Pokémon Of Shadows and Sands (OSAS AU)

[HelloYellow17]

Of Shadows and Sands

Spoiler: Author’s Note

So I started writing this fic for April Fool’s about two years ago, stopped, then completely forgot about it until a week ago. On a whim, I dove back in and finished it, and here we are!

This is an OSAS role swap AU. I had way too much fun with it. hope you enjoy!

Note: Renna is an OC. She’s Wes’s childhood friend in Snagem in OSAS.

Rui leaned back in her plush seat and stretched, enjoying the rays of the warm late morning sun on her face before straightening up and retreating back into the shade of the umbrella overhead. She thoughtfully swirled her boba tea, grinning at Neo and Novo who feasted on some gourmet snacks at her feet. Another day, another free meal scored from some poor sappy waiter who was all too easy to wrap around her finger.

She'd watched him at first, taking note of which tables were his, before making sure to sit at one of them. When he came for her order, all it took was a blinding smile, a toss of her fiery hair, and a few giggly questions before they hit it off like fireworks. He was Phenacian, born and raised, saving up money to go on some overseas trip to Hoenn, blah blah blah. Oh, and her? Why, she was just a tourist from Kanto, here to see the magnificent desert jewel that was Phenac city, and she just couldn't believe her eyes!

Hook.

It was beautiful, of course, but she had no idea the locals would be so eye-catching, too.

Line.

She delivered it with a sly grin and a coquettish wink, and then the hopeless boy was a goner. He practically tripped over himself to get her name and promised a speedy return with her order, his cheeks flushing a bright pink.

Sinker.

Oh, he couldn't wait to come back, all right. Rui smirked softly to herself and then gently nudged her Umbreon and Espeon. "Showtime, boys."

They gave her a look at least ten times as smug as she felt, and seamlessly fell into the act once the waiter—Jaro? Jorsen? J-something—returned. Neo mewled like a poor neglected kit, and even knowing it was fake, those eyes still managed to tug at Rui's heartstrings. He was too damn good at this.

Novo dialed it up a notch by resting his chin on her knee and blinking up at her lovingly, slowly wagging his tail. Rui let out a sad, dainty laugh as soon as J-Something was within earshot. "Oh, poor babies, I'm so sorry. I can't get anything from the Pokémon menu for you today, but I promise we'll share, okay? My treat." She grinned and raised a finger to her lips. "I won't tell if you don't."

J-Something awkwardly cleared his throat, and she jumped in mock surprise. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you—wow, that was so fast! The service here is incredible!" She giggled and nervously fidgeted with her necklace. "I, um, know it's not proper to share my food with my Pokémon in a place this nice, but—well—it's a special occasion for us, and I wanted to get something to treat all of us. You don't mind, so you?" She looked up at him with her best impression of Neo's begging eyes. He'd learned from the best, after all.

The waiter glanced around for a moment, then leaned in with a nervous grin. Perfect. "Tell you what," he said in a conspiratorial whisper that Rui knew he was hoping would be alluring, "I'll get your mon one of our specialty items from the menu. On the house."

Rui raised a hand to her mouth and gasped. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Of course." He set her tray of food in front of her, then returned her earlier wink. "I won't tell if you don't."

Rui giggled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Oh, don't worry, my lips are sealed! It will be our secret." She flashed him another winning smile, and he practically raced back to the kitchen and back to deliver on his promise.

She sat back as her Pokémon lunged down at their plates like half-starved Vullaby, and she had to clear her throat to get their attention. "Manners, boys." It wouldn't do for her image as a rich spoiled tourist to have her Pokémon eating like street urchins. Well, they were, but she couldn't let that show here. "Savor it, too. Might be a while before our next treat."

She'd said it in her giggling girlish voice, but that part wasn't a lie. Renna had bought her several hours, maybe even a few days, while Snagem sorted through the wreckage to find any injured comrades. But when that time was up, they'd know she'd defected, and they'd be on her tail. Deviants weren't exactly permissible in Snagem. So where exactly did they leave her and her boys?

