"We feign opulence just to get by, put on false confidence just to feel alive. They can't hurt me anymore; there's nothing left to break of me, there's nothing left to take from me."
Rori sucked a breath in, expecting pain as the audino took her injured hand. Instead, the pain faded away, as if she’d taken a ton of aspirin. She fought the urge to wiggle her fingers, after all, the stranger hadn’t told her exactly which bones in her hand were cracked. It could be a joint, for all she knew. Unfortunately, a brace wasn’t going to make it past Robin either.
After her nose was as healed as it was going to get, she considered adding that she’d been kicked in the ribs enough for some serious pain, but she knew from previous experience that they weren’t broken. Sure, the bruise would be disgusting, but it was incredible she’d been helped as much as is.
“It’s not my fault they underestimated my skarmory’s battle experience,” she huffed, too caught up in a wave of angry embarrassment to remember to thank the pair. “They’re the ones idiotic enough to bet so much money.”
Crystal pet Connie’s head, giving her a quiet thanks before returning her to her ball. Stuffing the ball into her pocket, Crystal turned to the kid. She rose a brow, biting back a scoff and put a hand to her hip.
“Oh yes it is, sweetheart. Sure, they were fools to think that, to bet so much money; Skarmory’s are inherently strong. But you just went ahead and thought they’d pay willy nilly.” She looked over her nails, seeming much more interested in them than the kid. “If you’re going to hustle properly, love, learn to size up your mark. And if you can’t defend yourself, keep your Pokemon out.” Crystal picked some dirt from under her nail and looked at the kid again. “Better luck next time, darling.” And with that, she began walking away. That was enough excitement for her for now.
While the sun was up, at least. Once it was dark she had plans.
Slowly, the brunette sat up, trying very hard to focus on the pair in front of her through the haze of pain and blood loss. “I think my nose is broken, and my hand might be too,” she whimpered, leaning her head carefully against one of the brick walls. She was cold and tired and humiliated and in so, so much pain.
She held out her un-injured hand to the ‘mon in greeting, having never seen an audino up close before. Its presence was soothing, at least, even before it had started using its healing magic.
“Well, lucky for you Connie here is very good at what she does. And I’m good at resetting a broken bone.” Crystal would be long dead if she and Connie weren’t good at treating injuries. Crystal looked over the kid’s hand. “The bone is most likely cracked, but not shattered. Connie can fix the bruises, but not the bone.” Not yet, at least. “You’re going to need a brace for a little while. As for your nose...” She placed two fingers under her chin and lifting her head to get a better look at the kid’s nose.
Connie, meanwhile, butted her head against the kid’s uninjured hand and gave her a smile. She moved in closer, gentle claws taking the kid’s injured hand and turning it over. She looked it over, ears twitching, feelers running over the injury so light it’d feel like a feather. Then Connie hovered her paws over the injury, and her paws began to glow. The pain in the kid’s hand dissipated, as did the bruises that had begun to form. Once finished, she sat back and looked to Crystal.
“The bone is fractured, but not displaced, so I don’t need to set it. Connie an do what she needs to, and you’ll be fine. Aside from the blood on you.” Crystal backed off and stood up, allowing Connie to come closer and use her healing magic on the kid’s face.
Crystal checked outside the alley, just making sure those men were really gone. Damaged pride lead to blindly attacking. Blindly attacking could include guns. Not to mention she didn’t want anymore unwanted attention, but thankfully people didn’t seem interested at all.
Connie, once finished, returned to Crystal’s side and Crystal looked back at the kid. “Think before you hustle next time, love. It’ll leave you with less broken bones and bruises.”
The man finally took his foot off of Rori, but his attention was focused on the blade pressed firmly to his neck. He opened his mouth once to make a dumbass comment, but noticed his friends were taken out, so he shut it again.
This weird game of chicken carried on for about a minute before he fully stepped away, turned, and ran away, leaving Rori and Crystal behind. After a moment, his friends followed, not yet upset that they had basically been thrown under the bus.
Rori had stopped screaming, but she didn’t seem to register that the men were gone or that Crystal was standing over her. Instead, she curled in on herself, shutting her eyes and trembling as she waited stupidly for the pain to go away.
Crystal watched him closely. She didn’t take her eyes off him until he and his friends were gone. Click click click and her knife was gone. Stuffed back into her coat pocket. She pulled out a pokeball and released Connie. Connie’s ears flapped about as she shook her head. She licked her paws and looked up at Crystal, her feelers twitching.
