004 | Goldenrod City | Text / Action;

[nostabbing]

[It's late afternoon, it's eighty-six degrees and sunny, and here on a Goldenrod City park bench sits Parker with her hair pulled back in a ratty braid that dangles forgotten over one shoulder. She's basically commandeered the whole bench at this point, even though she's only occupying one small end of it; the rest remains wholly unusuable because it's covered in all manner of stuff, from Pokemon plushies to coin purses to potted plants to other odds and ends you might find at the prize counter of an arcade (and yes, there's a red-and-white Pokeball tucked away in there, too).

But despite the heaps of stuff (and the Poochyena in a fedora standing guard over it nearby, and the Vulpix with the diamond necklace for a collar sifting through it with interest), Parker doesn't seem particularly happy as she hangs out on the bench, silent but for the sound of the pencil scratching idly over the sketchpad propped against her knees. One word for her demeanor here might be "indifferent"; another few that could probably also fit would be "apathetic", "detached", "listless", or even just plain "bored".

Page by page, she's filling the sketchpad with drawings that, to all appearances, she couldn't care less about. Which might be more accurate a description than one might expect, really; this time, appearances aren't deceiving.

But eventually she sets the sketchpad aside, screws up her face for a ninety-second impromptu theater of Frustration: The Facial Expressions, and then reaches for her Gear to posit a burning question to the network: ]

~
Hey, so.

How do you know when you like stuff?


[...What? IT'S A SERIOUS QUESTION. ಠ_ಠ ]

Comments

[ardent]

Why did you continue once you had figured out the math, then?

[Obviously, it had nothing to do with the whole 'winning' thing, that's silly. Clearly the only point of these things would be the initial challenge.]

[nostabbing]

[Well, hey, at least he's right about that.]

'Cause I was kind of hoping if I played it enough I'd start having fun.

[YOU KNOW, LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.]

[ardent]

...For what reason?

[No, really, there has to be a reason.]

[nostabbing]

For what reason for what?

[A normal person would probably point out here that you don't really have to have a reason to have fun, but then look who is involved in this conversation.]

[ardent]

Why were you so determined to have fun with something like that? Especially after it became clear that you weren't!

[nostabbing]

Because they're supposed to be fun!

...Arcades. And games. Stuff like that, it's supposed to be fun. That's why they have it. For people to play and have fun.

...

So I was trying to like it.

[ardent]

[...he's still not quite seeing what the issue is.]

And? Maybe you just don't like them! There's nothing wrong with that - they're a waste of time anyway!

[nostabbing]

I know.

[Maybe he'll get it when he sees how resigned she looks.]

I guess maybe I just don't like anything.

[ardent]

[...wait, what - ]

Why would you say that...?

[nostabbing]

You know how people have, like...stuff they do, that's not their job? Like cooking, or acting, or manipulating people or whatever. Well, I don't...really do anything but my job. So I thought maybe I should try to see if I could find something.

[LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.]

But I don't really like anything like that.

[ardent]

[...huh.]

You don't spend time with friends?

[Because that's a thing people do, right?]

[nostabbing]

[She kind of shrugs.]

They're not here. They're at home.

[She's all alooooooooooone.]

[ardent]

[He hesitates for a moment before just kind of plowing right on ahead with it.]

Well, we're friends, aren't we?!

[...it's somewhere between an assertion and a question.]

At least, I like to think we are!!

[nostabbing]

[...Well. Okay. Yes, but...hmmm.

Because after all, wasn't he Alice's friend? Alice probably knew how to like stuff. Like not eating animals. Or keeping books. Or getting coffee with people and sitting around talking for a million years about cats and stuff.

Friends meant people like Hardison and Eliot. Like who Archie had said were her family. They were Parker's friends. And also kind of family.

So maybe that's where something got lost in the translation between Part A and Part B. Ralph was definitely Alice's friend. So was Ishimaru.

It just hadn't quite clicked that maybe that meant they were Parker's friends, too.]

Yes...

[Which, actually—]

So what do you like to do?

[ardent]

[Good question. Um.]

W-Well, I'm not very familiar with just having fun for the sake of it! But I enjoy studying, as it's very important to me, as were my duties with the disciplinary committee back home!

Otherwise, though, I...

[...okay let's not discuss getting naked and hanging out because Alice is a female and that wouldn't be too appropriate would it]

...I spend time bonding with my brother and sometimes I socialize!

[he tried.]

[nostabbing]

[...Okay, so all of his ideas suck, and none of her ideas have panned out yet...

...

Maybe they just need to go find something to learn to enjoy together.

GENIUS.]

So...let's go try something else. ...Maybe we'll have fun at it if there's two of us doing it?

[#logic? 1 + 1 = potato?]

[ardent]

[He has to think about that for a moment; he still doesn't understand the point in having fun for fun's sake, as there's no life benefit to it that he can see - but he doesn't have his duties here, either, and there's no school and there aren't even any textbooks and he's been at a loss when it comes to how to pass the time...Oowada-kun has been helping him with that, and sometimes he talks to the network, but...]

...What do you have in mind?

[nostabbing]

[Well, they can't go back in the Game Corner, she got summarily kicked out of there after she threw a snow globe at the counter guy's head. So...okay, what else do people do for fun?

...Normal people.

People who are not thieves.

Don't say "let's go steal a painting", Parker.]

Um.

[Crap.]

I know a really good pizza place.

[ardent]

[...oh, is that all? Okay, we can do this thing.]

All right then! I...I would like that!

[nostabbing]

[BABY STEPS. Someday they can graduate up to the intermediate level of...like, board games or something.]

Okay.

[Once she finds a place to stash her mountain of stuff, obviously.]

[ardent]

[...yeah, um.]

...Would you like help with all that? You have a lot of things.

[nostabbing]

Yeah, I should probably swipe a van or at least a—

[WAIT. STOP. HOLD THAT THOUGHT.]

...Kidding! Um. Yeah, I should maybe get some...bags. And...make a couple trips. To carry it all. Without a van.

[ardent]

[He laughs a bit, though the sound is a bit stilted and more than slightly nervous, as though he's not entirely sure...why he's laughing.]

W-Well, I could wait here for you and...watch your things! While you do that.

...without a van.

[nostabbing]

Good idea!

[He can watch the pile, and Nate and Sophie can watch him, and Parker can go steal a van and somehow load all the stuff into it while Ishimaru's not watching.

Perfect.]

I'll be right back.

[ardent]

[...Alice-san...]

I'll be awaiting your return, then!

[Hopefully Nate and Sophie won't mind him too much.]