[attr="class","rubyw"]

At the same time, Ruby's opinion of Aurelie had been steadily climbing all night (though if she knew Aurelie only thought she was "a little rough around the edges," she'd laugh). She had been the one to propose this heist and even draw out a map. And now, Ruby was about to see just how good she was at thinking outside the box. She turned her head at the sounds of the lock being pulled off and the guard speaking sharply, her muscles tensing in preparation for a fight. She moved with Aurelie toward the back door, but the crate slowed them down just enough to make Ruby anxious.

[break][break]Then the guards started swearing, joined by barking and squawking. A lot of squawking. Ruby's eyes lit up with realization when she heard the words "Wingull" and "bread crumbs." So that's what Aurelie had been doing with those! Ruby grinned again and mouthed the word "Nice" at her, not daring to speak up. Ruby probably wouldn't have thought of that; her plans usually ended with "beat them up if we get caught." Seemed she had a lot to learn, too.

[break][break]She waited as Aurelie peeked outside. Seemed the other guard was going to check out the ruckus up front. Perfect. Aurelie's laughter was, in a way, contagious. Ruby didn't laugh along with her, but something in her felt lighter at the sound. When was the last time she'd had fun doing a job like this? For the past few years, it had been about survival, about taking the only road open to her after everything fell apart. This job had gone far from perfectly, but damn, if it hadn't been thrilling and eye-opening. Hell, the fact that they had run into so many obstacles was nostalgic, in a way.

[break][break]"Let's go," Ruby whispered back. With a quick back-and-forth glance to make sure no one else was around, she followed Aurelie in a rather clumsy run toward the aforementioned fence. If it was flimsy, then they could probably break through it with a bit of force. She grunted with the effort of holding her end of the crate with one hand as she reached back to tap one of her Poké Balls. Skorpios emerged, and Ruby immediately whispered for him to be quiet. He looked confused at this command; usually, Ruby's Pokémon came out with threatening battle cries or roars.

[break][break]"Can you rip a big hole in that fence?" Ruby asked, keeping her voice low.

[break][break]Skorpios rumbled softly in thought as he looked over said fence. He found a small hole, likely eaten away by rust, and grabbed one side in each of his front claws. Then, he began to pull it apart, the sound of stretching and snapping metal making Ruby look around to make sure no one was around to hear it. When it was big enough for Ruby and Aurelie to squeeze through, he stepped aside, looking proud of himself.

[break][break]"Attaboy," Ruby whispered. She gave his carapace a scratch, making him preen a bit, before recalling him back into his Ball. "All right, let's get the hell outta here. Know a place we can lay low?" Going straight back to the forge would be a bad idea if they were followed.

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie breathed a sigh of relief when Ruby proved to have the obstacle of the chain link fence well in hand, by having her Drapion simply grab a section of the fence in its claws and rip a hole large enough for them to slip through. Given that most of Aurelie's Pokemon would've either set the fence on fire, zapped it with lightning, or drenched it in water, Ruby's solution was definitely more elegant and effective. Ducking her head and keeping a firm grip on the edge of the crate, the red-haired smith squeezed carefully through the hole in the fence after Ruby.

Then Ruby's next question brought her up short. Aurelie's first instinct was, in fact, to suggest going straight back to her forge. From the tone of Ruby's voice, she had the sinking feeling that that wasn't going to work as an answer.

When it came to thinking of alternatives, though, Aurelie was coming up blank. "Ummm, I'm not sure," she stammered. "I guess we'll need someplace private, somewhere quiet and discreet..."

The words "quiet and discreet" suddenly rang a bell in Aurelie's memory, and she broke into a smile as the face of her dear friend Xiura Balfaltin floated before her mind's eye. "Wait! I just thought of a place." She started to reach for her cell phone, before remembering she'd left it at home before leaving for the heist. "At least, I hope it'll work, even without advance warning. I also hope you like boba tea."

She was thinking of Xiura's boba tea café, a business that also quietly provided useful services to the Rocket organization. One of those services was a discreet back room where Rocket members could discuss business and conduct deals with each other in private booths out of the public eye. If Aurelie remembered correctly, the back room even had a hidden side entrance from the back alley, so anyone who might be following Ruby and Aurelie wouldn't even connect them directly with Xiura, if worst came to worst. The red-haired smith just hoped she could remember the passcode for the side entrance, so they could take refuge in the back room for a few hours and maybe even get some tasty drinks.

Hefting her side of the crate with renewed purpose, she led them away from the fence surrounding the warehouse. Shouts and orders issued from inside the warehouse, probably when the guards found their unconscious colleague, but Aurelie forced herself to keep calm and not start running for dear life. Running only makes you look more guilty, she reminded herself. And more conspicuous too.

