Viridian eyes shift from the circling Wingull, landing on the Hoennian champion. Digging for shells? He wasn't, he had a job to do, but that does sound kind of fun, honestly... Maybe when he's done here, he should have Cupcake help him dig around for some! This is his first time on the beach after all, so maybe it would be a good souvenir! He can already guess that Cupcake wouldn't be super keen on the idea, though. The fairy-type could be a bit ginger with her appearances, which was something he had realized quickly after catching her... He blinks, shocked out of his thinking by the chorus of barks and yips coming from the pack of Mightyena. They were cute— He had always liked Mightyena— If not super noisy.

[break][break]"The Wingull are crazy out today!" He calls, making himself loud so he could be heard over the barking, stepping closer to Kyle, his Sylveon following along. "It's 'cause of all the little baby Tirtouga, y'see? Look," He raises a hand to point to where the water-types continue to pull themselves out of the safety of the sand in their effort to reach the ocean. "I'm, uh, supposed to be watchin' over 'em, makin' sure the Wingull don't eat 'em. First Ranger assignment on my own!" There's a bit of pride in his voice, even if he hasn't actually done much as of yet other than show up on the beach.

[break][break]"The Wingull seem more interested in your Mightyena right now, though!" He remarks, amused as he watches the dark-types snap at the flying Pokemon.

+ kyle lopez

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Kyle's question gives him pause. Frankly, he's not entirely sure how to answer that— He had never given the status of Ranger much thought other than a drive to help Pokemon and people alike... Which definitely fit into the latter of the question, but he couldn't deny the thrill of adventure, of being able to see the region of Hoenn with his own two eyes, experience everything it has to offer. Granted, he has yet to actually be thrown into the thick of it, so he's naive in that aspect. It wasn't like his parents had made him privy to the finer details of the world outside the family farm other than snippets and hushed musings, so outside of knowing what came with the job, he wasn't actually all that sure of the danger that surrounded the occupation.

[break][break]"Um... Both...?" He answers hesitantly when the silence has stretched on long enough during his pondering, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "I like Pokemon... but I don't have much of an eye for battlin', so I don't think I'd, um, have much of a chance as a trainer. And I like helpin' people! Um, and I like the traveling part of bein' a Ranger. Is there really a ton of weird stuff goin' on? I was kind of kept in the dark for most of my life, sooo..." He trails off. Suddenly, he feels a little small. Childish. He had jumped into an occupation that he didn't actually know all too much about.

[break][break]Calvin clears his throat. "Well! I'm gonna be tryin' my hardest, no matter what!" He declares, mostly to himself, his words more muted, almost underneath his breath. He then tilts his head quizzically. "What do you do? I feel like you're familiar somehow...?" He was an isolated farm boy. Sue him for not being up to speed.

+ kyle lopez

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Despite Kyle being adorned in clothes meant for business, Calvin takes the man's explanation of where he might know him at face value, not ever one to poke and prod. After all, it made sense to him. Instead, he glances back at the Mightyena as well, watching them coax the wild Wingull into playing with them... Or so it looked like, anyways. At least the dark-type Pokemon seemed happy. He looks back at the now suddenly bashful Kyle, listening to him explain what was going on with the "weird stuff on Hoenn".

[break][break]The calm before the storm... The article about the dead trainer and her dead Pokemon pops into his head, though he's not sure that's exactly what Kyle means when he says weird stuff, even if that seemed pretty damn weird to him. He fiddles with the draw string of his jacket, mulling the information given to him in his mind. "Huh..." He says, then tacks on, "Well, hopefully it's a good excitin'. The only things I've seen on the news lately have been..." He trails off again, though he's assuming that the other man would be versed himself in the goings-on on the news, if he was truly a public safety worker. It leaves an unpleasant taste in his mouth, and he direly hopes something like what happened didn't become some sort of pattern.

[break][break]He blinks a bit, then goes a bit red with embarrassment. Man, he hadn't even offered his name yet! He hopes he doesn't come across as rude. "Calvin! Calvin Brenner," He says. "You can shorten it to Cal, though, if y'like." He watches another Wingull swoop down towards the baby Tirtouga, which have now started being able to reach the water, and then watches as Cupcake hits it away with a well-timed Fairy Wind. "Oh, they're startin' to reach the water."

+ kyle lopez

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

As the conversation between the two dies down, Calvin begins to get lost in the ocean breeze, mind drifting, though he still keeps a careful eye on the ravenous Wingull, which the group of Mightyena have grown bored of. He can't blame them— Even his own dutiful Sylveon has started to shift her attention, her paws digging into the sand beneath her as she stares at the crashing waves. He leans down to give the top of her head a little scritch as a reminder of their job, but truthfully, his mind is still fixated on what dangers and anomalies Hoenn could be holding. Outside of the usual dangers, at least. He's had some close encounters with some pissy Pokemon since he's left Oldale, but he knows that Kyle's not taking about that.

[break][break]He's jolted out of his internal musing by the older man's question, and he can't help but perk up with curiosity. "Yes," He says, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than the question calls for, but he can't help the sense of wonder. A shortcut? How? Maybe Kyle was hiding some other Pokemon than the Mightyena, though he could've sworn there were six of them... "Show me— Er, please." Can't forget his manners, of course.

+ kyle lopez

[attr="class","pokeclass"]