Crystal knelt down beside the kid. “They’re gone, love. You’re alright,” her tone became much softer, “My Audino can help you, but I need you to to show her your injuries.”
“Kid or not,” the man on the left replied, “the brat punched him first. It’s self defense.” Still, the look the woman was giving him was unnerving. Maybe he should warn his buddy…
“All due respect, lady,” the second man spoke, not sounding respectful at all, “this is none of your business.” It seemed like the pair were going to foolishly ignore the woman’s undisguised threat.
The third man looked up from Rori, wondering what the hell was going on over there. He had just stepped towards the three when he noticed his punching bag reaching for her pokeball again. “Still have some fight left in you after all,” he taunted, using his foot to shove her arm away and smash her hand against the concrete. “Too bad you’re so reliant on those pokemon a’yours.”
He trapped Rori’s fingers under his heavy boot, very rapidly applying painful pressure, oblivious to anything going on around him aside from Rori’s screaming.
“All due respect, love,” Crystal’s voice lost all sweetness. She spoke smoothly, but the warning in her tone was clear. “It’s my business now. I’ll only say it one more time: Leave them alone or I’ll break your nose.”
“That’s just adorable, doll. You think you can take both of us down? Look at us!” The one on the left chortled again. He was going down first, his voice pissed her off. “Go home before you break a nail.”
Crystal’s gaze snapped to the third man when she noticed him move towards the three of them. She noticed him kick the kids arm. She noticed the pressure he applied.
When the kid screamed, Crystal moved in.
She went for the one on the left first, keeping true to her threat, she slammed her fist into his nose. Next she brought her heel down on his foot, hard. To finish it off, she jabbed her fingers into his neck. He went down immediately, nursing his nose and wheezing for air.
“What the---?!” The other guy had more time to react to her attacks, but only just a little. He swung at her, she dodged. She grabbed his arm and twisted it, bringing him closer in and ramming her knee into his stomach. He was next to go down, nursing his damaged diaphragm. Crystal stepped back some and then kicked him in the face. Down for the count.
Crystal approached the final man, her hand in her pocket, until he was under arm’s length away from her. A soft click click clicking sound erupted from her hand, and the blade of her butterfly knife pressed against his neck.
“Do you value your life, darling? “Let the kid go,” her tone held no emotion as she said, “I’d rather not get blood on my coat, but it will turn from pink to red soon enough if you don’t leave.”
“Listen guys,” Rori spoke carefully, falling into her easy routine of innocent bystander, “I really don’t have that much money on me. I just needed to win enough to buy some food for my skarmory, you wouldn’t take that away from somebody, right? I really didn’t know he had that kind of fighting power in him.”
She was dropping rapid-fire lies, as if that might get the three much larger men crowding around her to back off. It wasn’t her fault that they’d gotten played. It wasn’t her fault that Saebel had recently perfected the art of acting much weaker than he really was.
Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be satisfied with her reasoning, instead very deliberately backing her into a corner in an an otherwise abandoned alleyway. Subtly, she reached behind her, feeling for Nacht’s ball. If she could just release him, he’d get her out of this mess.
Hyde noticed it first. He noticed the two men standing in the alley, another further in, a body at the man’s feet. Crystal saw her shadow stretching towards it, and was the next to notice them. A brow rose and scoffed. Please, as if she hadn’t done that kind of shit before either. It wasn’t her business. She turned her gaze and kept walking.
Hyde, however, had other plans. Crystal’s shadow kept stretching and stretching towards to alley. Dammit. Doesn’t he know the meaning of ‘subtlety’? She huffed and followed him. The idiot thugs had their backs turned to her, and thanks to the snow her heels were more quiet. She didn’t know it was amateur hour today.
When Crystal’s eyes landed on the body at the third man’s feet, when she registered that they were only a kid, she moved in.
She didn’t attack, she didn’t bring out her weapon---not yet, at least. She merely tapped one of the men on the shoulder. “Pardon me, darling. But I do think you’ve done enough,” she said, her hands in her pockets. She fingered her knife, watched them with cool, calculating eyes. Give them a warning. If they don’t heed it, act. Simple as that.
The two men turned to her, staring at her, looking her over, then looking at each other. They burst out laughing. Her expression turned more cold, but she didn’t move. Wait for it. Bide your time. She had to admit, however, that she didn’t necessarily look too intimidating, what with her pastel coat and everything. Maybe she should have just went with a short-sleeved shirt, show off her tattoos. People generally find those intimidating and never give them a second glance to look at the flowers.
Ah, well.
