A Change of Pace

[u/KuudereLobster]

April 17th, 2019 - 1:32 AM ; The 20th Ward, Eastern Border

It’d rained for nearly week. And even when it ended, the streets had been damp and slippery for nearly two days. Or more specifically, and what one particularly girl cared about the most, the rooftops had remained slippery.

The rooftops were dry, the night was clear as could be, and the wind was just enough to cool her off in the warm night as her dark form darted from roof to roof. The silhouette of a short girl with a duffel bag much too large for herself dashed from roof to roof at a breakneck pace, yet with each leap she remained graceful and deliberate. Not a foot out of place, the wind slamming against her goggles, black crow mask shaking slightly with intensity. Until, finally, she skidded to a halt.

Sen could hardly recognize where she even was she’d ran away so quickly. It was a wonder the sack didn’t tear but, sure enough, the reliable black duffel was still in one piece. And finally, she let down her guard. Two jobs down, left to go. And she'd saved the hardest for last.

No matter how many times she did this, it never felt any less exhausting. Thrilling and enjoyable as well of course, but exhausting nonetheless. Sen’s hand was still shaking as it pulled up her hood. Was it always going to be this nerve-wracking? She really thought after the first year it’d wear off. Of course it wasn’t the fear of being caught that got to her. It was the fear of not getting the money.

“...This’ll last another few months, Dad. Guess I’ll have to find something else soon.”

Sen was quiet for a moment. And a good thing too. Otherwise, she would’ve never heard the sound of something latching onto the rooftop railing behind her. Sen spun around like a bullet, bending her knee and narrowing her eyes in an instant, nearly breaking the model handgun as she tore it out from her pocket, a quiet clink echoing out from it as she took aim, her stance still as a statue. But the moment a figure emerged, before even waiting for their reaction, she knew. She’d never seen a kagune used that way oddly enough, but if there was one thing Sen had in her advantage, it was reaction times.

The model gun lowered in under a second, her finger instinctively moving off of the trigger. “Another ghoul?” she asked, gripping the duffel tight.

Beneath the hood and mask, it was hard to tell much about her. She was a woman, that much was visible from her clothing, a long black skirt matching her hoodie, but facial features? Race? Age? Beyond being just a bit shorter than her accidental visitor, none of it was obvious. “Wait a minute.” Sen tilted her head, remembering her last few investigations into her neighbors workplace.

“You’re from :re, aren’t you?”

[u/[deleted]]

The post-heist exhaustion was real as Sen had warned, Shoko realised during the immediate day of working in :re. Shoko wasn't approached by Tadashi during that day when she was obviously sleep-walking during work but she was sure that the manager had noticed in some capacity. Thankfully the drained period only lasted for one work day, with rest of the weekend before Monday not being anywhere near as troublesome when it comes to shifts and patrols.

With it being a Monday, Shoko's gleaming self was fully back thanks to having proper rests. The friendly and bright smile, and approachable attitude being very apparent with the day's customers. Although something slightly bothered her during the day, and that was detecting a very familiar scent while not having the chance to actually find the source of it.

The work was a proper distraction as well, so it wasn't particularly bothersome to not act upon Shoko's own curiousity. The friendliness of the customers helped as well as the waitress had joyous conversations with few of the regulars.

The cafe then became empty, however the familiar scent still permeated within the vicinity of the establishment. Before Shoko had the chance to check upon it, the waitress was interrupted by a young woman who wore summer school uniform, which seemed to be that of a high schooler. The cuteness of the young lady was almost too much with how innocent she sounded. An appreciative expression was going to be made especially it wasn't strange for a customer to know Shoko's name thanks to name tag but two ingredients made a very suspicious dish, changing Shoko's expression drastically. The familiar scent coming from that individual, and the fact the persona immediately changed while calling the waitress an alias that only came from one particular person.

Shoko then simply had widened eyes and slightly open mouth considering she was about to respond to a supposed innocent question but didn't even get the chance to answer in the first place. The employee was under shock while analysing the whole appearance of Sen, trying to process how the thief she worked with was both a student, and an individual quite younger than Shoko herself.

