Once the door flew open, the blonde on the other side raised his hand in a quick wave. While he had an open canned energy drink in one hand, he had another one sealed to which he figured at the very least, he could be polite and offer it out to the stranger who made the bold decision to invite yet another stranger into their home. This felt like the start to some true crime podcast, but Sven didn't have the brainpower to truly register any threat. Nor did the young man on the other side of the door look dangerous to begin with. He tucked the full can in his arm and held a fist out for a fist bump.

"Yo!" he greeted. "Flavor's fruit punch, by the way. If you don't want it, I'll just keep it for later."

With that said, the blonde tilted his head back and began to nothing short of chug the rest of his drink. While the bags under his eyes remained heavy from poor sleeping habits, his pupils dilated just enough to show that the drink had begun to hit. The trainer crushed the now empty can against his head and made his way in. A quaint little house. It didn't look messy, but that came from a young man who lived in an apartment with wires tangled everywhere mixed with half empty cans of monster, fast food wrappers, and even some clothes lying around. He glanced around and held up the crushed and empty can.

"You recycle or can I just toss this?" he asked before he grumbled. "Bah, nevermind, let's get going on this!"

Ever the one track mind, Sven sat the crushed can on the counter and decided to peer in. He had no sense of personal boundaries, unfortunate to Absalom. Without another thought he walked in and looked around. Thankfully he had some breathable clothes on with the choice of a t-shirt with some goofy graphic design and basketball shorts. Sven punched the palm of his hand to show he was ready to get going.

"Just point me where to go with this stuff and I got it!" he beamed. "Pleased to meet you, by the way. Name's Sven."

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"Sounds good!"

The fact the kid didn't want the energy drink didn't surprise him, but he figured the best he could do was at least offer. Sven stuck the drink into his back pocket and staggered his feet a little before he bent down to grab one of the boxes. While he maintained a decent grip on it, he did feel a moment of surprise wash over him, which caused his knees to lock as he made sure the box didn't slip from his grasp. He shot Absalom a lopsided grin and spoke up again.

"Mr. Sven? Just call me Sven. Mr. Sven's my dad's name."

That wasn't how it actually worked, especially given the fact his father's name was Erik. He awkwardly balanced the box on his thigh as he reached for what he assumed was the attic door. He felt his way through the darkness until he managed to feel a lightswitch. Once he managed that, Sven picked the box back up and slowly ascended the stairs, careful not to do much harm to his back. Once he made it onto flat ground once more, he found a place to put the box and looked around. Was Axel sure he wanted things up here? It looked a little dusty. As he turned around, he came face to face with a wild Spinarak that had descended its way from the ceiling. Rather than scream like any sensible person would, Sven dipped his head down and allowed the arachnid-like pokemon to take a spot on his head.

He gave the green spider a gentle pat to show he meant well. In the meantime, he figured he'd crack a window so they could get some air circulating in the attic. They'd be up there a bit probably. Soon enough, he turned to descend the stairs once more and get another box. But before he completely made his way down, he figured he'd give the kid downstairs a warning. After all, some people weren't fans of bug pokemon.

"Hey buddy, I found a Spinarak up there. Pretty sure it's wild. Want me to take it outside? It's just chillin' right now."

When he said that, he peeked his head out to show Absalom exactly what he meant with the wild Spinarak that sat atop his head, surprisingly obedient for being a wild pokemon.

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"Yeah it's kinda dusty up there. Guess it comes with the dirt. Plenty of webs up there, too. So if you can get us some rags and brooms, I don't mind getting it tidied up!"

With the suggestion to go let the wild Spinarak back into the outside, Sven excused himself and walked until he was closer to some trees. It took some prying, but he eventually got the arachnid pokemon out of his hair and placed it on one of the trees. He couldn't help but give it another pat to encourage it to go be with the rest of its kind.

"See ya, little buddy."

Speaking of little buddies, he needed to get back to Axel's house so he could help him with more cleanup. Something told him if he didn't make the parting quick, the kid might try to do most of it himself. So without so much as another thought, Sven jogged back to the house and made sure to shut the door behind him. From there, he hurried up the steps to the attic once more. He'd taken note of the bandana that Absalom had his pokemon retrieve and opted not to pay it any mind. It was a good idea cause dust often made people sneeze.

Since Axel brought his pokemon out to play, Sven figured he'd bring out one of his to help with the cleaning. His Oshawott, Marco, stood front and center and readied to help use water to clean up. And that much it did. With a gentle stream of a Water Gun, the Oshawott began to spray the window and managed to knock down some webs that had formed about. As Oshawott did smaller tasks, Sven took a broom and began at one corner of the room.

"Sorry if this is out of pocket, but where's your family at? Shouldn't they be helping with this sorta stuff?"

He figured it was a safe topic to work with and get Axel to talk a bit more.

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As though shocked it had been perceived, his Oshawott scuttled behind his leg. Sven laughed as he reached down and stroked the top of the water-type's head and assured the little otter-like pokemon that things would be alright. The kid didn't pose a threat and Oshawott had no need to be scared. For a moment, the creature hesitated before it stepped out and gave an awkward yet proud pose.

"Nah, I did live in Unova a bit! Where I found this little dude. I was born in Orre but my family moved around. A lot actually. Guess you could call us a buncha hippies. I'm a child of the world, as they liked to say, gotta get out and see it."

