Everyone Gangster Until Mom Shows Up

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A river. Well, it was more like a stream. It wasn't as impressive as the one he saw back in Everspring, but it was just enough to make him cautious. The little zorua hopped his way through the snow, finding it difficult to walk through the excessive amount of snow. Instead of footsteps, he left holes of snow behind him. Chance was certain to double and even triple check where he went, fearing what could happen if he were to land in the wrong spot of the river.

Despite his unusual caution, he was excited. This place was so cool! There was snow everywhere! Oooh, what if he made a fort out of the snow? That'd be wicked! His mind raced with all kinds of ideas he could carry out here. All of the mischief he could get up so. He wondered briefly if he could take some of the snow home...before realizing how stupid that was. Fortunate that nobody was here to read his mind!

...What did snow even taste like? He paused as he stared at the snow around him. Curious, he gave the snow a lick.

...

Tastes like cold. Noted.


Mirage would bet money that Chance was thinking of something stupid right then. The zoroark trailed along just far enough behind the zorua for him to not notice. She heaved a quiet sigh as she watched him struggle along. Her form was hidden underneath the magic of her illusions, making it appear as if nothing at all were there to begin with. She watched her son lick the snow and couldn't help but feel even more defeated than before she got here.

She could absolutely grab him and drag him back right then and there, but...what would that accomplish? He'd probably just run off again. She figured it'd be better to wait for him to wear himself out. With how difficult it was for him to travel through this terrain, that looked as if it might be soon...at least so she hoped.

Chance Energy: 13
Mirage Energy: 62

"YES-Oh-I mean-yesss" All prior concerns and fears were...straight out the window for Chance. Eagerness and excitement were back in his voice as his ears popped right back up with a grin on his face. He kept his voice quiet, as if his mother weren't capable of hearing a single word he said, "Oh-Oh-should I do a pose? Like-like this?" he sat on his rear and put his paws in the air, side facing Alki with his head turned towards the jigglypuff like a lion on a coat of arms.

"Or-Or like this?" he dropped back onto the ground and stood on all fours, one paw held up with a heroic stance, gaze off on something important in the distance. After he held it for a mere second, his eyes snapped back to the jigglypuff, waiting for an answer.

Mirage could absolutely hear everything her child rambled on about. If he was grounded, the ideal thing to do was to make sure he didn't have fun. Still, she got the idea that the balloon was just going to argue with her again. Her ears folded back in annoyance. No matter what she did, she was always the bad guy. Just when she thought she was going to turn her life around, she ends up being the villain in the stories of her own children.

What a fulfilling life she led.

Alki's smile grew as Chance quieted his voice down, almost immediately thrilled once more. He was quite easy to impress, and quite easy to please, but honestly, that wasn't a negative at all in her view. It meant that he might even be impressed with her drawings, even if they were far from the best! Her smile grew wider as Chance began to strike various assorted poses. She smiled, taking them in while developing her own ideas in her mind. They weren't half bad, but she wasn't entirely sure she could draw them all too well...

He resumed his previous stances, seeming to wait for her response. What to say...? Would he be offended if she said it...? Her smile shrunk as it grew more unsure of herself, as she tapped her pencil against her notepad, before she finally spoke.

"I-I l-like those, b-but... Um, I t-think I have m-my own idea, if t-that's ok...?" She managed, as she began to draw vague circles on her pad, intending them to be outlines for the future drawing. Once she finished drawing the set of circles, she dimmed her voice, her hand stopping as she looked at him from beneath her glasses.

"Y-You really did all that? That's cool... I w-wish I were b-brave enough to do some of those things, let alone c-cool enough..." She said quietly, admiring the Zorua in turn. Even if it wasn't the most admirable enough thing, and even though she wasn't quite sure that the Zoroark deserved it yet, calling her mom a bitch was something she wished she'd been brave enough to do... Had they been right about her? Yeah. Probably. She was a failure in a lot of ways, but they still didn't have to point it out so harshly all the time...

