His face a brilliant scarlet as he stares up at Kazimir, Klaus nods absently along as the man speaks, his gaze unsubtly landing on Kazimir's biceps when he flexes. "Yeah," he murmurs feebly before coughing and rubbing at the back of his neck when he catches back up with the conversation. "Your pokemon trains you? That's..." His voice trails off until he settles on, "Interesting." Wholly awkwardly, he tacks on, "Looks like it's working," before he seems to realise his words and swiftly glances away.
[break][break]
"I - some. I went to Kalos for a semester in college, and I've been around Hoenn. I've got family all over," Klaus chokes out, his throat clearing before he tries to speak again. "Not as much lately. Work. I work at a Lighthouse. The Lilycove one. We usually work for six weeks and then two off, but it always depends, you know? Cause of the weather."
[break][break]
Making a flighty little motion of his hand Klaus manages to ask, "Do you travel often?"

[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"Come on, Anwhistle," Klaus murmurs as he tosses his pokeball towards the sea, his Lapras manifesting in the nearby water. He pauses to roll up his pant legs to his knees and then steps into the water, a soft gasp spilling from Klaus's lips at its yet-freezing temperature - the weather may be warmer but the sea wouldn't be anything resembling swim able for several months still. Nonetheless, Klaus spares several minutes to scratch the Lapras beneath the chin, his whistling cry joyously filling the air from the attention.
[break][break]
Laughing softly at his pokemon, Klaurs murmurs a warm, "Yes, yes. Let's go," and steps out of the water. He pulls a pair of earbuds from his pockets and unlocks the screen of his phone, music filtering through to entertain him. The pair then mill their way up the beach, the Lilycove Lighthouse at their back, while Klaus occasionally pauses on his walk to bend over and pitch a Krabby into the nearby sea.
[break][break]
His head occasionally bobbing as he throws Krabbys back into the sea, Klaus stops to retrieve more than a few Tirtouga, each sea turtle gently set beside the lapping waves to observe their first steps into the water. His rather peaceful walk, however, is interrupted by a gaggle of Wingull, the airborne pokemon diving at the Tirtouga hatchlings in a rather grim scene all things told.
[break][break]
Huffing, Klaus waves his arms at the flock, scaring several away though not all. Picking up one of the newly relinquished Tirtougas, the young man carefully places it in the seawater while his nearby Lapras snipes at some of the remaining Wingull with well-placed Ice Beams. Wholly oblivious when he rightens himself, Klaus looks up just in time to meet the punishing wings of a rogue Pelipper who slams into him. Yelping at the impact, the action seems to inspire nefarious ideas in the remaining Wingull who follow suit and throttle themselves into Klaus, eventually sending him tumbling into the freezing water.
[break][break]
"Oh my -fuck-," bellows Klaus when he surfaces from the water, the young man scrambling to his feet to rip his phone out of his pocket and throw it onto the dry sand beyond. "Cold, cold, cold," he whines as he scrambles out of the water, followed by an incredulous, "Really?" at the Wingulls who's cries seem entirely too close to laughter at his current predicament.
[break][break]
Teeth chattering and now soaking wet, Klaus ignores the pokemon above as his Lapras takes to sniping them again. Instead, he pulls off his shirt and tries to wring out the seawater from it, his whole body shivering and face red with equal parts anger and embarrassment; the latter surely poised to grow exponentially when he realises his audience.


[break][break]

+ BARNABY FINCH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"Ah," Klaus utters at the news the stranger is familiar with the area. Hell.
[break][break]
The sound of a splash and following question draws Klaus's attention to the water, a confused, "What?" spilling from his lips; a surprised yelp rips from Klaus when the nearby Magikarp leaps out of the water much, much closer than it was a moment ago. The fish pokemon twists in the air, turning fin-over-teakettle to smash squarely into Klaus's face.
[break][break]
"Fuck!" Bellows Klaus in pain, his hands fumbling to his nose now gushing blood; in the scuffle a pokeball loosens itself from his belt and manages to tap against the Magikarp, sending it disappearing into its depths. His expression bewildered as he stares at the pokeball containing his new pokemon, Klaus looks from it to Mars on the boat.
[break][break]
Pinching his nose in an attempt to stem the flow, a miserable noise sounds from Klaus before he asks, sounding wholly stuffy, "Don't suppose you have any gauze on that boat of yours?"