Instead, whispering directions occasionally to Ruby, they managed to navigate their way into a deserted side street, where no one was around to notice the pair of masked women carrying a wooden crate between them. Every now and then, they had to pause as the crate started feeling heavier or Aurelie wasn't sure which turn to take. Eventually, they headed into a small maze of narrow alleyways that she recognized, until they stumbled onto the alley that ran behind Xiura's café. Aurelie's frantically darting eye quickly spotted the concealed side entrance, and she quickly punched in the passcode to let her inside.

Thankfully, the door clicked open, and she hurried inside with the crate and Ruby in tow into a beautiful wood-paneled room, empty of other customers at the moment. Setting down her side of the crate, Aurelie sank gratefully into a booth as the door swung closed behind them. Letting out a long sigh, she pulled off the black balaclava that had covered her face and sagged comfortably into the seat.

"I think this should be a good place to lie low for a few hours," Aurelie said. "This is part of a boba café run by a friend with the same loyalties as us, more or less. We've helped each other out in the past, and she's been completely trustworthy and reliable."

Indicating a door to one side, she added, "If you want to order a drink, I think you can go through there into the normal part of the café. The Clefairy who usually runs the register is a real sweetheart."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby's jaw tightened when Aurelie couldn't immediately come up with a good place to hide. She'd been relying on Aurelie's greater knowledge of the city to take the lead; it wasn't like Ruby spent a lot of time Lilycove. Fortunately, Aurelie thought of something, though her next question had Ruby whispering, "What?" She'd never had boba tea before, and she didn't know how that was relevant.

[break][break]She glanced behind her at the shouts rising from the warehouse. She, too, wanted to run, but that wouldn't be easy with the crate between them. Instead, she'd have to keep her eyes peeled and one hand ready to reach for her Poké Balls. Aurelie's knowledge of Lilycove's layout led them through darkened side streets and alleyways until they reached a well-hidden side entrance. Aurelie punched in the passcode and hurried inside, Ruby in tow.

[break][break]Ruby paused once the door was closed behind her. This hadn't been what she'd expected from a hideaway with a passcode-protected side entrance hidden in an alleyway. Hoenn really was built different, wasn't it? According to Aurelie, this was part of a boba café, which explained the cozy wood paneling. Ruby chewed on the fact that she didn't personally know the owner.

[break][break]"Long as she's on our side," she decided, also pulling off her balaclava. "We've just gotta lay low until we know we're not being followed, then we can bring this back to the shop." She tapped the crate with her foot. Gently, of course, since it was full of steel. A broken toe would be devastating right now. And stupid.

[break][break]She had no idea what boba tea tasted like, but screw it, robbery was thirsty work. "Sure, why not? What do you usually get?"

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Let's hope we confused the guards at the warehouse too much with our cunning blend of planning and improvisation," Aurelie quipped, walking over to one wall and trying to peer through the window set with translucent glass panes. While the elegant windows certainly ensured the privacy of anyone inside, they also made it hard to tell if anyone was lurking in the alleyway outside. "Or at least, hopefully we threw them off with our unpredictability."

Looking at the back room of Xiura Balfaltin's boba café through Ruby's eyes, the red-haired smith could see why the sight had given Ruby a moment of pause. Far from being a dreary little safehouse stocked with only bare necessities, the secret back room was decorated in a style that, according to Xiura, derived from traditional Ecruteak design. The floors were covered in lighter golden hardwood, while the walls and ceiling were paneled in warm-hued wood, with overhead lights shaped like lotus blossoms. Sliding room partitions and doors separated booths and tables into little islands of quiet privacy, their delicate lattice frames set with thin, translucent paper panels that diffused the light into a gentle glow. Tables, seats, and couches were arranged with deliberate elegance, while small alcoves held vases of graceful, formal flower arrangements and fragrant incense in tiny holders.

The public-facing café was decorated in much the same way, Aurelie knew, but with a counter along one side for taking drink and food orders. Customers could make their orders and then take their drinks into a partitioned booth to enjoy them in privacy. It was all very beautiful and exotic to the Kalosian-born smith, and all very well-suited for clandestine dealings and meetings.

Aurelie smiled as Ruby seemed to take it all in and decided to trust in both her judgement and Xiura's discretion. "Don't worry, the owner is definitely on our side. We're far from the first people who've used this room to lie low." She looked Ruby up and down and rose to her feet, beckoning the other woman to follow. "C'mon, let's get a sweet and tasty drink."