"S-Sneaking out a-and stealing and all that... You're like a cooler me!" She said, genuinely believing it as she shot him a smile. He was much more pleasant to be around than she was to other people, which was quite possibly the coolest thing about him, too...

Chance's grin was wide, but it didn't skip a single beat when Alki suggested her own pose. His answer was instead to try to peer over the Jigglypuff's notepad and get a peek at the starting sketches. He couldn't really tell what they were supposed to be himself, but that was fine! It wasn't done, right? He had no idea how long it took to draw something, but he was eager to watch it spring to life, even if he had to sit there until the fire went out and he froze over himself.

His eyes practically glued to the pages, he responded, "Nah, you're in the guild. So you're like-adomanically-"

"Automatically."

"Automatically cooler-wait, what?" Chance glanced over to his mom's direction. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the comfort of the fire. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought she'd fallen asleep like that...though he also wouldn't be surprised if she actually did. He could have sworn he just heard her correct him right there, but apparently not...? He looked back to Alki, a bit more cautious of what he said now, "I didn't even really succeed all that much anyways-I bet you've stolen like-all kinds of stuff."

Alki kicked her feet back and forth as she sketched out more of the Zorua. The circles were there, so now she had to add more details. His legs and paws, ears... Of course, it wasn't quite so simple. She sketched out her lines slowly, unsure of herself now that Chance was there watching her. What if he didn't like something... Her thoughts went back to the earlier drawing of the stream she'd attempted, and how much she had enjoyed that. She certainly hoped that the result for this one would be different...

She began to connect the circles meant to represent the Zorua's body and his head, as she heard him mention that she was in the guild, and that made her... automatically better. She heard the Zoroark correct them, but only shot her a cursory glance. Truthfully, she wanted to be friendlier with her, but she wanted to cheer up Chance more... Although she was also somewhat afraid... Was the Zoroark mad at her? Alki wouldn't really blame her if she was, but she wouldn't want to talk much with her either in that case...

Chance continued. Alki nodded along softly, before realizing what Chance was suggesting, and instead choosing to shake her head, more vigorously. "I-I mean, I'm a pretty d-decent thief, b-but... I'm probably t-the worst one in my g-group. T-There's this Vulpix, who's amazing, and a Roselia who's also awesome, and... Um... O-Others. I'm just ok..." She trailed off, unsure of how many details she should be giving. But... They were all outlaws, right...? So long as Chance didn't go off telling anyone, everything would be ok...

"And I'm a horrible guild member." She said, much more sure of herself this time. Of course, it was easy to be confident when she was telling a certain, 100% truth. "T-There was this one time at the guild, w-with a Glaceon, a-and..." Alki trailed off, looking between the Zorua and Zoroark. Wasn't Sova Mirage's boyfriend or something...? And Chance was his kid, somehow... Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned that... By this point, her pencil had trailed off, suspended on the tip of the drawn Zorua's ear. Most of his upper body was done, but she'd forgotten about it, now suspended in memories of a guild room, and heal pulses, and cookies...

"A lot of bad stuff happened when I tried to be a good guild member, and it was all my fault." She said softly, allowing herself a moment to recompose herself before she continued her drawing, now moving on to the details of the Zorua's front paws. Her voice was obviously discomforted, but not quite depressed; after all, she still had a responsibility to cheer up Chance, didn't she?

Well that all didn't seem very fun. He'd said that modesty made the jigglypuff cooler, but constant talking down of herself was getting to be a little much. He could have sat here and tried to argue, make some vague statement about how he assumed she was a great thief, but instead, he just shifted the subject...his short attention span helped with it.

"Ooooh a vulpix? Was is Synd'r? It's gotta be her right? She's the one that wouldn't let me into the gang! was soooo excited to see her too-and-and I even showed off some of my abilities to her-buut she didn't seem all that impressed." Chance pouted, not only disappointed with himself but disappointed that the vulpix still rejected him. There was a whole list of reasons why Chance shouldn't be in someplace like the thieves...