They'd have to leave the region, surely. Nowhere in Orre would be safe for long. Securing a boat would be easy enough—her high rank allowed her to have a passport—but where to? Hoenn, maybe. She hadn't been paying too much attention, but Mr. J-something made it sound like a nice place. Somewhere tropical and far greener than this place.

As for funds…well. She eyed her bag, where she'd stowed away the snag machine. Snagem would think it had been destroyed in the fire, but she couldn't just let something so valuable go like that. She'd have to be careful—very careful— about where and how to sell it, though. She'd have to go deep into the Under, probably, maybe even hire a third party to handle the transaction and erase her tracks. If they didn't want her dead for deserting, they'd certainly want her dead a dozen times over for this.

She took a bite of her casquinhas de siri and sighed. It was good—delicious—but it was hard to fully enjoy the meal with these questions weighing on her mind. At least the boys were loving their meal. Neo let out a loud burp, which made a few disdainful heads turn their way, and she gave him a good-natured kick under the table. He totally did that on purpose, the cheeky bastard.

Well, first things first, they needed to address the immediate problem. Should she take her chances with a dine and dash? Put on a show about forgetting her wallet? She'd already schmoozed two free Pokémon entrees out of him, so appealing for more freebies might look too suspicious. Yet if she was convincing enough, they wouldn't blacklist her from the restaurant and she could come back in a few months.

But I won't even be in Orre in a few months. The reality of that sank in, and she made her decision with another sigh. Dine and dash it would be, then.

She took her time finishing her meal, and then gave a silent signal to Neo. The Espeon scanned the area with his keen eyes before settling on an old couple some ten yards away—one of J-Something's tables—and sent a glass crashing to the floor with a carefully controlled telekinetic push.

The woman shrieked and a couple waiters flocked to her table immediately, J-something among them. With the distraction under way, Rui polished off her plate, stood, and gathered her things. For just a moment she pictured the crestfallen look on the poor waiter's face when he would come out for her check and realize he'd been had. Bless his sad, hopelessly romantic heart. Ah, well, he'd get over it. Besides, experiencing rejection would do him some good. Wisen him up a little. Build some character, or whatever.

She casually sauntered down the steps, turned a corner, and before anybody had noticed a thing, she was gone.

---

It was supposed to have been an uneventful stroll back to her motel. Any casual interruptions wouldn't have been a big deal, but "make a scene in the middle of the street" had not been on her to-do list today. Or ever.

But, well, when a middle-aged lady grabs you by the arm and begs you to interfere with what is so obviously a kidnapping in broad scorching daylight, you can't exactly say no without looking suspicious yourself. Seriously, who were these morons and how stupid could they possibly be to think nobody would notice?

So Rui channeled all of her righteous fury into the battle. She would teach them a thing or two about what being a proper criminal looked like, dammit. In no time, they were scrambling to their truck and zooming back and zooming to the city gate, leaving the squirming burlap bag in the dust.

The squirming, very loud, very angry burlap bag.

As she knelt beside Novo to work away at the knot, she was rather impressed at the string of curses the bag's occupant was spewing. They sounded male, which was a surprise. Wasn't it usually women that got caught up in this kind of thing?

When the knot finally came free, its occupant burst out of the opening, clawing through it like a frantic Meowth. She could hardly blame him; judging by the way his pale hair was plastered to his sweat-dampened face and the way he gulped and gasped for air, it'd been suffocating in there. Especially considering, she noted, that he was wearing a scorching coat. A long one, even. Who dressed like that in the desert?

Then, still struggling to catch his breath, he seized her by the wrists. Hard. "Did you get them?" he hissed. Novo bristled and growled at the sudden movement, but the man ignored him.

