VALORANT: Stories

Thief's Consequences (Fade x Neon)

Thief's Consequences (Mafia AU)

Pickpocketing was not something one should be doing for a living. It was pretty much common sense for anyone to know that stealing would never be the way to go. But then again, desperate times call for desperate measures. People still commit whatever thievery they could do, whether it was small or large. One thing's for sure, it never seemed to stop once the ball started rolling down that path.

The exhilaration, the thrill that came with every successful steal. It was heart-stopping yet addictive.

Tala Valdez was one of those people that turned her own life into that of a thief. Even went as far as making an alias for herself in order not to loosely throw her actual name around and leave a trail of breadcrumbs for anyone else to follow. She went by the name Neon. The latter was inspired by her first successful pickpocket at some rundown club, where there was some drunk hanging out under the neon sign. She managed to swipe the man's wallet from his jacket and scored herself a couple of solid bills.

Neon wasn't always like this. She used to have a good life when she left her province and went to the big city of Metro Manila. But things went bad when one thing after another turned sour. The apartment she used to rent was involved in a fire incident, the scholarship she had for college at the time got cut, the world seemed to have it out for her.

Rather than tucking tail and heading back to her province, Neon couldn't bring herself to face the likely disappointment from her family, who she was initially intending on supporting financially once she finished her college. She faked her certificate when her family asked for a photo for it when the supposed year of her graduation came and lie after lie, they all piled until it was too much for her to admit outright.

And so, she resorted to stealing. Especially when she found out her father fell ill and her family was short when it came to finances for his medical bills.

There were close calls here and there, but Neon managed to make it through every single day with her pockets filled enough for her to send money to her family and to barely tend to her essential needs.

Just now, Neon was in a restroom of a gas station. She just finished washing her hair and giving herself a quick wipe-down, stuffing the used towels and dirty clothes in her worn and torn bag. She gathered all her drenched hair, which looked more like inky blue and murky yellow rather than its loud color, and hid them underneath her black cap.

Neon looked at herself in the mirror on the wall, making a face at the stray drops of water that ended up on her grey hoodie. Well, it was technically white, but with all the mucky roads and walls Neon slipped on and through, she wasn't too surprised by the discoloration. Sighing, she rolled her shoulders back a few times before slinging the bag over her shoulder and heading out.

Instead of heading on her way down the road, Neon went over to the convenience store and sat on one of the outdoor tables. Now that she had found a so-called perch, she scanned her surroundings to find someone that she could pull a fast one on. She huffed when she caught a whiff of the scent of coffee in the air, her eyes wandering to the Starbucks branch across the street.

Neon was in the middle of thinking about how she could sneak up on one of its patrons once they walked out, but her thoughts were interrupted by the sight cars rolling up. There wasn't any space available at the coffee shop's front parking lot, so it didn't take long for the gas station's own lot to be practically surrounded by these expensive brands of cars. Soon enough, people started stepping out of the vehicle, but Neon easily narrowed down the important figures among them.

There were four cars that stood out among them.

In special car number one, a man with quite a neat-shaved beard and a relatively hulking figure clad in a perfectly tailored suit stepped out, automatically flanked by two women, one dressed in a form-fitting black dress with a white blazer draped over her shoulders and a snake-patterned ring glinting from one of her fingers. The other mentioned woman wore an outfit that leaned more on the leather side. Leather pants, leather jacket, boots, her round black specs reflecting the lights of the station.