[FIN] Holiday Woes

[BlackPidgeot]

He hated this time of year. He hated shopping. He hated his hair. He hated everything.

A storm cloud moved through the throngs of people milling about the boardwalk shops of Camphoreon, in the form of a red readed teenager. It was cool enough out for him to wear a light coat over his casual attire, and there was a black beanie on his head too. Hair was tucked underneath the hate as best as he could manage, but bright red locks still stuck out from underneath it, especially his bangs. The combination of red hair and green eyes made him look somewhat festive, even if it he didn't feel it.

It had been a while since Asch had left the base to go out in public. It was getting a bit harder for him to get out without someone recognizing him or mistaking him for his brother. Well, he was fixing that last one, since he his hair was starting to grow out.

He didn't like the month of December like he use to. In fact he almost dreaded it. For more reasons than one. However, Asch had decided he did want to get something for Natalia. He just... had no idea what. He hated shopping for himself... but for someone else, especially a girl, was even worse. Thus, Asch walked past the shops, looking at windows and the displays within with a sour scrutiny.

This was just dumb. He wanted to get it over with and retreat back to the base.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Usually Seraphine loved this time of year. She loved to have a valid excuse to shop ("oh, it's for my mother" always worked very well when store clerks gave her skeptical looks on certain items), she loved getting so many presents and she loved all the new clothes she always got, and she loved their New Years trips. She loved putting new bows and accessories on Anastasia.

Not this year, though.

They had no money to buy any presents at all, too focused on saving up to actually keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs, let alone to spend on gifts or a fancy tree, and forget about the traditional New Years vacation. She wouldn't be getting any presents, wouldn't be going anywhere, wouldn't be doing anything special, and to top it all off, she didn't even have Anastasia for comfort and emotional support.

Seraphine wasn't exactly sure just why she was out window shopping, but she was. Maybe she just wanted to live in the past for a while, to reminisce about things she'd loved and used to have and had taken entirely for granted, something she hadn't thought about at all until suddenly she didn't have them anymore. The memories became too much for her after a while, and with an angry humph she burst out of one of the stores --

-- and straight into some black-clad teen in a hat.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Said teen would suddenly turn angry green eyes down at Seraphine as she slammed into him. Thanks to years of sword practice, he managed to retain his footing, even if jostled, but was still unhappy about it. A sharp tone in his voice as he snapped at her.

"HEY! Watch where you're going!"

Stupid girl. What's her problem anyway? Asch was hardly in the mood to be nearly run over by strangers. Hopefully she would just hurry along and get out of his sight.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine was already upset, so when she unfortunately bumped into someone - someone who was also in a bad mood - it only worsened hers and she glared right back at him. Apparently she'd had no intention of apologizing, even if 'sorry' was part of her vocabulary. Which it wasn't.

She opened her mouth to snap back at him, but closed it as a wave of vague, indirect recognition washed over her, followed by realization and a renewed anger in quick succession. The girl never was very good at hiding her emotions. "Hey," she snapped suddenly, putting her hands on her hips, "you're that guy!" She grasped for his name - Luke must have mentioned it a dozen times but hell if she ever paid attention to unimportant things like the names of evil twins - so she settled for the next best thing. "You're Luke's brother!" It was more of an accusation than anything.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Even if she had apologized, it probably wouldn't have helped anyway. Seraphine was in good company... theoretically. Although he was a bit startled as she seemed to recognize him, which quickly turned to anger again. The boy practically bristling at the accusatory statement of "Luke's brother." UGH! Asch scowled at the girl who must have been one of the Dreck's friends or something.

"So? What of it?" he groused, annoyed that he apparently couldn't go anywhere without bumping into someone that knew or recognized him or his brother.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"So," she retorted quickly, bristling as well, "did you take my Umbreon?" Her tone was still accusatory, her light green eyes boring into his as if glaring at him hard enough would get her beloved Anastasia back somehow. She'd made the connection internally that he was Luke's brother and therefore in Team Rocket, and someone in Team Rocket had obviously stolen Anastasia - despite the fact she never saw who took her, but who else would? - so maybe it was Luke's brother? He took Vahy'n, after all, so to Sera it was just as likely that he'd also taken Anastasia.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Asch just glared right back, not even breaking eye contact with the girl. Her accusation drew an even deeper scowl. So that's what this is about. Someone had stolen one of her Pokemon.

"No." He said simply, not feeling any need to elaborate. That answer was good enough. He hasn't taken it and in fact hadn't stolen any Pokemon in quite some time. He typically did other types of missions.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera opened her mouth to reply immediately, having already known beforehand what she would say - but his response clearly caught her by surprise, and she closed her mouth and raised her eyebrows a bit. 'No' was obviously not the answer she had expected, and it left her at a momentary loss of how to react. It also seemed to deflate her a bit. "You... you didn't?" Nope, she still didn't know how to react to this. She'd seen a ray of hope and clung to it with all she was worth, only to find it just as quickly slipped entirely out of her fingers and left her stranded and hopeless once again.