His eyes were a golden shade of amber, burning with an urgent intensity Rui hadn't expected. He wasn't afraid or shell-shocked or confused like any normal victim should have been in this circumstance. Instead, he looked like a furious Swellow that had lost its prey.

Rui forced a smile and patted his hand reassuringly. "Don't worry," she said in a kind, soothing tone. "They're gone."

"They're gone?"

"Yes, gone. You're okay now—"

"You just let them go?" he spat. "You didn't catch them?"

Rui gaped at him. Novo growled again, louder this time. Unbelievable. This was the thanks he had to offer her for saving his pitiful hide?

"I called gate security!" said the one other bystander next to the woman, a young athlete who'd said earlier his name was Dash. He waved his PDA for emphasis. "They'll catch 'em, don't worry!"

Rui brightened her smile at the victim—no, the ungrateful prick. Burlap boy. "See? It's fine." Let go of me before I break your fingers.

"No, it's not fine," he huffed. He released his hold on her wrists—good, he was pushing it—and rose unsteadily to his feet. "They…they have this Pokémon…something's wrong with it, did you see—?"

He was cut off by Neo, who, for some inexplicable reason, decided now was a good time to greet this new friend with a chirp and rub against his legs. Rui frowned discreetly at him; Neo often did this sort of thing to signal an easy mark to her, but this jerk was certified Freshly Mugged. He didn't have anything of worth on him. So did this just mean Neo liked the guy? And why?

She stood, dusting off her trousers, and tilted her head at the jerk in question, casting those thoughts aside for now. "Can't say I noticed anything odd, no. Just a couple of normal Whismur to me."

"You didn't see a Makuhita?"

She frowned. "No..?" Dash and Marla, the woman who'd dragged Rui into this mess—Rui would be sure to remember her name, if only to harbor a grudge for it—exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

"Let's not worry about that now, dear," Marla said. She stepped forward and offered a water bottle procured from her bag. "You must be terribly dehydrated and—heavens!" She squawked when Burlap Boy turned his head to look at her. "We should get you to a doctor!"

She wasn't wrong. Not that spending any amount of time in a burlap sack in the desert afternoon did anybody any favors, but Burlap Boy was quite a sight. He had a purple, swelling bruise under one eye, a bloody scrape on his jaw, and most concerningly of all, an alarming amount of dried blood on the side of his head. He clearly hadn't gone into that bag without a hell of a fight.

He took Marla's water bottle with a shaking hand and downed half of it in just a few gulps. "Thanks," he breathed when he came up for air and wiped his chin, "but this is urgent. Someone needs to warn security about that Makuhita. And if they're caught, it needs to be taken from them."

Oh, so you'll thank her for the water but not me for saving your ass?

"I can do that," Dash said. "Give em another call. I can go there myself, too, to see if they really do have a strange Pokémon on them. But, uh, what was strange about it, exactly?"

Burlap Boy hesitated at this. Rui narrowed her eyes. He sure was committed to whatever story this was, but she'd seen enough prideful and arrogant men like him; odds were he'd just stupidly wandered somewhere dangerous and was too embarrassed to own up to it, so now he had to spin some kind of noble story to cover his idiocy.

"Honestly, enough about that!" Marla exclaimed. "It's all well and good if you want to go check, but save the questions for later! Let's get you to a hospital, young man. Why, we haven't even got your name!" She rested her hand on his arm and Rui noticed the way he tensed at the gesture.

"Wes," he said stiffly. "Wesley Lycas. But—"

"Don't you worry, dear, gate security will have this handled," Marla said gently. "What's most important now is—"

"I can take him to a hospital," Rui said quickly. This woman was entirely too interfering; the last thing Rui needed was to get dragged into a news article or, gods forbid, still be around if a camera crew showed up. "Why don't you and Dash head to gate security? I can help him from here."

Burlap Boy—Wes, whatever—growled in frustration. "I don't need a damn doctor—"

"Oh, you are an angel." Marla clasped Rui's hand with both of her own. "Jumping in to help a complete stranger like this—why, the world needs more heroes like you, Miss Everlin!"