Past the interior door, the two of them walked through a narrow, twisty passageway that felt like a secret escape tunnel or duct between rooms. It opened out into a trapdoor hidden behind a silken tapestry hanging in the corridor leading to the bathrooms and kitchens. Aurelie brushed the tapestry aside and headed confidently into the café.

At the front counter, she looked around for Xiura but only saw the Clefairy at the register. "Hey!" she greeted the cheerful Pokemon. "Nice to see you. Can I have a strawberry black milk tea, please? And for my friend..." She paused for only a second, before ordering the same thing that Xiura had first made for her that had converted her into a boba tea aficionado. "A taro black milk tea, please. Thank you!" She paid for both drinks, throwing in a substantial tip in unspoken thanks for the use of the back room.

When prepared, the lilac-hued drink might come as a surprise to Ruby, but the mild, creamy vanilla flavor of the boba tea should hopefully prove unobjectionable and even likable. As they collected their pastel-colored drinks, Aurelie couldn't help marveling a little at their circumstances. It was hard to believe that only half an hour ago, they were crouching in the shadows of a warehouse that they'd just broken into, while security guards patrolled outside. Quietly, she crossed her fingers, hoping that their luck would continue to hold.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

"Yeah, cunning," Ruby said with a wry grin. So much of the heist had been off the cuff that Ruby was surprised it had actually worked. "They'll definitely see that hole in the fence, but I think we took enough back streets to shake them off. Good thinking on the crumbs; those Wingull bought us some time." She flashed Aurelie a more sincere, albeit brief, smile.

[break][break]As shocked as Ruby had been by the unexpectedly fancy décor, this place was perfect for secret meetings and whatnot. Shady places with cigar smoke diffusing dim, flickering lights were immediately suspicious to anyone with half a brain, but this? Not only did it look (and smell) a lot better, but its exotic aesthetic helped cover its more suspicious side. Partitions between the tables were cultural rather than secretive, and how many people would expect such a nice little boba café to have a secret side door?

[break][break]She nodded at Aurelie's reassurance. "Guess that's why it's here." In a sense, that was her way of confirming her trust, even if it was tenuous.

[break][break]Aurelie didn't directly answer Ruby's question. Instead, she led the duo through a narrow passageway ending in a trapdoor to the main café area. Now this was closer to what Ruby imagined when she thought of criminal hideouts. The main café area looked much the same, barring the presence of an order counter staffed by a Clefairy. Aurelie ordered and paid for both of them before Ruby could object. Ruby tossed in a tip of her own.

[break][break]The drink's soft lilac color didn't feel like it fit Ruby at all, but she took a drink, bracing herself for overwhelming sweetness. Surprisingly, the flavor was more mild, a creamy vanilla mixed with something a bit more... earthy, Ruby guessed? She didn't know; she wasn't a drink connoisseur.

[break][break]"Huh, not bad," she said before taking another sip. It was refreshing, even, drowning out the stressors of that night. She glanced around to make sure no one was listening in before asking, "So how are we getting the stuff back to your shop? We could try to throw them off if they're still on our asses or something." She wasn't sure how far the smithy was from where they currently were, which would factor a lot into their escape plan.

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Glad you like the tea," Aurelie said, flashing Ruby a grin. Sipping at her own drink, she welcomed the fruity sweetness of the strawberries and the small jolt of energy from the strong black tea, which helped get her thoughts back in order enough to think about Ruby's question. "Um, honestly, I hadn't thought this far ahead," Aurelie admitted sheepishly, running a hand through her hair. "I spent a lot of time planning how to get in, but not how to get away and actually secure our goods afterward. Let me see..."

She sucked in a breath thoughtfully as she pondered what options were available to them. "My forge is within walking distance of here, about seven or eight blocks away, so I think we should just carry it back ourselves," she suggested. "Let's wait until the morning rush hour to get back out there, though. It'll be a lot easier to blend into the crowds of commuters, workers, and tourists scurrying around trying to get to work on time."

Taking another meditative sip of her strawberry black milk tea, Aurelie marveled at the way it seemed to clear her mind and bring up new ideas. She continued, "And that also gives us some time to get rid of the crate itself, since it's kind of distinctive. There's a dumpster in the alley outside, so we can break up the crate with the crowbar and hammer, dispose of it out there, and see just how much steel is inside."

Though Aurelie wasn't quite sure exactly what the density of 1095 steel was, she was fairly sure that the crate couldn't be filled from top to bottom with only steel. If it had, the full crate would have weighed several hundred pounds, for all that it only measured one square foot. Instead, it seemed like the crate only weighed a fairly manageable hundred pounds or less, which was what had made it possible for her and Ruby to carry the crate together from the warehouse to the café. Steel like that usually came in bars or rods, which wouldn't be too hard to move around or carry, she hoped.

