Update

well, well, well. Hello again, Isaac Merlo

"Yes~! I heard young, dashing king of olde was to be found in these parts..." He said dramatically, swooning as he leaned his head onto the back of his palm.

He winked, sticking his tongue at the other.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find him, would you?"

One mess deserved another, or something.

He reclined back on his seat, yawning whilst stretching his arms wide over his head.

"Been fine. I managed to get a magikarp at the fishing game before clocking in— that was neat." He said with a grin, before finally crossing his arms and settling them onto the table, leaning forward. "My show was on the road from day 1."

He winked once again.

"Just don't tell the Hoenn ministry of health, 'kay?"
STAMP:
-Involve or reference a Magikarp Fishing Game.

Update

well, well, well. Hello again, Isaac Merlo

"Hey, I took my legal leave, and I'll do whatever I want with it!" He said with a snicker.

With their secrets kept safe with one another, the two young, dashing rogues could get down to the business.

The business being chatter.

"Want some taiyaki?" He offered the other man as he placed a box of magikarp-shaped pastries on the table, popping it open.

Just for good will's sake, he popped grabbed one at random and gave it a good, healthy bite.

"Nothing's truly hard when you've got magic on your side." He said with a snort, lying through his teeth. "I was at Fallarbor with a good friend the other day, though."

It was a nice, depressing time with freya morningstar.

"The league's dragging its feet at solving the long time issues caused by the volcanic ash..." He said with a sigh. "So I thought I would step up and help in the meanwhile."

Respiratory issues, ocular and skin irritations... there was a lot of damage that long term exposure to the volcanic ash could cause. And those were only some of the health risks involved.

STAMP:
-Offer another character food.

Update

well, well, well. Hello again, Isaac Merlo

"Damn right I do." He said, boldly taking another big fat bite out of the pastry.

At the Isaac's question, he wonders if the man is being coy or is just really uninformed. Then again... he wasn't a priority to rocket. Perhaps his abilities hadn't been shared widely by the few grunts that had witnessed them wholly.

"Let's just say I am going to be the world's greatest surgeon as soon as I finish my training arc." He said with a wink. "You might even get to see my magic at work with your own eyes."

Oooh, foreshadowing.

"Well, Mt. Chimney isn't always active." He mentioned to the other young man, humming. "Maybe the towns formed when it was asleep. Come a couple of generations later, they're too settled in to move elsewhere."

Tradition, sentimental value, comfort, capitalism. There were tons of reasons towns near dangerous circumstances might not be able to move elsewhere.

Often, when a town was completely moved elsewhere, it was a forced development by the government.

He sighed, leaning his head onto his fist.

"We were both leaguers, ya know." He said with a laugh. freya morningstar was specially league. "I can deal with the effects of living there, but my companion has actual pull in the league. Hopefully, she'll make them realize the state of our citizens is not a secondary concern."

At Isaac's question, he snorted.

"Well. Take my word with a grain of salt— I was soldier, not a politician. From my perspective... 7 years ago? Monroe's administration was dog crap." He said simply. "From 2017 to today? Hoenn hasn't been free from conflict and war for even a year. Countries famously get worse during war times, and it takes a while for economies to recover from that— specially if said wars took place on their soil."

tl;dr: War. It was war. The league, as with most governments, could not adequately address its citizens' needs while constantly embroiled in wars of annihilations with Rocket, Megalopolans, Sea Hoennians, fucking ninjas from outer space— All in their own soil, to make matters worse.

War could be profitable for certain... entities, as Unova well knew, but only if you exported it elsewhere.

STAMP:
-Eat carnie food.

Update

well, well, well. Hello again, Isaac Merlo

He smiled at the other.

"Smart boy."

With the conversation trending towards political action and rocket, it was inevitable for the mood to come down.

"Don't feel bad. You weren't wrong." He said. "Commissioner dahlia goode seems like genuinely good person to me— but the system she works under was created long before her time. It's not built to do good. That's why things only change when the people band together and demand it."

Rocket, wars, or whatever, a capitalist state was still a capitalist state.

"There's a reason Rocket appropriated revolutionary aesthetics and rhetoric." It was not the first time in history the angry masses were manipulated by sections of a ruling class in order to bring about change... for better or worse.

"Don't get too caught up on your mistakes." He said. "You've been inside rocket... and it seems you're on your way out. Maybe that life experience will be of use to others."

Update

well, well, well. Hello again, Isaac Merlo

"Of course. It's both moral and pragmatic to do so." He said, leaning his head onto his palm as he turned his gaze over to the crowd, letting his eyes roam over each smiling, laughing face.

"If you truly regret your mistakes, it's not enough to just stop making them." He said.

Whether he meant Isaac himself, or it was just his sentiment, he didn't say. Instead— he switched on a dime.

He stood up with a grunt, streetching his arms over his head before past the table, gesturing for the other to follow with a grin.

"Anyway— You any good at the ring toss game?" He asked, looking over the other young man's missing eye. "I'm guessing not; the Lack of depth perception can't make it easy."

He tapped at his chin, before deciding to stop dancing around it.

"Say. Dunno if you get this question often, but— how did you lose your eye?"

---

ticket: reference the dugtrio-ring-toss game.

Update

well, well, well. Hello again, Isaac Merlo

He had asked what he thought a simple question, but it became clear quickly enough that there was a lot of background behind Isaac's injuries.

"Ah. Meteno." He said simply, suddenly feeling like he needed a cigarette. That or a stiff drink.

So the event had been an eye opener at least for some rockets... pity it had to come to that, but... progress?

The big shocker though was to hear the conclusion to the story. A knife fight with his brother, ending in—

The thought of ever getting into such an altercation with... angelo vestri or Hideo Kino was enough to chill him to his core.

"That... sounds harrowing. I'm sorry you went through that." Even if, you know, he had been a rocket doing, well... that.

And yet he still couldn't help but say—

"Not to be insensitive, but... Say, hypothetically, if you could get that eye back."

He paused.

"Would you?"