❧

honestly, mcflurry didn't really like this type of club. she likes places with bars far away from the music, so she could be heard without having to raise her voice -- not this loud stuff. that's if you like to dance.

either way, while she was just cursing her luck before, it's now nighttime and mcflurry is, in the most blunt way possible, in her element. sure, she might not be good at bank heists or disposing of dead pokemon or huge firefights -- but if there's one thing mcflurry's good at, it's bars and other languages and playing the piano and flirting. ...wait, that's four things.

(incredibly opposite to what literally anyone would expect of her, but that's part of the fun.)

"je ne savais pas que vous parliez kaloçais, mcsieur."

perfect kalosian spills from mcflurry's tongue without a single bout of stuttering, and she speaks to the bartender first, ordering some orre-brand whiskey to start the night, already a step ahead of both the boys.

"...acting skills? i, mc, never took any classes. b-but... i'm mcbetter than most rockets at, ah."

mcflurry started flipping a coaster in her fingers, strangely dextrous.

"acting inconspicuous."

marcel maeda dominic sinclair ● your first mistake: inviting mcflurry to a bar

❧

luckily, mcflurry lived pretty close to here, actually, so it wasn't too much of a stretch for her to just -- go back home and get some clothes and a shower. maybe put on some aloe vera for a few hours for those sunburns.

notably, the usually-nervous grunt wasn't really all that nervous for her date. she never did feel the same tension and nerves for romantic things as she did for rocket things -- since, y'know. it was, it was just dating. not robbing a bank or anything.

putting on some cologne, mcflurry was pretty quick to prepare for her date. it might be -- it might be something fancy, and although mcflurry did love her hat, that part had to go.

as such, the woman that skyler would see that night was a woman in a white button-up tucked into some black slacks and some sunglasses tucked into her collar.

"hey, mccaptain. you, ah."

mcflurry smiled a genuine smile, taking skyler's hands into her own, the smaller woman looking up at her with bright eyes.

"you look... beautiful."

skyler dross ● hey baybee

❧

in all honesty, the next few moments were a blur. partly because mcflurry couldn't think straight, partly because of the tears.

in all honesty, in her panicked state, mcflurry could only really register raw, visceral emotion at the moment. fear, mixed with distrust, but also a huge portion of relief. combined with the shame and the defeat in her heart, mcflurry was simply processing too much to properly socialize at this point.

yes, she'd dodged a bullet. yes, the saint of the league wasn't going to arrest her -- apparently, she couldn't, which boggled her fucking mind. no, she wasn't getting her potions -- or anything she'd stolen. no, the moment she tried to even attempt forming words, it didn't work.

"buhbuhbuh... i jubst... i wamted to, tomuhmuh... to mc, kh, kh-heal my pokbemon abter my battles... i cam't aff, affor... sob..."

literally shaking and crying at the moment. at the same time, she couldn't -- couldn't actually get up from her spot on the floor, her head buried in and glued to her hands as she entered fetal position. no amount of nudging would help.

luckily, though, her poke ball fell off her waist, and mcflurry's poochyena would emerge, completely oblivious to what these circumstances were. likely, though, if ruby asked, the dog would lead her to the cache of stolen goods.

Ruby Walker ● just giving you an option to end the thread here if you'd like!

❧

elijah gardner ● aww she's bummed again

❧

a pathetic sound escapes mcflurry as vanessa confesses to not having a goddamn clue as to what she's talking about. amazing. a tinge of exasperation hits mcflurry -- a rare sensation, since she doesn't usually think she's better than people -- but it goes away just as quickly.

mcflurry adjusts to the violinists quickly enough -- where'd these guys come from? -- before she switches songs from kalosian to a johtonian pop piece (well, j-pop) that used galarian samples.

the black-haired woman finally notices the grunts unwilling to move, and just sighs. the moment she does a mission right, something like this happens...

well, nothing to do but keep playing. mcflurry starts picking up the pace and upping the bass to try and hype up the coordinator's performance, trying to provide a nice tempo and crescendo change for the kingdra to work with.

Valerio Dachev ● CURRENT SONG: KNIGHT OF FIRMAMENT - EYE XY FEAT. YONEKO

❧

mcflurry was starting to reconsider hitting on this guy. he seemed pretty... er. inexperienced? not that -- not that she can point fingers, but still, it felt a little wrong? she couldn't explain why.

however, she did the mental acrobatics of how this was still probably fine, and billi was hot, so mcflurry decided to at least try and stay friendly, even if he wasn't getting in her pants tonight.

...maybe in the future.

maybe.

