Why did Vic bother when this guy was barely giving him anything and probably had no interest in talking to him? Well, for starters, it was doubtful that he would ever realize that sometimes people just didn’t want to chat, because he himself just loved it so much. Who wouldn’t want to meet new people and make new friends?! He barely even knew what an introvert was, much less an anti-social person.
[break][break]
’Why do you travel?’
[break][break]
Well, that was a bit of a complicated question. Would he give the short answer or the long one?
[break][break]
”Why? Hmm... I was challenging gyms and stuff back then. It was fun.” He shrugged with a faint laugh, because as little awareness as Vic may have had, he did realize that this guy probably had no interest in hearing every detail of his life – specially considering he was barely sharing anything about his own life. But, that being the case, what in the world could they talk about!?
[break][break]
As he pondered on that, he had a sip from his drink for the first time since it had been placed in front of him. It wasn’t all that cold anymore, but of course, that was Vic’s own fault.


[break][break]

+ claude anderson

As if it wasn’t obvious, Vic here had never really dealt with people being rude to him, much less trying to pick on him. Well, some sure had tried, specially out of jealousy and things like that, but it all went right over his head, and the few times he had felt like someone didn’t like him, of course he had tried to make amends! He was always willing to be the one to take the first step.
[break][break]
Just like in this case.
[break][break]
So, of course, when his classmate asked if he wanted something from him, the boy of cotton candy-coloured hair could do no more than tilt his head, the question confusing and startling him for short moment. Of course he wanted something from him! He wanted to meet him!
[break][break]
”Just saying hi... I don’t think we've met. I’m Vic!” He introduced himself, his tone as cheerful and full of energy as his whole demeanor. And, while the other boy wasn’t really looking at him, his own gaze fell on him – his smile always reaching those lavender eyes of his.
[break][break]
He should have probably realized that maybe he was making his classmate nervous, but, well… Let’s just say that at such a young age, Vic was even more unaware of those things than what he’d be in later years.

[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

Ah, freshman year.
[break][break]
Who could have blamed them for being nervous about it? With so many new people to meet, fitting in became a major concern, and anyone would have been scared of what happened if they didn’t. Or, well, anyone other than Victor Wexler, apparently, because he sure as heck didn’t even bother with considering something like this.
[break][break]
It didn’t even cross his mind, honestly! He was nervous too, sure, but it was the kind of nerves that was equally matched by his excitement; the kind that came with being at an unfamiliar place with so many new things to see and so many new people to meet! Would they be nice? Would they be fun? Probably, because Vic’s standards when it came to those things weren’t at all high.
[break][break]
He had always found it easy to find reasons to like people. He liked everyone he had gone to middle school with, and in the same manner, it wasn’t at all hard for him to immediately begin making friends among his new classmates. That was just the kind of person Vic had always been; the kind of person that always found a way to fit in no matter where he was or who with.
[break][break]
He wanted to meet all of his new classmates and become friends with them, and by ‘all of them’, he really meant all of them.
[break][break]
”Oh, hey!” It was with a bright smile that he greeted one of the boys in his class when he found himself in front of him. They hadn’t spoken yet, and naturally, Vic thought that had to be fixed!

[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

Vic had had no intention to start challenging gyms when he had moved to Hoenn. He had told himself all that was behind him, and that he no longer cared about earning badges. But, when Alex proudly showed him the Skyrider badge, there was something about it that made him smile, perhaps because it did remind him of when he himself had returned to Mistralton to challenge the gym leader for the Jet Badge.
[break][break]
Maybe it would be nice to challenge gyms again. Maybe a couple just for fun’s sake. It had been so fun back then…
[break][break]
”Skyrider’s a cool name! It goes well with it,” Vic agreed, then looking at him when Alex offered to treat him to milk tea.
[break][break]
Oh, heck yeah!
[break][break]
It wasn’t like he was going to continue with his jog after all this anyway, and that would also give them some more time to chat and catch up… while drinking some delicious milk tea that he very much was craving again now that Alex had brought it up. ”All of them?” For a second there, he sounded almost like an excited child; ever too eager to spend time with people he liked. ”Hah, sure, yeah. That’d be amazing!”