"If I can—what's the word—piggyback off one of your earlier ideas, is your Incineroar..." She paused and lowered her voice slightly at the Pokemon's name, hoping to avoid attracting the attention of Xiura's own, rather boisterous Incineroar who usually roamed around the cafe. "Is your Incineroar still available to help us carry the steel? That should really help lighten the load for all of us!"

Privately, she also figured the Pokemon's presence might help throw off anyone who might be looking for two thieves with a crate, rather than a group of three with no crate. She looked Ruby and herself up and down, thinking about the backpacks they were both wearing and how much they could carry inside them. Then Aurelie glanced toward the counter, and sudden inspiration struck when she saw the to-go containers and cups lined up along the wall.

"Hey, can you get us a few to-go bags, please? I think we, uh, we'd like to take these drinks home with us," Aurelie said to the Clefairy. The plump pink Pokemon quickly found several bags that perfectly fit what Aurelie had in mind: large, sturdy paper bags that could probably hold around 20 to 30 pounds of, well, stuff and didn't have any markings besides a generic "Thank you for shopping here." Aurelie thanked the Clefairy profusely before showing the bags to Ruby.

"See, I was thinking we can put the steel in here and in our backpacks, and it'd be way less conspicuous than us trying to lug a wooden crate around," she explained. With a grim little chuckle, she sighed, "Maybe still not terribly comfortable, but not something that'd catch anyone's eye.

"And then, after we get to my forge..." Pausing to stifle a yawn with one hand, the red-haired smith smiled wryly at Ruby. "Feel free to stay at my place and get some sleep. I think we'll both need the rest."

Gesturing for Ruby to follow her, Aurelie led the way back to the service corridor and the tapestry that hid the passageway to the back room. Pausing for a moment, she tilted her head inquisitively. "I know that was a lot, but...did that all sound okay to you? As a plan, I mean? Or did it all sound like the ramblings of a tired brain unaccustomed to crime?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby replied with a nod and a neutral "Mm" as she took another sip of her drink. Her lip curled downward for a moment at Aurelie's lack of plan, but it wasn't like Ruby had any ideas, either. "We shoulda thought that part through," she mumbled, glancing out the window. She forgot she was still dealing with an inexperienced criminal here.

[break][break]Aurelie quickly started constructing a plan, though. "Yeah, good idea," Ruby said. "Sneaking around at night is more suspicious. What about the crate, though? Pretty sure people are gonna wonder why it's going away from the warehouse."

[break][break]The solution was to get rid of the crate and toss it in the dumpster outside. "We'd better smash it up good. Don't want anyone recognizing it." She said "we," but she was fully prepared to do that part herself. It'd be a good stress reliever.

[break][break]She lifted a brow at Aurelie's lowered voice when asking about Draupadi. "Yeah?" Ruby replied, voice also lowered because talking normally was weird when the other person wasn't. "Might have to wake her up, though. We're not just gonna carry it out in the open, are we?" That would be just as suspicious as lugging the crate around, if not moreso.

[break][break]Aurelie looked the two of them up and down, then... asked for some to-go bags at the counter? Ruby blinked a few times, trying to scrub some sense into this sequence of events. "Oh," she said when Aurelie explained. "Are the bags gonna be sturdy enough for that?" Unlike Aurelie, she didn't know the specifics of the shapes and weight distributions of steel. She did at least know that a pound of steel weighed the same as a pound of feathers. She wasn't a total dumbass.

[break][break]Aurelie's yawn reminded Ruby of just how late it was. She managed to swallow her own yawn, but she could feel the exhaustion settling into her muscles. She was used to it, though. Her fluctuating schedule meant she was pretty good at sticking it out for as long as she needed and then crashing whenever she had the chance.

[break][break]"Sure, yeah," was her casual answer to Aurelie's offer to stay over, but inside, she was grateful she didn't have to book a hotel room or go back to Mossdeep.

[break][break]As she followed the smith back behind the tapestry, an impish grin rose on Ruby's lips. "'Unaccustomed to crime,' my ass. You're the one who drew out the map and came up with all that crazy shit to get the guards off our asses."

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]As they proceeded back toward the back room of Xiura's café, Aurelie flashed a grateful smile back at Ruby, relieved that the other woman seemed amenable to most of her off-the-cuff ideas. She was understandably skeptical about the strength of the paper to-go bags, which Aurelie had her own doubts about too. Hopefully, she'd grabbed enough bags that they could experiment with just how much those bags could hold without splitting apart. When Ruby pointed out how Aurelie helped plan and improvise their activities during the heist, the red-haired smith felt herself blushing a little. Despite Ruby's impish tone, her words felt like high praise.

