"what the fuck?"

wolfgang gets red. he's not used to people being too straightforward on this kind of matter, despite being too blunt as well, albeit on a different tone of conversation.

his lips quiver in a loss of words.

taking out a slip of paper, he quickly jots down his number and hands it over aggressively, as if pushing it straight to the other's chest. as soon as he sees the motion of him grabbing it, he lets go.

"here! just fucking take this." he starts inching away, wanting the time to end fast. "you know what to do with it."

"shit!"

the typhlosion gets spooked by its trainer. flames rose from its back before they died down eventually.

a single, loud word booms from wolfgang. a hand sweeps his hair upwards, strands of white hair clumping in between his fingers. an arm rests on the table as he composes himself from the outburst

"do people not say that?" he asks.

he'd been far too secluded from the dating scene that he has forgotten the ins and outs, if he ever learned them.

"well, fuck it." he gives up on actually sounding like anything but himself. "preference and shit. that still exists for other people, yeah? they just say that shit to sound morally superior. it's bullshit, to be honest."

he heaves a sigh.

"you one of those? i mean, not having a preference is still one, i guess."

"nice to meet you, pace."

it's a nice name. easy to remember and since it's just a single syllable, easy to say as well.

"yeah, that's what people usually say when they're trying to be polite," he says unknowingly, letting it slip from his thoughts.

when the others attention goes to his typhlosion, wolfgang turns to his pokemon beside him. "yeah, he's getting fat." he then turns to pace's own bird. "yours look pretty big too."

he's unsure of what to say now. there was a reason why his social life was shit, and it shows with the lack of communication skills. awkwardly, he lets a smile out as he stirs something up.

"so, uh, you like big guys, or somethin'?"

he tries his best to get his scowl out of his face, but seeing his large ass typhlosion taking up so much room when other people have cuter pokemon around was not doing it. how else is he supposed to appear nice? part of him regrets his decision to not go with his riolu instead.

"let's get this over with," he grumbles.

with thoughts clouding his head, he begrudgingly lumbers towards the table he was assigned to. standing in front of it, he double checks the number he received on his card to make sure he's not lost, before tapping the other man's shoulder and then speaking up.

"hey," he greets, voice gruff. he clears his throat, trying to get a friendlier tone out. "name's wolfgang volkov. yours?"

surprisingly, wolfgang manages to hold his position as he keeps on petting the miltank. there seemingly was no problem with it as his hand keeps on brushing against the top of the pokemon's head.

he keeps the motion nice and constant until the miltank itself starts to get relaxed around him. others who had been previously weary of the man slowly congregate around them, curious of the development.

"so, when do we start milking her?"

he asks the question abruptly. his gaze turns from the miltank to luka, cocking his head to a side as he asks what he assumed to be an expert to making miltanks act nice.

"do we pet and milk at the same time? last time i tried to touch them under there, they didn't take it so kindly."

his lower back still feels sore even after hours of it happening.

eyes widen with the offer given to him, and then his expression shifts to a smirk. amusement is evident in his face as he thanks the server of the cafe for the alcohol refill.

"you must be really lonely too, huh?"

wolfgang can't help to chuckle right after his statement. he pauses for a bit before he continues his statement as he starts to realize that not everyone on hoenn was normal.

"you're joking, right?"

he's taken aback by the forwardness, to say at least.

he opens his mouth with an aggressive furrow in his brows. a sound comes out, but it gets stopped abruptly when wolfgang takes the moment to think.

a finger points to the direction of oldale with an outstretched arm. a chunk of woodland trees and bushes cover an area ahead of them, but he's pretty sure that there will be a fence somewhere out there.

"chuck 'em away far from here. it's the next town's problem now."

he doesn't like their neighbors anyways. they're basically in the same boat as littleroot, but they get all smug just because they can host a festival for the entire region or two.

"as long as they're not here, we're good. this'll teach 'em not to mess with us littleroot folks!"

arms rest on his waist while the typhlosion returns from its trip from the burrow and snuggles with wolfgang. the fire-type gets nudged away when dirt starts to cling on his shirt.

with a closed fist, he silently cheers on his typhlosion as it dives down the ditch. izzy's statement gets him to turn abruptly, providing an adequate correction for the sake of his already poor reputation.

"this isn't harassment. this is payback!"

ruthlessness was one trait someone picks up after hanging out with rocket for a while, especially those who had been in the organization within the blackwell regime. wolfgang's case, however, was a case of his personality matching well with stereotypes.

he opens his mouth to explain more, but realizes where his priorities lie when he turns back to the hole where his typhlosion was doing its job.

"smoke every last of 'em out, rex!"

black smoke start to rise up from the exit hole where the inkay had already started wrangling up the bunnelby. every single one exits the warren. wolfgang immediately rises up from a crouching position, pats izzy at the back, before chasing after the ones that escaped.

"fucking get them!"

"you're friend probably teasingly called you a miltank because of-" he motions the shape of melons with his hands in front of his chest. "really sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

the last part had a sarcastic tone attached to it, but it meshes well with wolfgang's natural speaking voice so it's not as evident without context clues and being observant. he'd argue that it wasn't out of malice, but simply because he's caring.

her first contact with her hand causes him to flinch, but he gets over it quickly. he lets her guide it towards the miltank's head, and for the first time since this morning, he finally gets one of them to stay within his touch.

wolfgang continues to do the 'soft touch', as luka had coined it. the pets on the miltank's head don't stop, afraid that any shift will put a halt to this moment.

he just wants to build shit. though he dabbles on sciences related to his field, they're not really his passion so he finds it troublesome and boring. still, a client's a client and he can't really turn them down with rent fast approaching.

"depends. smelting it down to its basic components is the easy part. figuring out compounds that make up this metal's the hard part."

wolfgang scratches his head as he makes the estimate.

"can't give ya an accurate estimate but it won't take a fucking year, if that's what you're worried about. maybe a couple of weeks, more or less?"

he's not even sure if he has the tools to appraise things properly, but who cares about that.

the real one approaches him. wolfgang sits still and casually sips what remains of his alcoholic drink, watching the elite four strike up a conversation with him.

"yeah. should've given him a beating. lying's not cool, bro."

the glass is left on the table after finishing the last drop. his eyes were trained on it, as if staring at it will fill it up.

"well, that's that. sorry for taking your time if that shit hasn't said that yet."

what else was he going to do in this position? he asks himself and finds no answer.

it wasn't always that wolfgang comes out to the wilds to do something, but his riolu needed things to do and sitting around at home while he watches tv just wasn't cutting it.

there were silent prayers offered as they walk through a nature trail that a wild pokemon won't jump them. maybe they can just stare at it and do some bird watching, but not an actual encounter.

he looks at baxter as the thought comes to his mind and squints. the riolu is confused, but continues to walk and not question it regardless.