Rui internally winced. Now three people knew her name, all because she was so caught off guard by the situation that she'd blurted it out before she could use one of her aliases. She'd have to slip out of this situation as quickly and quietly as possible.

Rui smiled. On the bright side, at least somebody here was thankful for her stupid heroics. "Think nothing of it, ma'am. Better head to that gate quickly, though!"

And they were off. Finally. Rui looked at Wes, who was downright glaring at her. Gods, what his problem?

"I'm not going to the hospital," he said at once. "I was going to head to Phenac anyway to report that Pokémon, so that's what I'm doing."

"All right. Suit yourself, then!" Rui hefted her bag over her shoulder and signaled for her boys to come to her side. Wes, who had looked ready to argue, stopped short and stared at her in surprise.

"Thought you were going to argue," he said.

"You've obviously made up your mind. It'd be a waste of time." So would filing a report be, especially while looking like he'd dragged himself out of a pit of cacti, but she wasn't going to tell him that. He'd figure that out soon enough.

Neo and Novo dutifully took up their places at her heels, watching her expectantly. She gave each of them a fond rub behind the ears before looking back at Wes. "Some stroke of luck that you ended up in the city you were actually headed for." Would he stay committed to his crappy cover story if she pushed him a little? "If you need directions, I can show you where to go."

Wes eyed her carefully, as if sizing her up for something. She offered him a smile. Here it comes. The ruse would fall apart any second now.

"That Dash guy asked what was wrong with the Makuhita earlier," Wes said after a pause. "The truth of how I know is hard for some people to believe. And I'm not sure I trust you with it."

She stared at him. Trust? Trust her? The stranger who had saved his life? Wow, he was just the epitome of gratitude.

Screw it. The impulse to toy with him was gone. "Well," she said with forced friendliness, "If my saving you isn't enough to gain your trust, then I guess I can't do anything more for you."

Wes blinked. Was he surprised by her answer? Honestly, what did he expect?

"I didn't ask you to help me," he said quietly. "So why do you care?"

I don't. I'd rather be lounging at my motel than spend another second talking to you. Damn the whole "keeping up appearances" thing. Renna had always said she was a little too committed to it. But that was what made it work so well. Let the facade slip too often, and people will notice. And they'd definitely notice her leaving a guy to his kidnappers. Or ditching an injured stranger out on the street. Hells, what if he reported her about it or ran his mouth about her later? The last thing she needed was a trail of people whispering her name when Snagem came to sniff around.

She mentally kicked herself for not using an alias earlier. What an embarrassing oversight to make. You're losing your grip and it'll get you killed.

No, the best answer was to gain this schmuck's trust, if only temporarily, so he could remember her as a kind stranger and nothing more. Nothing worth complaining or gossiping about.

As much as she didn't want to, she'd have to schmooze him a little.

Rui started by daintily brushing her hair off one shoulder, then fidgeting with her necklace in a show of awkward sincerity. She met his eyes, flashed her girlish grin, and said, a little shyly, "Sorry if I'm being too forward. I'm just worried about you, is all. I don't think it's safe to wander the streets alone after what just happened, don't you?"

He stared at her for a moment, then huffed and adjusted his jacket. "Yeah. Sure, I guess. Thanks." He mumbled the last word so low she almost didn't catch it.

Tough crowd, she thought. Not a problem. She'd worked with less. And better to keep him in her sights until she passed him off somewhere safe, so he could be convinced she was nothing more than an upstanding citizen.

"Great! Happy to be of help!" She extended her hand, and he regarded it again with a frown before shaking it.

Then he blurted, "I can see aura."

Rui's grin faltered. "Huh?"

"I can see aura," he said again, fixing her with his hard stare. Those amber eyes sure were intense. "I always have, since I was little. Does that bother you?"

