#dragonqueeniris

"Do Ya Really T’ink If I Had Birt’day Cake I’d Have It For Long Enough Ta Give Ta Somebody Else?"

Tonight was a very big night.

Shauna couldn't particularly grasp what she was walking into, either. A heist. A real one. Without her Préfet, but still not alone... Amma made for a suitable replacement, didn't she?

The petit teenager held her backpack by its straps as she hopped from stone to stone, paying careful attention to where she was stepping, while still trying to have fun with it all. They were only a few minutes outside of Pallet, by this point--then her first real mission would be underway. 

Shauna paused to take a look at the small town, allowing her uniform to do work for her that her skin tone could not. It was dark, but not too late, and the minimal lighting of a town like Pallet could only help them. But she was still nervous--still unsure why she was here. Wasn't the point of specialization to keep you out of these kinds of things? She would have much rather been out collecting berries, or something.

Her nerves made her swallow, look down, and then stare at Iris' feet. They worked together all the time, technically. Shauna didn't have real reason to doubt their ability to execute proper teamwork. But was it so strange for her to be scared? The last time she'd stolen something, it was candy. In fact, that was pretty much all she'd ever stolen--candy from small vendors with the protection of an Executive. Even with her semi-fancy title and her motherly partner, she couldn't shake worry.

But wait. Something hit her. She was the leader, wasn't she? Shauna kind of cursed that, now. She'd never asked to be anybody's boss. The poor girl just wanted to help, and maybe work with Préfet. And poisons. One couldn't forget the poisons. ...Maybe she could get away with making fewer decisions, today. They were partners, right? Partners shared leadership.

One big, deep, breath. If she looked closely, she could see the lab from here. So out came the holocaster, and Shauna pulled up their mission overview.

"So... um... we gotta bring back... at least three of each...?" She paused. "I guess we get a bonus if we bring back eggs, too... how are we gonna carry eggs...?"

Shauna's bulbous green eyes cut up to Iris, but she was still hiding behind a slightly turned head and a bit of her hair. For as much as she didn't want to show her nerves, she knew Iris would know her better than that, anyway. If the girl so much as caught a glance of Shauna's eyes, the plead for instruction would be ever clear.

((Iris immediately snapped up like “Shauna? Need help getting Pokemon? FLUFFY NEEDS HELP?” I felt like this was important and you should know.))

Shauna had lost track of the days. A hundred and twenty hours had never felt so short. And this was no case of "time flying because you're having fun" that Shauna was dealing with. In reality, she had spent days straight being asleep, wishing she were asleep, wishing she wasn't, or drawing lines on her blanket with her finger.

She snuck in the basics. Brush her teeth. Eat some food. Drink some water. Change sometimes. Although, some of those might not have happened without Calem's intervention. She really had turned into a zombie, Shauna. She very much felt as though she could have gone on forever without anything.

Except for maybe sleep. Even nightmares weren't enough to scare off the girl who couldn't bear to be awake.

But unfortunately, Shauna had to bear it right now. She had tossed herself into a state of "awakeness" and, despite her wishes, was unable to fall asleep again. So her dry-red eyes watched unblinking while her hand traced circles on the fabric. 

"Whatcha got goin’ there, Shauna?"

The girl swayed a bit, her circles growing less curved as she went along. She knew her daddy's voice wasn't real. And yet, she sighed like a kid who was just sick of their parent's presence.

"Nothing, daddy."

They were triangles now. And a knock came at the door, and she paused, and sat up, and stared ahead. No. Not now. She didn't want to see him. She went back to her triangles. 

And then another knock.

And she had to have expected that. Certainly he wouldn't give up on one try, knowing that...

Shauna was too tired for this. She didn't really have the energy to deal with anyone. Seriously, why couldn't a girl grieve? She swallowed and it was dry, which didn't help her voice at all when she whined, "Go away."