she listens intently as she digs a fork into her meal. "hmmm... how do i put it...?" velvet wonders aloud. there is no one singular thing she wants to "win" more than anything else. there's no game in her head, no battle or challenge she's cooked up for herself. she doesn't see herself in competition with the league, or with any other humans at all. sure, sometimes things crop up where she has to fight somebody else, and she wants to win those skirmishes as well, but...

after a moment, she has something of an answer, though it's not a complete one. "it's about life in general, y'know? i don't want to be anyone's victim. so i'll do whatever it takes to win, because that means i'm strong enough to take care of myself. it's survival of the fittest out there, but i don't just want to survive, like those idiots just barely scraping by because they're more concerned with being nice than taking care of themselves. i want to win. you get it?"

in her eyes, what she's doing isn't wrong. in her eyes, if she didn't have such a strong will to "win" at life, then she'd be either miserable or dead by now.

velvet goes back to eating, fairly satisfied with her answer.

[ Amor Rose ]

velvet's skitty seems to be playing nice with the other two. velvet observes them, taking an offered cookie, figuring she's probably not gonna get poisoned in such an obvious place. "velvet," she introduces herself. she bites into the cookie, munching it thoughtfully. she leans against the side of the bench but doesn't sit; does she have a complex about accidentally touching people, enough to avoid even sitting on the same bench as someone else?

"i know, right? i'm just reporting in after a mission." her salazzle hovers nearby, still looking bored. "and, y'know, eisheth here evolved recently, so i'm tryin' to figure out what to do with her. i mean, she's not even gonna fit in her cute little bed at home anymore...!" the salazzle rolls its eyes. it was never particularly fond of the pink fluffy bed velvet gave it anyway.

velvet, of course, seems oblivious to this. she's already pulling her phone out and showing chu-e pictures of when eisheth was just a salandit, passed out on her bed. "see? wasn't she soo cute?"

[ Chu-e Choi ]

"ehhh... hm," is the only noise that leaves velvet as she observes the sorry state of the corpse before them. she's not exactly strong, and even team rocket could get in trouble if they're caught carrying a corpse around... she supposes they could try to find a nearby dumpster so they can get rid of the evidence of their crime, but the longer they remain in the vicinity the more likely they are to run into trouble. velvet's reputation wouldn't survive if she was caught with a dead body. probably.

she reaches into her bag and unscrews a lipstick container. kneeling, she writes something in pink on the back of the woman's body; a big "R", to send a message to anyone who finds the corpse. this is what happens, velvet reflects. you may think you've outsmarted them, but they'll find you eventually... it's just karma.

she pockets the lipstick again. "'kaayy," she says, straightening up. "let's just go then."

[ Cillian Quinn ]

velvet pouts and puffs her cheeks out. "you assume i have no way of being useful to your department, just 'cuz i'm not an egghead like you?" she grumbles. well, he's probably right, but i'm full of surprises! she picks at her salad, chewing thoughtfully. "i'm not just a musician," she says once she's done. "i'm not half-bad when it comes to battling, and i know people. i could probably find some way to do wonders for your publicity, too." being such an extrovert who's relatively new to the gang means most of her connections are outside rocket, leaving them ripe for manipulation and abuse.

she taps her nails on the table. her food comes out; looks like she got a fish filet on a bed of rice. the waitress tells amor that his food will be out shortly as well, and then departs with a backwards glance toward the table. wonder if she knows us, velvet reflects. neither of them are exactly covert operatives.

she starts digging into her food, though she's careful to eat so she doesn't mess up her lipstick.

