"that's because it's an old picture."

he took it when he just graduated university so he looks like a child, or at least by his own standards. maybe he should update it, but he does look cute on it still.

regardless, instead of talking it out, wolfgang decides to go for the accusation route. it's rude to point that out, first of all, and this reaction was justified.

"you sayin' it's bad? you callin' me ugly, is that it?"

amid his outburst, he takes a seat at the coffee shop table.

wolfgang comes up to a cafe since all romance plots have to start in an open thread in a coffee shop setting.

the aroma of coffee wafts through his nose as he opens the door. it's all coffee all around since it's a coffee shop, maybe deserts too. the place was pretty generic.

"oi."

he finds the man he matched with on grindr. it's MATIAS SILPH sitting on a table on their meetup place. he looks fancy as ever, since he's supposed to be rich since he's a silph.

"yeah, cosmic shit," he agrees to Eylyssa Kay's description of a meteor shower.

truthfully, he only likes watching them for the visual. they're as entertaining as what one would consider fireworks. a wish, just as she had suggested, was never something he would consider. still, he thinks of one as prompted.

"eh. get rich. something like that."

he raises his glass and clinks it with hers when they get visited by Violet Fairbanks. he glares, not wanting a crowd of strangers, but catches himself immediately. he shuts his eyes to take a mental reset and then faces her civilly this time.

"sure. why not. this party's a free-for-all anyways," he tells violet. "whaddya want us to call you?" when eylyssa introduces herself, wolfgang follows suit. "wolfgang."

it was then that the mist swallows eylyssa. wolfgang grumbles as he gets up his seat and investigates against his better judgement. it was an immediate response, unknowingly throwing logic off the table as he walks into it.

when he comes out, he sees the scene that was vastly different from the party. "shit. the fuck is this?" he knew weird shit was happening on hoenn. he did his best not to get entangled with it, but he supposed it was only time for him to experience it.

there's relief when it appears that Eylyssa Kay didn't get too offended. such was a rare occurrence, and it's not usually something he cares about so he does not have a lot of experience holding it back.

"heh, you don't need a reason to drink."

he has problems, but he's not the person to divulge them to any strangers. most of those have been resolved however, and he's been sitting in a stalemate in his life where nothing else much matters besides living his every day life.

"i ya wanna hear problems, then ya got the wrong audience, ma'am." he takes a sip of his drink before continuing. "any reason you wanna hear my story? i'm warnin' you. it's pretty boring."

wolfgang quietly dismisses himself when MATIAS SILPH, Zac Ramsay, Eva Morales and all other people got distracted with something happening outside. he brings himself to the bar, wherein he finds himself interacting with a stranger shortly after.

"nah. i'm on a date with a ghost," he responds flatly, messaged laced with sarcasm.

realizing his blunder, he chugs one whole shot of alcohol before pinching the bridge of his nose. guilt wouldn't normally come after the snark, but it does when he's in a formal event and common decency was expected.

"sorry. it's the alcohol." it's a lie, but no one would be able to notice anyways, especially a stranger. not that there's much people he'd call otherwise though. "you can call me wolfgang. you lonely?"

"ya know a lot of important people, huh?"

head scientist, head ranger, gym leader, former gym leader... the list probably goes on. he crosses his arms, smirking at himself at the mix. this definitely was not the crowd someone of his background should be hanging with.

then again, he approached a member of the elite four.

"wolfgang volkov. freelance engineer based on litteroot. pleased to meet you all."

there's a pleasant smile that accompanies the introduction to Eva Morales, Sénon Game, cait alfric and Zac Ramsay that was a bit too uncharacteristic to anyone that knows of him. it does pair well with how well he dressed himself this night.

"i don't know this man," he adds with the same expression when he sees him do his thing with zac.

the talks of marriage start. he wants to contribute, but all he can do is shoot a glance at MATIAS SILPH about the thing he just mentioned, almost stifling a snicker. he promised not to talk about it after all.

"thank you." he stares down his suit before looking back up. "yours' the same."

he also fixed his hair so it's not the usual puffy bed hair he had that MATIAS SILPH liked so much for some reason.

"you know, stars and shit. i'm actually an intellectual that's into fancy shit like that." maybe he'd drink the night too. "thought this place was better than my backyard to look at them from."

when Melody Miro starts walking away, a smile cracks in wolfgang's lips.

"bro, your dates leaving you." then he catches him looking at Eva Morales's direction, who most definitely waved at him. the smile breaks. "dude, two ladies at the same time? that's fucked up."

his riolu wears a bowtie. it's surprisingly neat, considering the brash nature of its trainer. the trainer, as well, matches his pokemon's decorum for the soiree.

he's not here to interact, but to watch the stars, or something. whatever was advertised as the main attraction of the social event, he was there for it.

killing some time, he wanders around. spotting MATIAS SILPH together with Melody Miro, he decides to approach them, being the only people he'd probably recognize. @madeleine was also there, but since he doesn't know her, he somewhat ignores her in favor of the people he know.

"hey," he calls, mostly pertaining to the newly appointed elite four. "the fuck are you guys here for? drinks?"

wolfgang looks at the blade as well.

"i think it's dull because it cut through the bones and hide too. those dull a blade."

he's not an expert on stabbing, but that's common sense at least. still, his alive riolu is dead.

"i think you can give me a badge for compensation instead."

that should amount to something, right?