Though when it came to Axel's explanation of his own family, he seemed a little puzzled. So his sister brought him along from Alola and decided she was too busy to clean her house? Sven could sort of understand being busy, but he'd never shove the whole job onto someone else. And with how pale Absalom looked, he figured that maybe the boy needed a moment to rest.

"Well how about you take a break and leave the cleaning to me, yeah? You're lookin' a little sick, everything alright?"

For a moment, he felt a little concerned as to whether or not he needed to get anything for the teen. Water maybe? Any sort of medicine? If the latter were the case, he hoped Axel could let him know where it was cause he didn't want to dig around someone else's personal items.

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Man it was kind of heartbreaking to hear Axel say that it was a wonder that he could even move here. Sven frowned in a way that didn't reflect any sort of patronage, but rather in a way that he could sort of understand where the poor kid came from. There were times when he was younger he wished he could have just stayed. But to his family, there was no such thing as the perfect home. That meant constant uprooting every year or so. But Absalom had his own troubles. He could only assume most of them were the fact he was trapped living in a bubble due to his medical diagnosis. With weak lungs, no wonder he needed to have someone help him clean.

"Gotcha, don't worry, take the time you need and have a sit for a bit. Once you can muster the strength, hop back up and we can both tackle this."

He didn't want to demean the boy by telling him to rest while he did all the work. So rather, Sven used a dusting rag to wipe off what seemed to be the top side of an old television and plopped down on the back of it. He took his other energy drink and sat it down beside the tv and gave the boy a quick up and down as he pondered in his own thoughts.

"Well, your parents let you move here with your sister, right? What if there's a way she can take you along to see some of the sights this world has to offer? There's plenty of it out there and I'm sure you've got plenty of life left to live. I get your parents worry about your condition, but maybe they need to let you go to see the world. You're not gonna be young forever. And even if your lungs worsen, don't you think you want to live life to its fullest before you can't live anymore?"

Maybe Sven looked past the fact that Axel wanted to see the outside world. Wanting and doing to him, however, were two very different things. Sure, it was egregious to disrespect one's elders, but sometimes it was necessary to think of one's self, otherwise they'd live an unfulfilled life. Though it wasn't long until Sven beamed.

"Basically what I'm sayin' is see if your sister can sneak you out to go somewhere. It's not like your parents would know, they're not even here. It might not be ideal, but I promise once you see what the world has to offer, you'll want to see more and do more."

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So in a sense, it sounded like the sister let Absalom actually live a normal life for once. He couldn't help but grin at the thought of that. It was nice to know he had some freedom in his life. Though thankfully his pokemon were there to make sure he didn't overexert himself. Sven stretched back and cracked his back a bit. He supposed that despite how rough Hoenn had managed to get, it wasn't any better nor was it worse than any other region. It just seemed calamity reared its head more often than not here. Even if Axel's health happened to be stable, there's still the environmental aspect of worry. After all, he was young and it was only natural his parents worry.

"Makes sense, hopefully it stays that way. You look happy having a little freedom, my guy."

Sven flashed a grin that followed his words. Had they spent enough time talking? He thought so. It wasn't long until he grabbed his remaining energy drink and began to chug it. It'd help him get an energy boost to power through the rest of their cleaning. It took hardly any time for him to down the can and hop back up to his feet. A broom and dustpan found their way into his hands and he began to sweep the floors while his Oshawott held onto the dustpan to scoop things up. The dust and dirt they managed to sweep up found its way into a trash bag, leaving Sven to continue his cleanup.

"Since I've got the floor tidied up, if you wanna push those boxes, they should slide with ease now."

He didn't want to make Axel feel discluded with the work, ergo he figured he'd give the boy something to do in which if need be, his pokemon could help out. Thankfully it didn't seem like it would be much longer until they finished up. The attic already looked better than it had been as Sven continued to brush down any stray webs left by the Spinarak that had taken refuge in the attic.

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Axel's words were met with a shrug. Sure, energy drinks weren't good for people. But honestly, what was good for people nowadays? Just breathing the air outside was laced with carcinogens of all kinds. Sure, Sven had the downsides of chugging drinks like that, but they helped him out for the most part so he could stand the caffeine-induced panic attack that came and went.

"I get it, but really what isn't bad for you nowadays?" he insisted. "Though I appreciate the concern, really!"

Sven pulled a headband out of his pocket and stretched it out to place it over his head to keep his hair out of his face. After he did that, the blonde quickly moved to dusting above and around the woodwork. While he didn't put much fuss into his own living quarters, he did know how to clean quite well. Once he got the top part of the woodwork around the window, he hopped down from the windowsill and began to work his way down. The only thing that stopped him was the spritz of water his Oshawott spit in his face. It was the creature's way of telling him that his face was dirty. All he could do was give a laugh. He hadn't even realized that Axel and his pokemon were there hauling some of the boxes.

"I think a lot of it is due to the way folks get used to it. I haul around a lot of equipment myself so I'm kind of used to heavier things."

Sure, he didn't look like it, but he could lift a surprising amount for his slim stature. He even threw in a quick flex of his right arm to emphasize his words. Now that the woodwork was cleaned, all that Sven could think there was left to do was to maybe polish the attic floors a bit to really get the dust out.

"Speaking of which, if you want, I can hold those boxes if you guys can scrub under them. Want to make sure this place is in top tier quality!"

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