"Well, I had beginner's ignorance on my side," Aurelie chuckled as she opened the door to the back room, where the wooden crate sat waiting. "I've no idea what you usually do on a heist, so I was willing to try anything. Besides," she added pensively, "the level of security at the warehouse made it seem like they weren't expecting a break-in. I guess they figured raw materials like steel and iron just aren't as desirable to thieves as jewelry and cash, maybe?"

She shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "Anyway," she went on, walking toward the crate in the far corner of the room and pulling out her trusty hammer, "shall we get started? Let's try not to make too much of a mess in here, though. The owner probably wouldn't appreciate us leaving wood splinters and sawdust all over her floor."

Working together to pry open the crate with hammer and crowbar, she and Ruby managed to unearth thirty bundles of stacked steel bars, wrapped in layers of corrosion-inhibiting paper. As she'd guessed, most of the rest of the crate was taken up by bubble wrap and Styrofoam cushioning. When unwrapped, each bundle measured about a foot long and a few inches thick, looking for all the world like a pack of blank metal rulers.

While Ruby continued to smash apart the crate's wooden sides, muttering something about "stress relief", Aurelie experimentally put some bundles into one paper to-go bag to check how much it could comfortably hold. She added some of the Styrofoam and bubble wrap to keep all the weight from resting directly on the bottom. Then she filled up her own backpack with more bundles of steel bars until it bulged, before reaching for the other to-go bags and putting more steel within them.

Looking at the bounty of metal stored in the bags and her backpack, Aurelie leaned back and sighed contentedly. "Ahhh, this is so satisfying," she breathed. "This is enough to keep me going another couple months, at least! This is as much steel as I ordered before the dome showed up, come to think of it."

She bit her lip at the thought of the strange dome around Hoenn and how it had seemingly appeared out of nowhere to cut the region off from the rest of the world. "Of course, I don't know what I'll do in a couple months if that damn dome is still there and this supply runs out. Maybe steal some more? It scares me to think of what we would all have to do to survive if that dome stays there forever." Her contented smile faded as she looked toward Ruby.

"It's the kind of thing that keeps me up at night sometimes," Aurelie confided in a low voice, "thinking about how we're all trying to stay calm and keep doing business as usual, but we're already seeing shortages mounting, prices rising, and stories of people hoarding or stealing. Like us. Stealing from others to get by." She shuddered, despite the pleasantly warm room. "And if the dome never goes away and travel to the outside is cut off forever? What happens then? Does the entire region collapse into some kind of savage dystopia where everyone fights each other for increasingly scarce resources like food or medicine?"

Taking a deep breath, she got up and stretched tiredly. "Maybe I've been playing too many zombie video games or something. Sorry for all the rambling. I guess all we can do is hope for the best and keep going." Aurelie shook her head slightly and then eyed the remains of the wooden crate next to Ruby. "Can I...help you carry some of that to the dumpster outside?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby let herself smirk at Aurelie's little blush. Normally, Ruby only saw faces go red from anger or frustration; it was rare for her to compliment people, let alone fluster them with her words. It was strangely empowering.

[break][break]She shrugged at Aurelie's comments on the security. "Maybe. Still, they definitely weren't expecting the stuff you pulled." The image of the confused security guards trying to wrangle their Pokémon while being attacked by hungry Wingull was one that would amuse her for weeks.

[break][break]Aurelie's reminder that they didn't want to make too much of a mess took some of the wind out of Ruby's sails. "Right, yeah." Still, helping to pry open the crate and breaking it apart worked off the remainder of the nervous energy that Ruby had been building all night. She was definitely going to crash after this; woe be anyone who tried to wake her up. She took a brief moment to examine one of the bars of steel just to see what it looked like. It wasn't anything special, but when it was melted and shaped by the smith, it'd become a tool or a weapon or even a decoration. Neat.

[break][break](Ruby wasn't the creative type. These days, she mostly destroyed.)

[break][break]"Huh, what a coincidence," Ruby said. She didn't know how much steel a blacksmith needed, but this one crate was apparently good for a couple of months. Of course, that meant it was more than enough for Ruby's new knives.

[break][break]But when Aurelie spoke her fears and worries about the dome, Ruby's face fell. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with this information. People didn't confide in her; they got her to do a job, paid her, and then told her to buzz off. She tried to keep her face neutral as she listened, but uncertainty lay behind her eyes.

[break][break]"I mean, if it does, we've just gotta keep doing what we're doing," Ruby said. "We're Rockets. It's either that or just lay down and die, and there's no way in hell I'm doing that. The League's not gonna look out for us, so we've gotta look out for ourselves."