[break][break]

+ Martín del Mar

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Klaus's attention jerks up to his date at the greeting, his magenta-rose eyes impossibly wide as he takes in the sight of the figure before him. His words catching in his throat to come out as a strangled squeak, Klaus sputters out a cough and then forces his hand out, introducing himself with a tight, "Klaus."
[break][break]
A flighty laugh spills from the young man's lips at the joke, and with a somewhat unhinged smile despite his best efforts, Klaus wipes his palms on his pant legs and then extends one in greeting. "You're so big, do you work out," Klaus asks before an awkward look overcomes him, and he trips over himself to correct, "I mean, I'm sure you do. Of course you do."
[break][break]
Trying an about face, Klaus instead switches to, "What's your pokemon," in a somewhat helpless tone, clearly floundering with the conversation.

[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Klaus didn't think it was wise to answer the teasing question, instead offering a grunt of pain when he finds his hands pulled to help him stand again; unsteady as a newborn fawn, the young man clings briefly to Elisabeth's forearms as he regains his balance, his magenta-rose eyes wide and desperate. He then finds himself pulled along as a partner for skating, an apologetic, "Oh god," spilling from Klaus's lips as fumbles after Elisabeth - after a few minutes he finally seems to regain his sense of balance.
[break][break]
Looking everywhere but Elisabeth, mostly under the pretence of seeing where his feet are, Klaus winces when he's finally called on it. He forces a too wide on his mouth and hazards in a particularly stilted and graceless come-on, "Your beauty's just that blinding."
[break][break]
Perhaps in punishment for his truly inept flirting, Klaus shrieks at Basil's disapproving hoot in his ear; he summarily falls flat on his back again, his lungs burning as the air escapes them. Groaning lowly, his hand moving to rub at his chest, Klaus requests in a tinny voice, "Please just leave me here to die. It's what I deserve."

[break][break]

+ Elisabeth Fiorelli

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

A startled yelp sounds from Klaus at an ominous disturbances in the water, his Lapras veering quickly out of the way of a surfacing Wailord. Grabbing onto one of the pokemon's shell spikes as they narrowly avoided the behemoth, a low whistle of appreciation sounds from Klaus as he looks over the whale.
[break][break]
"You could come in handy," he muses, a fleeting look of calculation overcoming the young man's face as he tries to determine the best way to go about catching it. Eventually, Klaus simply settles for lobbing a pokeball at the Wailord and hoping the creature decides to cooperate. There weren't any rocks for him to settle on to direct a pokemon battle from, and having Lapras fire off an Ice Beam or any other attack put him at risk of being thrown into the water.
[break][break]
Here goes nothing.

[break][break]

+ Catching Wailord!

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It had been ages since Klaus had been on a date; signing up for speed dating had been a whim, one he was deeply regretting given his present nerves. Why had he done this? Klaus was terrible with people despite his best efforts. Not helping his predicament was the card in his hands stating the name of his date: Kazimir Wynter.
[break][break]
The rumbling cry of his Dhelmise draws Klaus from his misery, causing the man to take a deep breath to steady his nerves. He could do this. He could. Klaus tucks away the card and does his best not to fidget at the table, though his bouncing leg betrays his anxiety.
[break][break]
"Hi, I'm Klaus. It's nice to meet you," he practices under this breath, followed by several iterations of the same greeting all at various pitches and speeds.

[break][break]

+ Kazimir Wynter

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Lounging comfortably on his Lapras who cuts through the water at a steady pace, Klaus idly bops his head the music filtering through his headphones; his voice occasionally rises to warble a few ill-pitched words from the songs while his fingers idly drum upon one of the shell spikes of his pokemon.
[break][break]
The warming weather proved to make for a much more pleasant trip through the sea to one of Klaus's drop-off sites. He rarely met face to face with other Rocket members - it was much easier to pass information through a series of waterproofed boxes left with dates and coordinates. The trip, however, is quickly rerouted at the appearance of a boat; it wouldn't do to have one of his sites compromised.
[break][break]
Tapping his Lapras's shell, the pair swiftly reroute to head towards the boat and its occupant, Klaus's hand lifting in greeting while he pulls off his headphones.
[break][break]
"Hey!" Pointing to the northwest he calls in a pleasant timbre, "There's a sandbar just over there, don't drift too close!"

