nostabbing | 007 | Violet City;

Entry tags:

007 | Violet City; | Video / Action;

Being back in Violet after a successful thieving mission has left Parker...oddly restless. Sure, it was great to be back On The Job With A Team after a long dry spell of personal freelancing — albeit with A Team that surely would've driven Nate to drink even more than he usually did (which is saying something) — but working a job in the first place, and completing it, has put her in something of a Mood. Working (stealing) is something she understands. It's something she's good at. It's one of the few things in the world she could actually confidently say she likes.

The problem is, the long con has never been her game, and while professionally speaking she doesn't actually have a problem with stealing, thieves, or committing crimes in general, there's something that still puts her off about the thought that Team Rocket is the Bad Guys™. The capital letters are significant; even if you are something of a bad guy yourself in the strictest law-abiding sense, the Bad Guys™ are the ones who hurt people and deserve to be crushed into the dirt in flawless Nate Ford fashion, and helping out the Bad Guys™ in their aims — even if it's all part of a plan to situate yourself to be able to take them down in the long run — still doesn't quite sit well with her.

On the other hand, part of what they do (that is, she and her team of bad guys who are not Bad Guys™) is protecting the people who are Actually Good, and there's some of that to her promotion, too. It's always better to have the head of security's ID card than some average grunt's; just the other day, she successfully pulled rank on somebody and it got him to lay off. So this is a good thing, this promotion into the Bad Guys™'s fold. She just...doesn't...like it.

What she does like is stealing, and stealing suggests jewelry stores, and that's how she'd ended up at the little mom-and-pop jewelry store tucked away down a side street in Violet City, where her standard perusal of the modest wares was promptly derailed — the clerk, apparently whiling away a somewhat boring afternoon behind the counter, had been amusing himself with making simple bead sculptures to decorate the window display case, and Parker's ~~creepy~~ rapt fascination with his work had quickly led to the offer of a demonstration.

(Was that flirting? Maybe it was flirting. Giving her the benefit of his employee's discount on an assortment of beads and wire to take with her when she left was probably flirting. ...Maybe.)

Which left her with an armful of boxes, a head full of new information, and a slip of paper with a guy's phone number on it. Did it actually make her feel better? She's honestly not entirely sure. But hey, competently (?) navigating an everyday social interaction? She'll take her successes where she can get them.

~

[This afternoon, ~~Parker~~ "Alice" can be found at an outdoor table belonging to one of the cafes in Violet City, an iced tea condensing and forgotten on the tabletop near her as she concentrates on something that, given her level of fixation and focus, appears to be infinitely more interesting than her drink. Assembled in front of her are a set of tiny clippers, a spool of thin jewelry wire, and a few boxes of beads in bright and cheery colors; at the other end of this operation, a finished cell phone strap lies completed while a second, half-finished one takes shape beneath her careful fingers.

Every so often, she snaps a picture with her Gear, almost absently, like she's momentarily forgotten that it's set to upload those for public consumption to the Gear network when she does.

Bead art. It's serious business, apparently?]

[OOC: The reference picture used in this post was originally found here!]

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[Oh hey, a familiar face! Asahina has been spending her days running around Violet getting the lay of the land, running her pokemon ragged trying to keep her from getting lost or wandering out past city limits.

But now something literally shiny has caught her attention.

She actually makes it most of the way to where Alice is sitting before speaking up.] Alice-chan? [Right? In person?]

Those are really pretty! Do you make things like that a lot?

[Oh, hey! It's Ishimaru's drag-resistant not-girlfriend. Wow, she's even perkier in person than she was over the phone.

By this point, Parker's just beginning a new strap; there's a black one with red accent lying completed nearby, and she's in the process of stringing red beads onto the wires to get this new one kicked off.]

Oh. Hi!

[She glances up, fingers still working absently — she's done it enough by now that muscle memory is filling in when she's not paying it full attention herself.]

No, I just learned today. From a guy. I guess it's not that hard.

[A little wave, and Asahina looks over to get a closer look at the beadwork.]

Eh? Just today? That's extra impressive then. I was never really that good at crafts or artsy things, so it's always really interesting to see what people who are good at it can make.

It's not that hard. It's just the same thing over and over again.

[Which is arguably why she's picked it up so fast; repetitive movements and predictable patterns have always been easy for her, particularly when they involve her fingers.

Who knew safecracking and lockpicking would contribute to independent artistic progress (as opposed to the kind of progress that involves depositing paintings into the trunk of her car), huh?

Either way, she kind of stares at Asahina a moment, feeling like this is the point where she's supposed to say something, and after a few moments of focused contemplation, she takes a tentative stab at it.]

...If...you want to...try a row I can show you.

[IS SHE DOIN IT RITE]

[Oh! She's doing it right if the way Asahina's eyes light up is any indication. She beams a little.] Really? I'd like that a lot!

