some trainers kept pokémon despite keeping the same ideals, which led to confliction and poor battling. the fact that silph understood as basic a truth as that was honestly no surprise to francie. instead, she simply let an agreeing smile move over her face as he spoke.

it was when he dropped a compliment that she looked a little like he might've passed gas instead. she was so shocked to hear words like that from him, simply because maybe she talked herself out of her own compliments or her own value. she'd learn to value herself... some other time. self-procrastination was a constant companion of miss myrtle's.

"well," she blinked out of her three-second hesitating gaze before smiling at him brightly and putting her hands on her hips. lincoln had bounced over to her feet, not wanting to be near the hissing kadabra anymore. "i'm glad you enjoyed yourself, at any rate, mr. silph." did they really have to use the titles? she sort of enjoyed it, calling him mr. and him calling her miss. it was fun. people rarely did it these days.

a few skip steps later and she was pulling open a case with a fingerprint identification. she pulled out the balance badge and then turned to fernando, holding the badge out in the palm of her hand to him. "congratulations, mr. silph. you've officially earned your balance badge."

that brought a question to light for francie. what... what on earth had she expected him to be? maybe one of those philanthropists like ironman(that's right she reads). or possibly she expected something more socially awkward given his media background. but wasn't that why she was going and meeting everybody on the council and all the gym leaders? so she didn't judge the books by their cover?

"you're mildly similar to your cover, yet completely different at the same time." her brows remained relaxed, eyes on him, smile in place. she was calm and confident in her words. "you've definitely surpassed any expectations i might have had, but i definitely tell myself to set the bar low. just means you'll have to surpass them every time we meet from here on out now, doesn't it?"

which would imply she wanted to see him again; and she definitely did.

[attr="class","francie"]

something in that tease made francie so curious as to what other facets it was that mr. silph might've had. her train of thought was completely rerouted by his hop that he fulfilled his role as council and compliments being thrown her way. she'd just complimented him so she supposed it was only fair he return the favor. so a mental note was made not to get into a compliment battle... or maybe to provoke one at some point when silph seemed distracted by his own thoughts.

"my, what sentiments from you, mr. silph. but you've no reason to worry, since you more than proved your worth as a member of the council during slateport." or so she'd heard. even if it had fallen, there had been a lot of league sacrifices. "i heard you were fighting strong. that's all we can really ask for is one's best." sometimes the best wasn't enough. the challenge was accepting that and moving to become even better, to stretch one's best so that it was enough next time.

as far as plans went, she'd closed off the gym for the day because she wasn't sure what time he'd get there. her trainers were there, sure, but she wouldn't be accepting challenges that day because of league business. "i'm free all day. i wasn't sure when you would arrive, so i announced the gym as closed today outside of regular schedule. though, i could use a bite." she motioned toward the back door, it was close to the 'exit' of the maze where they were. "i've heard oldale has a really nice family owned restaurant that's famous for breakfast at anytime."