrect. She was out of her depth, in more ways than one.

As the terrorist summoned his Dhelmise, looming before her tauntingly, a strange wrongness emanated from the Pokemon -- the same that haunted Lugia, steeped in shadow.

"If I do not fight, my fate remains much the same, does it not?"

Her hands tightened into fists as her Dragonair recovered from the impact of the Hyper Beam, shaking her winged head to and fro to steady herself.

"You would not let me leave. Not at the start of this encounter, and certainly not now. You may think me a fool, but I have sense enough to know that, at least."

Fighting was a longer road to the same inevitable conclusion, but it was the only one that offered any chance at escape. Rare and impossible as that escape might be.

Cillian Quinn ● make it double ●

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ECHOED

POSTED ON Apr 19, 2022 0:01:16 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

This time, it was Talia facing Matias's admission of loss. Empathy stirred within her, taking on the silently expressed grief as she bowed her head in solemn understanding.

"I can't imagine. I am sorry, about what happened in Kanto."

For many reasons, beyond the obvious sympathy for his loss.

Had the fall of Kanto not happened, Johto would not have been sought after so greedily, perhaps, by Rocket. Her mother might not have died. Her life's trajectory would have stayed course, and she wouldn't be here, asking a man like MATIAS SILPH how to prepare for inevitable war.

"I consider Hoenn my home now, as well. I refuse to lose it."

That alone bonded them to a joint cause.

MATIAS SILPH ● social ●

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POSTED ON Apr 18, 2022 23:36:41 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Talia's hands found light purchase on the swaying ropes, Beau Fontaine's Pokemon below her sending jets of water overhead. The bridge swayed unsteadily beneath her feet as the droplets scattered overhead, causing Talia to bite her lip in thought before she spoke aloud.

"THUNDER WAVE, Lyra. Down below." She indicated the Poliwrath with a jerk of her head. "Keep it from splashing me so much, if you would?" She grinned, having gained confidence from the previous round.

The Dragonair obliged, gracefully winding over the water as electricity crackled along the entire length of her body. It danced towards the Water-type Pokemon in guttering sparks, seeking to render it immobile with paralysis as Talia continued boldly forward.

Beau Fontaine ● dewford gym badge ●

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POSTED ON Apr 17, 2022 0:15:58 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

"You would dishonour her like this?" Talia said, anger now overcoming what little of her better judgment remained. "You would have her waste her gifts in destroying me, a mere speck upon this land you so joylessly conquered? She is more than a weapon for you to threaten and menace with."

Since she was a child in Ecruteak City, Talia had dreamt of witnessing the majesty of Lugia, the resident of her home's long-destroyed Brass Tower.

Throughout the seasons of her life, Talia had performed intricate songs and dances in honour of this beautiful guardian of sky and sea, the gentle rise and fall of her hands mimicking the powerful sweep of Lugia's white wings, the silvery fabrics of her robes reflecting the vistas of its moonlit seas below her might. Talia could recite poetry in the avian creature's honour, recall countless hymns written to express her storied legacy.

Witnessing Lugia now, however, held none of the awe that Talia had anticipated in encountering that most blessed being among Pokemon. Instead, the sight of the Shadow Pokemon pulled on her heartstrings to induce despair and dread, intertwined as a single knot of terror. The sobering reality of Lugia's plight struck her like that very same lightning that had smote her from the heavens, and sent her into the care of @bronze on the brink of death.

Hadn't it been Lugia she had dreamed of, the moment her body crashed into the sea?

Not so long ago, that encounter. A reminder that Talia was not much different today than that weak girl who had almost died while thrown against the shore.

"If you demand I attack her, then I shall. Though it gives me no joy to do so."

Lyra's mouth opened, and the glaring light of a HYPER BEAM radiated forth -- directly towards the twisted mockery that now called herself the Guardian of the Seas.

Cillian Quinn ● make it double ●

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POSTED ON Apr 15, 2022 23:05:28 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Talia felt a shiver crawl up her spine as the shadows beckoned and danced at Gavin's feet, the miasma surrounding them stifling in its all-encompassing darkness.

"Then, yes. I know who you are," she said softly, her eyes lowering. A man capable of killing her without a moment's thought. Certainly a man who had killed many, and would continue to kill more as time continued on.

Unless someone attempted to stop him.

"Sootopolis was not yours to conquer. You trespassed first. The laws you speak of here are only so due to your enforced influence. If might makes right, then that is your true law, yes?" It was not a fight she was likely to win, much less survive.

And yet. We become strong by facing the strong.

"So let us meet might against might, then." Her Pokeball hurtled in an arc skyward, releasing a Dragonair that coiled at her feet. "And I'll respect your law for what it is."

If Cillian Quinn wanted to bring her in for questioning, he would have to do so the old-fashioned way.

Cillian Quinn ● make it double ●

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Tali, Celes

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POSTED ON Apr 13, 2022 15:56:58 GMT

i'll chase the light of that distant star

Alone, Talia stared at Cillian Quinn for a moment in silence, his warning hanging between them with all the heaviness of a guillotine.

She could not be certain, looking at him, that he was who she imagined him to be. That he was not some other blonde figure, unfortunate enough to resemble the most famous terrorist within Hoenn: Gavin Merlino.

Her companion had thought as much, darting away in a panic. It was the most common response to fear, Talia had noticed -- to run. Bluster and bravado was in ample supply when a battle was surely won, but fled at the first sign of true difficulty. Even had he stayed, the odds of their survival against such a man would be low indeed.

There were some who might have imagined it wiser for Talia to follow him, and flee with the opening graciously given to her.

"I am not a Civilian," she said instead. And it was true, if only on a technicality: she was a member of the Rangers. "And you? Who are you to dismiss me?"

The words were not inherently arrogant, despite the words chosen. There were confrontational, and the tone reflected that as Talia's hand fastened onto a Pokeball, waiting to see if Gavin would do the same.

"I am not looking to cause trouble. But if you are seeking it here, I will answer in kind."

Cillian Quinn ● make it double ●

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Tali, Celes

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