[She plops herself down in a seat at the table, looking to Alice attentively and eagerly. She is ready to be the world's best student.

...she is ready to try to be the world's best student. She'll pay attention anyway! No guarantees on results.]

[OKAY, PARKER. YOU CAN DO THIS. IT'S JUST LIKE TEACHING A FIVE-YEAR-OLD HOW TO PICK THEIR FIRST PADLOCK IN UNDER SIX SECONDS. You can do this.

Breeeeeeeeeeathe.

She shifts the pre-bound wires over so that they're in front of Asahina, and then sort of awkwardly looks at the girl's hands a minute before...picking them up and kind of...placing them on the ends of the wires in the appropriate positions, because that's how you teach people, right.]

Okay, so when you make a line of beads, there's actually two wires running through it, see? One from each side. So it makes an X. That's why they stay where they're supposed to. So you get your beads from the box and string them on the one...

[She'll do this part for Asahina this time...]

And then you take the other one and you put it through, too, but in the opposite direction. Okay?

[Asahina watches, not fussing at all when her hands are physically moved. She's not the type to wonder over methods or anything of the sort. Teaching method works for her.]

Oh! I think I get it. That's what holds them in that shape.

[She's watching the other woman's hands closely now. Oh she can totally do this. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.]

Can I try?

Yeah, sure. Just do the same thing again with the...these ones right here, the red beads.

[She taps the box for emphasis.]

[Simple instructions. Asahina has this! She takes a fair bit longer than Parker did, but she's got it right anyway.] Ha! Look, this is right, isn't it?

[She's so proud of herself.] Say, Alice-chan. Can I ask you a question? How'd you meet Ishimaru and Oowada and the others?

[Uh-oh. This question. Luckily, she manages to hide most of her alarm, but—

DON'T MENTION RITUAL SUICIDE DON'T MENTION RITUAL SUICIDE DON'T MENTION RITUAL SUICIDE.]

I met Ishimaru first!

[DON'T SCREW THIS UP, PARKER.]

He was appreciating the sky and crying all over the place so I went to see if he was... [DON'T SAY "DEAD", PARKER, DON'T SAY "DEAD"] ...okay. And then we started talking about... [DON'T SAY "RITUAL SUICIDE"] ...stuff and I helped him out a couple times and we kept ending up in the same cities, so pretty soon we were just...friends.

[WHEW.]

[Since there are no mentions of ritual suicide, this all sounds perfectly normal and plausible, so Asahina just smiles.] That does sound like Ishimaru. Especially since we were all cooped up so long.

[A little nod.] Well I'm glad. You seem really nice, Alice-chan. And Ishimaru's a good guy, so he deserves good people for friends.

[Asahina has spoken. This is how things work in the world according to her.]

Cooped up in school? Because of the...thing.

[She makes a slight face, averting her eyes briefly.]

You don't have to talk about the thing. I know it was...bad. But, um. That was the...what it was?

Ah... mm. That's right.

[Asahina's expression sobers, eyes fixed on her fingers as she fusses with the beads.]

It was really bad. But... but that's what it was. [Risking a glance up.] Ishimaru told you about it?

Uh-uh. Just that it was bad. You don't...have to tell me. It's okay. I guess it's probably not something that's a lot of fun to talk about, huh.

[Well, that's the understatement of the century, probably, but god bless her, at least she's trying.]

Hey, um. You...you know you're safe here, right? The bad thing, whatever happened...it's not going to happen here. You're gonna be okay. All of you guys.

[She promises.]

[A little nod at that.] It isn't. But at the same time... I feel bad sometimes, like I'm pretending it didn't happen by being happy here. Even though so many of my friends...

[Asahina is swimming in survivor's guilt, not her favorite sort of swimming. It's only since she got to this place that she's had time for it to begin to surface, to begin to come to terms with it.]

Mm! It is safe here. And I hope my other classmates can come here too. I really... I really hope I get to see everyone again.

I don't think it's pretending.

[She keeps her eyes fixed on the beads, poking idly at one of the unused containers and rustling them around with one finger.]

Maybe it's just...you know. Not letting it hold you back, I guess. You can sit around and be sad all you want, but at least if you're doing something...then something's happening, I guess. And maybe they wouldn't want you to sit around being sad about them, either. That's kind of selfish, right? Wanting somebody else to be sad? And it's not like you're forgetting, you're just...doing more than just remembering.

I guess that's true. They wouldn't want that at all. Especially Sakura-chan... [Especially with everything Sakura-chan had done to make sure that everyone could move on as a group.]

Thanks, Alice-chan. I mean it. [She looks up with an attempt at a smile, faintly sheepish.] Sorry for getting all emotional. It's still hard to think about.

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007 | Violet City; | Video / Action;

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