this woman has a point. a point that has memphis' shoulders relaxing. he was taught his whole life that ghosts were a result of the faithless in arceus being cursed and sent back to the earth to roam in a sort of purgatory, tormenting the living out of anger and spite.

but what if instead they're just, ghosts? no different than aliens from another world?

"please do. i think if you help me, i won't be nearly as worried about ghosts lurching out to eat me as i am right now." memphis gives a soft laugh, mostly at himself, before holding out his hand to her.

"my name is memphis by the way. this is mink," his minccino holds her paw up in a happy greeting to the alien. "thanks for keeping us company today."

[attr="class","membot"]saskia volosenkova

cutie?

it starts with a hair flick and ends with a shoulder around his arm.

this is flirting. this is a male flirting with him. at least, memphis assumes it's a male, and feels a little guilty for not having done a proper introduction. should he ask for pronouns? but he doesn't have time for the question to fully land in his brain.

because it feels to memphis like he suddenly gets caught in a tailwind. so fast, so much all at once. he isn't sure how to cope or handle it right off the bat. so he defaults right into his coping mechanism for social interactions his brain can barely keep up with.

he mega-evolves into a doormat. ah, the curse of a people pleaser.

"d-date?" it's mumbled out so fast that nicolas goes on to explain himself and memphis is left nodding with slightly knitted brows and his signature 'polite smile' yet another default in his social repertoire.

"i mean, of course. you did save my life and everything." dramatic. "but um, i gotta warn you, i'm not really a local? i've only been here for like, a week or so. b-but i'd be happy to explore with you! we can be each other's guide, kinda..."

notes. omg do not cringe this is pure gold memphis needs thisssss

[attr="class","membot"]nicolas rivera

"What luck we had finding you, huh?" Memphis gives a friendly laugh as he makes the comment posed as a question. As they walk, he watched the meowth with mild interest as it takes down a zigzagoon that Frank then catches.

Mink looks pretty mortified, what if she's next?! Gramps just saunters past them all and Ann? Ann's three or four steps back making sure the delivery's safe. A swoobat comes close but at the site of the night slashin' Alolan meowth turns wing and flaps out.

At the mention of him being a business man, or apart of a delivery business, Memphis let out a self-depreciating laugh; awkward on all levels.

"Oh no, nope. I work for the museum. We were told about a fossil in the cave not far from here." Does he know what it's called? Nope. "So I came to check it out. Ended up being more than just fossils. I'm taking the different stones we found within the walls to Rustboro."

[attr="class","membot"]NOTES pass
Frank Caffey

"it's different than i thought it would be," memphis admits with a small smile. "but like, in a good way. i thought it would be really creepy. but so far, mink and i have managed to clean six headstones and we haven't seen a single ghost type sighting yet."

mink gave him a small tug on his shirt as if to scold him, but then she climbed around him in a small scurry to get near his shoulder and head. her eyes were on the alien, which she wasn't used to seeing.

"...yeah hopefully i didn't just, y'know, jynx us." he could see the ice/psychic type sticking a pair of lush lips out as if to give a kiss of gratitude. "that would suck."

[attr="class","membot"]saskia volosenkova

the moment a small alien flies up and starts beeping at him in harmony, memphis finds himself as confused as he is enthralled. he continues his singing, different each time, to see if the pokémon will keep up with his harmonies. he's all too pleased when the pokémon does, but then almost immediately embarrassed into an early grave when somebody speaks to him; the pokémon's trainer.

"o-oh," his stammering shows more in his shaking hands that he laces in front of him than in the way he stammers in his words. both are evidence of his nerves. "um, what?"

it's that kind of what that people ask when their brains are catching up to what somebody said; rhetorical, which is proven in how he immediately rambles to answer.

"yeah, i mean, yes. yes that's what we're here for today, tending graves. i've got a few more on my list. this was just number six. four more to go for today." the rambling makes him feel even more awkward, if that was even possible.

"you?"

[attr="class","membot"]saskia volosenkova

the heroics displayed before him have the boy with two-toned hair looking all sorts of starstruck. it's not like memphis sees somebody being so heroic and brave like he's just seen. handling all of those guys so effortlessly. and then all tough helping a blank-faced memphis to his feet.

'oh yeah, you're right. s-sorry that you had to go through all of that... um, can i make it up to you?"

does he realize how he sounds? nope, of course he doesn't. because he's too busy being completely distracted by the blood on this boy's nose and there's too much cotton candy alcohol moving through his bloodstream for him to make much sense of why he lifts a hand to try and brush the blood away from nicolas' nostril.

"i can maybe get you like, a drink or something. i hate that you had to get hurt because i wasn't paying attention."

[attr="class","membot"]nicolas rivera

"Blessed assurance, Arceus is thine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. You give salvation, from up above. Born of your spirit, felt in our blood."

