the careful way he grasps her hands is juxtaposed by the unexpected lurch as she's pulled rather quickly to her feet. zoë gives his hand a grateful squeeze, but doesn't let go right away. instead, she clasps her other hand over it, looks him right in the face. "i'm fine now thanks to you."
[break][break]
her nasty spill had attracted the eyes of other people on the street. already, they begin to turn back to their business now that she has professed that she's okay, growing disinterested in the fading shock value of the situation. still, she needs this guy to stick around a little longer. "sorry for almost taking you down with me." her apology is edged with a laugh. "my mom always tells me i need to watch where i'm going, but i guess i..." 
[break][break]
there you are. her gengar hovers behind their new friend, his grin pearly white in her peripheral vision. 
[break][break]
"i guess i'll never learn my lesson." she squeezes his hand again, perhaps too hard. "anyways, thanks again, um..."
[break][break]
a pause.
[break][break]
"what's your name?"
[break][break]

+ paxton concordas

Before he can pull his hand away, not eager to get dirt and blood on his palms the young girl clasps his hand in hers. For a split second he thought he was about to get recruited into a church and grimaced a little. He doesn’t want to appear rude, but he really wanted her to stop touching him. “It’s alright.” There had been no danger of that. He caught that a mile away. Rare really. No loose gravel, no water, no mud. He nodded as she went on about her mom. “Or maybe…get shoes with better tread.” He said looking down at the teen’s shoes. His eyes flicked from her feet back up to her watching expectantly for a sign that she’d let go of his hand. [break][break]


She’s not. In fact, as the teen doubled down, he decided to take a different approach. “Some people are just born uncoordinated.” He said simple, rough hands squeezing Zoe’s back, returning the force two-fold. Perhaps it would be best if he made her let him go. “Paxton.” He supplied just barely holding back the exasperation in his voice. “And you are?”


[break][break]

+ zoë ferguson [break][break]


[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

there's something about the way he appraises her shoes that she takes unkindly to, but her act doesn't allow her to get bent out of shape over her beat up shoes. "yeah, i guess so," she concedes to the notion that some people are just born clumsy, the corner of her mouth twitching in thinly-veiled discomfort as he squeezes her hand. zoë can feel the intent in his vice grip. fine, she thinks, allowing her fingers to grow slack and her free hand to drop back to her side. you win, buddy.
[break][break]
"thank you, paxton," she says again, personalizing her gratefulness this time. "i'm heather." the moniker used to conjure up an ache in her chest, but the feeling is dull these days — like an old scar. behind paxton, his wallet floats into zoë's line of sight, pedestaled by gengar's raised, stubby arms. a few curious eyes are drawn to the ghost-type. the no thoughts, head empty look behind his grin is all too telling.
[break][break]
"well, we've both got places to be, so i won't keep you any longer." it's hard to play it cool with the urgency building in her chest. it drips into her voice like a broken faucet. [break][break]
 "was nice meeting you, paxton!" but nicer taking something off his person. she steps around him, plucks the wallet from her gengar's grubby paws, and starts a brisk pace. gengar turns towards paxton — whether he looks over his shoulder or not — and sticks his tongue out with childish amusement.

+ paxton concordas

His hand freed, he dropped it to his side. "Good to meetcha. Heather." He said politely, wondering if there was something. He doesn't want to push her for it though. Might seem rude. Then again, extending this conversation past the point of a 'thank you' and 'no problem' felt rude. [break][break]

But her church pitch doesn't come, nor does any other proposal leave Heather's mouth. Instead, her demeanour cracked. Her words came out weirdly pitched, and Pax is already narrowing his eyes. Off. Something's off. But he kept quiet as she moved around him. He waited a beat, following her before staring at the huge grin of a Gengar standing right behind him. "You…" he began eyes flicking back to the teen and then back at the ghost. That hadn't been a church pitch at all had it…. [break][break]

Eyes locked on the girl, staring past the ghost, he slapped his hand on his back pocket feeling for his wallet. Nothing. Sweat begins to set as he checked his other pockets. Nothing. Ok, hold fast. The man's hand is on his phone, whipping it out and going to an all familiar app. He pinged WALLET, sending the signal and waited. A cheery little tune began playing coming out of his wallet. "Gotcha." He said, eyeing the ghost type next to him. "Bring it back. Or else." He ordered the pokemon before stepping around them and beginning to follow Zoe.