"y-yeah, you can -- you can mcdrink to forget, but, uh. it's less -- it's less mcfun. and you burn through your, uh, your mcwallet faster."

mcflurry sipped her drink a little more as billi enjoyed his screwdriver and discovered the joys of fruity drinks. well, hopefully, this helped him learn what to get at a bar.

though, she hummed. screwdrivers weren't really good for -- getting drunk off. and she supposed that maybe he really did want to get drunk, rather than drink good drinks. so...

"if you -- if you want to get mcdrunk fast, get, uh, get an ale. actually -- start mcmixing drinks. that usually mcdoes it."

mcflurry's dad mixed drinks a lot, and that usually knocked him out in less time than if he didn't. billi was of a similar build, so... well.

"what's, uh, what's your name? i'm mclaren mcflurry. it's mcnice to mcmeet you."

Billi Marsh ● just vibin

❧

"well i always mcknew it was a thing but -- yeah, a lil' bit. it's amazing how mcgood everyone is..."

the small talk was a pretty good segue into asking dross out, now that mcflurry reflected on it. still, she can't believe herself -- asking out the woman who literally saved her life only moments ago?

a little bit of insecurity crept into her heart, but  right now, unlike every other situation, mcflurry was in her element. fuck crime, fuck stealing pokemon or whatever shit they made her do -- mcflurry was good at following her own tempo. which included hitting on people and maybe fucking.

gosh, she'd like to think she was good at fucking.

but anyways. as the boat floated on towards slateport, mcflurry steeled her heart in case skyler said 'no'. always best to keep your expectations low and not stake too much on whimsical things like that, y'know.

-- but, well. with the way ms. dross fumbled and turned red as a charmander, mcflurry would like to think that she'd been successful in her flirt. at least a little.

but suddenly, it was mcflurry's turn to turn a little pink across her cheeks as the engine died and skyler cupped her face, forcing some sweet, sweet eye contact.

"wow. you got pretty mcconfident...? but yeah, i'd love to go."

at the same time, though, mcflurry raised an eyebrow, laughing softly as she combed a tuft of hair away from skyler's face.

"-- but, uh, we should, we should get to slateport. first. y'know?"

skyler dross ● smash announcer: SUCCESS

❧

mcflurry nearly yelps as her mission teammate, valerio, shows up as a female persona -- "vanessa", or so he said before. but she's too focused on her music and her performance to do so, and her fingers roll against the keys like an absolute master of the craft.

however, as vanessa comes to her ear to deliver more information, mcflurry masterfully transitions into another piece -- using the loop station and pedal on her piano to establish a bassline and an 808 using the piano's various modes. the result: a more freeform, yet more modern take on one of kalos's more traditional festival pieces, the hasty remix conducted on the spot from mcflurry's mind.

mcflurry nods as though she's taking a request, wonderfully masking the actual conversation as she speaks in hushed whispers, masking her conversation in the music. down to the decibel, mcflurry was perfect -- a far cry from her usual MO.

"i'll, i'll have to mcswitch to my longer mcpieces if i have to, but i don't -- i don't mcknow if i can hold a mccrowd's attention with those for too long. tell them to mchurry it up...!"

mcflurry hits the 1:37 mark on her own music and starts a freestyle solo, the music itself almost urging vanessa to get back to dancing. the crowd's growing more and more -- and, unfortunately, the plan has a bit of a problem. now people are pulling out cameras, with mcflurry's and vanessa's performances going onto the internet presumably very soon.

Valerio Dachev ● CURRENT SONG: MASQUERADE - M2U

❧

mcflurry wasn't 'merciless' in any way, really -- she just saw a pokemon she'd accidentally crushed underneath an abomination of a dinosaur and decided she should try helping. it's -- it's not like catching pokemon was a hard process.

however, mcflurry just made a sad noise as the blastoise completely devoured her avocado toast on the spot.

she did, though, yelp a second time as sebastian crashed into the sand next to her, taking a few steps away from the blonde as his blastoise just kept chewing and vibing. her arctozolt took a few steps away too -- albeit, less scared.

the rocket grunt cringed as the flash cannon went off, closing her eyes and holding her hands up so that she wouldn't be seeing stars or a big mess of white.

"mccatch ra -- wild pokemon... -- oh, uh, i'm mclaren mcflurry, mc, uh, mcnice to mcmeet you."

she sounded like she was playing her own character and failing, which was astounding to say the least.

"yeah, i think -- i think my mctoast might be -- mcattracting more -- oh, discharge!"

arctozolt's squinting eyes flashed with acknowledgement as the silhouette of a seahorse flashed from the shore, half a crust stuffed into its mouth as it attacked.

however, the ensuing reaction was enough to subdue the seadra before it could do anything, and soon enough, the charred sea creature would find itself captured in one of mcflurry's poke balls along with the dewpider.