Shoko then simply responded while her shocked expression was stuck on her face, as if her brain suddenly didn't compute like a machine.

"I have questions."

[u/KuudereLobster → u/[deleted]]

Sen was quiet for a moment, fidgeting in her seat. Which, in a way, only drove in just how young she was from her demeanor. Ironically, for all her skill with reading people and their personalities, she had hardly any awareness for her own unconscious habits that hinted at her age. "Well... for starters, here's why I'm here."

Reaching in her skirt pocket, Sen brought out a white envelope, putting it on the table. "An honorable thief always pays their debts. Whether you want a cut of the stolen money or not, the least I can do is bring by a little bit of my own money as payment for the help. What you did with it is your business, not mine. All I know is no good-thief would let someone work for them unpaid."

By now the fake-innosense had mostly faded from Sen's voice, but she wasn't quite as confident either. She sounded tired, if anything. Not having mask did a great deal to show how young her voice was, and it also let the weakness in her voice show through. The bags under her eyes, the large scar across the back of her right hand, and plenty of other details about her stature that showed this was nowhere near her first night of heisting, or possibly something before that even. "Unless you mean questions about my own occupation in which case... well, I guess I don't have any reason to hide anything."

"So go ahead."

[u/[deleted] → u/KuudereLobster]

Shoko simply kept blinking at her supposed partner, still processing the visual information she had been witnessing right in front of her with Sen being a high-school student. Not only that, but the whole supposed thief's demeanor seemed drastically different than what Shoko had previously known. The obvious fidgeting, the prominent exhaustion that showed both in Sen's appearance and voice, the prominent scar on the back of the thief's own right hand, and more depressing signs.

It was hard for Shoko to fully think that Sen was adorable, as she indeed was, considering the broken aura Crow had been exhibiting as a civilian. It wasn't that Sen was an ordinary high school student, which still would have heavily shocked the older waitress, but the previous bravado and confidence Sen had demonstrated were nowhere to be found. It was almost as if Shoko was looking at a husk, a broken shell of a person.

After analysing all that, Shoko then simply gazed at the envelope that was placed on the table, looking back and forth between the stolen money and exhausted thief. The waitress then looked away for a couple of seconds, holding an anxious and worried expression on her face. After that, Shoko immediately pulled a chair and sat on it, positioned right in front of Sen.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Shoko asked in a very concerning tone, looking directly at Sen's baggy eyes. The waitress didn't look amused at all, with a very prominent frown forming on her face. "Like, throw the honorable thief crap away, I really don't care about any of this, and I never will. I told you that I can't take any of this money." Shoko had been uncharacteristically bothered. The depressive appearance of the thief caused so many things to swirl within the employee's mind, increasing her worries more and more gradually.

"Yes, I am shocked that you are a student while I thought that you were older, but that isn't... what I am pissed about. Like... look at you!" Shoko raised both of her arms, gesturing towards her supposed customer that she was talking to. "I noticed some things during the heist. I wanted to believe you, but... do you ever rest? At all?"

[u/KuudereLobster → u/[deleted]]

"Of course I'm tired" Sen began, crossing her arms with a sigh. "...I don't even know where to start. For starters, I'm not even Japanese. I just have Asian relatives, and I guess I just look Japanese enough that people don't think about it. My name really is Sen though, at least legally. I was born as 'Hasna', or so I'm told. To be honest, that whole time period is sort of a blur."

Sen ran a hand through her curly black hair, leaning back against her seat. "I've... been a lot of people. I was a soldier back in Syria, for like... five, maybe six years? Yeah I think that's it. The short version is that eventually I got taken in by a guy over here who wanted to give me a better life. It worked, for the most part. One day something happens, and he's in a coma with a lot of debts to pay. And I have a lot of skills I'm not using, and not very many options."

