nostabbing | 008 | Goldenrod City

008 | Goldenrod City | Video / Action;

[So as is frequently becoming a habit for Parker these days, this afternoon she's got her Gear out and the camera function working as a means of surreptitiously snapping pictures of things to look at — where "things" is synonymous with "really expensive jewelry because she's standing in a jewelry store in Goldenrod City browsing the wares" — and that's the reason the following brief bout of No-Context Theater makes it onto the Gear Network; evidently, the shopkeeper saw her ~~casing~~ looking at the particularly expensive pieces and decided to come over and make a sales pitch, and Parker opted for just shoving the Gear into her back pocket. She was aiming for the off switch, but in her haste, the record function got bumped instead, and as a result, the whole video is dark but the sound of voices come through reasonably clearly.]

They're very lovely, aren't they? Is there something I can help you with, miss?

...No. Nope, just looking.

Ah, you've been looking at our Shooting Staryu selection. You have excellent taste! That one there with the blue stones would look magnificent on you, you know. Were you hoping to take one home with you today?

[Anyone who truly knew Parker would understand the somewhat uncomfortable reason for the awkward pause here — because presumably she was, albeit not in the way the shopkeeper was presuming — and uh-oh, ohgod, what is she supposed to say here.]

No. Nope, no, just looking today! Just looking.

Well, I hope you'll keep us in mind for a special occasion, then! Our wares make wonderful gifts. I don't suppose you have a birthday coming up?

[There is a long pause.]

Uh, miss? ...Hello?

...Yeah. On Saturday.

Saturday! Well, here, you just come right along here with me and I'll get you one of our cards, and you show it to some handsome young man you know — I'm sure they're beating down your door! — and tell him to come right on down and ask for Felix and we'll have you wearing that piece yet! Just come right alo—

Wait, what? No! What? Hey—

[And somewhere amid the hustle and bustle, the Gear gets bumped again and switches off.]

[OOC: Responses from Parker will come shortly after this post is concluded; she's the pink text, whereas the NPC shopkeeper is orange!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Mondo, have you gotten used to that blank stare of Parker's yet? The one where it's clear that she's missing some key part of what's just been said and you can practically hear the wheels burning rubber in her head as she tries to figure out what it is?

Have that look. What do you mean, money isn't a present...?

She's already told him she's not a bookkeeper and the feed is locked, so it can't be that he's expecting her to say something boring like "an encyclopedia" or a beancake or something...right?]

Nnnn...ooooomaybe? Um.

[...Look let's just. Let's just move on before she starts rattling off suggestions of things she does want, all of which are either egregiously out of any sort of legitimate birthday price range or, y'know. Illegal.]

Cool! Party on his birthday. Okay, yeah, I can bring him a present and help out and stuff.

[Mondo tips his head a bit at that look - that's never a good sign, but he'll come back to that in a moment.]

Great! I've gotta get in contact with the new kids who arrived, but after that we all should be good! I don't think they'll be able to get him presents right now since they don't get much money to start with, but at least being there to show their support'll be good, right?

[With that out of the way, he returns to the previous topic.]

As for money it's... well, it's not something most people give. I mean, unless they're giving gift cards or shit like that - does Johto even have gift cards? - but I think that seems kinda impersonal, y'know? Getting a gift is usually a show of how well you know someone. I'm just really fucking bad at it.

But if you want money, I can give you that! I'm not trying to say you should want something else or anything!

...He can't have a birthday without presents. Don't worry, I'm on it.

[She's got this. How Switch the Aerodactyl is going to handle the possible mountain of gifts Parker is going to haul home with them is anyone's guess, but by god, it is a thing that will happen.

...Oh. Oh. Aha, there's the discrepancy, she sees it now. It's the "how well you know someone" part that he doesn't get, because obviously he doesn't know her well enough to know that money is the right and meaningful gift for someone like her.

AHA, SHE GETS IT NOW.]

I like money a lot, though.

Well, if you're sure! That makes it pretty easy on both of us, huh?

[DON'T WORRY PARKER, HE'S GOT THIS TOO]

Oh, and be careful if you go past the jewelry store with the red awning in the shopping district. The guy in the store tries really hard to get people to buy stuff.