And Mirage knew every single one of them. The Zoroark took in a deep breath before she exhaled slowly. She didn't intervene. She was too tired to at this point. All she was going to do was encourage him to talk to Alki behind her back where she actually couldn't hear him. The zoroark enjoyed the warmth of the fire before them as it crackled and sparked, but everything else? It could be better.

Alki nodded to herself, silently berating herself for bringing her own insecurities up once more. Wasn't this where things all went wrong in the past? Beating herself up, telling other people how bad she really was... For whatever reason, people didn't like the truth. She had to learn to stop mentioning it all the time, even if she knew that she was right... She smiled back at Chance, watching as he attempted to change the topic. She had to have a bit more confidence if she wanted other people to like her... Or at least seem like she had a bit more confidence...

"Y-Yeah, it was Synd'r! Have you met her?" Alki asked softly, her smile turning more and more genuine by the second, as she looked back down at her drawing. She needed to draw Chance's back and body, and then his tail... It shouldn't be too difficult, but Zorua weren't quite like Skitty, and that was the species she was most comfortable drawing, by far... She'd never really tried to draw Zorua. Mostly just Skitty and Vulpix, and very occassionally, herself, if Darcy wanted her to...

"She's pretty amazing, I think... She s-showed me a lot, a-and she's really smart to boot... I-I'm sorry she wasn't that impressed with your abilities, though..." Alki said, her pencil moving slower once more as she deliberated what to say. Mirage was right there... Would she really approve? Well, she was an outlaw too, so it'd be a bit hypocritical for her to judge them too harshly...

"But hey!" Alki said softly, bouncing back from earlier melancholy. "I-I bet your abilities are just fine... Y-You could show me if you want, and if you impress me, I could l-let you tag along f-for c-certain jobs, and stuff, or j-just for fun...? I'm sure your abilities are just f-fine, if you wanna show me...?" She asked, practically beaming by this point, as she snuck a glance at the Zoroark, who seemed simply to be enjoying the fire. Had she heard? Who knew... All that mattered was that, hopefully, it might give chance a bit of pleasure to know he could help out a bit with thieving, even if Synd'r had already passed judgement on him...

"Absolutely not," Mirage's voice chimed in before Chance even had a second to respond. One eye opened to look at the children from across the fire. What she said before about not intervening? Yeah, that was out the window. There was absolutely no way she was going to stand by and let her son sign up for illegal activities. It was something she tried so desperately to get out of, it's not something she'd want to watch her son get into.

"Alki, do not encourage this behavior." A low growl accompanied her voice.

Chance's ears flattened as his mouth snapped shut, whatever demonstration he was about to give immediately silenced. He glanced over to his mom, he could see her cold hard glare through the flames. He knew she disapproved of his more mischievous encounters, but...well, it was fun! That-and he had to be good at something right? If Emmelyn was gonna be the do-good guild member then he could be the amazing outlaw that nobody could ever catch! He'd be even better than his mom!

Still...that meant going against her. Why couldn't she just accept what he wanted do? Besides, she'd been an outlaw before, so why couldn't he?

Alki's ears twitched as Mirage chimed in, her tone obviously upset with her suggestion. What was so wrong with it? She pushed her glasses up, still looking at Chance. She knew it was polite to look at the person whom she was talking to, but truthfully, she was way too scared of Mirage to really look at her... Now she was being reprimanded as well, for encouraging a certain type of behavior...? The jigglypuff fidgeted with her bag, too busy thinking over what to say to really pay much mind to her drawing at that moment. Finally, she gathered up enough courage to defend her position.

"Why n-not? I'm a-an outlaw, y-you're an outlaw... C-Chance sounds like he's d-done outlawish things... S-So what's wrong with being an outlaw...?" Alki said, taking off her glasses and rubbing at the lens roughly with a cloth she took out of her bag. It gave her something to look at that wasn't Chance or Mirage... "It'd be b-better s-someone looks out for him i-if he's g-gonna be doing stuff like t-that... Not to mention it'd b-be more fun like that too... "

Of course, the kid was going to fight her on it. "Just because I am one doesn't make it okay. People hate them for a reason." She sneered. She paused as she thought about the jigglypuff's question-what was wrong with being an outlaw...well, there was a lot of things. "Being an outlaw...means that you can't get proper housing, your friends-assuming you have any at all-would sell you to the police the first chance they get, you get looked at with hatred, you can't get a good occupation which means you can't buy anything-you have to steal it-which only makes your status worse. You're stuck in an endless cycle just trying to survive while trying to avoid getting caught by the police so you don't go to an even worse place."

