#ranger rival

[paldean-ranger-brandy]

Since you seem to be having trouble remembering people aren't always from Paldea, just wanted to remind you that, despite you being stuck with me for almost a year, I am, in fact, from Fiore. :)

Not for long. Gonna hit you with the Paldea beam any day now.

[ringtownrangerlark]

Mandatory bird pics for my dad

(And Brandy's dad if he wants)

[paldean-ranger-brandy]

Lark swings by Brandy's office. The only slight difference from his usual standard Fiore uniform is a little charm attached at the belt loop, a string with three colored beads ending in a feather. He's looking at a tablet.

"So, I know the whole paradox thing is still up in the air, but Frank got the paperwork pushed through on the Fiore side, so you've still got me around for however many months cleanup takes."

He seems to pause and think of something for a moment. "...I know I'm your favorite ranger, Brandy, but please do not cause any disasters in Paldea just to keep me around."

Brandy's head shoots up off her desk when Lark walks in. Why was it on the desk to begin with? Mind your business, what are you, a cop?

She groggily blinks her eyes, not unlike someone who just woke up. Not that she was napping at her desk mind you. She flips through her mental list of people she knew, and drew a blank on who this 'Frank' person was. She decided that she liked him though. The last thing she needed was to lose competent rangers.

She snorts. "Getting a little cocky, eh there bud? How do you know I didn't cause that storm to try and keep you out, huh?"

[paldean-ranger-brandy]

While you're out camping, you don't mind me turning the base into a Union outpost, right? I don't hear any arguments. Ok I'll go do that then, byeeeee

Do whatever you want, I'm never coming back. Your town now. Have fun dealing with the league, watch out for levincia they are the WORST. Byeeeeeeee

[paldean-ranger-brandy]

Lark arrives at Brandy's office with two mason jars. Both are full of a liquid so dark brown it's nearly black. It's thick, viscous, and somewhat oily. The smell is bitter. But, if considered carefully, identifiable as the scent of coffee grounds.

"Your motor oil, boss" Lark says, offering a jar to Brandy, and taking a sip of the other.

"Hold on bub, I'm creating over here." Brandy does not look up from her current task, which is apparently to use her bare hands to mash some noodles into some potato salad that is sitting on top of a layer of hamburger patties, which are sitting on top of a layer of rice, which is sitting on top of a layer of pungent klawf sticks. The table around her is littered with sandwich debris, no doubt casualties of her attempts at properly stacking the Paldean delicacy. The floor underneath her is incredibly clean, no doubt due to the eager, pudgy poochyena on duty as a Hoover. Mac delicately puts a paw on Lark's boot, looking up at him with heartbroken, absolutely pathetic, I-Have-Never-Eaten-Once-In-My-Life-Please-Mister-I'm-Starving eyes.

Brandy finishes her task, wiping her buttery hands off on their jacket before reaching for the other jar from Lark. She twists it open, takes a whiff, and immediately recoils. "Oh, that is rank." She laughs. "I think it'll go great with the klawf sticks. They're surprisingly salty."

[ringtownrangerlark]

Sending an ask to stop that post from getting unmanageably long (seems to happen with us a lot).

RE your tags - like yeah absolutely, you are talking to the #1 League Hater, Hater of Pokemon Leagues Everywhere. But also like, if the funding doesn't come from them it has to either come from Almia or from that region's government (which is typically too busy funding the league to even think about the Union). We are a not-for-profit, that money has to come from somewhere, and Almia's pockets aren't exactly deep.

And besides...that double standard for partners isn't coming as a request from the League (at least, not from this League, I wouldn't be surprised if other regions have made this demand). That's the Union imposing that standard on us in anticipation of possible future complaints.

Bleh. It does feel gross to even kind of defend a League. We should have ourselves a little bitch fest about Leagues, I promise I've got some stories. But La Primera would never fail Medusa. If there's one thing I need you to know about Paldea, it's that they have one of the most ethical Leagues I think it's possible to make.

-@paldean-ranger-brandy

That's fair! Sorry- I do seem to tend to ramble.

Agreed that Almia can't fun every ranger union everywhere. It's a tiny region.

The Fiorean government funds out Ranger League and I see that as the best option, really. I mean, rangers provide a public service: we manage natural disasters, we keep the roads clear, we keep people/cities safe from wild pokemon. Investing in the rangers keeps civilization running.

The fact that the government instead is putting their resourced toward the league makes it seem more like a league problem again. Can't the league be self-funded? I imagine there are registration fees, not to mention item and ticket and merchandise sales from all the fandom around league matches. What public service are they providing besides ecological destruction? Frankly the only government funding the league should get is from like a tourism department or something, and even that seems redundant.

I'm glad Paldea's league is ethical in your experience. But that the local Union is more concerned about hypothecal appearances to the league rather than backing a successful ranger doing their job properly is backwards and downright shameful.

[ringtownrangerlark]

Sky blue and pear. What is going on here?

//also ooc pumpkin 💜 Lark slaps

-@paldean-ranger-brandy

I don't really see what people find so fire-blasted weird about me. I grew up in Fiore? I've been involved with the rangers since I was a teen? I swear everything I do makes perfect sense in that context.

[ringtownrangerlark]

//(Overheard while Brandy is working out of the East Province 3 base)

"...like I don't know, doesn't it just seem weird to you?"

"I mean yeah. I guess."

"It's like. I know mightyena are hunters. But plenty of people have predator pokemon and don't feel the need to go out killing wildlife."

"Yeah..."

"Like we're rangers. We're supposed to be protecting wild pokemon. Is it some kind of weird power play? Do you think she gets some kind of sick enjoyment out of it?"

"I mean, she does keep pretty weird friends."

"Exactly! It's weird. It's not natural. She's using the guise of having all these predators around to be this-this violence-obsessed freak! It makes me so uncomfortable."

@paldean-ranger-brandy

Upon overhearing this, Lark gets a pinched expression on their face. He walks over to the pair and says "I'm sorry, I thought you were rangers". The words could be insulting but it's hard to tell- their tone is completely calm and frank. "I mean, anyone with a basic education in ecology would know it would be devastating to remove predators from a ecosystem. Unova had a massive problem with over-grazing sawsbuck until their predators like Zoroark were reintroduced by local rangers six years ago."

"Hunting is a natural and healthy behavior in predator pokemon. There are some variants of ekans and serperior that can only eat live prey. And yes, while a lot of hunting pokemon are able to sublimate those instincts through activities like battling, training and play, it isn't the same. Professor Alder has published multiple research studies showing the health benefits of hunting as opposed to simple meat feeding for multiple species, including furrett, sneasel, pidgeot, using feeder pokemon such as rattata responsibly retired from other research populations."

He appeared to be on a roll, completely ignoring the expressions of the other rangers or any attempts to interrupt. "Furthermore, even if the mightyena could get their enrichment through ranger work alone, there are pack dynamics to consider. Mightyena have fairly intense dominance hierarchies and hunt as a group activity. If Brandy was not demonstrating her capacity to hunt with her pack, she might at best be interpreted as sick, vulnerable or needing care. At worst, she could be excluded from pack dynamics or the lead role. And for a working ranger, you definitely want her pokemon to see her as the one one charge. It could massively destabilize her ability to work with her partner pokemon, and that's not something to be taken lightly."