Igor ● whew

❧

"me? oh, uh. i don't have that many mcpokemon -- i'm from fiore, you see, and mccatching pokemon and tmcraining them wasn't really... a thing until maybe mcrecently. but, uh, i have ice types like arctozolt and snorunt... and, uh, mostly just mcpokemon i got as, as a kid."

mcflurry cut herself off from her rambling early, making eye contact with skyler until the moment where the captain broke off. huh.

well, from that point on, there was sort of an awkward silence in the air. despite everything, mcflurry didn't actually -- didn't actually like awkward silences. so, she said the first thing on her mind.

"i wouldn't mind... dinner and some wine."

and holy shit, mcflurry's been in the sun forever and without water for too long that her voice seemed to drop an octave and get all sorts of low and raspy and assertive. but more importantly than all of that, it's the first sentence where her speech impediment didn't automatically kick in.

"since you mm... saved my life. and all. so it'd be a good way to mc, repay you."

and then mcflurry glanced at skyler's arms and her ass and her mind went everywhere all at once and now her brain is in a bar in fiore during her early 20s and --

"then i guess it could mc... go somewhere, if you'd like. captain dross."

skyler dross ● mcflurry's slightly out of her goddamn mind but she's also one hell of a flirt

❧

the moment the telepathic suggestion came in, mcflurry stopped moving so quickly within the crowd, her movement hampered by her own brain. everything in her being told her that she didn't need to run away anymore, and yet...

she knew that she wanted to run away. her dark-type pokemon started barking at the sky -- directly at the gardevoir, having sensed the psychic-type move used on its trainer.

but mcflurry knew she couldn't get away. not anymore. the league had her caught. she was done for. this was the end of the line. she returned her pokemon back to its ball.

as it turns out, the suggestion went a little too far with mcflurry. trudging into yet another alleyway, a wave of sadness burst from mcflurry.

the woman got on her knees, her head stooped low. then, she raised her hands, as if under arrest.

the moment the saint came in, mcflurry begged for all the wrong reasons.

"l-look, just -- just mckill me, if you do it -- if i get arrested, rocket'll -- they'll send someone after my head. i'd rather -- i'd rather..."

and then mcflurry burst into wet, heavy tears, her face contorting in full ugliness as she sobbed and sobbed and pleaded for a quick death like a helpless blob.

Ruby Walker ● game over

❧

mcflurry cracked her fingers as a wave of nervousness passed over her.

she never did like using her hobby for rocket's sake. it was -- it was supposed to be the one thing that was... that was clean. and, uh, that they couldn't take, couldn't take from her. and yet, sometimes, it's the best way to complete a mission, and the best way for her to get paid. and she needs money to keep doing her hobby, so it's -- it's a "necessary evil", as people might say.

well, in any case. she'd already set up her electronic piano, so there wasn't any turning back, really. the mission was simple: while the heist occurred, she'd have to attract a crowd while the heist went off.

with that, she tried to think of what song she should do as she adjusted her seat. well, she didn't know that many classical songs that would turn a crowd -- and she never got into swing, which usually does the trick. so... maybe something popular? well, a dance... hm.

let's start with one from a rhythm game. this one was pretty mechanically advanced -- even she had a hard time following the computer-like notes, but she can manage.

aaaaand --

immediately, a crowd starts funneling in as mcflurry goes apeshit on the piano.

Valerio Dachev ● CURRENT SONG: FREEDOM DIVE - XI

❧

mcflurry screeched as the gardevoir and her famous trainer teleported in front of her yet again. ugh, really? she needed -- needed to get somewhere where they couldn't see her. otherwise they were, were just gonna teleport everywhere.

"s-stop mcfollowing me! sand attack!"

if anything, mcflurry was exceptionally good at running away. as were her pokemon, given their ability. the poochyena started clawing its front paws rabidly onto the ground at the bottom of the steps, and a huge cloud of dust ensued.

"roar!"

from there, the noise would likely stun the duo again, and mcflurry hightailed it -- again. pulling out all of her knowledge of lilycove, the camo-hatted rocket dove into a nearby alley, tossing the mail and the super potions into a nearby garbage can.

(where a trubbish would promptly attempt to devour it, but she didn't know that.)

taking off her jacket and wrapping it around her waist, mcflurry unbuttoned her undershirt slightly, making her look more like a high school after school rather than a thief. coming out the other side of the alley, mcflurry started blending into the crowd...

with her very-recognizable camo hat still on. can never do anything right, that girl.

Ruby Walker ● burnt through 2 brain cells, needed 3