It's a normal day in Uminari, and the Game Center Crown. School's let out, and so there's plenty of teens manning the games. Most are in school uniforms. Some not. One, however, stands out: a green haired young woman with oddly slitted eyes, a sweater, and ratty looking jeans. She's been hanging out, seemingly watching others from the sitting area near the front desk.
She hasn't ordered anything, either. After about an hour, she spies another person entering the place. She gets up, starts walking out, and 'accidentally' bumps into them.
She deadpans a 'sorry', and slips out into the street. A moment later, the accosted highschooler reaches into her wallet, and then yells out. "Thief! Get back with my wallet!" Miss Green hair Thief and her fellow school-aged assailant charge down the strip, Shira more than happily shoving people out of the way. She's slowly gaining ground on the other high schooler.
Rune is pretty far from home right now, but she has good reason for it; she wanted to make one last check for clues about Precia's appearance in this part of town several weeks ago. Having no real way to carry out a useful investigation, this turned up blank.
The alien princess thus hops down into an alleyway, then dismisses her transformation before stepping back into street view... right in time to see a commotion unfolding. With no context, she briefly ponders going right back into transformed state...
...then realizes that might be a tad excessive a response to pursuit over shouts of 'thief!' Nonetheless, this is enough of a mess that Runealy opts to follow the procession. Unwilling to blatantly muscle others out of the way - and probably /unable/ to given her more delicate upbringing and smaller size compared to many people on Tokyo's streets - she decides to use her agility to slip through holes in the crowd. It's not perfect; sometimes someone elbows her or otherwise gets in the way, netting the occasional 'ow' as she goes, but Rune is trying to keep pace with the pair even as she calls out, "What's going on here?"
Unfortunately for Shira, her target is in fact part of the track team. Even a life of crime back home is having the young woman have to truly work to get away. She's gaining ground, but no where near enough. It's all about stamina, and Shira's sweating.
Rune, though, gets a response.
"She stole my purse!" Comes the victim.
"Yup. Stole it." Comes the simple agreement from Miss Green-Haired Thief. That only seems to make the track star girl angrier.
Shira seems to ignore her, even as she tries to shove a trashcan against Miss Track STar.
"Why do you care?" Shira asks of Runealy. There's the slightest hint of curiousity, as if she really wants to know.
"She what!?" Rune is astonished at this accusation and admission, eyes wide. She knows what theft is; even back in the capital district, you could find /someone/ who would do it. It was just very rare, as most people had no genuine motive to bother with a crime like that. So this isn't totally new to her, but it is unusual.
Rune's first impulse is to check on the victim, but when Shira calls out to her... the princess darts around the 'obstacle' and opts to pursue.
Her reply comes with shortened breaths, as full-on sprinting is also unusual to her: "Because this looks like it's going to...!" Huff, puff, "Turn into... a fight! And you...!" More breathing, "Must have some reason..." Another sharp inhalation, "for this! Right!?"
Miss Track Star doesn't bother responding. No, she leaps over that debris even as Rune pursues. Only when she's managed to get a foot closer to Shira, barely missing a grab for that purse. Shira twists away just in time, almost stumbles, then recovers and pushes her body harder.
"...What do you mean? No money, no food, you die. She has money." States Shira as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
Track Star shoots back. "Of course it's going to be a fight if this girl doens't give me back my purse!" OH yeah, she's angry.
Track Star glares at Rune! "Tackle her or something! That purse has my cell phone and stuff! My parents will kill me!"
Runealy isn't really managing to gain enough ground on Shira to try a tackle. Keeping within conversation range is accomplishment enough for her! Talk of dying for lack of essentials... is /almost/ inconceivable to Rune, too.
Almost.
Her mind flickers back to time spent living in an abandoned convenience store, and getting sick through her own faults and mistakes while there. 'You die' nearly happened to her, so she can at least somewhat envision Shira's plight.
"Listen! You can't just...! Take it...! Let's find some way... earn, fair and square!"
Her grammar is slipping. Being short on breath will do that; you take lingual shortcuts then.
Never let it be said that Shira isn't above alternatives. She spies a nearby alleyway, puts on the 'breaks' (ruining her shoe's heels in the process), and then hucks the purse right into Miss Track Star's face. The surprise would be evident, if it weren't for the fact that the High Schooler is forced to stumble and nearly trip as she recovers from Shira's 'assault'.
In those few seconds, Shira reaches for Rune's arm, and tugs her towards that alleyway, all but grabbing and pulling it into a fall. Thankfully Shira's considerate enough to land just beside a dumpster, with herself as a cushion should she catch the young woman.
The act simply has her wincing for a moment, then a blink.
"...What was that about making money?" Shira, outside of demonic influence, can have a one track mind.
Outside, Miss Track Star gives a grrrr of frustration. She's also missing all of her cash. That cell phone's still there, though.
Rune spins to avoid... something that wasn't even aimed at her; the dodge was pure reflex since the thrown purse was at least heading in her general direction. "Whoa!? Ah...?" She starts to calm down, then yelps as she's hauled into the alley, wincing just as Shira does from the odd landing.
"What?" Not the best response to a question like that. Rune catches on quickly though and hurriedly adds: "Not sure just yet, but there has to be something. Maybe I'm hiring. What are you good at?"
Shira lets out a few huffs. Leaning against the dumpster, she gives another slow blink, and tilts her head. She goes silent as she actually considers the question. One hand goes up.