[ Amor Rose ]

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X type 2 evo (25 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

25 PD

(evolving litwick to lampent, so price is halved)

velvet spends as little time at HQ as possible. it's so drab, boring, and official... she wishes they would liven it up a little so it'd look more like a den of darkness, mystery, and death, but oh well. she only has to show up for occasional reports and to confirm she hasn't decided to do a runner, so it's not a big deal.

she's coming back from one such report now, when she hears the familiar sound of what seems to be skitty playing. she follows it out to the courtyard, her salazzle trailing behind her, and stops to watch the skitty tangle with each other. eisheth looks around, bored, not interested in the other pokemon at all. she takes after her trainer a little too much sometimes, her attention wandering whenever something doesn't immediately catch her attention.

velvet reaches into her bag and pulls out a pokeball. she releases her own skitty into the courtyard, and it bounds over to the two younger ones. velvet, meanwhile, gives a grin and a peace sign to the person sitting on the bench nearby.

"cool if i let 'em play for a bit?"

[ Chu-e Choi ]

taking litwick <3

BANDMATES:

currently looking for characters to be part of velvet's band "bad blood"! i'm looking for up to four other members (lead guitar, bass, drums, rhythm guitar), whether they be new or old members. they may have gone to high school with velvet, or they may have signed on only within the last week or so. they can also be pre-existing characters if you think your character would be interested in and capable of playing an instrument in a pop-rock band (and also tolerating velvet for that long). their general vibes should be a little goth or scene, preferably. i've also listed some optional face claim ideas for brand new characters. preferred ages are between 18 and 30, and they can be any faction. please be sure to read velvet's app as well so you know what you're getting into!

a good real-life band to compare their sound to would be something like old school paramore

SLOTS OPEN: 3 (lead guitar, bass, drums)
SUGGESTED FACE CLAIMS: vivia twilight (detective archives: rain code), misa amane (death note), matt (death note), nana osaki (nana), marshall lee or marceline (adventure time), kirara hoshi (jujutsu kaisen), ibuki mioda (danganronpa)
TAKEN SLOTS:
rhythm guitar - dylan sayer

the only movement from the woman on the ground now are her death spasms. soon her body will seize up and cease its twitching, muscles growing rigid as rigor mortis sets in. velvet's seen corpses before, though she's never been quite so close. it's completely different from how she thought it would be. at some point, "the woman" became "the corpse", her personhood gone forever. now she was just an object.

velvet looks up, meeting cillian's eyes. "do we just leave it here?" she asks, pursing her lips. wild urban pokemon will probably converge on their location once they've abandoned the alleyway. depending on how long it takes for someone to find her, they might dispose of the body all by themselves before she's discovered. if that's the case, she'll likely be listed as 'missing' for the rest of her life.

something shiny catches her eye. velvet reaches down and unhooks a bracelet from the corpse's wrist. well, she won't be needing this anymore, she reasons.

[ Cillian Quinn ]

PURCHASING/REDEEMING

welcome to the poké mart!

1X gacha ticket (50 PD)

TOTAL

do come again!

50 PD

the woman on the ground stares as cillian fully reveals himself. a plethora of emotions flicker across her face as she tries to decide between fight, flight, or fawn. she knows the latter won't work, and she already tried running. finally, she lowers her head and seems to accept her fate.

this isn't what velvet expected. if the woman had chosen fight, she would've had an easier time doing this. velvet's a bully and a crook, but she's never actually killed someone before. she was hoping this might happen a bit further down the road, after she'd had time to steel herself... she'd have no regrets, after all, if it had been her or them.

but it is her or them, right here, right now. it's just not in the form she expected. if she refuses, if she makes excuses, it could be her head on the chopping block next. and if there's one thing velvet asch hates, it's losing. she refuses to sacrifice any part of herself for the sake of others. she fully believes nobody else would do the same for her. the only one who can save you is yourself, she reflects. in that sense, this woman is already dead.

"use toxic," velvet tells her salandit. the pokemon, unlike velvet, doesn't stop for even a second. it hacks up another glob of poison, and it lands on the woman's exposed neck. the next few minutes are devoted to her heaving and convulsing, the poison working its way through her system. velvet folds her arms and refuses to look away, expression unreadable.

[ Cillian Quinn ]