I don't ever set foot in jewelry stores, so you won't have to worry about that!

Why not? There's a bunch of neat-looking stuff in there.

Not my kinda stuff. Jewelry's never interested me. I mean, shit's way too expensive anyway, so it's not like I could afford to give it to any of the girls I liked back home.

Hang on, I'll send you some pictures.

[And prepare to receive legitimately 20+ attachments of photos Parker took of the fine jewelry in that store, Mondo. JOIN HER IN ADMIRING THE MAJESTY!!]

Jewelry's almost as good as money. A lot more portable and the value to size ratio is generally better, but not as liquid and a lot easier to trace. Especially with the new advancements in laser engraving that they're putting on all the gemstones these days. They're no good unless you can get the serial numbers off.

[Dear god, that's a lot of pictures-- wait.]

You steal this shit?

[He doesn't sound like he's judging, merely curious.]

I guess I should've expected that. I mean, you know how to steal cars, so 'course you'd know how to go after jewelry, right?

[WHOOPS. Abort, abort, abo—wait, he doesn't sound mad. Wait...wait for it...waaaaait...]

It's...kind of part of my spy job. Knowing how to do that stuff.

[Which is...technically true, albeit with a couple of really significant bits left out. SO ABOUT PAR FOR THE COURSE WITH THEM LATELY, REALLY.]

[Headtilt. Is this what spies do? It sounds kind of suspicious, but he's never talked to a spy before, so...]

That's pretty fucking cool. Well, I mean, not the stealing itself, but the fact that you know all about this shit. Would've been pretty handy if I'd known more about it back home!

[HE GOT THROWN IN JAIL ONCE IT WAS TERRIBLE]

[Fun fact: Parker has canonically never been caught. She is also the only member of the team who has never been caught.

#thief swag]

Yeah, it's...you learn how to do it. And then, you know, to stop the bad guys you have to be better than them at it, right?

[Beat.]

I went undercover on a diamond case once. Stolen diamonds.

[...Also technically true, though admittedly that was the case where she got stuck grifting in Sophie's absence and Hardison got kidnapped by Russians and...yeah.]

Holy shit, really? It sounds like you've had a lot of interesting adventures! You'll have to tell me about 'em!

[PARKER, PARKER YOU ARE THE COOLEST]

...Really?

[...Wait, is she allowed to...well, then again, it's not like the rest of her team is here, and there aren't any laws or anything, so...]

I mean...yeah. Yeah, they're pretty cool. We do stuff.

Well, yeah, I imagine you would!

[But he grins, clearly not trying to tease her too badly.]

Sounds like you've had a lot of fun with 'em!

Some of it's fun. Some of it's not as fun.

[She shrugs a little]

Talking to the people we help, that's...that's not really fun.

What do you mean? I guess they'd be pretty upset if they lost their diamonds or something; is that it?

...

[She's just going to shift to someplace a little quieter for this, and leans up against the side of a brick building as she talks.]

Our last big job? The guy we were helping out, he was a part of a resistance movement fighting for freedom in Iran. This bad guy was selling software to the Iranian government that was making it impossible for the resistance movement to communicate and coordinate — surveillance stuff, you know? This guy, he lived in America, he was part of the resistance from overseas and he hadn't seen his family in a couple years, and the Iranian government managed to track him down and wreck his equipment and nearly killed him so he couldn't keep helping. So we went in to disable the surveillance system. So he could see his family again. So they'd stand a chance.

I see...

[He doesn't really, but he's trying!!]

It sounds like you guys do a lot of different types of jobs, huh? Did that guy manage to get back to his family eventually?

Yeah. It turned out okay. We got the system shut down and everything.

That's great! But I guess all missions don't turn out that well. You must've seen some pretty shitty stuff.

Our leader got shot once. Our hitter gets beat up a lot, too, but he's our hitter, so.

[And then she kind of hesitates, but finally seems to reach a decision.]

Right before I came here, I was on a solo mission that went bad, and I...got trapped. My team had to come bail me out.

[Mondo doesn't interrupt her, waiting for her to speak again. When she does, he winces.]

Shit, that must've sucked. But you did get out of it alright?

Who puts laser trip wires in a ventilation shaft?!

008 | Goldenrod City | Video / Action;

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