[attr="class","francie"]

francie's eyes moved over the address, the gps, then over the apartment. this was the right place... it just seemed a little strange to her, the fact that she was at an apartment to meet a gym leader. granted, it was an open change since francie had met most of the other gym leaders at their gyms so far. it was a relief to see that there were some willing to offer some friendly hospitality!

moving her pokégear into her backpack, francie took a deep breath before moving her closed fist up to the door and knocking against it gently. four times, in a beat, in a habit.

once she knocked, she lowered her hand and fixed her sweater out of habit. it hadn't be a terribly long or treterous journey, but she hadn't exactly had it easy either. she was still getting used to flying by herself on her new swellow she'd caught with FERNANDO SILPH.

oh, speaking of, flight hair.

francie quickly moved her hands up to her hair and started giving small squeaking noises as she fixed her hair this way and that. once she decided it was better, she let her hands fall, having successfully fixed whatever crazy hairs might've come out of place during her flight. though, it was a bit windblown...

maybe she should've worn it up.

‣ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","francie"]

francie gave a smile as she heard the locks being messed with. good to know she wasn't the only one that kept her door locked throughout the day. probably mostly out of habit than paranoia, but, one never knows either.

the sight that greeted her had francie's entire face lighting up. a glacieon. oh, what a beautiful one too! she had to force her eyes away from the eeveelution and focus on the one she'd actually come to see. honestly, the flying type gym leader from fortree, she hadn't expected him to have an ice type! though she supposed it did make a lot of sense...

"that's me! francie myrtle! petalburg's gym leader, at your service." it all fumbled out of her mouth rather quickly. she moved her eyes over to the glacieon again, accidentally, before pulling them back to the fellow gym leader.

"and i don't mind the location at all. bit of a breather, honestly. i've been visiting gyms lately and that's been... um, interesting. this is a lot cozier than the gym though! you're brand new, sort of like me, right? still running renovations?"

‣ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","francie"]

petalburg hadn't been a blank slate, not that she could remember. but she knew that she'd built the maze herself— well alright, so her rockruffs had built it from the ground up. but still! she'd taken the not blank slate, turned it into a blank slate, and let her rockruffs roll with the idea she'd had for her gym. it was interesting to see so many struggling with what to do with their gym. maybe she'd been lucky when the idea just... came to her.

"oh, hello." she couldn't help but smile at the glacieon, what a beautiful creature she was. the mention of eevees francie laughed. "well, i've some eeveelutions now, at any rate." her smile was tender as she reached to get out her pokéball with sven. once she popped it open, her sylveon was stretching and moving his ribbons around before blinking curiously at the glacieon. he couldn't help how he gave a small coo, as if testing the waters with this glacieon to see how they acted. would they be like jack and jill? the troublemakers.

"i think that's a great idea!" francie grinned. "i mean, isn't that what gym leaders are supposed to do? put action into what they believe in? we've a power in our position and instead of abusing it, using it for the good is absolutely brilliant. i think so, anyway." a sanctuary for injured birds, what a great idea! "my gym sort of doubles as a home for rock pokémon of the area, the ones that trainers have abandoned or brought to the pokémon center as a sort of 'donation.'" was was stupid, but it happened. "they usually help me keep up the gym, keep it looking fresh and help the maze stay strong."

francie couldn't help how she quickly took a cookie that was offered. "mm, thank you, these are delicious." she mumbled before digging in fully. once she swallowed the last bite, she decided to broach his question. "um, hm. i just wanted to connect. get to know the gym leaders on a more personal base, you know? so when we can say each other's names instead of titles, you know?"

‣ Alexei Ivanov

Alexei was refreshingly passionate about his Flying-type Pokémon, and what a relief that was. Francie was very passionately obsessed with Rock Pokémon herself. While she was off as a trainer she always loved collecting them on her journeys, she just thought they were so cool! Onix was probably her favorite, though she'd never tell her Rockruffs that...

"Francie Myrtle."

Francie politely introduced herself, even holding out her hand for a handshake like she'd been taught. Or, she'd gone to, but then the Riolu came by and put a hand on her thigh. Stopped her from moving altogether until he deemed her willing or possibly worthy? Then he moved on. It had Francie letting out a friendly laugh.

"Trust me, it's cleaner than my house. And you live in yours more than I live in mine, probably. I'd love it if you came to visit! But definitely check in first, I've been traveling a lot recently."

Mostly due to work, but she still didn't want to send Alexei off into her house in Petalburg only to have him ... well, at her house without her. Granted, he wouldn't get in too easily, that was beside the point.

---

‣ SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG WOW

"I've got my three Rockruffs and a Corsola. It's really not exactly an arsenal, but, I do plan on getting myself an Onix soon. Just because I love them. They're my favorite rock type."

That was probably a typical favorite rock type - that and golem, which she also loved. The Rilolu stole her attention right along with its trainer's. Francie let her eyes settle before realizing what was being said and giving a brilliant smile. She stood, following in at a distance, before settling herself down in one of the seats with a giant grin on her face.

"Oh, trust me, I'm definitely okay with home cooked meals. I haven't had one in so very long, it'll be a relief to get some. Thanks so much, it's very thoughtful."

Looking down at the Riolu, she smiled at him and offered to give him a few pets of gratitude.

"And thank you for reminding him! You must have sensed I hadn't had breakfast yet today, you brilliant thing."

♥︎ she's hella straight with no judgment, so it's all good. at least she thinks she is. we shall see about that.