a lullaby for all the wayward children [complete]

See who comes in and--Oh! Oh. The realization in her eyes was probably a bit amusing. The little eatery was plenty clear; it’d be pretty tough to sneak up on anyone in here. Even the kitchen had a huge glassless “window” where the customers could see pretty much everything going on back there.

Dawn grinned at the obedient poochyena. She wasn’t sure if Jack was just that good of a trainer, the poochyena was simply well mannered, or perhaps a bit of both, but they certainly made a good duo. She might have desired her and Psyche to get along like that if Psyche was a contest pokemon. The kitten would need an ego as big as the sun itself to command the stage. A little sassiness probably wouldn’t hurt anything.

At least the skitty was going to play nice.

”Oh good, then I don’t have to go into detail.” She adjusted the sleeves of the red jacket again before beginning. ”It’s probably a little religious of me, but if the last bit excitement for the day is a rainbow, that’s great! Rainbows sometimes come from Ho-oh, and where he goes, peace and happiness follow.” And, after a day like today, she knew she could use a bit of that. Jack probably would appreciate some, too. ”Of course, actually meeting him or getting one of his feathers would be better…” she mused. Still, she had explained to him her words earlier and brought up a bit of conversation from way back on the street. She knew people liked it when that kind of thing was recalled and wondered what sort of reaction the boy might have.

Right on time, Macy the audino walked over. She held a tray with four pokepuffs on it. She cooed in greeting, asking who was hurt. Her heal pulse move worked better on pokemon than people, but it could patch up minor injuries with the greatest of ease. Toni followed after the audino, two menus in on hand.

“Alright, kiddos--er, folks, take ya pick!” she said to them. She passed the menus off.

Of course, he automatically thought how powerful that made Ho-oh. No wonder the guardian of the skies flew away from the Bell Tower, Dawn thought. He really shouldn’t doubt the legendaries… But, regardless of his opinion differing from her own, she’d let him think what he wanted. It was only respectful to do so. ”Togekisses do it, too,” she tutted. ”I mean, the chances of finding a togekiss are pretty low, given how rare togepi are plus how long raising a pokemon takes, but, still.” The only reason she'd even bothered to learn about the jubilee pokemon was that someone once told her she looked like the crown princess of Sinnoh. Vanity pressed her to see how alike they really were. It was skin deep, from what Dawn could tell.

Whereas Jack thought about how that power might be used, she wondered why such creatures fled from humanity. Dawn indulged in mythology like some folks indulged in dirty novels--giddily and with shameless zeal.

Psyche helped herself, picking up a strawberry pokepuff with her little forepaws. Being almost too short legged to actually place it on the table, the kitten let out a determined humph once it was safely there. Then, she began nibbling. And, snorting. Yeah, Psyche wasn’t that graceful. Dawn kind of wondered why she named the skitty after such a romanticized figure before getting to know the kitten better.

The blue haired girl could only grin, opening her own menu. Toni left to let them get their orders figured out while the audino put the rest of the pokepuffs, settled on a small plate, on the table. ”What kinda stuff do you like? I mean, they’ve got straight coffee and milk, and that sort of stuff… I like the peppermint hot chocolate, though.” She paused mid-sentence, fighting another sneeze. Sensation passing with no result, she continued. ”Oh, but you should really try their root beer float! They dress it up like a sundae~” You know, he might actually be hungry… ”I haven’t really tried their snacks and stuff, but--” here, she subtly pointed her pinkie to a set customers diagonally from them. The brother and sister duo were making a point to fight over who would get the last bit of a pastry, much to the open embarrassment of their middle aged mother. ”I think their crepes speak for themselves.”

Nodding, Dawn waved her arm to attract Toni’s attention. Quick as a whip, the other girl was over. A quick conversation and the duo’s orders were taken care of. Toni rushed to the kitchen.

And, that was when Jack made his fatal flaw. He asked Dawn… about herself. Making herself quite comfortable, an almost predatory grin crossed her freshly-healed lips. She put her elbows on the table and put her chin in her palms. He was probably going to regret this. ”Twinleaf, Sinnoh; south of Jubilife City. First semester. Call myself a fashionista--if it’s got anything to do with clothes, I probably dabble in it. Position’s currently open.” Now, the last question was actually pretty hard. She considered herself pretty normal. Her expression changed to thoughtful. ”Hm, I don’t think there’s anything worth--” Oh. Oh, no, she did have something worth mentioning. Looking to the wall, she slowly took her elbows off the table and kept a much less confident, much more forced smile on her lips. He was gonna be pissed, she could feel it. Well, it seemed she was the one who was at once regretting the conversation.

She knew that she should tell him. But, he’d probably think all sorts of things about her. Not that she didn’t deserve it, but she still didn’t want to show her ugly side to him this soon. ”W-would, um, running with a rough crowd be of a-any importance…?” It was obvious by the way she now refused to make eye contact with Jack that she was as guilty as a kid caught with crumbs on their cheek. ”I mean, give me by this coming Friday, and I can totally put some distance between us if needed, but, uh…” She knew joining a gang was probably going to fill her with regret, but she figured it would happen when she was middle aged and bitter or something.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, it seemed. If she spilled the beans to Jack, Greed was gonna be furious. If she kept the secret from Jack, he was gonna be disgusted with her when she found out. She didn’t even think “if”; from what he had proved thus far, she simply knew it was a matter of time--probably not even a long time, at that She had already promised Greed to help with the upcoming rave, and backing out now wouldn’t end well, she figured. Furthermore, ditching the Seven Sins gang without explanation would probably end with one of the other members sticking their noses where Dawn had previously stuck hers. Dawn didn’t normally cuss, but inside her head right now as a maelstrom of creative curses, most of which were directed at Reshiram for working way too quickly. You ****** monster dove dragon, I didn’t ******* ask for you to do this with your **** colored feathers. I hope you stay lost, you utter *****. Rage at the heavens, Dawn; rage at the heavens.