[break][break]

+ Martín del Mar

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

At the question Klaus gives a little wobble of his head, his gaze not lifting as he muses, "I mean, I guess? Probably?" Then, with a touch more conviction in his voice, Klaus assures Elisabeth, "I get enough sleep." Finally satisfied his skates are going nowhere, he stands from the tree stump and sways unsteadily as he finds his balance; unthinkingly he gives Elisabeth a double thumbs-up at his success as well as a beaming grin.
[break][break]
"Oh, yeah," Klaus answers with a wave of his hand, asserting, "We'd have like four of us on the ice at a time." For emphasis of his words he taps the tip of his skate's blade onto the frozen water, a small chunk of ice chipping away with the action - it would, indeed prove not to be Klaus's night. As he sets his skate back onto the ice, the blade summarily slips out from underneath him, sending the young man toppling flat onto his back.
[break][break]
Wheezing and winded, Klaus lies there unmoving, tears stinging at his eyes from the pain. "I'm fine," he gasps breathlessly, "just gunna - I'm fine." Seeing stars both literally and figuratively Klaus pointedly stares straight ahead to avoid looking at his audience.
[break][break]
"Beautiful view," he wheezes out unconvincingly. "Definitely recommend. Dunno why I didn't try this earlier."

[break][break]

+ Elisabeth Fiorelli

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

The ocean was surprisingly calm despite the season, Klaus and his Lapras cutting a sharp silhouette together in the fading light. There had been rumours of singing coming from one of the rock outcroppings in the sea, and frankly Klaus had been bored so why not investigate.
[break][break]
He shifted to comfortably sprawl over the Lapras's shell, a deep sigh ripping from his chest. Closing his eyes, Klaus pulled his phone from his pocket and slipped in his earbuds, music soon filtering through the speakers. The idle hum of his voice paired with a few warbled off-key notes fills the air to pass the time.

[break][break]

+ @none

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Some of the tension evident in Klaus's shoulders eases, as well as his expression, with Elisabeth's laugh. He exhales audibly, his cheeks puffing with the action and breath freezing on the air to briefly obscure his features, and then says with a strained laugh of his own, "Yeah. Yeah... not really."
[break][break]
At the question Klaus cocks his head to the side, a thoughtful expression momentarily colouring his features as he decides his answer. Telling a perfect stranger he didn't have a place to call his own and just bummed with family members during his time off work probably wasn't the best opening gambit, nor most favourable middle game. "Pretty close, sure," Klaus answers ambiguously, his gaze finally lifting from his phone, which he stuffs back into his pocket.
[break][break]
"I'm going to just..." His voice trails off, and he makes a little motion towards his skates before kicking off his shoes to lace them up.
[break][break]
"I work nights usually," Klaus supplies as he tightens the strings and pulls them into a knotted bow. "I swear I'm not some creep who just wanders around in the woods alone in the dark." With that spoken he flashes what he hopes is a charming smile and not a manic or deranged one.
[break][break]
Why was he so poor at this?

[break][break]

+ Elisabeth Fiorelli

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Wrapped up in his own little world Klaus had, indeed, missed Elisabeth's skating. His magenta-rose gaze flicks towards the torn stocking in question while his fingers idly worry the laces of his skates. "Hi. Hey," the man offers awkwardly again, his hand lifting to wave ambiguously at either Elisabeth or Basil.
[break][break]
Klaus then rubs at the back of his neck as she shakes his head. "Oh. Naw. Um. I used to come here with my cousins when I was a kid." His hand then shifts to allow him to jab his thumb back in the direction he came from while he explains, "They live back that way. I'm off work for the week and figured screw it, visit some family."
[break][break]
"You uh - want me to leave," Klaus offers, his face yet a brilliant scarlet in the moonlight. The young man winces all of a sudden when his music shifts to a new song and blasts the air with the colourful lyrics of "Fuck you and your mom!" Scrambling to pull out his phone, Klaus fumbles multiple times before he manages to stop the music, a softly groaned "Oh my god" filling the silence as he stares hard at his phone to avoid looking at Elisabeth directly.

[break][break]

+ Elisabeth Fiorelli

[attr="class","pokeclass"]