She tilted her head in consideration. She'd heard about aura users before—some called them psychics, others called them Seers. A few superstitious members of Snagem had commented about them in hushed tones, about how such people were cursed with misfortune for having the kind of power that should only belong to a Pokémon. "Just ain't natural," one Snagger, Grakin, had muttered darkly one night over a room-temperature beer as they celebrated a successful mission. "Makes sense they're bad luck. Some god somewhere is punishin' em for it, I'd bet my rations on it."

Rui had simply shrugged it off as tall tales, just as she did now. This guy was committed to the hero act. But what would he have to gain by pretending to be a Seer? In fact, why bring it up at all?

"Well…no, it doesn't bother me," she answered honestly, "but why tell me this? What's it got to do with anything?"

Wes narrowed his eyes at her—then, strangely, his gaze flickered around her, as if scanning something she couldn't see. He nodded curtly, then glanced around and said, "I'll tell you, but…not here. Is there somewhere more private?"

Ooookay. If he hadn't looked so pitiful and worse for wear, Rui might have felt more than a little suspicious. A man, asking a girl he just met to talk somewhere privately? Yeah, right. She wasn't stupid. But…he was unarmed. Didn't even have a Pokémon on him. And he was already injured. Between her, Neo, and Novo, Rui was confident they could take him in a scrap. Not to mention…she fiddled with the bracelet on her sleeve, Renna's parting gift to her. "Only use it in a pinch," she'd said, then she'd shown Rui how the pendant in the center of the band opened and contained a small handful of Sleep Powder. "Orre might have more creeps than most, but trust me, every place has them. Just be careful, 'kay?"

Rui swallowed past the lump in her throat and refocused on the strange man in front of her, reapplying her bright smile. "Yeah, of course! I know a place. Follow me."

The fact that she was the one choosing the place and not him set her more at ease. Trying to cover for her earlier hesitation, Rui continued brightly. "So, Agate, huh? Never been myself, but I'm dying to visit one day. I hear it's totally gorgeous!"

"Yeah," Wes mumbled. Ever the conversationalist, this one. Rui was about to make some further comments about trees and waterfalls when he cut her off. "You can drop the airhead act, you know."

Rui gaped at him, speechless. "Excuse me?"

He merely shrugged. "Just saying. There's no point in pretending. I can't stand that fake giggly shit anyway."

Oh. My Gods. He was actually serious. The temptation to leave him right there in the street was growing stronger by the second. But that would definitely shatter the caring and concerned persona she'd crafted, so instead she plastered a mildly confused, if somewhat strained, smile on her face. "I'm not sure what you mean?"

"Oh, please." He snorted and rolled his eyes. "I heard you from the sack. You're definitely not some vapid schoolgirl, so why are you pretending to be one?"

Rui's smile stiffened, but she kept it on through a forced laugh. "It's called being nice,Bur—Lycas. You should try it some time." Her attempt at a playful jab fell far too flat through her clenched teeth.

"No thanks. It never got me very far anyway."

"That's a shame, because you have such a sunny disposition," Rui snapped before she could stop herself. Dammit.

To her surprise, Wes looked over and smirked at her. "There. I like this version of you better."

She clenched her jaw. "Has anybody ever told you you're an asshole? Like, a massive one."

He didn't miss a beat. "Constantly."

"You answered that way too fast."

"You were too comfortable asking it."

Rui's eye twitched.

Gods, he was insufferable. "Well, you should practice being more grateful. Next time, someone less generous than me will just let you fend for yourself."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is that a threat?"

It could be, she thought savagely, but no, she couldn't say that. Instead, she smiled at him again, purely to irk him, and said sweetly, "I'm just looking out for you, is all."

It was petty, but the scowl she got in return made it worth it. She picked up the pace and headed for a side alley; the sooner she could get this over with, the sooner she could drop him off at the Center and be on her merry way.