“You’re kiddin’, right?” The one on the left wiped his eye. “This little brat just hustled us, you think we’re gonna take that, doll?” His eyes moved over her figure. She noticed the look in his eyes. She didn’t deter, she stood her ground, she stared at him with a look so intense it made his smile falter just a tad. Just a tad.
“You have one more warning, sweetheart,” she says, her voice lower. “Leave the kid alone, or I’ll break your nose.”
& you stopped being scared of the boogeyman
that monster in your closet, the witches beneath the moon
when you s t u m b l e d upon something far more frightening –
He adjusted his beanie, tightened his scarf. A shiver ran through him. Dammit, Hyde. Snarky little ass always loved doing this during winter.
Chris fixed his gloves and kept going. He saw the lights, the people wishing each other happy holidays, heard the songs the choirs sang. He saw couples walking together with their fingers laced, standing close, sharing warm cider.
He remembered a face, smiling and laughing. He remembered hands, so soft compared to his, clutching his own, fingers lacing with his. He remembered sharing eggnog with them, sitting with them by the fire. And for that moment, they both felt normal. They watched the snow fall, the people run about, the lights twinkle on and on.
Chris made it back to his little hideaway with just a small handful of flowers and half a carton of eggnog. He put the flowers in a cup of water, and poured the eggnog in another. He sat, he drank, and he stared at the flowers.
Jules didn’t let her face betray her sense of triumph. It was clear she wasn’t dealing with a fool-Crystal was cautious, calculating. But getting her to go to the café set things in her favor. It was more promising that hoping for a call that might never come, anyways.
“Ma chère, I would never ask you to coffee with the intention of having you pay for your own. That would be rude of me. So, if you’ll follow me then.”
With that, she began to lead the way, careful not to get ahead of Crystal. It would be a short walk, but still it was disrespectful to not give the trainer her attention, especially if she expected the other to do the same in a short while.
“So then, ma chère, tell me about yourself. How long have you been a trainer?”
Crystal returned Ori and Amber to their pokeballs and stuffed them into her pocket. If things went south, she’ll bring them back. If it went further south? Gabe could always use a little exercise.
She followed Jules, her heels clacking loudly against the concrete. Clack clack clack. She held her head high, one hand in her pocket, fingering her knife, and the other gripping her purse. Her eyes---keeping that cool, stormy look to them---shifted over to Jules.
“Ah, and so the twenty questions begin, yes?” she says, “A few years.” Not technically a lie, but at the same time that battle wasn’t exactly legal. “I didn’t know a lab full of scientists needed trainers,” she added, keeping her tone casual.
“Crystal. A pleasure.” Her smile never faltered, even as her hand returned to her side. Patience was a virtue, and even if there were plenty of people out there who didn’t deserve her smile (and, much less, to have a hand in creating their beautiful world), it was important to preserve the generous and benevolent face of Lysandre Labs.
“With all due respect, I prefer not to talk business in alleyways; it just doesn’t feel right.” Jules wasn’t stupid. If there was any confrontation (and there had been in the past), she knew the best her own Pokémon could do was provide her the opportunity to escape. Certainly she wouldn’t support violence in Lysandre’s Café, especially during its busy hour (it would completely blow their cover), but there was a comfort that came with the presence of other members of Team Flare.
If Jules couldn’t get Crystal to the café, so be it. She’d have to find another trainer, and there was no shortage of them in Lumiose City. But something about this one intrigued her.
“It sounds as if you aren’t up for coffee, then? That’s too bad.” She pouted, but slowly reached into her purse, watching Crystal carefully in case she suspected Jules was reaching for a weapon. Eventually she procured a business card, which she offered out. “Well, I can’t promise the same offer in the future, but if our business does interest you, then here’s my number.”
“The pleasure’s all mine, sweetheart,” Crystal said, her voice smooth, but she did not smile. Her eyes are cool and distant, like the sea ready to engulf all that dare come too close. Her gaze snapped to Jules’ hand reaching for her purse, darting back to her face within a second. She made no move to grab her weapon, to subdue Jules.
This woman before Crystal was no fool, she wouldn’t start something in this alley. And if Jules had half a brain, she’d know Crystal wasn’t either. Crystal stared at the card in Jules’ hand, then took it---careful to ensure their skin didn’t touch---and skimmed over the letters.
She only pretended to read it, she didn’t care what it said. Sweetened words to hide the bitter lie. Child’s play.
Crystal looked back at Jules. “I never said no to coffee, love, especially if you’re buying.” Crystal never could say no to people buying her things.
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