"Pickpocketing. Lockpicking. Sneaking. Following. Listening. Card-Coin Fraud." A minor slip at the end. It's her word for credit cards.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out a hard boiled egg in a very tiny tupperware pouch. She pops it into her mouth, and swallows it whole. Ugh.
But it gives her time to think. "When I got here, I learned how to make the wire-lightning work." Pause. Blink.
"I am from Europe." The deadpan doesn't help her truthfulness, here.
This is not the most tasteful of 'job applications.' The skills Shira rattles off do a fine job of poking and prodding at Rune's sensibilities; she winces. The eating habit likewise makes her blink and stare, then she forces herself to get past all that, getting her own footing once more.
Thinking back to the convenience store helps her overlook the worst of those talents, 'Card-Coin' Fraud and all. There is no approval or enthusiasm for these abilities, but Rune refrains from open judgement.
It occurs to the princess that Shira's speech is nonetheless a little 'not local.' European, Shira said. An eye raises. "What part of Europe?"
Shira just stares at Runealy. Watching. Impassive, mostly, with that hint of curiousity. She downs another egg. She licks her lips. That tongue is just slightly too long.
"...Turkey." She rattles off the first vaguely European nation she actually bothered to look up. That might be pushing it a bit. She knows she's heard something about that particular country in between stealing and having a demon influence her.
"Shira. Who are you?" She also offers one of those boiled eggs. It's not bad if you like them. Maybe she could be a cook?
"I asked what part of Europe you're from, not what food you like." Rune fails Earth geography! The offered egg is mostly given a handwave dismissal; she's too busy catching her breath still, taking a few seconds between responses.
In this case, it's not too hard to gasp out a short introduction: "Runealy, or Rune is fine too."
Bliiiink. Well. Time to press on like she knows what she's talking about. She's sadly only vaguely right.
"Not the sandwich." She 'argues'. That voice is just way too flat for it to be an argument. She may as well be muttering fact. One advantage to her strange ways, really, even if she was calling the sky purple.
For just a moment, her entire body tenses. Her foot steps back on instinct. She has half a mind to henshin right then and there. But her entire body relaxes. Still, for that moment, one could cut the tension in the air. Slitted eyes narrow just a touch.
"Runealy, huh? Weird name. Whare are you from?" The awkward buck has thusly been passed.
"You said you were hiring. I can learn quick." Demon or no, living in a jurry rigged abandoned apartment isn't comfortable. Shira isn't dumb.
"I didn't say the sand-- nevermind," Runealy decides to just let the topic go; it's not leading to anything useful. "I'm from Europe too, but it's a really small part most people haven't heard of... it's not even on most maps."
She's willing to fill in the obvious follow-up question ahead of time: "It's called Waldia. As for hiring... actually, yes." An idea comes to her. "You said you were good at trailing and learning about people?"
Head-tilt. "Do you eat it plain? Turkey should go with bread. It's cheap here."
Shira has a simple mind, and food is high on the pecking order.
"Thought so. You are not local. Definitely not. Nope." Nod. Nod. Slow and steady. Shira is about to not question it any longer.
Waldia. Her hated enemies. The entire reason her parents are gone. That mere name sends a momentary hiss from her lips. Again, she tenses, only to let off. A voice in the back of her head urges caution. Perhaps it's the demon. Maybe it's her higher faculties.
It all simply means that Shira is that much more interested in the woman who shares suspicious employers and a name with a certain Royal from home.
"Mmm. I could follow you home, empty your fridge, watch what color your toothbrush is, then leave without you being the wiser." It'd be a ridiculous boast from anyone else. Between magic and the abilities she learned from a lifetime of crime? Child's play.
This time, Rune picks up on the sharp reactions. They may be very brief, but even she can notice something is a bit off about Shira's reactions. "Definitely not local, no. I'm here most of the time, though." Or given how erratic the portal's behavior is, as of her return Rune has spent virtually all of her time in Tokyo; going home just does not happen, and she's lucky if she gets the opportunity to occasionally slip letters through to a guard on the other side... sometimes the portal is little more than a hovering speck of energy, too small to fit anything at all, even speech is too muted to carry on conversations across the worlds.
As for Shira's claims, they net a slight headshake. "I'd rather you not do that. Let's get back to the important part. You're worried about starving." She begins digging through some belongings, and produces a modest amount of local currency; not the usual gold and silver coins used back home. "Let's take care of that right here and now, I'll consider it some 'pay in advance' on meeting you again around here within the next few days for us to work out the details. Sound good?"
What Rune is trying to hand Shira isn't enough money to change her life. It might buy a few days worth of food, though. Decent food, not scraping the bottom of the barrel in the cheapest markets.
There's no hesitation, at least at first. That money is snatched up with the hand of the desperate. It's only then that she seems to hesitate. For her, it's a lot. Practically a fortune. She stares, visibly uncertain. Then she tucks it all away. An odd luck. Those suspicions die in her, at least for now.
After all, a Royalist would not just hand some low-borne scum like her a wad of cash. It must be a coincidence. Propoganda has a downside.
"Two days. Will be here." She agrees. She turns towards the alley. A pause.
"...Thank you." Is that a hint of joy in her voice? Surely not. A run down the alleyway. She ascends a fence like it's nothing, pauses at the top, and looks back once more. Then she leaps down, lands in a roll, and she's hauling butt just as the local police and Miss Track star tear down the road again past the alleyway. Shira's long gone.