[attr="class","spiral"]

[attr="class","spiral"]MARCH

[attr="class","sunshine"]It's hard to continue seething at Gavin for his secret in the face of . . . everything. The screams of the Floette are still echoing in her head, the fear from the still present Shadow Lugia still coils in her gut, and the discomfort with being connected to it all still leaves her feeling slick. Like she's suddenly found herself dirtier than she had been an hour ago.

She watches Gavin offer his assistance to the newly minted shadow trainers and flex his newfound powers and shivers. She's not really sure why.

That said, she's still got it together enough to know how much she wants to be involved with the Darkrai Declan releases; and that amount is zero. She wants nothing to do with it much like she's wanted nothing to do with most happenings of the afternoon.

Still, she sends out a single pokemon. Her Carvanha, Baby, appears beside her in a flash of white light.

"Cover for me, Baby," she requests in a hushed voice, "I think things are about t' get a bit crazy."

She runs a hand down the rough side of the pokemon as she speaks, finds some comfort in the familiar bite of her ROUGH SKIN on her hands. A moment later the pokemon shimmers, a PROTECT that covers them as they back away into the corner while the others engage the legendary.

And holy shit, do things ever get crazy.

[attr="class","spiral"]The gas stovetop works pretty damn well, to Plank's surprise. She'd just found it with her dad's old shit and thought she'd give it a shot. Figured it would be mostly set dressing to be honest; but nope, it boils the water just fine!

"When I was just a little lass, or so me mammie told me," she starts to sing softly as she reaches into a plastic grocery bag and pulls out a couple packets of ramen, "Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe!"

She pulls their tops open like a bag of chips before shaking them aggressively at her palm, the very bottoms of the dried noodle blocks held tightly enough that they stay in the bag but . . . there! The flavor packets land in her hand. With them safe she shifts her grip on the noodles just so so that they drop into the pot.

Plop. plop.

"That if I didn't kiss a girl my lips would get all moldy!" She continues to sing all the while, "Away, haul away, we'll haul away Joe!"

A few minutes pass. The noodles soften, the blocks separate into individual strands (helped by liberal jabbing and stirring from Plank's stirring spoon).

She's on a fresh shanty by the time she empties the flavor packets into the pot, but soon forgets what she's singing when the smell of the broth hits. Who says you can't have cheap, good, and fast all at once?

"Only a minute now!" she shouts from inside the tent, flipping the heat off of the stovetop and really giving the noodles hell as she stirs them in the pot. There's a rustle at the tent's flap that pulls her attention. Her eyes shoot up and she expects to see Bunker or Sassy staring at her impatiently. Instead she sees nothing.

Then she lowers her gaze a foot or so and she does!

"Well hey there," she greets the timid Mudkip who peeks at her from the tent's entrance, "Couldn't help comin' t' see what smells so good, yeah?"

The wild pokemon gives its answer well enough, taking a few more steps inside. Apparently not being yelled at or chased off was permission enough for it.

"Sit tight and we'll share with ya!" Plank says, a smile on her face, "You're lucky, we had proper bad company earlier so I'm not too bothered by ya invitin' yourself in! But I'll have ya know no one eats for free 'round here! Might need ya t' help keep an eye on the place in return."

Plank blows on the still steaming soup a few times before emptying it into a bowl.

"Help yourself," she says with a smirk, pushing it towards the Mudkip, "Don't let the others know I let ya eat first though."

[attr="class","spiral"]The smirk on Plank's face widens just a bit at Lulu's demand. She couldn't care less about her olive branch being shot down, this is almost better. Definitely better. The curt dismissal and lack of consequences -- It feels like winning.

"Suit yourself," she replies, unbothered. With a shrug she turns to walk towards the door. Opens it and leaves without ceremony. Is even nice enough to close it gently once she's out in the hallway.

One thought crosses her mind as she begins to pad leisurely down the hall; but she knows better than to voice it until she's well out of earshot.

"What a bitch," she says with a laugh.

[attr="class","spiral"]"I shouldn't have had t' . . . what kind of," she splutters, rubs the heels of her hands hard into her eyes. Takes a sputtering breath. What the fuck does that mean?

"That doesn't make any fuckin' sense," she murmurs. Her voice is so thick it feels like it's gumming up the back of her throat as she stands there, hands covering her face. Whole body a knotted mess of tension.

"What the fuck do my concerns matter?" she asks, "So what I fuckin' . . . I fuckin' say . . ."

Her hands fall away to reveal red rimmed eyes, from friction or something else. It's not clear. One hand quickly returns to her face, runs up her forehead and into her hair while the other bunches up in her shirt.

"I say 'ah nah, this one's not for me' 'n' we just . . ." Plank looks up at the recruiter with eyes beginning to drip at the corners, "We don't do it? That doesn't fuckin' -- it doesn't make sense."

[attr="class","spiral"]"Yeah, because the other two have gone so well," Plank grumbles in reply to Choi's call for another change of plans. At least she can treat it like a small victory. If they switched plans so quickly there must not be anything useful in a dusty old room -- just like she thought.

"Trappin' isn't really somethin' me 'n' my pokemon do, but I'll check," Plank answers, digging into the pockets of her shorts for a few more pokeballs. Without many other options she settles on the roughest pair she's got on her. In a flash of white her Chatot, Jack, and Vaporeon, Mama reveal themselves.

The former instantly settles on her shoulder while the latter lands gracefully on the lab's floor.