[break][break]

+ zoë ferguson [break][break]


[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

ripped jeans aside, zoë walks away from this mark without any troubles. she had been worried that gengar would attract too much attention, but no one around them seems to clue into what just happened. she opens the wallet, thumbs through the contents, and feels a weight lift off of her when she finds his cash. this would fill their stomachs, maybe even buy her a new pair of jeans at the thrift store.[break][break] the relief is short-lived — the wallet begins to chirp a cute, little find me! jingle.
[break][break]
zoë risks a look over her shoulder, feeling like the cat that caught the prized canary and got caught with a mouthful of feathers. "shit." the guy couldn't wait another second to check his pockets, could he? the wallet continues to sing as she dips her thumb and forefinger into the unfolded pocket and pulls out the money inside. the rest? useless. he could have it. and she gives it to him by tossing it to the curb, literally, and breaking into a guilty sprint. 
[break][break]
gengar doesn't seem to react to paxton's threat. he sucks his tongue back into his mouth and bears his teeth, but the widening grin never quite reaches the blank expression in his narrowed eyes. truly, he could have spoken to an inanimate lamp post and gotten better results. the ghost-type falls in line behind paxton as he walks past, marching silently at his heels as they go to apprehend zoë.

+ paxton concordas

He’s not angry. No, blue eyes are narrowed in irritation that he was caught in this little song and dance now. As ‘Heather’ turned to him, caught in the middle of the theft, he kept walking towards her. He didn’t scream for help, or announce her deed, though a few nosy bystanders probably noticed the whole ordeal. He waited for her to return his wallet from the shame of it all. She doesn’t though, but he scooped up his empty wallet off the ground anyway, digging through to find the little tile card and click it off before shoving it into his from pocket this time. [break][break]

The Gengar is still by his side and there’s seemingly no response, not even its disappearance. A look back and the girl is already running, and Paxton immediately followed, steps landing harshly on concrete as he began pursuit. He reached for a pokeball before releasing his trusty partner. “Joules, keep an eye on her.” Her ordered, through pants as they chased the pickpocket. The Magnezone’s eyes all dart around before locking onto the teen and up away it floated, keeping watch from the skies while Paxton pursued on the ground. “I will catch you!” he warned, ominously, intent on getting his money back.


[break][break]

+ zoë ferguson [break][break]


[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

well, this isn't going as smoothly as she envisioned. these days, gengar is more professional (for him, at least) about taking things, but moments like these — like holding up someone's wallet for the whole sidewalk to see like link holding up a new item — still colored some of their jobs together.
[break][break]
zoë steals a glance over her shoulder some paces past where she discarded his wallet and feels her heart leap into her throat at the sight of paxton still chasing after her.
[break][break]
"ack!" she yelps, ungracefully shouldering past another woman as she looks forward again. shit, how do i lose this guy? she's getting gassed from running, her panting sounding resoundingly loud in her ears. 
[break][break]
as zoë takes a desperate turn into an alleyway ahead, gengar sinks into paxton's shadow and pops back up directly in front of him, still grinning at him even as he poses as a literal hurdle between the man and his money.
[break][break]

+ paxton concordas

The Magnezone kept and eyes from the sky, trailing the girl as she swerved into an alleyway. Paxton slapped the bricks as he turned to follow suit, getting more and more annoyed by the second, until he’s forced to stop, literally, by her partner. As the blonde hurdle after her, form the darkness the dopey looking Gengar solidified, keeping him form catching up to his prey. He smacked into the ghost type. Bouncing backwards and glaring at the ghost type. “Shoo! Move it!” he said as he shook his hand before looking for another way through. [break][break]

Joules for his part, moved in closer to the young girl beeping menacingly, probably sending off a warning that most likely went ignored. They dind’t seem bothered by it. Instead, the Magnezone shot forward, above Zoe’s head and dropped into her pace, rotating to face her before beeping menacingly again and attempting to force her back.


[break][break]

+ zoë ferguson [break][break]


[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]