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The day before, Robin had felt nothing but smug. The Valentine's prank seemed to have gone off without a hitch (or at least, nothing that Robin considered to be a hitch); the fortune teller's game had been returned to its original form, everyone had had some laughs, the arcade kept the money, and a few snotty bitches had been taken down a couple notches on the most ego-inflated day of the year. Robin had fulfilled her end of the bargain with Jared the A/V Guy, put another notch on her end of the Pixi versus Crystal scoreboard, and retired happily for the night.

Today, though, things weren't looking so rosy. Because, Robin found, there was a problem with trying to buy someone's loyalty: someone else could always afford pay more. Especially when the other party was an outraged girl from Crystal Academy, who wanted to know why the fortune telling game had told her that her already too-short skirt was tucked into her thong.

(There may have also been a comment about the flabby state of her asscheeks, but that hadn't come until after the girl had unjustly kicked the machine for its rather helpful warning.)

So Robin had gotten ratted out, and word had spread through the gaggle at the Academy like lightning. And it was when she was walking home from school the next day - still riding the high from a successful operation, full of herself and thinking little of her surroundings - that Robin walked right into retaliation.

A pack of mean-faced girls in Crystal uniforms. One diminutive Meadowview girl, suddenly realizing she was in the midst of enemies. Aggressive body language all around, derisive laughter, glaring. Robin was rolling her eyes like she didn't care, but she was standing straighter now, shoulders out, puffing herself up to look bigger than she was. She made her move, boldly pushing forward to worm her way right through the group - but then the ringleader made herself known. The short-skirted thong-flasher from the day before cut right into Robin's path, issuing a brilliant smile to the wary girl before her. "Gee... I wish I could pull off that frumpy, just-rolled-out-of-bed look! It's Robin, isn't it?"

No chorus, only silent staring from the rest of the Crystal girls. It was to be a duel, then, and not a free-for-all verbal bloodbath. These were good odds for Robin -- she could hold her own against one opponent easily, whatever the psychological advantage a gang might lend them.

"Hah! I'm famous then, right?" Robin went right for her hubris, setting up immediate fortification. Settling into an unconcerned smile, she tilted her chin up. "But really, meeting me out here like this! You know I can only break your heart."

The implication was a weak blow, and the ringleader deflected it with a sneer. She didn't even bother to address it - that might have taken a few too many brain cells, Robin suspected - and just drove on with her own line of criticism. "That was a cute stunt, yesterday," the Crystal girl commented snidely, "except for the part where you, like, were the whore that ruined our Valentine's Days." Leaning in slightly, she slowed down her pace, as though speaking to a very young child: "Do you have any idea what girls like us do to little bitches like you?"

Robin wasn't someone that was slow to anger, not at all. She'd hit the point of fury the second that the word cute had dropped out of this Crystal snob's mouth - she was boiling inside, and briefly considered whether the trouble she might get in would be worth it to put a fist to this b***h's face. But no; she knew how to wait. And if this girl thought that the Valentine's prank had been oh-so-embarrassing, just wait until she got a taste of what Robin could really dish out....

But for now. Mellow, calm. Save the anger for when there were no witnesses.

"Gee," Robin answered, "I-D-K. Do you like, make us your bestest best friends? I hope so! I need somebody experienced to help me pick out a trampy skirt to stuff into my panties." And just in case she hadn't gotten her insult through clearly enough, Robin stopped to flutter her eyes and sweetly inquired, "Will you be my special tramp friend?"

The Crystal girl squished her face into a nasty, unattractive smile. "Welcome to Hell, honey. Make yourself comfortable, because you're gonna be living here for a long, loooong time." That seemed to be the worst she had to deal out today, though. With a glance back to her girls, she shoved past Robin to walk on her way - and behind her, the crowd followed. Robin got jostled a couple more times as they went by, but emerged unscathed from the last.

Well. She'd gotten off pretty easy, all things considered. Assuming that this just blew over later... and assuming Robin had the good sense to leave it alone.

But Robin was looking after the girls with a brooding look in her eyes, an irritated downturn of her mouth. She didn't deal with being bullied well. She dealt with being threatened even worse. If it meant she was throwing herself into the pack of wolves, then so be it - someone needed to teach those girls, and especially their leader, a lesson that they couldn't just shrug off. And who else to do it, but the esteemed master of pranks, Robin, herself?

This was going to be a tall order though, Robin thought to herself as she began walking ponderously away. She was going to need an accomplice for sure, this time....

"You know.... I don't think she did." Robin pulled her gaze away from the retreating gaggle. She was still maintaining a remarkable calm - but of course, they weren't out of sight yet, so she had to. But she was definitely speaking a bit more loudly now as she went on to remark, "I think that's just the latest style. You know, like pants with print on the butt that says BACK DOOR? Sort of like how black widows wear red to warn people that they're poisonous." Except with these girls, it was a warning that repeated exposure would leech points off your IQ.

The worst of her anger thus excised - at least enough that she didn't feel on the verge of a Donald Duck-style tantrum in the middle of the street - Robin could give a bit more speculation to the boy who had approached her, and his motivations for doing so.

Of course, she didn't get far into her appraisal before something distracted her. "Did it say something bad about your mama?" The girl's gaze was very obviously on Parker's poor, squished-up lunch. Why do bad things have to happen to good pitas?