"All right." She turned and folded her arms, and her boys caught the signal. They silently stepped into position, flanking her on either side, and stood at attention. Not aggressive, but watchful. Ready. "What's the story?"

Wes still glanced around for listening ears—as if Rui hadn't scanned the place three times over already—then looked back at her with a pensive expression. "All right, this is going to sound stupid, but just—hear me out."

Rui raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. He took a breath and continued.

"I was in Pyrite. Walking by the Battle Square, when I saw trainers battling it out, as usual. But one of them had this Makuhita, and—and its aura was all wrong, somehow. Dark and twisted and…sickly. And it behaved wrong, too, like a robot, and used way too much force on the other Pokémon. His trainer tried to call him off, but he wouldn't listen, it was like he went crazy or something. He nearly killed the other Pokémon." At this, Wes closed his eyes and shuddered, and Rui almost envied his innocence. Clearly he'd never seen such violence before, let alone actual Pokémon death. What a sheltered life he must come from, to be in his twenties, in Orre, and to have never seen such a thing.

"And?" Rui prompted. "That happens. Battles in Orre aren't exactly clean."

"Yeah, but to that extent?" Wes's eyes snapped open and he fixed her with that intense golden gaze again. "It wasn't ordered to by its trainer, it just—snapped. Even the way it moved looked kind of off to me."

"You familiar with the Makuhita species?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then how do you know that wasn't just some quirk of theirs?"

He glared at her. "I take it back. I liked you better as a giggly idiot."

And I don't like you at all, she thought, but held her tongue. "All I'm saying is, it's a lot to jump to conclusions just off of catching a glimpse."

"That's just it, though," he pressed, brow scrunching in frustration. "The aura. I told you, it was all wrong. I've never seen an aura like that before, not ever. Something was wrong with that Makuhita."

Well, he clearly wasn't going to let this go, and it wasn't like it was Rui's job to convince him otherwise. She shrugged. "All right then, so there was something wrong with it. What did you do?"

"Well…I watched the trainer for a bit. Then I kind of wandered over and joined the conversation they were having. I complimented his Pokémon and asked about his training regimen."

She stared at him. "You don't have a Pokémon."

"Well, I could have!" Wes snapped. "It's not like everybody carries them out in the open. I could have had some under my coat."

"Did the trainer buy that?" she asked dryly.

Wes frowned. "He didn't seem to question it, at least. I couldn't get any information out of him though, so I thought about finding someone to report to. Like the police station or something. But I had to ask around for directions, and I don't know how, but I think they got wind of where I was going and put two and two together. They jumped me while I was on my way there." He glowered down at the cobblestones, as if they were to blame for his recklessness.

"And here you are," Rui said. "So, why Phenac? You mentioned wanting to come here anyway, but they don't have a police force."

"No, but they have a mayor, which Pyrite doesn't. And he's probably one of the most influential people in the whole region, Phenac being what it is." He looked back up at her, eyes determined. "I have to inform him about it. Besides, since they brought me here, that must mean they have operations in this city, too. I bet he'd want to know about that."

Fair enough. He might have been sheltered, but he wasn't naive. Or, not completely, at least. "All right, sure, I can help you with that. And what's your plan after? You got a way to get home?"

Wes blanched at that—clearly he hadn't thought that far ahead. "Shit. They took my wallet."

She smirked. "No kidding?" That earned her another withering glare. Good. Maybe a little reminder of who was in charge here would lessen his attitude a little. "Well, lucky for you, the Center here is pretty nice and you can call your folks and arrange someone to pick you up. It's quite a trip from Agate, but I'm sure what with you getting mugged and kidnapped, they'll be happy to—"

"No!" Wes replied so forcefully it made Rui jump. He seemed to notice this because he immediately backed down and averted his gaze. "Sorry, I just…no. I can't do that. I can't let them know what happened."

