"Oh, I couldn't impose--"

And like that, his stomach betrayed him with a low growl. Seemed his banana hadn't been enough. A look of exasperation painted itself upon his countenance and forced him to admit defeat. Seemed things would be going the pinkette's way, but at the very least he could keep his order minimalist. Well, best to move along. While he was happy to let Melody take the lead, he figured the least he could do was lead the conversation a bit more.

"Oh, I don't think anything of it. I know if I dropped something, I'd hope someone could be honest and return it, y'know?" Sven extrapolated. "I'll be honest, I didn't even realize it was you until you turned around, not that it really changes the outcome."

He supposed he only mentioned that bit to further prove that the way the two crossed paths had been pure happenstance. The music that had been playing in the singular earbud he had in was just white noise to him at this point, so it was only natural he pulled it out and placed it in its case. Sven momentarily turned to speak to the bodyguard before his words died in his throat at the stern expression the Zoroark wore. Seemed he wasn't much of a conversationalist.

That meant the rest of the walk fell a little quiet on his part, but once they reached the cafe, he could feel relief come off of his shoulders in waves. As he looked up towards the cafe, he noticed someone coming out with their hands full and quickly got the door for them. Likely some poor intern stuck on a coffee run. Despite how awful the region could be, he figured every little bit of kindness he put out to the world helped, even if it was in small gestures like that. Since he already held the door, he motioned for Melody and her Zoroark to go ahead in.

"So I'm thinking I might get an iced matcha latte and a blueberry muffin if that's cool," he stated. "Anything you might recommend? I'll admit, I don't frequent cafes much."

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Melody Miro

It was pleasant to see a familiar face. His grin went from ear to ear as he reached out and gave Memphis a firm pat on the shoulder in a way of greeting the grey haired man. While one hand remained occupied by grill tongs, the other left Memphis' shoulder and held a thumbs up to show that he was doing pretty well. His attention went back to the grill to make sure nothing got overly cooked, and soon his newest addition to his team, a Scolipede he'd named Koga, scuttled over to his side.

"I mean I did nab this big guy, he's pretty tough! And surprisingly fast for his size! I figured strong and fast deserved a strong and fast name, so I've decided to call him Koga."

Sven couldn't help but reach up and give the centipede-like pokemon a gentle stroke on the head. He remained affectionate with all of his pokemon, perhaps that's why they were so keen to follow his orders almost immediately. Once one of the hot dogs looked cooked enough, Sven picked it up with the tongs and tossed it in the air for the Scolipede to catch, which it did so immediately. Immediately with that offer, his pokemon began to pool around both Sven and the grill, to which he laughed and held a finger up as if instructing them to wait just a moment.

And as promised, he began to serve off the varied team one by one, even scolding his Fuecoco that tried to jump to the front of the line again for more. The downtrodden croc fumbled to the back of the line with a pout and waited for its second helping. As he waited for more to cook, his attention went to Memphis once more.

"Feel free to make yourself comfortable! I have a few chairs set out, pick whichever one calls to you and I'll get your food to you. Do you want anything special to drink?"

Sven used the tip of his shoe to prop open a nearby cooler that had a varied selection of sodas, bottles of water and juice, and even a few energy drinks. He didn't care much for alcohol so that seemed off the menu for the afternoon. But his guest was more than welcomed to help himself. While he waited, Sven readied their burgers and piled both of them rather high with a variety of toppings, making sure to place bacon immediately after the melted cheese so it stayed in place better.

"Give it a try and tell me how it is!"

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memphis evren

With the prompt of the Zangoose, the Farfetch'd gripped its leek a little tighter as if ready to go in for the kill. However it seemed to stumble back a bit, as though it were afflicted by something. It seemed the rock it had just smashed had some sort of poisonous spore on it that had affected the pokemon, given the likelihood that the spore dispersed when the rock was smashed. As it collapsed and began to breathe a bit ragged, Sven quickly rushed over to it and knelt down.

"Hey, Galahad! Come on, this isn't funny!"

He saw how pained that the poor Farfetch'd looked, and then he caught sight of the way the color began to drain from it. He'd seen the affliction only once before and knew it was poison. Rummaging through his bag, Sven was quick to administer an antidote to the Farfetch'd, effectively curing its poison. Once the Farfetch'd was stable, he looked up at Memphis and gave a frown.

"Sorry about that, you might want to check on Freddy. I think our practice must've threw something into the air. You're good, right?"

Sven stood back up and withdrew his Farfetch'd so it could get some rest and recover. For now, he chose his Rampardos to come out and play. As if the situation hadn't even happened, he allowed the colossus of a pokemon to turn back with a challenging look to the Zangoose. The rodent-like pokemon was certainly a lot faster, but Sven was willing to bet that Zircon the Rampardos was a lot more sturdy. But there was no need to make the two duke it out to see if sword or stone were more powerful. Instead, the idea came to Sven's mind quickly.

"Now that I've got a pokemon who's a lot more stable, how about we have a little contest? That way Freddy and Zircon here both can get some practice and competition in! Let's see how many wild pokemon they can take on til we get to the end of this cave, yeah?"

The idea seemed to intrigue his Rampardos quite a bit. It even let out a roar in agreement as if to say it liked the idea.

"Oh! By the way, I don't think I caught your name."

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memphis evren

As Josh shared what lead him to the present, Sven could only listen intently. He could certainly ascertain that Josh had quite the admiration for Raikou, perhaps an admiration that bordered on obsession. Sven bit his bottom lip as he pondered on just what to say to fill the silence. There was nothing that came. If anything, the fact he'd heard rumors of Raikou's passing at the hands of Rocket flooded his mind. No, he couldn't quite bring that up. It would be a slap in the face to the hospitality that Josh had so kindly showed him through his sharing of not only his gym, but what laid within his own heart -- his dedication to Hoenn as a whole.

Rocket laced a proverbial poisoned chalice in the wake of killing a legendary beast, Sven could only hope that Josh wasn't blinded by the delusion of grandeur enough to take a sip.

"I can hear the respect you hold for the both of them. I'd love to get the opportunity to meet them some time just to see if they live up to the hype."

His words weren't meant in a harsh way in the slightest. In a sense, he simply wished to display that he didn't want to dump any sort of high expectation on the two. They were merely people themselves, it would be disrespectful to set expectations upon them before meeting either party. Their talk had been surprisingly motivating and offered more than enough insight. It made him ponder even further on just what the other figureheads of the League had here that made them want to protect Hoenn so vehemently. Was that inspiration what people found to be their sense of permanence?

"You've really helped put a lot of this place into perspective for me, thanks," he offered with a sense of gratitude. "I think I'm ready to land whenever you are."

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Josh Devlin