The song falls from his lips in a childish tone, almost mocking. Opera in tone but not overtly offensive. Hymns of Arceus are annoyingly catchy and he always finds himself humming or singing them. Sometimes, he even changes the lyrics.

"This is a headstone! This is a grave," and one such a time is this, when he changes the lyrics from the original to whatever he's doing that day. "Time to scrub all, of, the dirty away! This is a headstone, this is a grave! Make it so pretty so peeps don't dismaaaay~"

A small laugh rings from his mouth as he continues to scrub one of the headstones. He leans back to admire the work and nods, pleased.

"There we go Mr. Pettyworth, all better; rest in peace good sir."

[attr="class","membot"]OPEN MEMORIAL MAINTENANCE

"I'm Memphis." He takes the hand stretched out to him, shaking it only as firmly as his own his shaken. "This is Mink, Falkor, and Ann."

Because he's the most original when it comes to naming his pokémon. They're honestly lucky they're not just grimlins one, two, and three.

The route around them isn't a route he knows well. He's new to Hoenn, after all, and he doesn't have the map totally memorized just yet. Instead, he is constantly pulling his phone out to look at his geolocation. Much like he does once his hand is let free from Frank's grip.

"We're on our way to Rustboro to deliver something to the Stone building. Is your walk heading that direction? We wouldn't mind the company."

[attr="class","membot"]Frank Caffey

"What, us? Oh no." Well that sounded rude, he thinks. "W-what I mean is, we are in fact walking, but it's not leisure. We're on a sort of ... business trip."

No, he has no clue how it sounds. He has no idea that he might sound like a shady pokémon smuggler. Or that he could potentially be a terrorist with a bomb. Nope, he's Memphis and he's nervous so he spouts anything that comes to mind.

"What about you and your meow—" one could nearly see the little ! appear above his head. "Oh! That's an Alolan meowth, isn't it? I've never see one in person before... so pretty."

Mink gave Memphis a trill of jealousy.

[attr="class","membot"]Frank Caffey

"Eh?" The squeak of a reply comes from Memphis in a soft smile, nodding. "Oh! I'm so sorry, yeah. That was Gramps here. He uh..."

Mink looks to Memphis in desperation; don't let these new people know I upset him! That's what he feels he can see in her sparkling and pleading eyes.

"He stubbed his ... claw." Memphis hesitates and Gramps sorts, but Ann finally catches up to Memphis and gives a friendly wave to the newcombers.

[attr="class","membot"]Frank Caffey

A small smile graced Memphis' lips as he watched Mink and Gramps walk ahead of him. Mink plays happily in the fluff of Gramps' head, braiding and twisting the fur. Gramps doesn't mind, just let's the minccino have her way.

Beside him waddles his chansey, Ann. She happily plops a foot down one by one, seeming not much bothered by the fact that they're walking through a route. Not much bothered by the fact that wild pokémon could come lurching out at any given minute and interrupt their day. No no. For with her she carries a prized possession.

Memphis gave her the parcel they were escorting to look after and she plans on getting it to the location in Rustboro safely and without any blemishes! Her trainer proudly allows her to take care of these sort of things, as she takes a great care for them in light of having lost her egg.

One particular tug too hard has Gramps letting out a thunderous roar. Mink freezes, immediately, and ends up plinking to the ground like a statue, startled by the noise. Memphis and Ann freeze in their steps as well and Memphis looks curiously to Gramps.

"...y'good?"

He snorts at Memphis before shaking his hair and Memphis takes pity on Mink, picking her up in his arms and holding her while trying to untangle his drampa's foor.

"Think you might owe him an apology."

[attr="class","membot"]Frank Caffey

memphis looks to the night lights with a near child-like wonder. his irises seem to sparkle as he admires the warm lights that light up the night around him.

slateport really is beautiful. no denying that. reminds him of hearthome city, in all the districts he wasn't allowed to wander into but always did anyway.

he had been told that the lower district was even more beautiful than the upper in some respects. he thought at first perhaps with lights, or the nightlife in general was perhaps more rowdy. but taking it in himself? he sees now, it has to be the people.

all around him life seems to brim and sparkle. or maybe that's whatever he ordered a bit ago and holds in his hand tells him. his eyes graze over things, he sips his beverage through two straws, and his minccino, mink, is perched atop his head just as happy to take in the night life as he is.

he's not paying attention when a crowd to his right bustles a bit. somebody either won something or a fight breaks out, memphis isn't sure which. because he doesn't get time to do anything more than be pushed backwards and nearly fall on his ass, bumping into somebody in the process.

"oh shoot, i'm so sorry—"

he turns to see who he has accidentally been pushed into, his minccino holding onto his hair for dear life, causing him to wince as the pokémon complains to the crowd with a raised fist and foul language only other pokémon could understand.

[attr="class","membot"]nicolas rivera