Chapter Text
In Po Town, privacy was at an all time low, but Lillie still knocked on Plumeria’s door instead of barging in. Everyone barreled into each other’s rooms without a thought, but it seemed right to give Plumeria and Guzma their space. She would still be looking for coins underneath vending machines, if it wasn’t for them.
“Yeah?” Plumeria shouted from inside, which was as much an invitation as anything. She wiped her sweaty hands on her pants and went inside.
“Um, Miss Plumeria? I was wondering if you could help me dye my hair?” Gang members were supposed to sound confident, but Lillie couldn’t stop her voice from wobbling. She’d seen Plumeria help the other girls, but right now, as she smeared eye shadow across her lids, she looked truly intimidating.
“If you knock it off with the ‘Miss’ shit, maybe I’ll consider it.” Plumeria stared at her in the mirror. “Tired of being a blondie?”
”I don’t want fully pink hair! Just—just streaks of it, maybe?” Would that be enough to evade anyone her mother sent after her? With a bandanna around her mouth and her braids brushed out, she looked different, but she still stood out among a sea of neon-haired Skull members.
After finishing her other eye, Plumeria stood abruptly, and Lillie startled back, suppressing a squeak. She tugged at Lillie’s skull hat, which came off with a crackle of static. “I take it you’ve never done this before, huh. I can work with this.” She pulled at a lock of her hair, but not hard, almost teasing.
News spread quickly through the decaying mansion. One moment, Plumeria was wielding a paint brush and foil at Lillie’s hair, and the next, a gaggle of other grunts stormed the upstairs bathroom, sitting in the tub and on the floor and even one on the windowsill. The smell didn’t seem to bother them. They shoved and bickered for space, but with a sharp look from Plumeria, they quieted down to watch.
Mostly. “LL’s getting her pink in!” Jenna crowed. “Are you gonna finally get on board with the uniform too?”
Lillie winced, looking down at herself. She wore baggy black pants, cuffed at her ankles, too embarrassed to try the tiny cutoffs and garters that most of the girl grunts and a few of the boys wore. “Not yet, guys... Sorry.”
“It’s not that big a deal,” Lani cut in. “You burn so badly you need all the coverage you can get. Next time we go shoplifting, try to stick some sunscreen down your boobs.” Kaleo goggled at them, ever mystified at how girls worked, and Lani slapped him in the shoulder.
“O-okay!” She mostly stole small things so far, like lipsticks and earrings, things she traded off to the other grunts for dancing lessons, or learning how to put on makeup. Occasionally she took wallets from oblivious tourists. It had only taken a few hungry nights to stop feeling guilty about it.
And sooner or later, she was going to start stealing Pokemon. Team Skull didn’t hurt the Pokemon they snatched, so it wasn’t so bad. They rarely kept them for long, trading them back for someone’s pocket money if they didn’t get trounced in battle. They needed the money.
It was nice having Plumeria touch her hair, even if the foil strips felt weird. No wonder the other grunts called her Big Sister. Lillie was almost disappointed when she was done.
“Right, you chucklefucks get out of the tub so she can rinse her hair,” Plumeria said, taking off her rubber gloves with a snap. The room was too crowded with all of them sitting on the bath mat, but she didn’t mind, kneeling at the faucet and sticking her head into an icy stream of water. Lani laughed and plunged her hands in, moving Lillie’s head one way and another until the water ran clear.
Jenna draped a threadbare towel around her shoulders as Lillie peered into the mirror and beamed.