You know, it was meeting people like this that nearly made the slimy feeling of a Crystal Snob Encounter worth it. Finding that common bond among the oppressed, or whatever -- Robin didn't really care what the connotations were, just that it felt good to have someone to hate with.

"Congratulations? Oh, no. No no, not yet." Pressing her fingertips together connivingly, Robin pressed her lips into a sharp-toothed smile. "Yesterday was nothing. Harmless gag, nice setup, but nothing. But if they want to get their panties in a bunch over that...." Robin laughed an evil laugh. She had practiced it for hours and hours, learned how to support her voice just so, knowing that there would be many occasions like these that warranted them in her life. "They'll learn to rue the day they tried to push Robin around!"

Yes. She just used the word rue, and referred to herself in the third person. The girl might be getting just a little too much into the whole hating thing right now, come to think of it; for certain, all sane bystanders were giving the pair a little more room as they hurried on by. Robin might not be tall, but she could be pretty creepy when she got worked up about something.

"Half a dozen a day," the girl replied automatically, as though it were a question she had been asked often. Robin was giving the boy an odd look, something like how someone would judge a package of meat at the grocery store. He sounded committed, he looked useful - and Robin was never one to let an opportunity fly past her. "I've got connections," she informed him suddenly. "Friends, or people who just don't mind dealing with me. I've got A/V guys, science geeks, prop kids from the theatre, everything. I've got someone at every school but Hillworth that's got access to school records, too. I've been doing this for years --" well, two, but who was counting? "-- but for, you know. Big things. I like to pick up help."

Robin smiled. This was going to be a big thing.

"So, Parker: What can you do?"

What did Robin do? The pink-haired girl seemed thrown for a loop by that question. It was actually quite valid. Playing the flute wasn't really a relevant skill here; her paranormal investigations, while good experience, also had little to do with these kinds of tricks. When it came to pulling pranks, in fact, it wasn't so much that she had the skills necessary for enacting them as... well... she had the guts for it. She had the connections. And, above all....

"Vision." Her hands clapped together, pleased - that was absolutely it! Robin's broad smile returned. "I've been pulling these kinds of things, on whatever scale, for years. I know what it takes to make them work; I know what it takes to make people remember 'em. I don't back down, and just as important," her grin took on an especially devilish shape, "I don't let other people back down, either."

Meaning: You had one foot in the saddle already, Parker. If you wanted to find some way to get at Crystal - really humiliate them, leave a sting that they'd feel on their faces every day until they graduated - then this was the girl to deliver it; but once you were on the ride, she was never going to let you escape until the deed was done.

Which meant that this was the moment for decision. The last chance to turn around and run away. Robin was beaming, sticking out her hand, "So, whaddaya think? Want in?"

"I'm thinking... infiltration." Robin's smile was practically a little v of delight now - and why shouldn't it be? She had a goddamned hacker, what couldn't she do with that? They could prank the entire school at once. That was beautiful, no matter how you looked at it.

Even if she had no clue about the logistics of, you know. Actually hacking something, outside of CSI.

"I can get my hands on a uniform, I bet. Get inside and get access to their systems. If you've got an insider, I bet you can do something, right?"

The plan was still tenuous at best - what were they going to do once they were in, after all? - but it was growing more promising by the instant. Crystal was such a fancy school, Robin would bet that practically everything was run from the computer system - school bells, heating, refrigeration, student records. Maybe even the PA system, who knew? They would find something that would make the venture worth it, no question about it - if Parker thought that he could do it, anyway.

Oh dammit. Robin hadn't counted on partnering up with a realist, of all people. But if Parker wasn't up to it, he wasn't up for it - and Robin sure couldn't pull off a high-tech prank like that without him. He said it wouldn't work unless he had physical access to the systems himself; Crystal wasn't a place that guys could get around unnoticed; ergo, one beautiful plan was in danger of getting flushed down the toilet.

But you know what, that was fine. Robin wasn't discouraged. She was the Madame Visionary, after all - she could find a way to make use of what she had! It might just... take a bit longer, trying to make use of a computer guy that claimed it was impossible to get access to Crystal computers. She'd just need to stand around a little bit, making "hmmmmm" and "ehhhh, naaaaah" sounds as she ran through her mental repertoire....

First thing she needed to do: Break down this problem into bite-sized bits to solve. To begin with: "If you had access to one Crystal computer - just one - would that be enough to give you access to the network?" Robin wondered aloud.

There was a long, foreboding quiet that took up the space between them. It wasn't the sort of void where there were no ideas, just an unsettling failure - no. This one was filled by a lack of bravery. Robin seemed to be sizing up those shoulders of his right now, trying to figure how much they would carry... or what they would look like, if....

"So we'll get a uniform for you, too."

Granted, Parker was not necessarily ideal for this role - but he wasn't too bad, either. No strong muscle tone, and his hair could sort of be taken for a girl's cut if you didn't pay too much attention. A little makeup on that scar, and....

Yeah, this was workable. Robin was smiling again, after all, so how could anything be wrong? "Yep, that's perfect! We get you a uniform and you won't have to worry about people taking you for a Hillworth boy!" Because, of course, no self-respecting Hillworth boy would be caught dead in a Crystal blue skirt.

Except, Robin seemed to expect, for Parker.