Chance heard what his mother said...but he didn't quite absorb it...nor really believe any of it. His mom seemed pretty well off...and Alki too! Surely she was exaggerating-or even just lying so he'd stop doing what she didn't want. Chance's cheeks puffed out in a pout as he gathered the sudden courage to speak, "But Alki's fine! And you're fine too! You have a house and lots of stuff!"

"Because I got lucky and Alki isn't even an outlaw." Mirage snorted.

"What?" Chance spoke up, the hurt in his voice sounding as if he'd just been slapped.

"There is no way that the guild would allow and outlaw to work under their ranks. Alki just hasn't been caught. She's not a true outlaw...yet. She's just a petty thief." Her gaze focused on the jigglypuff. She waited for the reaction, Chance followed soon after.

Alki frowned, as the Zoroark was quite obviously wrong about... Pretty much everything she said. She had housing. Synd'r had housing, Vesper had housing... She also had plenty of friends, who were also outlaws, and she knew that there was no way any of them would ever sell her out, and she was sure that she wouldn't ever sell them out either. People had looked at her with hatred even before she'd become an outlaw; if anything, she'd gotten most of her friends after she'd decided to become a thief. And what was wrong with stealing?

She heard Chance speak up on her behalf, defending how fine she was. If Mirage had a house, then that just seemed to prove Alki's and Chance's position even more! And of course, she just had to follow it up by saying that she wasn't an outlaw...? How wasn't she...? She blinked in surprise, taken aback by just how indefensible such a claim was. Chance seemed more hurt by this claim than she was, and Mirage expounded on it some more.

"Well, t-that's dumb..." Alki said softly, tapping her hands together as she tried to figure out where to begin. "People only hate b-bad outlaws, s-selfish ones o-or violent ones..." The girl pushed her glasses up before setting the sketchpad to the side now, momentarily. "I'm part o-of a group, a-and we're all outlaws... W-We won't sell each other out, it's... w-we're not like that. W-We're all friends, a-and w-we all work together... You only get stuck i-into that cycle if you g-get caught... You weren't lucky. You just played the system r-right..." Alki said, unable to stop a tone of admiration from seeping into her voice. She cleared her throat, before continuing.

"And that's what I'm going to do too! A-And it's what I've been d-doing... I'm not t-the best thief, y-yet, but... I'm already living a d-double life, and it's pretty e-easy to keep it under wraps... N-No one suspects me, so I c-can help my friends with thief stuff and h-help my sister with guild stuff... B-but I am doing illegal things. J-Just cause I haven't been c-caught doesn't m-make me not an outlaw... If anything it makes me better than most outlaws!" She snuck a look at Chance, and managed a small smile. It was hard to look at Mirage while she was talking... But she couldn't help herself! She just had to add this...

"H-Hell, you got caught, d-didn't you...? M-Maybe you're just jealous cause you got found out and I didn't! " She added triumphantly, the earlier self doubt fading away for the time being. She couldn't be proud of much, but she was proud of her abilities as a thief, even if they couldn't match Synd'r... She wasn't about to let Mirage talk her down as petty! Whatever that meant... But it sure didn't sound like a compliment...

"I got caught-as in found out, not actually caught-caught- because I didn't care for getting caught at the time. I was an entirely different person then." Stupid, foolish, and most of all...well, stupid-just like the jigglypuff was being at that moment, "An Outlaw is someone who is wanted by the law. They have a bounty on their head and people want them dead or alive. I was extremely lucky, because there is no gaming the system-not forever anyways unless you'd rather die than have something else crack down on you." Mirage was irritated. Not that she was jealous of the jigglypuff, but the sheer audacity this child had to argue with her.