[break][break]Was that the most comforting thing for Ruby to say? Probably not. But if Aurelie had wanted comfort, she should have gone to someone who actually knew how to give it.

[break][break]Hope for the best, huh? Resentment bubbled up in Ruby's throat. Hope didn't get shit done. Hope just set you up to fall flat on your face in the rubble of everything gone to Hell. But for some reason, she swallowed that feeling down. Instead, she quoted a saying she'd once heard, the thing that came after hoping for the best: "But prepare for the worst." She just hoped (ha, the irony) Aurelie was ready to do that.

[break][break]"If you want," she said to Aurelie's offer, glad for the change of subject. Ruby could carry the remains of the crate herself, but if Aurelie wanted to help, then sure. Maybe it'd take her mind off things.

[break][break]Once that was done, Ruby went back inside to test the weight of the steel-filled bags and backpacks. To absolutely nobody's surprise, they were heavy. As much as Ruby wanted to show off her strength by carrying them herself, that'd probably cause too many problems to be worth it. She tapped on Draupadi's Poké Ball, and the drowsy Incineroar emerged, growling in confusion.

[break][break]"Help us carry these," Ruby said. Draupadi looked dubiously at her trainer, but Ruby didn't even flinch. With a grumpy rumble in her throat, Draupadi grabbed one of the bags and immediately realized just why she'd been called for this task. She slid the handles around her forearms and lifted the bags off the ground, satisfaction glistening in her eyes. Ruby reached up and gave the Pokémon a few appreciative pats.

[break][break]"All right, once the morning rush starts, let's get outta here."

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Listening to Ruby's pragmatic, down-to-earth perspective on the dilemma of the mysterious dome surrounding Hoenn, Aurelie found herself slowly nodding in understanding. Perhaps even in agreement. It made sense to not let yourself go crazy worrying about all the unpredictable hypotheticals of an uncertain future but to just keep on going and watching out for yourself, no matter what else happened. No one could control the future, but they could control how they responded to it.

"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst," Aurelie echoed with a faint chuckle and another nod. The words were indeed not terribly comforting, but they had a bracing, motivating quality that stiffened the smith's spine and uplifted her gaze. "Yeah, you're right. If that's not a good philosophy for life in general, I don't know what is."

Ruby's acknowledgement of their status as fellow Rockets made Aurelie smile a little. Considering how they first met—trapping and killing snake Pokemon in the desert for their skins—and the matter-of-fact way they'd just teamed up to rob a warehouse, neither Ruby nor Aurelie could be anything but Rocket. But it wasn't as though they'd both put on shirts with a big R on them or exchanged a secret handshake either. If there even is a secret handshake, Aurelie thought ruefully. Even within Rocket, it wasn't always easy for her to tell who was a Rocket member. So, hearing Ruby acknowledge it aloud was rather comforting. It made her feel like she had an ally on her side, no matter what crazy things happened in the future.

Feeling more determined and slightly better in general, Aurelie helped with carrying out the smashed slats of wood to the dumpster outside. Dawn was breaking as they finished their work, with fresh sea breezes banishing the night's mists and purposeful footsteps starting to clatter across the streets as Lilycove City stirred from its slumber. The businesses around the café were slowly starting to open their doors and turn on their lights, and a few other people also came to the dumpster to throw things away, including delivery crates and cardboard boxes of their own. No one gave Ruby or Aurelie a second look.

Once back inside, Ruby summoned her own Incineroar, who promptly picked up a couple of the loaded bags with only a small grunt of effort. Aurelie couldn't help applauding. "Just what I was picturing in my head!" she exclaimed approvingly. "Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it," she added courteously toward the tall Incineroar.

Hastily, she swept most of the sawdust and bits of packing material into the trash, to keep things cleaner for Xiura. Then the red-haired smith shouldered her own backpack, staggering a little under the weight and quietly marveling at the Incineroar carrying two bags with such equanimity. Draining the last of her boba tea, Aurelie peeked through a window to check the street outside.

"It's a little early, but I see a good amount of people moving past. I think it's safe to get going now," she announced decisively, running a hand through her hair. Heading to the side door, she swung it open and beckoned to Ruby and her Incineroar. "Let's hope this is a very uneventful walk back!"

They made it out of the alleyway and onto the street in front of the café, which was indeed reasonably busy with people walking along the sidewalks. Aurelie discreetly led the way, letting Ruby and the bag-laden Incineroar linger behind her on the route back to her forge. She was careful to try to stride forth as normally as possible, despite the weight of the steel-filled backpack.