Rui exerted every effort not to roll her eyes. Come on, now. Was he too embarrassed and prideful to admit he'd screwed up so badly? Maybe his folks would never let him live it down, or maybe they'd fuss and fawn over him and add to his shame. Part of her would have liked to see that spectacle.

She let out a breath and responded carefully. "Well, how else will you get home?"

He shot her a nervous glance. "I was kind of hoping you would know. You mean Phenac doesn't have public transportation?"

"Not to anywhere past Pyrite. And Pyrite is still a good day's trip from Agate, so you'll have the same problem there."

He shook his head fervently. "No. No, I definitely can't have them come to Pyrite for me." He started to pace, running a hand through his hair. Rui noticed he had a clump of dried blood in the back and held back a wince. Surely he had to be sore all over from the ordeal. Maybe their first stop should be a hospital, after all.

He turned back to her, looking desperate. "You know anybody I could get a ride from? I can pay for it from a PC in the Center."

Right. He thought she was Phenacian. She put on her best remorseful face and shook her head. "I'm sorry. Everyone I know uses the tram around here. People don't go far from here very often."

Wes turned away from her, rubbing at his temples now and cursing quietly under his breath. She noticed his grimace as he touched the bloody spot on the side of his head. Yeah, he was definitely in pain, all right.

Something close to pity curled in Rui's gut. Sure, the guy was a piece of work, but…he was still a victim. A victim of his own nosy stupidity, maybe, but a victim, nonetheless.

Oh, come on. Let him clean up his own mess. It wasn't like she had time for acts of charity right now. Well, okay, maybe she had a little time. Renna had made sure to buy her a few days before Rui needed to hightail it out of the region for good. And Snagem would never expect her to head to Agate, which could make her trail harder for them to follow.

But this guy was the worst. Horrendous company. And absolutely not worth sticking her neck out for in any way. Hell, no.

But if you can get money out of it… He was from Agate. Not fancy like Phenac, but the people there didn't want for much, either. Maybe it was worth a shot.

She rubbed her forehead with a sigh. "Well…it's not the most comfortable long-term transport, but I do have a small seat on my bike. I could take you. If you need."

Wes whirled on her, and for a second Rui expected him to give her more snark for not speaking up sooner. But instead, his pale and bruised face filled with relief. "You'd do that? Really?"

Ugh, he really did look so pathetic. Rui ignored the pang of sympathy at his hopeful expression. "Yeah. Sure." She narrowed her eyes. "But not without payment, got it? I've got bills to pay, you know. And my services don't come cheap, either."

"I'll pay whatever you need. That won't be a problem at all."

Jackpot.

"And, I…" His shoulders slumped. "Thank you. Really. You're right, I should have said that a lot sooner."

She was taken aback by the sudden, raw sincerity in his voice. Where was this gratitude thirty minutes ago? Still, she wasn't going to complain, not now that the delayed thanks was coming with the promise of cash. She gave him another smile—not as fake and dazzling as her earlier ones, something more muted—and said, "You're welcome! You know, it's not every day that I get the glory of rescuing a handsome stranger in distress." Then, for extra cheekiness, she gave him a sly wink.

She'd expected him to scoff or roll his eyes, maybe make a sarcastic jab—but he did none of those things. Instead, he flushed bright red, all the way from his ears down his neck, and stammered. "W-what the hell was that?"

Oh? How interesting. His reaction provided valuable insight: that his rotten attitude probably ensured he'd never been flirted with in his life. Maybe this detour wouldn't be so bad, after all, now that she knew how to get under his skin.

Rui's grin widened. "Just keeping you on your toes."

He scowled again, but it wasn't nearly as effective with that rosy complexion. "You're insufferable."

"Hm. Takes one to know one." She spun back toward the street with a bounce in her step. "Time's a-wasting! Let's go run your noble little errand, Mr. Burlap."

Wes sputtered furiously behind her and she smiled to herself again. Yeah, all right. She could work with this.

The next couple of days were going to be fun.