* humming *

maractus  /  ♀️  /  needle arm, solar beam, petal dance, pin missile. bellossom  /  ♀️  /  petal dance, leaf storm, petal blizzard, magical leaf. tsareena  /  ♀️  /  trop kick, razor leaf, power whip, stomp. ivysaur  /  ♀️  /  poison powder, solar beam, razor leaf, vine whip. politoed  /  ♀️  /  bubble beam, hyper voice, bounce, surf. chimecho  /  ♀️  /  synchronoise, extrasensory, yawn, echoed voice.

  “If that’s what you want done, its not a problem.” None in the slightest, what was she going to do? Betray her charge on their first official day together? The Magna Carta run didn’t count, of course. “That’s a fair assumption. Considering you’ve done the most toward this operation, I don’t see why they’d hide the results from you.”

  And if she did see why, she wouldn’t- couldn’t? say.

  “Star.” She’s glowing. She might always be glowing on the island, but this is something more. Personal relations mean so much to her. “I understand complete-” Oh, but then the woman’s voice raises. Thalia had upset her. Broken through the peaceful shell already? “I don’t think that’s true, Star. They wouldn’t have sent me to look after you if they didn’t care for you, right?” Wrong. But such is the life of villainous adepts.

—                    EITHER THIS CHICK was naive or an idiot.  did she really think the faculty cared?  they only cared about getting what they wanted, they’d dispose of any of their students in a second.  star had no attachment to any of them, nothing more than a respect for what they had given her.  she had something of a home here, she was part of something here, far more than she ever had been before v.i.l.e.

she hums quietly at thalia saying her name.  huh.  well at least that was better than ‘boss’.  it was just  ...  new.  probably because nobody ever really talked to her.

❝ of couse they don’t care about us.  we all know what they did to crackle.  they’d do it to any one of us if they so much as wanted to.  or they’d just kill us. ❞   star wasn’t so naive to think she wouldn’t have been wiped if she hadn’t come back with the acme card.  not coming back with the magna carta or news carmen’s death was enough to infuriate the faculty.  the acme card had been her only saviour.

  Thalis’a giggling again. Not over the absurdity of the situation as a whole, but moreso over Paper Star’s perception of crime in a world like this. Put it back and everything’s okay. It doesn’t occur to her, even for a moment, that blood loss from her head wound might be toying with her senses. A simple wound, affecting one of V.I.L.E.’s top agents? Preposterous.

  “I’ll be sure to remind them of their ownership after you’re settled in.” Arms back down as Star handles her own dismount and landing. She picked up her pace as they moved down the block. Casual, but concise. Arouse no suspicion, waste no time.

  “Oh, this is gonna be b a d.” Few patrolmen up ahead, oh and so close. She turned around, walking ‘backwards’, so she could confer with the boss. “Okay, the safehouse is, sadly, just beyond these two. No disrespect, boss, but the blood is a little bit… easily noticed? You sure you don’t want my shawl?” Because if not this could get violent. Oh, unless? “Hey! I have a better idea! Ham it up. Play it up, be wounded! We can make it!” Fallen back in step, arm out to support her wounded comrade. 

—                    SHE’S TIRED, SHE’S done with all of this.  she just wants to get back to v.i.l.e isle and go to bed, in the corner farthest from the rest of her team; if any of them were even there.  her head might’ve been the most obvious injury, but the rest of her body aches as well.  carmen was always a good fighter, she should’ve known better, fought better.  so lost in her thoughts, she doesn’t notice thalia’s giggling again.

the annoyed look she shoots at the other may have come off a little more as tired.  her pace isn’t quite as quick as thalia’s, keeping a steady space between them.  luckily so as she stops and walks backwards; star stumbles a few steps backwards herself.

      “Baby, idiots across the world are thieves. Kids who’ve never read a book in their life can pick your pocket, or loot your till. Just because you went to school to learn how to do it, doesn’t make you any better than them who didn’t.” Gosh, the Tea here was delightful.

  Ugh, she could certainly eat though. Where was the cafeteria in this subpar thieves’ guild? Fingers dragging along the wound formed in the wall, she quickly stifled the sure-to-be annoying laugh that Tammy had pulled out of her. 

      “You’re an idiot.” Ah, that was certainly direct, wasn’t it? And here she’d been doing so well playing nice. About face, she approached again, and with a sigh. “Do you know what happens to people when they no longer have anything to lose? They become three times as dangerous. Now, she hasn’t killed you, or any of the numpties V.I.L.E.’s sent at her. Honestly, she hasn’t needed to, you’ve all been rather lackluster. Imagine what she, clearly the best to ever graduate, would do to this pathetic little island if you took her moral compass away.” Put some of that ‘complex thought’ to use, why don’t you?

