July 6, 2009 – 2:30pm
Downtown Middleton, WI
Roof hopping was thirsty work - especially when the
temperature was around 90 degrees, Fahrenheit, or 32 degrees Celsius. He had taken
the day to hop around the town and basically enjoy his new body. He was on his
way back to his house now, but he really needed a drink before he got
heatstroke. Knowing where he was, he leaped off of city hall and ran down the
street to a local convenience store.
The Air Conditioning felt wonderful as he sauntered over to
the beverage refrigerator. His instincts said to go for the Mountain Dew, but
another part reminded him that caffeine dehydrated the body, not hydrated it,
plus he didn’t need all that pointless sugar and corn syrup. Sighing, he went
to the water section and grabbed some fiji water.
He then realized something. He had left his wallet in his
jeans – HIS jeans.
Yo, Nam? You in
there?
[No. I decided to
take the day off and went to go see “Transformers 2”. OF COURSE I’M IN HERE,
YOU JACKASS!]
Ow! Hey…’No Need for
Shouting’…heh.
[Bite me.]
No thanks, I’d feel it. Did
you have any money? I, erm, left my wallet in my other pants.
[Moron.]
Well, I was a little
confused this morning! Bite me!
[Can’t. I’m non corporeal.
And yes, I keep my wallet in the same place I keep my spare clothes.]
It
was a little harder with short sleeves, but Ran managed to access the personal
storage space and pull out a simple black leather wallet, much like several he
had had and lost ost or destroyed prior to the cheap NERV wallet he had bought
at AnimeCentral almost 10 years ago, and was still in perfect condition.
Ran
opened the wallet and pulled out a couple of dollars. “Okay this should…..wait.
Who is Michael Lewis, and why is he on my dollar bills?”
[Isn’t he on yours?]
No. Let’s see….Bruce Rogers, Jack Emmert, Matt Miller….oh wait….they’re the
Developers for City of Heroes,
old and current!
[Huh?]
It makes sense. In my world,
the founding fathers of the US
are former presidents. But Paragon
City is a Video Game.
It’s “founding fathers” would be the developers.
[I see. So what does it
mean?]
Your cash is useless.
[Dammit!]
Yep. Going to have to
wait until I – wait do you see what I see?
[Of course I do.
Guy…slightly older then us-]
Then YOU.
[Then US,
physically…wearing a hoodied sweatshirt on a 30 degree day….okay that is
suspicious. What are you thinking?]
The news. Over the
last week there’s been a rash of convenience store robberies in broad daylight.
The suspect is a white male in his early twenties, wearing a nondescript grey
hooded sweatshirt.
[Sounds like our man
here. Lets be sure. Close your eyes, find your spiritual center, then open them
again.]
Ran did this with suprising ease. He had never been a spiritual
person really, but if he had it would have been eastern religion. Now opening
his eyes, he could see the wavy clouds surrounding the man and the clerk. The
clerk looked fine, though his aura was streaked with fear and apprehension. The
man’s aura on the other hand, was dingy and corrupted. There was no sign of
desperation and no red strings trailing off of him, so he wasn’t doing this out
of need to feed his family. He was just a crook.
He was now much closer to believing.
Ran watched as the man pulled a gun out of his hoodie
pointing it casually at the clerk, positioning it with his arm to keep it out
of the camera sight. Ran could see it just fine, however.
Bingo. Now…watch this.
[What the hell are
you doing?]
Saw this in an anime
once.
Ran moved forward as if going to check out. He tripped –
deliberately – on his own feet and staggered forward, bumping into the man.
“Oops. How clumsy of me!”
The man grunted and tried to elbow Ran away – except that
his gun hand was firmly pinned to his own side, the gun now pointing uselessly
at the floor.
The clerk took the opportunity to hit the “panic” button
under the counter.
The man growled at Ran, finally breaking free. He turned to
Ran, pointing the gun at him. However, Ran’s hands were too fast. In a flash,
Ran’s hands whipped out, hitting pressure points on the man’s wrist. He dropped
the gun, holding his wrist in pain. In a flash, Ran’s foot came up, and the man
went sailing back, crashing back into a “Pepsi” display. He fell into
unconsciousness as cans rained down around him.
The clerk gaped at Ran, who stood there smirking. Without thinking
about it he said “Feh….like a punk.” It came naturally. The words were Nam’s. Yet they
felt so right.
Ran turned to the gaping clerk, then smiled sheepishly. “Uh…I
forgot my wallet.”
The clerk looked at the bottle of water Ran was still
holding. “On the house.”
Ran shook his head. “Can’t accept that. Tell you what…” Ran
turned to the unconscious man and after a moments hesitation, reached into his
pocket and pulled out a wallet. “Mind if I borrow this?”
The man stirred and showed signs of consciousness. A right
cross quickly deprived him of this. ”Didn’t think so.”
Ran pulled a fiver out of the wallet, threw the waller back
at the punk, walked over to the counter, and plopped the bottle down. After a
moment, he grabbed an energy bar from the shelf. “One of these, too. Keep the
change.” He slapped the fiver down, gave the clerk a loose two fingered salute,
grabbed the stuff and left the store before the cops arrived.
[Hey, where did you learn to
do that?]
Do what?
[Taking money from the
robber like that.]
Oh. Lina Inverse.