"You and your friends are thieves, not outlaws. Criminals who haven't been caught in the act-and it's only a matter of time before you turn on each other or when one of you do get caught and the rest all falls down with it. There's a reason why this is all illegal, it's not just suddenly "okay" because you got away with it." She huffed at the child, "I've been in that world far longer than you have puffsack, I know how it goes"

It felt odd being on this side of the conversation. It was frustrating just how stupid and childish this jigglypuff was-and now she was interacting with Chance and encouraging his negative behavior. If she couldn't get this kid at least a little straight, then she didn't want Chance hanging around Alki-period.

"And honestly?" she continued, "It's fucking insulting that you're both a guild member and a self-proclaimed outlaw. You have absolutely no need to turn to that kind of life and yet here you are-going along with it anyways. You could lead a peaceful life and yet you choose to throw it all away and drag my son down with you."

Alki closed her eyes, exhaling a shaky breath. She seemed to be getting heated, but at the same time, she still kept judging her. Her decisions, her actions... Why? Alki hadn't done any of that, even though she was fairly certain that Mirage had earned her bounty committing much more malicious crimes than she had. She'd... Sorta been at least a bit curious what she'd be like, having such a big bounty and still going uncaught, but now she couldn't help but just feel disappointed...

"Not as insulting as you judging me so much... You don't know me. You don't know whether I have a need for it or not, and I do. " Alki said, standing up. She wasn't a very large or impressive Pokemon, but if Mirage was going to raise her voice and judge her as much as she was, she wasn't going to just sit there. She was sick and tired of everything always going wrong...

"... It'd be a long story, but my mum needs money... She's sick, and even if I am in the guild, I can't make money like that... I-I'm bad luck. For my teammate and sister, for the others in the guild... All I've ever done is screw up. I almost got this Vaporeon killed, I'm the one who screwed up Sova's leg, and then he went and c-cut... My s-sister..." Alki said, drawing up her hidden power and drawing it down her chest, feeling the odd sensation of her own shadow, traveling down her chest, barely grazing her... "Because of me..."

"The only reason I'm still in the guild is because my sister wants me to be." Alki said, only now becoming aware of how much her own voice had been rising. "I don't want to live a peaceful life. I don't want to give up, and if all I'm good for is being a thief, then that's how my life is going to be... And you should stop judging me for it. Chance too... You should let him decide what he wants for himself..."

She'd gone to great pains to lower her voice since she'd started, but she couldn't stop her own irritation from seeping in. Thievery was the only thing she'd ever been good at... The only thing that really made her happy... And the Zoroark was saying that it was insulting to want that? To want to be happy? Her hands trembled as she flattened her ears, scowling up at Mirage.

"I'm a horrible guild member. I'm a good thief. It's the only thing I'm good at. If it makes me happy, and if it'd make Chance happy, you should stop judging us for it... What's so fucking insulting about wanting to be happy?"

"What's insulting is that you don't need it to be happy, you just think you do. I've been down that road before, puffball, and trust me, it doesn't end pretty-so cut the shit now while you still can, when people would forgive you. As for your mother don't even pull that kind of shit on me because I know damn well that the guild members are good folk that'd be willing to help the likes of you if you'd swallow your pride and ask." Mirage growled. It was eerie. It unnerved her how this jigglypuff thought she needed this life so much. Just like how she thought she needed it back then. The only difference here, it seemed, is that the jigglypuff had a friend that was willing to help her along. She wasn't alone in all of this, she had someone to show her that she didn't need it-yet here she was. Doing it anyways.

That wasn't the only gripe she had about the jigglypuff now though. "Sova's leg was not your fault, it was his own for going off and doing something stupid, like he always does. And let me guess-Skylar? She's about just as dumb." Well...she didn't truly believe Skylar to be that dimwitted, but the heat of the moment kept her rage flowing.

"What happened to Dad's leg...?" Chance chimed in inquisitively, but he went ignored.