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov (ty for the thread ♡)

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

So… No name.
[break][break]
No worries, Vic could work with that! Some people just didn’t like talking much or sharing things about themselves, and that was alright, because everyone had some stuff they were comfortable with, right? He didn’t mind carrying the conversation if that was what this guy preferred. At least he had gotten a question, and that was great!
[break][break]
Some optimistic people could really find the silver lining in everything, huh? And, in case it wasn’t completely obvious by now, Vic was high up on that list.
[break][break]
”Yeah! Guess it’s probably kind of obvious with the accent and all, huh? I’ve been told as much before… I’m from Mistralton, but I’ve kind of been all over.” A bit of a generalization, but it was true nevertheless. He had travelled all over Unova, and all over a couple of other regions as well. He could have ranted about it, sure, if Vic had been prone to talking in detail about himself. But, he preferred hearing about others, although apparently he wasn’t going to get much from this stranger.
[break][break]
He still could try though!
[break][break]
So, he grinned at him, his lavender gaze meeting that of his nameless new friend. “What about you? Ever been to Unova?”
[break][break]
Naturally, he had forgotten all about his drink by this point, the cold class remaining untouched on the counter.

[break][break]

+ claude anderson

”Well…” He definitely was still prone to getting lost. Or, more like if he hadn’t had his phone with him at all times, it would have happened frequently – especially being in an unfamiliar region. “...Sometimes? My sense of direction suuuuuucks,” he sighed, following this with a short laugh.
[break][break]
From the way he talked, it was obvious that Alex had put a lot of thought into this challenge he had come up with, and that he cared a lot about it, just like he probably cared a lot about being the leader of the Fortree gym. It was nice to see! ”Oh, wow. Okay, I have to admit an aerial game of tag sounds really fun… I think I may be too used to traditional gym battles and all that.” He was, because it was what he had prepared for and trained for all his life. It was the kind of challenge he had found at every gym he had ever been to. But… he also had to admit all this sounded incredibly exciting, and it almost made him wish he still were collecting gym badges.
[break][break]
’New region, new life, new everything. Right?’
[break][break]
Alex was right. All that was in the past now.
[break][break]
“Really? I’d love to come help out. I’ve been pretty busy lately, but I’m sure I could find the time...” It was the kind of thing he loved to do, so why wouldn’t he want to help? Plus, it also meant they could hang out again – properly and not just randomly running into each other at a park bench by sheer coincidence.
[break][break]
There it was, another bad thing about moving to a new region: all of his friends were far away. Vic had never minded making new ones, but honestly, it was nice to know that even in Hoenn there were people he had known from before moving to the region.



[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

This guy didn’t talk much, huh? A different person would have probably acknowledged that he maybe had no interest in meeting people and was better off being left alone, but by Vic logic: if that was the case, then why would he be at a bar?! He could have just as easily grabbed a drink at home all on his own! Did people really do that though? Ugh, that sounded sad, he hoped they didn’t actually do that…
[break][break]
”Oh, great! I’m Vic, nice to meet you,” he introduced himself, beaming – a perfect and joyful smile of pearly whites that could have belonged in just about any toothpaste ad. And, with it, also came a rather obvious Unovan accent that coated his every word; not too heavy and slightly altered thanks to the years spent away from the region, but still filling his words with harshly pronounced syllables.
[break][break]
It wasn’t like he intended on forcing the guy to talk to him, that went completely over his head. But, the thing was that for some reason, to Vic he really looked like he could use a friend.

[break][break]

+ claude anderson (I will just assume Unovans sound American LOL)

“Okay, okay, fine…” He chuckled, giving in. Vic had never been good at talking about himself, not because he wasn’t proud of who he was and of the things he had done, but because he simply didn’t want to bother others with his ranting about his life. If the other insisted he wanted to know though, then he supposed it would be fine. But, where to even start? A lot had happened since the last time they saw each other, and things hadn’t exactly gone in a straight path. It had taken him a while to figure out what he really wanted to do and where he wanted to be, and even now he wasn’t completely sure if he had the right answers to all of it…
[break][break]
Luckily for the ever-so-easily-distracted Vic, Alex began talking about gym challenges, and that caught his attention all too easily. “Really!? Ha… I don’t think I’d ever go for something like navigation. I’m awful at that sort of thing! Back when I was travelling I would get lost all the time.” There was no shame in admitting this. If anything, he found it kind of funny, even if back then it had led to a few dangerous situations he wasn’t all that prepared for.
[break][break]
”I think you were kind of brave even back then though.” He added, his lavender gaze meeting Alex’ ”Like… maybe not in a really obvious way. But... I bet there was probably a lot going on with your family and all, yeah? You never complained to others about it and dealt with it all on your own, and then eventually left without anyone’s help. It may not have been the best thing to do, but… I think you were brave.” A gentle and joyful expression came with these words, because as much as Vic wished he had known more back then and been able to help, he could recognize that dealing with all that had probably been really difficult for Alex. Otherwise, why would he have left?
[break][break]
”Sounds like you really love doing all that. Maybe I’ll stop by the Fortree sometime!” He grinned.



