Tera Crystal? Sven took a moment to stop from his indulging in the sweets Saskia had provided and tilted his head up at her. Was she serious? He'd heard whispers of them but never got a chance to see one up close. Maybe it'd be a good idea to keep a search for tera crystals on the backburner of his mind. But for now, Sven lounged back to prop himself against the couch and tossed the rest of his piece of kartoshka into his mouth and washed it down with his drink.

"Oh for real? I guess that calls for a sleepover!" Sven beamed with as he held up his thumb and pinky and shaked it in a shaka sign, a habit he picked up in Alola. "But anytime that Oldale gets too quiet, I guess you know where to find me. Anyone else worming their way out of the woodwork that you can go find too?"

Surely Saskia had other people she could get in touch with. After all, she was a pretty sociable person. It was a trait the both of them shared which made them hit it off right away. And with the reunion, it's almost as if all the years hadn't gone by. Sven couldn't help but stare at the brunette for a moment -- she'd changed so much in appearance, but still seemed like the same Saskia to him. Perhaps some things never changed, and there was some reassurance in that fact alone.

Once the timer went off, Sven shot up from his seat on the floor and approached the oven. The bagel bites looked nice and crisp. After he washed his hands, he grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the tray out, then carefully placed the bagels on a plate. As he returned once more, Sven placed the plate he had on the table in front of them and decided to offer his laptop to Saskia.

"If you want, we can just chill and watch something together," he suggested. Before he could make the next offer, his expression grew smug. "Or I could kick your ass in Mario Kart for old time's sake."

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saskia volosenkova

Although the Rookidee had chosen to fly off and avoid further confrontation, although there wasn't much confronting to begin with, the tusked dragon came next. Sven looked at it in pleasant surprise. Admittedly dragons were quite a sight to behold, naturally he seemed absolutely pleased to find an Axew. However the small dragon didn't seem anywhere near as pleased to see him. The creature charged forward to make its attack, but much like the situation with the Rookidee, Sven found that his Fuecoco moved in tandem with him, quick to evade the Axew's attack. However the dragon moved a bit quicker and sent the fire croc flying back. Sven made a dive to catch the injured Fuecoco and helped it back to its feet.

"C'mon, let's strike it down with a Snarl!"

The crocodile was happy to oblige as it took a sharp inhale and allowed it to build up into a deep rumble in its chest that soon shot out at the Axew. With the creature momentarily stunned from the attack, Sven drew his arm back and shot a safari ball right at the dragon. It'd fit in well enough with the rest of his collection.

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@safarizone

Her slight sarcasm caused him to bark out a laugh. Of course he always forgot to eat and then regretted it later. In all fairness, he did eat, it was simply just the night prior when he did so. Sven couldn't help but give her a firm pat on the back as he made his way into the kitchen to grab them both a proper drink. Water seemed suitable, right? The blonde pulled out two bottles of water and tossed one to Saskia.

"Hate to break it to ya, but it really wasn't that exciting. I guess I kinda took to music in the time I was stuck in here. I can't really weigh out good versus bad, I was just using them for samples really."

Though the topic of her parents caught him by surprise. Had they been here this whole time?

"But your 'rents, how've they been? Had I known they were here, I would've made a visit to keep 'em company," he admitted with a sheepish smile.

A shame, but he figured they would've been in Sinnoh with Saskia. To outside folks, they both came off as rather intimidating, but maybe Sven just lacked the common sense to find any reason to be afraid of them. As he made his way back into the living room, he was happy to grab the plate of kartoshka that his guest had made and soon plopped himself on the floor near Saskia as he carefully pulled back the plastic wrap and took one.

As he took a bite, tears pricked at the corner of his eyes in appreciation at the potato treat. Cookie crumble poured into the palm of his hand he held beneath the treat so it wouldn't get everywhere and to the young man who hadn't eaten anything in well over twelve hours, it tasted like heaven.

"Sashky, thish ish shoooo good," he offered in appreciation despite his full mouth.

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saskia volosenkova

Man it was kind of heartbreaking to hear Axel say that it was a wonder that he could even move here. Sven frowned in a way that didn't reflect any sort of patronage, but rather in a way that he could sort of understand where the poor kid came from. There were times when he was younger he wished he could have just stayed. But to his family, there was no such thing as the perfect home. That meant constant uprooting every year or so. But Absalom had his own troubles. He could only assume most of them were the fact he was trapped living in a bubble due to his medical diagnosis. With weak lungs, no wonder he needed to have someone help him clean.

"Gotcha, don't worry, take the time you need and have a sit for a bit. Once you can muster the strength, hop back up and we can both tackle this."

He didn't want to demean the boy by telling him to rest while he did all the work. So rather, Sven used a dusting rag to wipe off what seemed to be the top side of an old television and plopped down on the back of it. He took his other energy drink and sat it down beside the tv and gave the boy a quick up and down as he pondered in his own thoughts.

"Well, your parents let you move here with your sister, right? What if there's a way she can take you along to see some of the sights this world has to offer? There's plenty of it out there and I'm sure you've got plenty of life left to live. I get your parents worry about your condition, but maybe they need to let you go to see the world. You're not gonna be young forever. And even if your lungs worsen, don't you think you want to live life to its fullest before you can't live anymore?"