—                    ❝ actually it does.  i’m not stealing watches and pocket change or holding up a mini-mart with a gun.  neither are most other v.i.l.e graduates.  v.i.l.e saw something in us, which is why we were chosen. ❞   maybe she had been a nobody thief once upon a time, but she wasn’t anymore.  she wouldn’t be compared to such lesser thieves.

star’s fingers tense, the paper crumples.  for once she doesn’t care.   ❝ she didn’t graduate. ❞

this just in, star likes grass pokemon. 

partly because a lot of them are poison types or can learn poison type moves, which she’s interested in. partly because a lot of them can learn razor leaf which is a true star mood. partly because like 90% of them have  (｡• ᵕ •｡) faces and she likes that.

See? There’s so much GOOD can come from trusting the people around you. Sure not everyone was trustworthy, but a good and decent number were! Plus, the woman helping you escape from certain jail time via Scotland Yard was, at the very least, worth a few drops of trust, right? 

  Pulling the warrior up onto the wall, Thalia moved her hair away from her left ear, listening to the discord on the streets for a spell. “Not to rub salt on a freshly formed wound, but you did just try to steal the Magna Carta. Some folks tend to take their religious documents seriously.”

  She giggled, finding the moment funnier than anything, before descending the (nine foot) wall with ease, arms held up to catch the infirm one behind her.

  “Almost there. Two, maybe three, minutes from here? Head down, but eyes up passing the garage, and we’ll be fine til’ morning.”

—                    TRUST DOESN’T COME easy to the thief.  she doesn’t trust anybody.  she doesn’t even trust the other students at v.i.l.e, let alone the faculty.  any of them could backstab her in a second.  so her guard was kept up at practically all times.  she hardly even felt comfortable sleeping in that dorm room with her ‘team’.

still, there is little she can do now but try and settle her guard in hopes of getting out of here.  this woman was trying to help her, the least she could do was not be such a brat.  plus, if she was caught, god only knows what the faculty would do to her.

her eyes narrow in a slight glower.   ❝ but i don’t have it anymore, so they should lay off.  they got it back. ❞   it’s a silly way to think.  they’d been stolen, the police would obvious want to know why and by who.  it’s still annoying though and she’s aching too much to think straight.

the other giggles.  star doesn’t find any of this funny.  looking over the edge of the wall, her head spins a little.  god.  it was moments like this that she hated how short she was.  she stables herself on the wall, carefully lowering herself until she was hanging by her arms, then dropping.

      “No, I suppose they wouldn’t, would they? Doubt they’d even call it an intelligent person’s game.”  She laughs, to herself, watching her pure lapin being reduced to ammunition again. The cosmic tint she left in its ‘veins’ returning to her own as she cut the enchantment.

  This was FUN, wasn’t it? Just two gals being pals, bantering the night away~ Were she in better company, there’d be a plethora of selfies in the cloud right now.

  There being a plethora of ‘nyehehe’ in her heart is good too. Don’t think she missed that slip, baby, she knows there’s weakness in your heart. “I don’t know what original series you’ve been watching, but Good tends to win a lot more than Evil in worlds a lot worse than this. Be practical, that’s what you ‘vile types don’t understand’. You’re never going to beat her simply because you want it too badly.” 

—                    HER LIPS FLATTEN into a dark line.  this chick was getting on her nerves.  quick-witted commentary was her thing; but like most of her things, she could deal it out, but she couldn’t taken it.  to insult her way of life was a direct hit assault to herself.  an arrow in her chest and she’s bleeding heavy.   ❝ thievery is no easy game.  it takes complex thought. ❞

though with some of the students v.i.l.e took, she was beginning to question that herself.

her nimble fingers fold a sharp edge to another piece of washi.  something to direct her thoughts elsewhere, get them off the  (what she was calling ‘small’)  blow to her ego.

They wouldn’t get rid of Gray that easily ( so he believes )  —  not with his connection to BLACK SHEEP.  He’s safe so long as they have a use for him,  even if that use may be  as  bait. PAPER STAR however, is expendable. How does she not see that? She got lucky last time, bringing something of value back, but she failed her mission.  