In a probably futile attempt to quell whatever she’d started, she shot Jack the most angelic, apologetic, give-me-mercy eye flutter and smile she could muster. Inside, she was screaming for Toni to hurry up with the food so she’d have a break from the chewing out she knew she was about to get.

Making a point to ignore Dawn’s current predicament, Psyche used her tail to bring another one of the pokepuffs closer to her. <Mm, citrus!>

She shied away ever so slightly when he glared at her. Darn it, and she’d just got to hoping she’d be done being on the receiving end of those. She wrapped her arms around Psyche in a sort of self-comforting manner.

The skitty, looking at the boy and telling by his posture that he was merely intimidating her owner and not about to jump up or anything at the moment, decided she could wait to act defensive. Besides, she figured; that poochyena’s not fighting type. Yeah… Psyche was not nearly as cautious as Dawn.

She tried looking at the single remaining pokepuff, but it was awkward on her end up to blatantly ignore someone glaring down at her. She looked up, her slowly curling and drying bangs concealing her eyes a bit. ”If it was the bully thing, I wouldn’t even bring it up…” In her own opinion, basically everyone was a bully in their own way. In whatever field they dominated it, she figured that power corrupted. There were no good leaders, only leaders that were good for you. ”I told you I can take care of it, if I can have some time, but…” She cast her big blue eyes around, making sure Toni wasn’t near and that the kids were still making themselves the center of attention in the cafe.

”So… I’m sorta kinda a part of a, um, gang.” And, here, she’d wait to gauge his reaction. If he was furious, then she would absolutely decide to turn this in her favor and act like an over-dramatic crybaby. Jack seemed chivalrous enough; she’d use that to her advantage. He probably wouldn’t enjoy making a girl cry. Yes, that was Dawn’s plan, pretty much; guilt him for (unintentionally?) making her feel guilty.

However, if he merely kept the same glare or expressed disbelief, or even some sort of reaction to the fact he’d just saddled himself with the protection of little miss thug-diva, she’d continue. ”Seven Sins gang. We really haven’t even done anything yet, just formed from what I know,” she finished. No biggie, no biggie. ”I just wanted you to know, it won’t even be relevant soon.” Right?

Oh, this was a better reaction than she could have hoped for. It helped solidate the fact that she couldn’t really predict him, but still--a good reaction was a good reaction. His glare was still uncomfortable to abide under, but she wasn’t gonna complain as that seemed to be his default expression. He’s gonna get frown lines young, she idly thought.

She was torn on whether to be insulted at how quickly he dismissed the idea or relieved, though. She supposed that, quite naturally, this sort of thing was small time stuff. She desperately wanted to tell him that she was Pride, and it was kind of hurting her namesake that he, just like Greed, thought she was in a bit over her head. She shrugged, once more comfortable now that the tension had mostly passed. ”If ya’ wanna see for yourself, you can.” Dawn wondered how the boy with the two-tone hair would feel about the alcohol and the gambling that would no doubt be going on in addition to the lewd dancing and such. Then, she wondered if he danced. He seemed a bit to serious for her type of dancing, though. Actually… you know what they say about books and covers…

Delicately raising the hot but not scalding cop to her lips, Dawn took a sip. She stirred the candy cane. Good, Toni had remembered that Dawn didn’t like whipped cream or cinnamon on hers. Blunt, but, thoughtful, the waitress was. Dawn drank slowly and daintily as Jack sampled the cafe’s wares. Wiping her lip with a napkin, Dawn resisted laughing.

Uh, huh… I don’t think *I’m* the one who likes sweets… She hadn’t chided him back there because he was doing her a real favor, but now she felt like he’d be the one to frequent here more often. She only came as a treat, as her everyday diet didn’t allow such splurges in calories. ”Hehe, thanks.”

She quietly cleaned up Psyche’s crubs by brushing them off the side of the table and into her palm, emptying them finally into her mostly empty mug. The kitten, figuring that if the poochyena was going to go after the last pokepuff, he would have done it now, let out a smug <Ya snooze, ya lose> before taking it herself.

”I just cleaned up after you.”

<Meh.> The normal type didn’t really care.

She wasn’t about to argue with him. She did need the rest. She could hear her bed calling--no, serenading her! Dawn, Dawn, you stupid idiot, take some medicine and go to sleep before you end up really sick~! She was suddenly very happy she bothered to make her bed and fluff her pillows every morning. That was gonna feel like heaven~

Dawn was so lost in her daydream of crawling into bed that she sort of zoned out of the majority of the exchange between Jack and Toni. It was probably for the best. She would have made some snarky comment about how Jack was sure generous, but also a part of any debt his home region had. They were getting along smoothly; her big mouth could ruin that at any second, if she put the effort into it. She’d burned her fair share of bridges before, after all.

Full but greedy, Psyche took the doggie bag in her mouth, only to find her little legs were too short to allow her to carry it without dragging. <Dawn!> she hissed. <Put it in… that bag o’yours!>

”Hm? Oh, sorry, Psyche,” she apologized, taking the bag from the skitty and then returning the pink kitten. Dawn smiled when Toni returned. ”Hehe, see ya’, Toni.”

Standing, Dawn nodded, grinning once more. ”Yup~! Thanks for the snack, Jack.” There was a pause before Dawn’s grin became a bit goofier. That rhymed. Maybe the fever was getting worse. Even though she was a poetry enthusiast, Dawn was never normally this… dumb about it. Realizing she was starting to act out on her health, Dawn picked up her bag and tried to be a bit more serious. ”Y-Yeah, let’s go.”

ooc: thread end?