"Hey guys," she says, sounding almost happy for the first time tonight. Mama purrs in her general direction while Jack wastes no time picking a bit of hair to chew on.

"Apparently we're pluggin' holes or whatever, I need you two t' follow the lead of this loser's pokemon," she directs the pair, gesturing vaguely in Choi's direction on 'loser', "His plans fuckin' suck but I don't have any other ideas."

Jack and Mama take a moment to watch Choi's pokemon at work with old, seasoned eyes. They choose how to help more or less on their own. Jack flutters down from Plank's shoulder to land on Mama and the Vaporeon takes them both to the holes the Slurpuff has recently sealed up. MIMIC and COPYCAT allow them to reinforce the barriers there with extra STICKY WEBS.

"Hull, you're on guard duty. Put me down," she tells her hulking lug of a partner. The Golisopod huffs in acknowledgement before crouching down so Plank can climb out of his arms. Exhaustion is hitting her as adrenaline fades, so the moment her sneakers touch the floor she hops up on a nearby desk.

No way she's standing around for who knows how long.

[attr="class","spiral"]"There was nothin' fuckin' cryptic about it, that's what I'm fuckin' tellin' ya!" Plank shoots back, uncrossing her arms to throw them over her head.

"Ya told me what we were doin' for Rocket's safety; and then ya made sure I wouldn't fuckin' pussy out! And I didn't!" She is shouting now. This conversation isn't fair! Why the fuck is he angry? What the fuck does he have to be angry about?

"Well I don't appreciate bein' fuckin' jerked around like this!" she continues, voice shrill, "I did a good job!"

Her anger cracks around the edges alongside her voice. The sneer on her face wobbles at the corners as her eyes shimmer.

[attr="class","spiral"]Plank bristles under the head scientist's evaluation of her. Her lips draw back and she sneers in the face of it.

"I didn't get plucked outta nowhere," she snarls.

Misplaced pride almost makes her defy the woman's order that she pull her hands out of her pockets. Nearly gets her to twist it -- come out without her hands empty. Prove she's not afraid and that she isn't just some green grunt she can push around.

Plank's angry, all these insults have lit a fire under her and it's only sheer luck that keeps her from burning herself on it.

Her hands pop out of her pockets empty. Are held up mockingly for a moment. She wiggles her fingers before dropping her arms to her sides.

When the older woman moves Plank startles ever so slightly. Her body hunches forward, her knees bend just a little. A defensive stance. Instinctual. But nothing happens. They just glare at one another as seconds pass between them in silence.

Slowly Plank returns to standing straight, crosses her own arms over her chest.

"I told ya, there's nothin' t' tell," she says simply, still scowling, "but I can drop a line for ya if you're so bothered about the lost cargo. It's rare a supplier only gets their hands on somethin' once."

It's a peace offering. The best Plank can extend. But it's not pure.

"Of course, assumin' those rewards would still be in play," she continues. Scowl turned to a devilish smirk.

[attr="class","spiral"]Her eyebrows furrow, knit together in that way that promises premature wrinkles. Every time the recruiter opens his mouth she feels more confused.

"Ya . . . that wasn't serious. Your offer, it wasn't." There's genuine bewilderment in Plank's voice. Her arms cross over her chest and her hands wrap around her biceps. Squeeze hard enough to bruise through the fabric.

"I . . . that's . . ." The uncertain look on her face twists into a scowl, "It was some stupid test, that's why; 'n' you know it."

"Seein' if I can put my comfort aside 'n' get the job done, 'n' I passed!" She almost shouts, "I passed! So why the fuck are ya glarin' at me!?"

[attr="class","spiral"]It's different, being the first in the theft assembly line rather than some cog turning in the middle of the machine. Active in a way that feels like it pushes Plank simultaneously in and out of the experience.

Her hands buzz as she runs passed guards. Sends them tumbling to the ground with a vertigo-inducing SUPERSONIC or knocking them into walls with WATERFALL. Adrenaline pumps and gives everything this hyper-real quality; but at the same time it's hard to feel much. Remember much.

Everything feels all at once unintentional and carefully executed.

It's hard to tell how long the heist takes. What exactly she does, what Jun does instead. All she knows is they manage the job in the end.

She's got what they came for in hand as they break through a window and dash out into the alley they came from. She can feel some kind of bruise from she doesn't know what blossoming across her lower back.

"Good work, newbie," is all she has to say. Plank flashes the older man a short smile before taking off in a direction opposite him, just in case they're being tailed.

[attr="class","spiral"]Hull watches the man flee with barely veiled aggression. His body is tense, crouched so that he can shoot off at a moment's notice. He wants to follow the Lucario. Twitches to go after him.

"Hull! We're done!" Plank echoes, "Come on!"

She's already turned away by the time he starts begrudgingly trudging after them. Once again her eyes find the recruiter's back. Focuses on what details she can find there. The slope of his broad shoulders, the disciplined straightness to his spine, the slight jut of his shoulder blades.

It feels like she blinks once and they're in the building again.

"Okay, let's talk," she replies on autopilot. Her eyes skate to the floor again after she finds a spot of dusty wall to lean on.

"Yeah, ya did," she answers his question, "And I was. I did. It's handled, yeah?"

On 'yeah' her eyes make to meet with the recruiter's. She doesn't know what this is about. She did the job. In record time, really. What's there to talk about beyond that?