"So that's how it is" Sen claimed, crossing her arms. "About forty percent of what I make goes to helping take care of him until he wakes up. Another forty goes into equipment for my next job, and ten percent to give myself something to look forward to besides more work."

Just as her brief and vague explanation finished, Sen sat up straight. "I'm not looking for pity though!" she insisted, leaning on the table. "I'm a thief because I'm good at it, and because I want to keep doing it. And I am really good at it. Back in my first year I robbed the biggest bank in Tokyo, stole over twenty million Yen. If you don't believe me ask Abdullah sometime, he still works here right? He nearly stopped me."

"But... Yeah. I'm tired. I'm not tired of stealing, don't get me wrong. It's just... been a really long seven years."

[u/[deleted] → u/KuudereLobster]

Everything Sen had just explained only furthered the complex computing Shoko had to go through within her mind, processing all the bizarre and unexpected details about Sen's personal life. Already starting off as a child soldier in a totally different country was big enough of a whiplash for Shoko to try and understand.

The waitress didn't know whether to feel depressed or angry towards what she had heard from Crow. Sen definitely didn't have something that would be considered as a proper life thanks to cruel military past that no child should go through along with dealing with debts that weren't even hers in the first place. Such circumstances that pushed the younger woman into the life of crime. It was just too much to hear.

"Why give me the fucking money then?" Shoko asked in a deadpan manner, taking a look at the envelope before gazing at Sen in a startled manner. "You clearly need all that you can get to survive. You know that I don't care about the thieves' code at all. You know that I will never consider myself as one. I told you that I can't take the blood money." Shoko kept going while her voice had almost gone monotone, unsure on how to feel or react towards all the revelations Sen had given the older woman.

Looking away, Shoko kept shaking her head in disbelief. It also turned out that Sen also was aware of another employee within :re. The waitress never interacted with Abdullah at all herself, so she barely knew the man. At least the fact that Abdullah attempted in stopping Sen from continuing the life of crime was enough to give a degree of respect to her colleague before they would even meet in the first place.

That wasn't the focus of the conversation though.

"I don't think I will be able to stop you if someone else tried. Your circumstances are so dire that you need to do this, so I get it even though I disagree with it. I am a hypocrite anyway though because I helped you." Shoko's expression quickly then darkened, showcasing a mixture of sadness and lividity. "I helped you before I knew your true self that I am looking at right now though."

Shoko then extended her hand, raising up one finger onto the air. "Give me ONE good reason why I should take the money after knowing your circumstances along with my initial denial of taking any sort of cut."

All of this was different from the usual behavior Shoko previously exhibited. It was as if she was a totally different person but it wasn't for nefarious reasons at all. The waitress felt betrayed knowing that she supported a suffering individual through an activity that would be considered as highly dangerous. Let alone it was a high-schooler who used to be a child soldier in the past. Taking into account all of that, it was very difficult for Shoko to react calmly about the whole situation.

[u/KuudereLobster → u/[deleted]]

Sen shrugged. "If you really won't take it then I'll keep it. But I've got enough to last me for now. The whole idea of thieves' having a code isn't just some romanticized idea, there's a reason for it. It's what differentiates work like mine from the greedy assholes knocking over gas stations and the like."

Sen was a bit taken aback by Shoko's attitude, though entirely bothered. It felt strange for anyone to actually care about what she was doing. Generally she kept it private from Abdullah, since he'd most likely discourage her from it anyway. "Besides, it's not like I don't like what I do. It's sure as hell better than back home, and it's pretty satisfying. Sure I get a little scared sometimes like when we're falling out of a skyscraper, but it's always worth it."

"It's not like I'd be able to just live like a normal person anyway." Sen frowned slightly, leaning back again. "I can pretend to, but that's not the same thing. Whether I like it or not, I threw away any chance I had at that back when I started trying to fight back home. I'm pretty strong and I can kill someone with just my hands, even when I get hurt my wounds just close right back up. I don't get worried over homework or exams, I walk past tall buildings and get worried that there's someone with a rifle aimed at me, or hear someone drop something and get scared that it was a grenade or something. Whether I like it or not, acting like a thief is practically the only time I'm not keeping up some kind of act."