After a pause she tried to resummon her courage but she was obviously not as into it as before. "Do you know who took her then?" Since his first answer was no, this probably was too - although maybe it wasn't?  

[BlackPidgeot]

Asch's angered features had at some point during Sera's speechlessness, changed to a grumpy neutral look. He just stood there and stared back at her as she tried to find her words. Clearly the girl had been thrown off by his answer. He was a bit surprised that she wasn't calling him a liar or making demands or something. Perhaps she had smartly seen the truth in his answer, or was just too stupid to even think that he could be lying. He would assume the latter.

"I don't." This reply was said a bit more carefully. After all, just because he was a Rocket didn't mean he knew what all of his colleagues were doing. Although, if he really wanted to, he could probably find out. He wasn't going to tell her such, though.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

No, this answer was a no too. "...oh." Sera visibly deflated completely and sighed at his response. She shoved her gloved hands into her pockets and cast her eyes down to the planks of the boardwalk below their feet, and for a moment or two she looked as absolutely miserable and depressed on the outside as she felt on the inside. If such a meeting had occurred even a year ago, her reactions would have been completely different. She would have accused him of lying, she would have demanded he get her back or at the very least demanded he find out who took her. She would have been absolutely and thoroughly insulted that anyone had dared to steal anything from her. That was then, however, and this was now, and Seraphine was definitely not the same Seraphine she was even a year ago. She was tired, depressed, despondent, and just overall was beginning to lose hope of ever seeing her precious Anastasia again.

Almost.

The teen chanced a vaguely hopefully glance up at Luke's twin and asked, "are you sure..?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Asch sighed at the girl's clearly deflated response, but the seemingly permanent scowl remained.

"Look, I don't even know what your Umbreon looks like, so how would I know? And don't you have someone else you can pester? Your Pokemon is gone, so get over it."

It was likely that the Umbreon had been stored away somewhere or even sold. Who knows where it could be, and even if he did find it, he didn't exactly feel inclined to help someone he didn't even know. Especially a stupid brat like this girl.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

...oh. Right. She should've thought of that first, really - that he probably didn't know what Anastasia looked like. She had just assumed he was the one to take her, so he would know what she looked like so why should she waste time telling him?

Sera was about to educate him on this matter when he told her to get over it. Get over it? Get over it? She bristled immediately, glaring at him with renewed vigor and a venom in her words she hadn't used in months. "Get over it? I'm not going to get over it, you heartless, callous jerk! How dare you even suggest such a thing, as if it's just like.. Just like..." She floundered momentarily for words, "as if it's just like someone stealing some make up, or a dress or something -- Anastasia was my first and my favorite pokemon, and I will not 'get over it', you pathetic excuse for a person," she spat angrily, still glaring daggers at him. "I bet if someone stole your favorite pokemon that you'd had forever, then you would be just as upset and try to get it back. And don't give me s**t about how no one would ever dare do that to you because that is complete and utter bullshit. There's freelance thieves and thugs and gangs out there, all it takes is for you to be overconfident one too many times and then poof," she made a gesture with her hands, as if things normally just went 'poof' when stolen, "it's gone. And you know what? If that happens to you and I find out about it? I'm going to laugh, and I'm going to tell you that it's just a pokemon and you need to get over it, and then we'll see how you like it, you pitiless, arrogant a*****e."  

[BlackPidgeot]

One might have thought Asch would get upset at the venomous and lengthy retort he had gotten from this girl. But such was not the case, he merely stared at her with a cool expression that lacked any sort of pity or remorse that she might expect. His eyes didn't even flash with anger, they just narrowed slightly.

Granted this was a more normal reaction from the girl, so obviously she hadn't completely lost it. Yet. He didn't care about the names she slung at him. In a way they were true.

"I never said it couldn't happen to me. But I've already lost something far more important than a stupid Pokemon. And you don't see me wallowing around in self pity. So excuse me if I don't have any sympathy for your situation. If you think sitting around crying and moaning about it is going to change anything, you're wrong."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Oh please, as if you aren't wallowing in self-pity and moaning about it in some other way - like grumping around with your face looking like you're always scowling at everybody for everything - if it even really was something as important as you say it is. Pff," she scoffed, folding her arms across her chest and putting her weight on one hip. "Walking around snapping at people for accidents and scowling at everybody doesn't change anything either, you know. So don't you start lecturing me on what I should do, you hypocrite."

"And I wouldn't expect you to have much sympathy for me anyway, considering what you do," she added pointedly. She clearly didn't think much of talking crap to a member of Team Rocket. In her opinion, it was just like talking crap to some idiot at school. He certainly reminded her of a lot of the angsty teens there and all their stupid crap.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Now he was annoyed, but Asch just snorted. It wasn't worth it to get into an argument with a petty little girl.

"And that's supposed to excuse the fact that you yelled back or you just insulted me in several different ways? Please. You're as much of a hypocrite as I am, if not more. People like you disgust me. You think the world owes you something, just because something bad happened to you. Life's unfair, deal with it."

With that last sentence, Asch waved his hand in dismissal. He was done talking about this, and thus started to walk off.