[…]
Downtown Middleton, WI
Roof hopping was thirsty work - especially when the
temperature was around 90 degrees, Fahrenheit, or 32 degrees Celsius. He had taken
the day to hop around the town and basically enjoy his new body. He was on his
way back to his house now, but he really needed a drink before he got
heatstroke. Knowing where he was, he leaped off of city hall and ran down the
street to a local convenience store.
The Air Conditioning felt wonderful as he sauntered over to
the beverage refrigerator. His instincts said to go for the Mountain Dew, but
another part reminded him that caffeine dehydrated the body, not hydrated it,
plus he didn’t need all that pointless sugar and corn syrup. Sighing, he went
to the water section and grabbed some fiji water.
He then realized something. He had left his wallet in his
jeans – HIS jeans.
Yo, Nam? You in
there?
[No. I decided to
take the day off and went to go see “Transformers 2”. OF COURSE I’M IN HERE,
YOU JACKASS!]
Ow! Hey…’No Need for
Shouting’…heh.
[Bite me.]
No thanks, I’d feel it. Did
you have any money? I, erm, left my wallet in my other pants.
[Moron.]
Well, I was a little
confused this morning! Bite me!
[Can’t. I’m non corporeal.
And yes, I keep my wallet in the same place I keep my spare clothes.]
It
was a little harder with short sleeves, but Ran managed to access the personal
storage space and pull out a simple black leather wallet, much like several he
had had and lost ost or destroyed prior to the cheap NERV wallet he had bought
at AnimeCentral almost 10 years ago, and was still in perfect condition.
Ran
opened the wallet and pulled out a couple of dollars. “Okay this should…..wait.
Who is Michael Lewis, and why is he on my dollar bills?”
[Isn’t he on yours?]
No. Let’s see….Bruce Rogers, Jack Emmert, Matt Miller….oh wait….they’re the
Developers for City of Heroes,
old and current!
[Huh?]
It makes sense. In my world,
the founding fathers of the US
are former presidents. But Paragon
City is a Video Game.
It’s “founding fathers” would be the developers.
[I see. So what does it
mean?]
Your cash is useless.
[Dammit!]
Yep. Going to have to
wait until I – wait do you see what I see?
[Of course I do.
Guy…slightly older then us-]
Then YOU.
[Then US,
physically…wearing a hoodied sweatshirt on a 30 degree day….okay that is
suspicious. What are you thinking?]
The news. Over the
last week there’s been a rash of convenience store robberies in broad daylight.
The suspect is a white male in his early twenties, wearing a nondescript grey
hooded sweatshirt.
[Sounds like our man
here. Lets be sure. Close your eyes, find your spiritual center, then open them
again.]
Ran did this with suprising ease. He had never been a spiritual
person really, but if he had it would have been eastern religion. Now opening
his eyes, he could see the wavy clouds surrounding the man and the clerk. The
clerk looked fine, though his aura was streaked with fear and apprehension. The
man’s aura on the other hand, was dingy and corrupted. There was no sign of
desperation and no red strings trailing off of him, so he wasn’t doing this out
of need to feed his family. He was just a crook.
He was now much closer to believing.
Ran watched as the man pulled a gun out of his hoodie
pointing it casually at the clerk, positioning it with his arm to keep it out
of the camera sight. Ran could see it just fine, however.
Bingo. Now…watch this.
[What the hell are
you doing?]
Saw this in an anime
once.
Ran moved forward as if going to check out. He tripped –
deliberately – on his own feet and staggered forward, bumping into the man.
“Oops. How clumsy of me!”
The man grunted and tried to elbow Ran away – except that
his gun hand was firmly pinned to his own side, the gun now pointing uselessly
at the floor.
The clerk took the opportunity to hit the “panic” button
under the counter.
The man growled at Ran, finally breaking free. He turned to
Ran, pointing the gun at him. However, Ran’s hands were too fast. In a flash,
Ran’s hands whipped out, hitting pressure points on the man’s wrist. He dropped
the gun, holding his wrist in pain. In a flash, Ran’s foot came up, and the man
went sailing back, crashing back into a “Pepsi” display. He fell into
unconsciousness as cans rained down around him.
The clerk gaped at Ran, who stood there smirking. Without thinking
about it he said “Feh….like a punk.” It came naturally. The words were Nam’s. Yet they
felt so right.
Ran turned to the gaping clerk, then smiled sheepishly. “Uh…I
forgot my wallet.”
The clerk looked at the bottle of water Ran was still
holding. “On the house.”
Ran shook his head. “Can’t accept that. Tell you what…” Ran
turned to the unconscious man and after a moments hesitation, reached into his
pocket and pulled out a wallet. “Mind if I borrow this?”
The man stirred and showed signs of consciousness. A right
cross quickly deprived him of this. ”Didn’t think so.”
Ran pulled a fiver out of the wallet, threw the waller back
at the punk, walked over to the counter, and plopped the bottle down. After a
moment, he grabbed an energy bar from the shelf. “One of these, too. Keep the
change.” He slapped the fiver down, gave the clerk a loose two fingered salute,
grabbed the stuff and left the store before the cops arrived.
[Hey, where did you learn to
do that?]
Do what?
[Taking money from the
robber like that.]
Oh. Lina Inverse.
[…]