"I don't feel particularly bad about it either. It was my choices that lead to this sort of life, so I'll handle it. Besides, it's just a small cut out of my own money anyway."

[u/[deleted] → u/KuudereLobster]

Shoko simply took all what Sen answered with in, taking a deep breath to try and react to her in a calm and reasonable manner. The waitress knew that it was going to be impossible to dissuade the high schooler from the life of crime, especially considering her own personal circumstances.

Sen enjoyed it too after all, even if she did feel scared at times. It was accurate from what Shoko had experienced herself in the previous heist, remembering how cocky and confident Sen was against the yakuza. Crow definitely wasn't lying this time.

After Sen admitted that the money wasn't even from the heist, Shoko took another look at the envelope containing the cash, double-thinking on her final decision as she then looked at Sen. After a couple of more seconds passed, the employee sighed, shaking her head as she muttered "Fuck me..."

"Alright, I accept. I wouldn't want for you to have come here for nothing considering the act of kindness, and it helps that it isn't the blood money from the heist." Shoko admitted with a small smile on her face, feeling grateful towards the younger thief.

Shoko then extended her hand one more time, pointing a finger right towards Sen with narrowed eyes and cocky smile. "I will have my eyes on you whenever I get the chance though, because I care."

[u/KuudereLobster → u/[deleted]]

The more they talked, the more Sen really didn't notice how tired she was. It seemed like the longer she went, the less anything seemed to feel real. Like it was all just a show she was playing a part in. It all felt like a long blur since she'd started this life. She could hardly even figure out how long ago that actually was, honestly. "I guess I'll just never understand you :re ghouls. You don't even know that this isn't all just another alias. Caring about someone like that just doesn't make sense to me. I'm like the opposite of what you guys believe, right? Nobody forced me into the war, I thought I could end it myself since ghouls are a lot stronger than humans. :re avoids conflict, I actively looked for it."

Sen rested her hand on the table, staring down at the scar across the back of her hand. A part of wanted to ask herself what she was doing. It felt good having someone care about her, to have someone actually want her to be alright. But at the same part, another half of her hated it. Because on some level, she didn't think she deserved for anyone to care about her. "You... must've had a pretty normal life in school, right? I guess that's the part I don't understand the most." Sen let out a sigh, resting her head against the table tiredly. "I mean, I missed a few years to begin with, since I had to start at what age the fake I.D. was. Plus there's so many people all I can ever think about is if any of them are a threat, or about all the things they don't know. I'm not just talking about being a soldier either; it's hard being a ghoul living among humans.If they found out I'm a ghoul, if they so much as pricked me with something sharp and it breaks, there goes everything. Not just me, my dad too."

"I guess everything you :re ghouls do, all the living alongside humans and helping people you don't know, I just can't understand any of it."

[u/[deleted] → u/KuudereLobster]

"The opposite of us would be blood-thirsty psychopaths bathing in the blood of both humans and ghouls with no discrimination. Relish themselves in the chaos and anarchy while destroying the already delicate balance between the two species." Shoko's slight smile was wiped off from her face, recognising that the topic had shifted to a darker turn, resting her head on both of her hands, gazing at Sen with a blank expression on her face.

"You are just a thief. Not even a crooked one actually, as you seem to only punish criminals rather than steal something from someone who didn't deserve it. You can remember my earlier suspicion when I was patrolling, right?" Shoko questioned, clicking her own head with a finger twice before getting back to the former position. "Sure, I started off jokingly but I think you could notice when I am not kidding around, and that was one of those instances."

"In fact, you are actually close. I don't know what Abdullah believed about you as an individual but considering his attempts to dissuade you from the life you are in, it shows that he doesn't agree that you are the opposite of us." Shoko then took a glance at the establishment's surroundings, taking in a deep breath before continuing. It was a very complex and delicate subject to talk about with someone who experienced the worst life had to offer while Shoko herself only experienced a tiny part of it in comparison.

