As Alexei's Wooloo nearly crashes headlong into Niamh, the stoic Lucario growls with lips pulled back from teeth. A stern warning, silenced prematurely by her master as Gavin lifts a hand. The jackal gives him a sharp look, then relents.

"She can handle herself," he assures the gym leader, flicking his wrist dismissively before dropping his hand back to his lap. Niamh looks the part of stern bodyguard as she resumes her post behind Gavin's chair, arms folded and eyes narrow.

"Has the entirety of your night been this chaotic, or am I the lucky one?"

He flashes sharp canines in a brief smile.

Alexei Ivanov

"Fair 'nough."

Soft. That's his assessment of the gym leader, thus far. Soft and sweet and devoid of any of Gavin's passionate heat. They could not be more different; one had only to look between their Pokémon to figure that out.

Is that what he'd prefer? Soft?

Doubt wraps tendrils around his chest, squeezes.

Don't be stupid, he chides himself. He can't keep his hands off me.

"Uneventful," he replies smoothly, with no hint toward the turmoil within, "though I did have a lovely chat with a bloke called Memo. M'not here for hook-ups, I don't mean like that, he's just a nice guy."

A sweeping glance around the hall, and he gestures with a hand when he spots Guillermo Marceliño.

"Already got a partner. He's here, too." But he does not point out Tempest Quinn among the tables; it would be rude to rub Alexei's nose in it. "So I'm just here for some networking. New to the region an' all. What brings a gym leader to a thing like this?"

Alexei Ivanov

He's moved on as well, then. Good.

Gavin trusted his lover implicitly but there was nothing like an ex-lover coming back into the picture wanting to rekindle an old flame. Something like guilt curdles in the pit of his stomach and he takes a swig of champagne as if to bury it.

"Wouldn't know, m'not a gym leader." He lifts his shoulders in a shrug and nibbles at the edge of a macaron, making a face. It's a little too sweet for his tastes, some sort of vanilla bean. "I hunt fossils and I don't really care if my friends are into the same, y'know? Most aren't. It's not the most popular profession."

They didn't get called ruin maniacs for nothing.

"Good you're striking a balance, though."

A bell dings.

"They really give you no time with these things. Off we go, then." He offers a last, quick smile and turns on his heel to go find his next partner for the night.

Alexei Ivanov