Maybe Sven looked past the fact that Axel wanted to see the outside world. Wanting and doing to him, however, were two very different things. Sure, it was egregious to disrespect one's elders, but sometimes it was necessary to think of one's self, otherwise they'd live an unfulfilled life. Though it wasn't long until Sven beamed.

"Basically what I'm sayin' is see if your sister can sneak you out to go somewhere. It's not like your parents would know, they're not even here. It might not be ideal, but I promise once you see what the world has to offer, you'll want to see more and do more."

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absalom steel

Once the Garchomp took to the skies, Sven couldn't help the scream that tore its way out of his throat. This wasn't fear, this wasn't danger, this was pure and utter gusto. So this is what it meant to go fast. He couldn't wipe clean the dumbfounded look upon his face, yet it beamed with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning. The headgear helped tremendously, but he still felt the ringing of the sound of Alphamax's thrusters in his ears. It took him a moment to recover, but as Josh spoke, listening to the gym leader became almost second nature over the sound of the dragon in flight.

"Never would'a thought this place used to be a military base! Seems like an interesting take on Mauville, but does it represent the culture of the people? I think racing is a bit more on the nose. This place is a powerhouse and should be treated as such. There's something empowering about the freedom of the wind in your face as you take off. I can respect the idea you've got going with your gym."

The idea of Mauville felt like liberation. There was a freedom to it that Sven couldn't bring himself to find the words to describe. It was his home now, but this one was more secure. There was a safety net to it. That even if he fell, something would be there to catch him. This place was permanent to him. For a moment, his heart swelled with a sense of comfort. This was home. This was home.

From the skies, he watched some of the gym trainers do mock battles so they could properly prepare themselves for any oncoming challengers. The gym as a whole felt like a great place to start any sort of challenge. Perhaps in the future, he'd bring himself to go up against Josh's team of agile pokemon. But he knew that he had plenty of training to take part in. His team wasn't exactly ready to go up against the gym challenge, ergo he needed to turn his attention inward.

"So tell me, what brought you to take the position in Mauville? What made you want to be here and not somewhere else? Hoenn in itself is expansive. Surely this wasn't the only spot you decided on, right?"

Sure, he loved the history lesson that Josh provided, but surely there was bits of himself he could throw in? The ride together gave them the opportunity to get to know one another a little better, so why not use it?

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Josh Devlin

As he looked upon Resheph, Sven beamed and gave the Dragonair a gentle pat on the head. He hadn't seen the dragon in a while! Good to know it was still in decent health. While he'd gotten accustomed to pokemon mounts in his friendship with Josh, it was still heartracing to strap in and get a taste of the speed that the Master of Faster knew how to offer. Sven approached carefully and strapped himself in. Though it wasn't long until the blonde came to a pause. Shit, maybe he should have asked if their companion wanted Resheph first? He turned and gave an awkward smile to Elise. She was a familiar face, he'd seen her around Josh's gym before, but never got a chance to introduce himself.

"Hey, name's Sven!" he greeted. "If you wanna switch off at any point, let me know! Sorry to sort of take the first choice there."

Given the surroundings, it seemed like once they got to the spacecraft, it would be worthwhile to try and use it to craft something. Sven dug into the bag he brought along and flashed a grin. Little devices he'd managed to put together in some of his spare time. They came with an ear piece that the trio could wear so they could not only keep track of one another in case the need to split up came, but they could also communicate along distances.

"It might be worthwhile for us to keep in contact if we split! The handheld bits will help us keep track of one another. Josh'll be yellow. Elise? You'll be purple. And I'll be green."

Once the devices lit up, it showed a green radar that flashed their three positions. In the distance, there was a red dot. It didn't seem to move whatsoever. However Sven's eyes lit up in joy at the discovery. So it seemed there was some sort of power spot in the area! They'd have to discover it at some point.

"Don't mind the red dot. That just means there's a power spot nearby. I'd love to come back and investigate, but the ship takes priority right now!"

tl;dr
- introduces self and takes Resheph as his mount / offers to trade if Elise wants the Dragonair
- gives the team some radars and ear pieces so they can keep communication with one another
- mentions a nearby power spot but mentions the spacecraft takes priority

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Josh Devlin, Elise Calcifet

And just like that, one of the Rookidee veered off from the flock and came downward to strike at Sven and his Fuecoco. While the wild bird moved in with a Peck, Sven rolled out of the way and ordered his Fuecoco to folow his moves. The two seemed to be in perfect sync with one another, as though they could read what the other was about to do. The Fuecoco jumped back, ready to use Fire Blast against the bird, but it soon stopped as though it could sense that Sven had no intention to harm the bird.

The fire croc looked back at its trainer and tilted its head curiously. Was he sure? Sven gave a nod and reached into his pocket. He had a half-eaten granola bar that perhaps the Rookidee had managed to sniff out. After he broke it up, he gave a piece to the wild Rookidee and put the rest back into the wrapper. He gave it to the Rookidee itself and ushered the bird to fly back into the sky with its flock.

"Make sure to share that with your buddies!" Sven called out as he waved.

Sure, he missed the opportunity to catch an admittedly impressive bird, but he figured that there were more surprises out there in the safari. Sven knelt down and gave the Fuecoco a pat on the head before he took a piece of granola he'd kept aside and tossed it into Chomper's gaping maw. Satisfied with the little treat, the two ventured on.

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@safarizone