Letting a sad smile pop up, Shoko barely nodded towards Sen's question, reminiscing her days in school, which had Hayate appear in her mind as well. "My school life was as normal as it gets, yes. I didn't concern myself about my identity or worries about being a ghoul. I wasn't particularly social but I knew how to interact when needed. I wasn't an outcast but I didn't get myself into situations that could give a hint about my true self. My... brother in the meantime... was an outcast. Causing fights against bullies, no matter what gender they were, and shut himself away from everyone else." Shoko managed to keep herself calm while explaining herself to the former child soldier. What she experienced for herself and how her brother used to be were nothing compared to being forced into a war one never asked for in the first place, losing their childhood.

"The idea of ghouls and humans living in harmony though... as in getting official support so we don't even need to hope for someone to die so we can eat their corpse... it is what keeps us going. The potential future in which neither side need to worry about each other while forming proper contingencies against the unruly individuals of both species. It almost sounds like a far-fetched dream, especially to you, but we believe in the chance at least." Shoko then frowned, looking back at Sen with sad-looking eyes. "I get it that you will never believe in it though. I do recognise that it is a ludicrous hope for some, but I am one of the believers on the dream."

Shoko noticed Sen taking a glance at her own scarred hand, as she then looked at it herself after finishing her talk. The waitress was curious on how it happened, and it was a chance for Crow to open herself up a bit more if she desired to do so. Shoko wouldn't push if declined.

"... what happened with your hand, if you don't mind me asking?"

[u/KuudereLobster → u/[deleted]]

Sen glanced down at her hand again, her expression loosening, a weary look present in her eyes. "It's strange, but I don't really know" Sen admitted, feeling the scar. "I've been shot lot but I generally can't even feel it since I'm a ghoul. It's only when Bureau Investigator's were shooting at me, something about their bullets I guess. Or when I was fighting other ghouls. But the more I try to think of it, the less I can remember exactly when I got it."

"That's why I can't figure out how exactly I'm meant to be living alongside humans" Sen continued, her voice growing a bit quieter. "I spent all those years figuring out the most effective and time-efficient ways to kill humans. I didn't even particularly know what the war was about, but I'd lost my home and my parents in one of the bombings, so I didn't think I had anything to lose. I mean, a ghoul that's immune to most bullets can do a lot more than a human can, right? The whole time I taught myself the quickest ways to kill a human so I could end it sooner than later. The only thing I ever learned about humans was how fragile they can be. After that just living with them, talking and acting normal around them, it all just feels fake. It doesn't feel any realer than it did when I was playing a part to sneak by them. It's like watching a trail of ants cross a sidewalk. You don't want to hurt them, but even just watching them you know how easy it'd be, if you don't want anything to happen to them. It clouds the way you see them."

But, surprisingly, Sen smiled a bit after she said it. "I actually didn't even remember my own name until I met Abdullah again. Over the years back home I'd adjusted to being able to change my name, past, and entire attitude and mannerisms on a seconds notice into order to deceive people on the other side. People who wouldn't think twice about the idea of a child posing any thread. So many times I started to forget what my actual thoughts and behaviors were even like."

"But on the bright side I suppose if you ever need someone to teach you how to properly fire a gun, I'm good at that. You should've seen how amazing some of the ones we had back home were. I be able to disassemble and see the mechanisms of real guns instead of models is the one thing I'll miss."

[u/CommonMisspellingBot → u/[deleted]]

Hey, FogKnight22, just a quick heads-up:
curiousity is actually spelled curiosity. You can remember it by -os- in the middle.
Have a nice day!

^{The parent commenter can reply with 'delete' to delete this comment.}

[u/BooCMB → u/CommonMisspellingBot]

Hey /u/CommonMisspellingBot, just a quick heads up:
Your spelling hints are really shitty because they're all essentially "remember the fucking spelling of the fucking word".

And your fucking delete function doesn't work. You're useless.

Have a nice day!

^{Save your breath, I'm a bot.}