Unfortunately, a strange young man in a sharp-looking black business suit ran into Aurelie as they were crossing the street. He stumbled backward as if he'd just run into a wall. "Jeez, lady, what you got in there?" he demanded rudely.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Aurelie took Ruby's words surprisingly well, even taking strength from them and standing straighter. The smith really was tougher than she let on, huh? Ruby liked that about her.

[break][break]"Or just always expect the worst," Ruby said with a wry smile. "Means you'll never be disappointed." Was that a joke? It was hard to tell, even for Ruby herself.

[break][break]After their first meeting in the desert, Ruby had done a little digging into the Iron Lady Forge and its proprietor, just to be sure. Sure, they'd both been poaching Pokémon at the time, but there were some smaller criminal groups and even solo operatives in the region. You could never be too careful in this kind of life. Not that Ruby would have had anything to worry about, given that Rocket was the region's largest and most powerful crime syndicate. Still, it had been relieving to find out they were in the same group. It made things a lot easier. It'd be even easier if there were a secret handshake or something, though.

[break][break]Ruby did her best to look casual as she and Aurelie threw away the remains of the crate, but she couldn't help but dart her eyes back and forth a few times. Everyone seemed to be minding their own business, all in a hurry to get wherever they needed to go. In some ways, it was easier to sneak around in broad daylight. People's guards usually lowered with the rising sun, which they believed banished the darkness that criminals snuck around in. But they ignored the long shadows cast in the corners of the city, thinking them too insignificant for anything bad to happen in. Of course, only an idiot would try a robbery like Ruby and Aurelie had in the middle of the afternoon, but this was the perfect time to get away with their spoils.

[break][break]Draupadi purred at Aurelie's praise, a deep, rumbling sound in her chest. Ruby didn't have quite as much trouble with her own pack as Aurelie, but she definitely wasn't an Incineroar. Worth it, though. "Yeah, let's go," she said. She tried not to scoff at Aurelie's hope for a peaceful walk back, succeeding in just huffing air out of her nostrils. Ruby didn't necessarily believe in jinxing things, but she did think it was dangerous to get too optimistic.

[break][break]Ruby and Draupadi followed behind at a reasonable distance, close enough to know which way they were going but hopefully not too close to draw attention. And close enough to see the man in the business suit run right into Aurelie and demand to know what she had in her backpack. Shit. Ruby stepped forward, operating on pure instinct. (Which instinct, though, Ruby wasn't totally sure. Did she not trust Aurelie to talk her way out of this? Or did she want to protect her?)

[break][break]"Watch where you're going, asshole!" she snapped. Ruby, quite frankly, was short—a curse from her mother's side—but what she lacked in height, she made up for with a solid posture, a confident voice, and a don't-fuck-with-me aura. The scowling Incineroar behind her helped, too.

[break][break]"But I... She—" The man looked back and forth between Ruby, her Pokémon, and Aurelie, his attempts at coherent sentences halting in his throat. "Sorry, sheesh!" He hurried past them, glancing back once and then picking up the pace at Ruby's continued glare.

[break][break]Ruby clapped a hand over Aurelie's shoulder in one part reassurance and one part guidance toward their goal of getting to the forge. "Dumbass," she muttered.

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Ruby stepped forward and quite decisively chased off the rude man in the business suit who had run into the red-haired smith. After the long day they'd had, she was definitely coming up short with clever rhetorical retorts and deflections, so Ruby's blunt, sharply-worded intervention was more than welcome. The startled man scrambled away quickly, and Aurelie could have sworn everyone else on the sidewalk started giving them a slightly wider, more respectful berth thanks to the fearsomeness of Ruby's glare. And possibly the scowl of the Incineror behind her.

Despite all of Ruby's scornful snorts and dismissals of the concept of hope, Aurelie nevertheless silently hoped that such brief squabbles and clashes were common enough during morning rush hour to not be memorable. Smiling softly at Ruby as the latter patted her shoulder, Aurelie took a deep breath and tightly gripped the straps of her heavy backpack. She lifted her chin and continued forward, making sure to follow the currents of the crowd so they didn't waste energy moving against the flow of pedestrian and Pokemon traffic.

The walk back from Xiura's café to her forge had never seemed so long and torturous before, but then, she'd never been carrying stolen goods back before either. At every intersection, she couldn't help glancing out the corner of her eye for nearby police or security guards and watching out for anyone who might be pursuing the trio or just paying close attention to them. Her heart skipped a beat every time a stranger caught her eye or watched them for more than a few seconds.