[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Unluckily for Claude, Vic didn’t know not to engage in idle chit chat. Quite literally so. Meeting new people was one of his favourite things to do, and having just moved to a new region where he barely knew anyone, he felt particularly compelled to do so.
[break][break]
Especially people who looked like they weren’t having a great time, because Vic was a nice, helpful lad.
[break][break]
And see, that’s where Claude made his fatal mistake: he sat nearby and all on his own, and to be completely honest here, to Vic he looked like he was rather annoyed. Admittedly, he also looked vaguely familiar, but the Unovan didn’t bother with dwelling on things like those.
[break][break]
He also didn’t dwell on if he should talk to the guy or not, offering a friendly and honest smile just as he uttered words that were so often uttered in places like those: ”Hey! Do you come here often?”
[break][break]
Now, in Vic’s defense, he had said it in a 100%, totally, absolutely, non-flirty way. It was just that the guy seemed familiar with the bartender. But, of course, who wouldn’t assume someone was trying to flirt when saying something like that? Especially if the person saying it was a tall, smiling, casually dressed, and perhaps even considerably good-looking young man (if one happens to be into pink hair and all that).
[break][break]
This was also something Vic didn't dwell on, obviously.
[break][break]

+ claude anderson

”Uhmm… Almost two years? I just wanted something to do once I was out of uni, and it was a nice opportunity,” he smiled. And, in a way, it was true, but it was also an extremely simplified version of how things had gone down two years ago.
[break][break]
Leave it to Vic to not think about giving more details! Like, for example, the fact that he had gone to university in Galar and not Unova, and that a big part of the reason why he had gone to Alola was because he thought trying the island challenge would be fun – since back then he still hadn’t completely gotten over his aspirations as a trainer.
[break][break]
Already distracted from thinking about his own life, he grinned when hearing about his friend’s journey to become a gym leader. “Wow, Alex! I bet you must have really worked hard. What’s it like to be a gym leader?” His tone was a mixture of enthusiasm and awe; amazed, but lacking any notes of jealousy despite the fact that Vic himself had always thought being a gym leader would be incredible. He had met many of them in his travels, after all, and he respected each and every one of them. Alex was no exception.
[break][break]
”I’m pretty sure whatever I say now won’t sound nearly as cool, ha. I mostly just focused on challenging gyms and all that for a long time… I got pretty far, but there’s always someone better, right?” He shrugged, laughing. It was no secret that Vic’s father had once been Unova’s champion – he was kind of well-known as a trainer in the region, in fact. But, no matter how much he had once wished to be just like his dad and how hard he had worked towards it, Vic was right: there was always someone better. The people at Victory Road had been better. Those in the Champion Cup had been better.
[break][break]
Admittedly, it still hurt a little.
[break][break]
Then again, that’s why he was in Hoenn, right? To start over and hopefully build a life he really liked.


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

”Oh. Good thinking!” he smiled.
[break][break]
Honestly, Vic wasn’t the kind of person who did well with sitting still for long periods of time; he had too much energy, and a constant need to be doing something or his mind began thinking about all sorts of weird stuff. But, it was late, and he knew all too well that if he began running around he would eventually get himself tired and fall asleep – which wouldn’t really be helpful when considering what their mission was, would it?
[break][break]
Chatting and keeping an eye on the swarm would do just fine. So, he sat with his back against a tree, his Dragapult stretching on the grass like a giant, dragon-like cat. ”Do you think they give cadets this sort of mission ‘cause no one wants to stay up in the forest all night?” He said jokingly and with a laugh, because surely that couldn’t be the case, right?
[break][break]
Maybe it was that attacks weren’t likely to happen very frequently, or maybe they just trusted them to do a good job with the mission. Whatever the case, Vic hoped it was true, and while he didn’t really mind a quiet night, his gaze kept wandering back to the sparkling bug type pokémon and the treetops – watching them, just in case.
[break][break]
Yes, it would really be a long night, but he had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be a very busy one..

[break][break]

+ @tallulah

[attr="class","pokeclass"]