She wasn't done yet. There was something she needed to set straight-something she didn't believe. Sova cut Darcy? Fat shit. Either the jigglypuff was lying or she didn't understand. She could at the very least see that the jigglypuff wasn't lying. Which meant that the balloon had seen some things she probably shouldn't. Mirage needed her to understand, now, "And don't you dare go around telling people that "sova" cut up your sister, because he would never do such a thing!"

"Dad did what...?" Chance was utterly lost in the conversation. He didn't quite understand what was going on or why everyone was so riled up, but it seemed to him here like Mom was the villain of the scenario...but then Alki said that his dad cut up Darcy...what? His mom was right, he'd never do that! He was Dad! Chance glanced over at Alki questioningly. At this point, he just wanted the yelling to stop. He glanced back to the fire, hurriedly thinking about what he could possibly do to break this tension.

Then...he had an idea. While the two busied themselves with an argument...he began to collect some snow.

Alki had so much more she wanted to say. For starters, she was tired of Mirage talking down to her like she was somehow lesser... How could she possibly pretend to know what Alki did or didn't need to be happy? She couldn't. Whether or not she'd been down that road was irrelevant, because she wasn't Alki, and she couldn't possibly know what her life had been like. She had no way of knowing how it would end, but Alki knew she'd do everything in her power to ensure it wouldn't end... Not in an arrest. Not in death... Just... keep going. Forever... Happy...? But perhaps the most frustrating aspect was to pretend to know her mum's situation... She'd always have to pay for medicine, because the injury wasn't going to go away... So what was she supposed to do? Beg? Constantly? Get someone hurt trying to do guild work...? Or just do what she was meant to do...

And to pretend she knew what was and wasn't her fault...

"You don't know any of that..." Alki said quietly, doing her best to keep her voice silent. She heard Chance say something, but she didn't know how to respond, and Mirage didn't bother. What had happened with Sova's leg...? She didn't exactly know. She knew he'd been hurt, she knew it'd been a big deal, and she knew that she'd been the one who was supposed to help him, but she couldn't, and now the leg was messed up, forever... Because she'd done the job wrong...

It was what she said next that really pissed her off. Telling her that he wouldn't do such a thing when she'd seen it, seen his claws travelling down her sister's chest, Darcy whimpering, not backing off because she was just that tough, but still suffering, still crying, still bleeding... And Mirage wanted her to believe that none of it had happened? That she'd seen wrong, that she'd somehow mistaken the 'Mon cutting up her sister for someone else, that she was too stupid to recognize him...?

Alki wanted to yell at her, or hit her, or do something in retaliation for this, but before she could even begin to think about doing anything, she felt something hit her side, knocking her slightly off balance. Flecks of snow splashed onto the lens of her glasses, and the girl yelped in surprise, turning to look at the cause of the attack. She watched as a ball of snow was lobbed at Chance's mother now, and Alki turned to face her.

"...We should probably stop." Alki said simply, the frustration in her voice obvious as she got to work packing her own ball of snow. She felt another one collide against her, which prompted her to apologize to the younger Pokemon now. "Sorry a-about that C-Chance..." She said quietly, before she halfheartedly lobbed a snowball at the Zorua in turn.

Chance gathered together what he could...and lobbed it Alki. It was rude to hit a girl with glasses, but he didn't exactly have proper manners. At the very least, he was quick to turn the fire on Mirage. The zoroark was slapped with a small ball of snow, which only directed her anger towards him. Where Alki apologized and requested a cease-fire, she her fury grew.

The zorua, meanwhile, suddenly seemed entirely oblivious to his mother's anger. Alki apologized to him, but he wasn't about to have any of that. Alki didn't even put some umph into that throw! "No Talk!" he cried, "Only throw!" With a giggle, he launched another snowball, at the very least this time he tried to avoid hitting her glasses. Nobody could resist the fun of a snowball fight...right?

Mirage watched her foolish son at work. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly found that she didn't have the willpower to reprimand him. Fine. If he wanted to have a snowball fight, then he could. It wasn't like he was going to ever be allowed near this jigglypuff again, so might as well let him have his fun-so long as the fae stopped talking about that outlaw nonsense to him.