But no one ever shouted "Hey, you there!" or "Stop in the name of the law!" at them the whole way back, nor did anyone ever point fingers at them or start calling the police when they walked past. At about the halfway point, Aurelie dared to quicken her pace. Finally, after about forty minutes of slogging through the rush hour crowd, they made it to the shopping center where her forge was located.

Instead of going to the front door, Aurelie gestured for Ruby and her Incineroar to follow her around the back. Behind the shopping center, each shop and business had an open, grassy courtyard-like area that they could use for outdoor dining, entertainment, gardening, or just storage. Each courtyard was fenced off from each other with high wooden enclosures, with a padlocked gate allowing passage within.

"Hey, look, a padlock we actually have a key for," Aurelie joked as she fished said key from her pocket. She led them inside to a stretch of grass bordering a carefully tended vegetable and berry garden behind her forge. From there, the three of them hurried toward the back door of her forge, eager to set down their increasingly ponderous burdens of stolen steel.

"I think...we made it," Aurelie exclaimed wonderingly, closing and locking the back door behind them. With a loud thump and a relieved gasp, she slipped the backpack off her shoulders and dropped it onto the ground. "I didn't see anyone following us around back, so maybe we actually managed to get away."

She put her hands on her hips, trying to think past the swiftly descending fog of tiredness in her brain. "So, welcome to my forge, where all the actual work gets done. Um...let's leave the bags and backpacks here for now. We can empty them out later and put the steel into storage. But for now, well...I don't know about you, but I am famished and I need a nap."

Aurelie beckoned to Ruby to follow her up the stairs to the modest, cozy apartment where she lived above her shop. "I've got some baguettes, cheese, and chicken we can slice up to make quick sandwiches, and some fruit too if you want something sweeter. And then there's an old but comfy couch and a blanket where you're perfectly welcome to rest as long as you need to.

"Or..." She shrugged, one corner of her mouth curving upward wryly as she added pragmatically, "We can both just sleep in my bed. We'll both easily fit, and it might be easier and comfortable all around."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby walked on with renewed swagger, though rather than a glare, she gave any staring passersby a more neutral look, one that said, "I'm busy, I've got places to be, and I don't give a crap about you, so move." Even in Hoenn, people tended not to get in the way of those who looked like they were on a mission. It was all about confidence, really. Aurelie seemed to get the gist, raising her chin as they continued on their way.

[break][break]Unlike Aurelie, Ruby kept her eyes ahead, only sparing a few impatient glances for lingering eyes passing by. Maybe it was reckless, not keeping a closer eye on her surroundings, but she didn't want to look more suspicious than she probably already did.

[break][break]"Hey!" Ruby hissed when Aurelie sped up. She hurried to keep pace with her and whispered, "What are you doing? Keep it cool." Hopefully, people would think they were just in a hurry like everyone else in the morning rush hour. Luckily, they eventually made it to the shopping center with nobody else stopping them. Aurelie guided Ruby and Draupadi to the back, where a high wooden fence with a padlocked gate protected the forge's courtyard.

[break][break]"Damn, I was hoping we'd get to bust this one up, too," Ruby said with what was hopefully obvious sarcasm.

[break][break]Ruby let out a relieved sigh as the weight on her shoulders, quite literally, slid off. "Thank fuck. This is why I let other people do the planning and stealthy shit while I hit people." Draupadi grinned, still holding her bags, and rumbled teasingly. Ruby gently smacked the Incineroar's muscled chest with the back of her hand. "Hey, you didn't have to do any of the hard stuff." Another rumble, this one almost sounding like a laugh. Ruby took the bags and set them down before recalling her Pokémon.

[break][break]Ruby took a quick look around the forge itself. She at least recognized the anvils, fire extinguishers, and first-aid kit, but most everything else was unfamiliar to her. There were a lot of tools and... ovens? Something to heat up the metal, she guessed. Not like she needed to understand the process to appreciate the stuff Aurelie made.

[break][break]"Yeah, same." The boba had been refreshing, but the liquid in her stomach reminded her of how empty it otherwise was. And after a night like that, even Ruby and her nonexistent sleep schedule needed some shut-eye. She followed Aurelie up to the little apartment, where the smith offered sandwiches and fruit to eat and a couch to sleep on. Or...

[break][break]Oh. Ohh.

[break][break]That half-smirk told Ruby that it wasn't just a pragmatic suggestion. For a moment, she second-guessed herself, not sure if Aurelie would actually suggest something like that. But the smith had been full of surprises since Ruby had met her, and she'd been quickly proving to have a certain kind of boldness to her. Ruby liked that about her.

[break][break]"Wouldn't mind a bit of stress relief after last night," Ruby said with a salacious smirk of her own. "As long as you don't pass out on me halfway through."