Andi has never, in her life, been this anxious to meet a new person. She supposed that there’s a first time for everything, but after tracking halfway around the world, to a brand new region... yeah, she’s a little scared.

Terrified, actually.

She watches his little presentation — which is actually quite interesting, and she reminds herself to look more into it after this whole situation is dealt with — but for now, her nerves are screaming at her to run away from this very nice person, the likelihood of her completely flipping his entire world upside down... quantifiably high.

Once his little lecture is done, she makes her way down to the podium he had been working from, and folds her hands neatly in front of her. When she’s prompted, she holds out her hand to shake his, offering a tentative smile. She could see her eyes when she looks at him, and it made her stomach flip-flop. Or perhaps her eyes were his, since he was older, and, and, and — oh, Arceus.

"Hello, Professor Laurel. My name is Chandler Reed." Her fingers reach into her messages bag to pull free a few papers. Her DNA results. "I believe, after extensive research, that your father and my father are one in the same." Andi holds out the papers to him, her hands steady. Calm. "If you could just... verify that I have the right person..."

---

Taking a deep breath, Andi exhales through her nose, listening to his confirmation. She sinks slowly onto one of the stools on the little presentation stage, and closes her eyes for a moment. Right, so. It was true. And the man in front of her... Was her brother. Is her brother. She sighs again, before pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes.

”I’m so sorry, I just —“ Andi had no idea how to go about this, and now that she’s done it, she can’t take it back. She starts to cry under the heels of her hands, sniffling anxiously as she realizes that she’s brought another person into her mess of a situation, selfishly, and without planning it beyond actually letting him know she exists.

”Y-your dad is a fucking asshole.” She says bluntly, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. Andi sniffs hard and stifles her tears for a moment. ”He slept with my mum and then just bailed, like some... Piece of shit.” Now she was angry, and she didn’t have her actual father to direct it at. ”I need to know where he is, because I’m going to just... Just!” Her hands crumple and fold in her lap, the shaking beginning. ”I hate him.”

---

Andi wipes her eyes again, sniffling as she stares up at him. She licks her lips, tasting the salt water on them, before breathing out a shaky breath. He's making this a lot harder to hate his entire family, when he seems to be in the same boat.

When he says that he hates their father too, she breathes a snorting, awfully dry laugh, that makes her want to vomit. Was it a relief? At this point, she honestly has no idea. What was the point of doing this, again? Now she's ruined Florian Laurel's life as well. And now he, a complete stranger to her, was comforting her in a way that was normally reserved for just her mother.

A pang of guilt rips through her as she stares at her feet, before looking up, taking a deep breath. She claps her hands to her cheeks to snap herself out of it, before standing up. "Well, no use being mad at you..." She huffs, running her fingers through her hair, nervously twisting it into little braids. "... Should we...? Talk, or something?"

---

Glancing at the crowd, Andi nods and curls her fingertips together, turning back to Florian with a flushed face, and tears having carved canyons through her foundation. "Alright." She wipes her face again, trying to smooth out the streaks, before gesturing to the door.

"I'll wait outside for you to be done..." She hurries off towards the exit, before slumping against the wall outside. Shoot. Shoot! Shoot! Andi takes deep breaths to calm herself, before pulling out her phone. She shoots her mother a quick text message, telling her she's found one person, but not her father. She doesn't specify any more than that - she's too anxious to even think of what she should say.

"Okay, calm down." Andi tells herself, squinting at her phone as she brings up local coffee shops or restaurants that they could go to. Perhaps they could have dinner? Public setting, not too crowded... This could work. She reserves a table before he even gets out of the lecture hall.

---

As Florian exits the room and joins her in the hallway, Chandler smiles softly, holding out her phone. "I've made... a reservation at this restaurant? If that's alright. Dinner is usually busy in the city, so I thought I would be proactive..." She pauses, her cheeks flushing as her heart pumps. Right, she shouldn't be trying to control everything.

"B-but! Only if you want to, of course - ! We can choose another place together, if it doesn't suit your fancy. It's a Kalosian restaurant, so I assumed... But maybe you don't like the food from there..." Maybe she should have done her research. She begins to spiral from the anxiety, clutching her phone to her chest. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to do..." Andi gestures between them. "Having a sibling." She gives him a weak laugh.

---

"Alright." Andi smiles at Florian's optimism. It's refreshing, to say the least... And sort of gives her a little bit of hope for their future relationship. Maybe this could work out, in the long run.

She takes a deep breath, and pulls her phone back to her chest, looking her brother over, before nodding firmly and tucking the phone into her back pocket. "Right. Let's head there. I've got a car, so I can drive us - unless you've also got one?" She blinks, realizing that he probably knew how to drive. He was older than her. And established in his career. And seems successful.

It'd be stupid to think he doesn't have a car, actually. "If... you want to drive, though, we can take yours! Or, whatever. I'm impartial." Andi smiles awkwardly.

Shit.

---

"Okay." Andi smiles, nodding looking over to Florian, before turning on her toe and heel to lead him towards her car.

It isn't long before they reach the vehicle, a small little two-door car, with a hatchback trunk that was still partially full of her things that she's moved to the city.

"Hop in!" She smiles brightly over the top of the car.

---