A raised eyebrow, and the cicada he’s caught is thrown back at her.  “ They have a USE for me. ”

—                    STAR’S CONFIDENCE IS unwavering.  she was a thief before v.i.l.e and, unless they killed her, she would be a thief after.  v.i.l.e was a matter of use, of being part of something; her need for belonging and putting her talents to use was why she was here.  she didn’t view herself as so expendable, but if she was, what could they do to her?  she was already dead according to japan; but she was nobody if not here.  the only fear she had was to be nobody again.  her feelings are easily hidden though and her smirk grows.   ❝ do they?  your  ...  affections for black sheep could be seen as a liability.  we both know how v.i.l.e doesn’t like liabilities. ❞

her own feelings for for their wayward lamb were not so blatant.

  And to what end is life worth living if you’re not smiling your way through? Her smile may have been bolted to her chassis, but it wasn’t any less real for it.

“Any other concerns regarding A.C.M.E. or Monsieur Devineaux, please allow me to pass them up the ‘chain of command’ for you.” The Follow-Up statement. Courtesy of Them. “I’ll gladly tell The Faculty anything you need repeated.” and maybe even a few things that she didn’t need repeated. Only time could tell. 

“I have to call you something, Boss. Would you prefer Oyabun? Maybe… Senpai?”  Head cast in the other direction, she sighed with a note of… concern. “Should I relay that belief to The Faculty? I’m sure they’re not intent on making you uncomfortable, Senpai.”

—                    SHE’S GETTING NOWHERE trying to talk to thalia.  it wasn’t like she was actually going to let her in on any of the the faculty’s little secrets. whatever they were up to.  v.i.l.e didn’t work like that.  they were the worker bees to the faculty’s queenly status.

at her statement, star holds back a huff.   ❝ don’t bother. ❞   as if she really wanted the faculty to know she was asking questions.  that wouldn’t go over well.  they didn’t like their students getting so curious about their affairs and star was on thin enough ice.   ❝ if they find anything of interest on that card, i am sure we’ll know about it. ❞   or she hoped so.

  “Okay. Stay in step, I’ll know if we’re about to walk into a trap.” The shawl is clenched tight in her hands, thoughts of mules braying loudly playing in her head, as she turned to move deeper into the alley they’d taken temporary refuge in. Few blocks and no more, they could make it without STAR falling apart, couldn’t they?

  She glanced over her shoulder at the agent for a moment, before climbing a trash can, hopping up to a fire escape, and mounting the wall separating alley from street. Still up top, she held a hand down to the wounded, more assistance for her. It would certainly take Thalia some time to cease being so eager to help. Maybe more time than they both had left together.

  “Quick as you’d like. They’re setting up a ‘quarantine’, we need to get inside before its set.”

—                     HER BROWS crease in confusion.  who exactly was this chick anyway?  she shakes the thought away, dusting off her hands and wiping the blood on the side of her shorts.  her hair felt sticky, she could feel it plastered against her forehead.  hopefully blood didn’t stain hair.  star goes quiet as she falls into step behind thalia, cautious eyes watching the woman’s every move.

confusion crosses her features even more, watching as the other hopped up onto a trash can, up to a fire escape, and onto the wall.  obviously no ordinary chick.  star rolls her head from side to side, stretching her arms above her head before climbing atop the trash can.  there’s a hand stuck in her face.  star goes a little cross-eyed looking at it.  her lips are still in a frown as she takes it, allowing the other to help her up.  better to just let it happen.  it’d be faster than being stubborn about it.

Good morning to you too, Thalia. Thank you for coming to check on me, it was quite lonely here in this abyssal, inky darkness. Her head tilted slightly, the smile she bore ever-bright.

  “They’re actively attempting to breach the Crime Net. The addition of the Card has been very beneficial. We can expect a true breakthrough very shortly.” Or so she’d been instructed to say. The validity of that report was subjective, and she, PAPER STAR, was not the subject. 

Hands into her satchel, she pulled free the twin stacks of high grade paper and set them in her charge’s hands. “You’re quite welcome, Boss.” It was only ‘babysitting’ if she considered herself a baby, no? “You’re one of the academy’s greatest agents. I’ve been sent to assist you, nothing more.”

—                    THALIA’S STILL smiling.  it’s  ...  weird.  then again, most people at v.i.l.e were weird.  star could handle weird, for the time being.  she wouldn’t call her temper short.

the other’s reply isn’t exactly what she was looking for.  it was bland, completely uninformative with action words intended to ply her.  she doesn’t say that though, no doubt such curiosities would bother the bosses.  instead, she hums, replies simply:   ❝ good. ❞