007 | Violet City; | Video / Action;

[nostabbing]

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!]

Comments

[ardent]

I...I see...

[He kind of doesn't see, but for the time being he is just going to...try to make himself see? I mean, he doesn't understand the point in doing this at all, there's nothing you really get out of it (unless you really wanted a phone strap, maybe, but back home Ishimaru's phone was crap to the point that even decorating it wouldn't save it) and he doesn't really get why Alice is botheri-

...oh. Oh, hang on.]

Are you still trying to find things you like?

[nostabbing]

...Sort of. I mean, it doesn't do anything. It just kinda...hangs there. I guess maybe you could break it if you needed the wire for something but it's kinda too thin to really hold up to much, and maybe you could trip somebody with the beads if you threw them down but...

[She glances over at that completed strap (which happens to be green with a pink flower) and works her mouth a little in contemplation before picking it up and just...kind of...shoving it at him.]

I didn't know your favorite color so I made yours green.

[EXPECTANT LOOK.]

[ardent]

[His eyes widen considerably at that, and for a moment he just kind of freezes up and stands there staring at her; even when he seems to find words, he's still a bit too focused on her face to really take it from her properly.]

You...you made something for me?

[WHAT IS THIS.]

[nostabbing]

[OH SHIT SHE BROKE HIM where is the user manual dammit]

The black one is going to be for Mondo. 'Cause it's, y'know. Tough. Gang-leadery.

[...JUST KEEP FORGING ON AHEAD. MAYBE THAT'LL FIX IT. KEEP GOING.]

...There are enough beads to do five?

[ardent]

You didn't have to do all this!

[But he finally manages to move to accept it anyway, even if this is some really awesome railroading going on and he has no idea what to do with any of it.]

It's...this is...

[words, how do we]

This is very kind of you, Alice-san!!

[okay you know what, now that that's out there he is just going to entirely forego words in favor of tears, is everyone okay with this because that's what's happening]

[nostabbing]

[Oh, hell, is he crying? He's crying. Shit, man, she hasn't seen him cry like this since—

...

...since that time she caught him appreciating the sky...

...

And then, suddenly, like a lightbulb, it all makes sense.

He likes it. c: ]

Sorry it doesn't do anything.

[Meanwhile she's just going to grab a napkin and, while he's still within arm's reach, just kind of start...blotting...off his face...there...]

[ardent]

D-Do anything?

[He doesn't move out of her reach or anything, though he does pull back a little at that, because he's a...not-quite-teenager and he still has his pride to keep intact. But her words are more than enough of a distraction to ensure he won't be going too far.]

What do you mean?

[nostabbing]

Useful.

[Well, at least the dabbing is better than her alternative idea, which was grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him until he stopped crying. But eventually the soggy napkin will be set aside.]

They just hang off your phone. It doesn't really do anything.

[ardent]

...Ah. You don't have to apologize for that, Alice-san, it's just nice that you made it in the first place.

[God, this is awkward, but at least the tears have let up.]

Have you been talking to the others? My classmates.

[nostabbing]

The animal ones are pretty cool. The guy gave me his phone number, so maybe sometime I can call and find out how he did those, too.

[Oh, but speaking of talking to people! Yes. Classmates.

...That Naegi guy could really stand to take some lessons from Ishimaru on how to be socially competent, man. He's not very good at it.]

I think I met everybody. I talked to the swimmer who isn't your girlfriend the other day and then I think I made Makoto mad talking about ritual suicide.

[She regards the beads thoughtfully.]

I won't put any red in his.

[ardent]

[What - ]

Why were you talking about ritual suicide with Naegi-kun in the first place?!

[nostabbing]

[Oh, here it goes.]

He asked how we met?

[ardent]

And what does ritual suicide have to do with -

[...ohhhhh.]

Honorifics. That...discussion about the honorifics...

[nostabbing]

When we were appreciating the sky.

[Beat.]

I told him I knew they were different.

[ardent]

...What else did you tell him?

[He can see many ways this might have gone badly; if that was all, then that was all and he doesn't fault Naegi for it even with just that much to go by, but...]

[nostabbing]

[Hmmm. She purses her lips again, thinking back over it.]

I said I liked his hoodie.

[ardent]

...I meant about the suicide, but he does have a very magnificent hoodie, yes!

[nostabbing]

Oh. Um...oh. He got mad right after I said it was good to know the difference between an honorific and ritual suicide because it'd be really bad for people to go around disemboweling themselves for honor. And that nobody would want someone to do that.

[WAIT HANG ON. HANG ON. SAYING IT OUT LOUD IS MAKING HER GET IT.]

Did his little sister stab herself?

[ardent]

N-No...

[Alice is probably the last person he wants to discuss the incident at the school with; he can't imagine it doing anything but making her upset at best. At the same time, he's hit with the hideous realization that he has no idea how Oogami actually died - just that Naegi had said she'd killed herself.

So just...give him a moment.]

...It would be best not to mention death like that around my classmates.

[nostabbing]

All of them?

[And you know, there's a sort of chain reaction here as all the bits and components of the interactions that led up to this start to jumble together and toss around in different ways — Ishimaru, classmates, school, the day they met.

It was a while ago now, and her recall is good, but not perfect. But she does remember, right before the part about honorifics — there was an incident at my school, and what she'd said after: you're safe here.

That was when they'd really become friends, wasn't it?]

Is it because of the thing that happened at your school?

[What had Asahina said? "Where we were before, with everything going on, it wasn't a romantic setting at all"?]

[ardent]

It...yes, it's because of that. The situation isn't good, Alice-san.

[It's kind of a hideous understatement, that. The situation isn't good. The situation is about as far removed from good as possible.

But he doesn't try to correct himself; he just leaves it there.]

[nostabbing]

[Well. Well, that...that sure did just...

That...

they're just little kids]

Nobody's gonna hurt you. Any of you.

[This is how Nate feels. This is why Nate acts the way he does when they do jobs with little kids.

He's the one she sounds like when she speaks next.]

I am not going to let anyone hurt you.

[ardent]

[He takes a moment, before he answers; lets himself breathe, tries to brace himself and come up with something to say. He's not going to cry over this - he's spent too long crying over this, and he's quite frankly sick of crying over it, and if he doesn't pick himself up now and carry on with his duties and what passes for a life here, then maybe he's never going to and that's not acceptable.]

...I know, Alice-san. I know! And I won't let anything hurt any of the others, either; I've given them my word, and I intend to keep it!

They've been through enough, I think; nothing like that will happen to them again.

[nostabbing]

[As is per standard for an Ishimaru and Alice-san interaction, passerby are probably staring, but who really gives a shit.

Certainly not Parker, who is carefully mustering words herself.]

Listen. If we have to...if...if you ever get told—

[Punctuated by a significant look.]

—that you have to...do something. Something that's bad? Let me do it. I should do it. Not you. Okay?

[ardent]

...Alice-san, I'm not going to make you do that!

[He looks a bit alarmed again, his words sharp and rushed.]

I can't ask you to do that for me - I can handle things, if it comes to that!