[InterZone Chatter] Station gets the laughter under control. "No problem, Wes. Just--" He starts laughing again.
[InterZone Chatter] Black Belt says, "Uh, you wanted to speak to me?"
[Hero-IC] Cody says, "Anyways, I'm headin' off. Anyone up fer a friendly spar at Fighter Club 'r somethin'? And yeah, I know the rule 'bout not sayin' the name of the place, but I don' really care."
[InterZone Chatter] Beatrice licks.
[InterZone Chatter] Station coughs. "Yeah. I did. Need t'discuss somethin' with you about possibly joinin' up with the Palace alliance."
[Hero-IC] Link says, "Really, nice to meet you...Although I prefer introductions face to face. Mind if we talk once I get out there? I always like to meet newcomers, hear about other worlds out there I haven't seen yet."
[Hero-IC] Cody says, "Yeah, a spar. I'm gettin' rusty far as my fightin' goes I think."
[Hero-IC] Brock says, "...I guess I try too hard."
[InterZone Chatter] Black Belt says, "Oh, yeah!"
[Hero-IC] Cassandra Alexandra says, "Ummm... Sure.... And I'd face you Sir, but I doubt you'd want to be humiliated by a girl."
[Hero-IC] Heather Mason says, "Did you, uh, need to see me too?"
[Hero-IC] Station says, "Yeah, I will need t'talk to you, Miss Mason."
[InterZone Chatter] Black Belt says, "Sure."
[Hero-IC] Link says, "Athenian style of...?"
[InterZone Chatter] Black Belt says, "I'll be right the- Grah! Monsters! Grr, why are you ambushing me just so you can defend?!"
[InterZone Chatter] Black Belt says, "Uh, gimme a few minutes."
[Hero-IC] Cassandra Alexandra says, "Combat. Swordsmanship. There are many names for the style that was supposedly created by that old fart of a goddess."
[Hero-IC] Cody says, "I think she's a sword fighter 'r whatever. At least she had a sword 'n shield before when I saw her...er, never mind, she already answered."
[Hero-IC] Cloud Strife says, "Martial arts, then."
[InterZone Chatter] Station says, "A'ight. I'll be waiting."
[Hero-IC] Link says, "Swordsmanship?! Wow, maybe I could learn a thing or two from your style..."
[Hero-IC] Meis Triumph says, "...You know, don't be dissing the goddesses. Considering I attritube a lot to my ancient goddess.... Assuming she is still around.... They aren't so bad."
[Hero-IC] Heather Mason says, "Anywhere in particular?"
[Hero-IC] Link says, "So uh, where are you in the Palace?"
[Hero-IC] Station says, "D'you know where the Insert Coin Bar & Grill is, Miss Mason?"
[Hero-IC] Dreamcaster sings in the background idly after Station's words, "Who can we get on the caaaaaase... o/~"
[Hero-IC] Heather Mason says, "Yep."
[Hero-IC] Station says, "A'ight. I'll be there."
Insert Coin Bar And Grill
"You wanna be where you can see troubles are all the same, you wanna go where everybody knows your name."
One of the most central locales in Videoland, the Insert Coin has become a sort of neutral ground, a bar where all can meet and communicate. A simple wooden bar runs across the back of the room, tables and chair scattered throughout, room here for nearly any of Videoland's denizens. Drinks are cheap here, and only slightly watered down, and most people seem to get along. Fights are not welcome here, however... people with combat in mind are pointed to the broom closet that leads to the hidden basement...
Contents:
Amigo
Cody [Final_fight]
Black Belt [Normal]
Station [Remedy]
Chen Stormstout [Panda]
Stage
Obvious exits:
[O]ut leads to Downtown.
[S]tairs leads to Fighter Club.
Amigo hops along on hands and feet through a smaller door that no one ever quite realized was cut into the ICB&G's front door. Donned in his festive vest and mighty sombrero, the large mouthed, big teethed, always smilin' monkey makes his way towards Station, with naturally some sort of nefarious intent.
Amigo holds up a sign, with a picture of a banana on it, his already big bright smile widening more.
Station, as promised, is waiting inside the Insert Coin for the two people he called here. As Amigo comes bounding over, the PSX Gamemaster grins a little at the monkey. "'Ey, Amigo. Lookin' for a handout?" he asks, cheerily.
Amigo perks up at Station's words and nods his head, springing up with his mighty monkey legs and landing in Station's lap. The diminutive, yet, highly funktastical primate looks up at Station with those big, big eyes of his and smiles wider and wider. Boy, it's sorta creepy when a face is nothing but teeth and eyes. Eesh. Regardless, Amigo remains there, putting on his best front in hopes of a banana reward. After a short pause, thinking his endeavors aren't enough, he pulls out a pair of maracas and does a little routine, before striking a quite chimptastic pose.
Heather Mason arrives....minus weaponry, dressed casually. She's been here before, and doesn't look worried or paranoid, for once, even if this is her first time meeting Station.
And this, kiddies, is what we call Monkey Torture. Station just shakes his head, grinning wider as Amigo goes into his maraca routine. "All right, all right," he concedes at last, pulling a banana from--well, his memory card. (They came in handy, on occasion.) Without another word, he offers it to the (very frightening) monkey (as a sacrifice to the simian deity, so that it will not bite him and give him ebola). Then he glances over as the door opens, raising a hand to giving Heather a hesitant wave.
Amigo eeeeeeeees!!! The happy monkey takes the banana, not forgetting to pause to smile up at Station once more, before climbing up on his shoulder and begining to peel the banana. As he tries to eat the banana, he finds that his sombrero is getting in the way, and decides it best to remove it for now, placing it atop Corey's head for safekeeping. Now, the beast feeds, and will be (mostly) good for the rest of the night.
Black Belt wanders into Insert Coin, entering from the Men's Bathroom. He looks at the door, and says, "At least it was the right one this time." He looks around, and sees Station! And a MONKEY! "Ooh, monkey." He makes his way over to Station, and taps him on the shoulder. "Hey. You wanted to talk to me?"
Looks like the usual crowd... Heather returns Station's wave, and, shrugs at Black Belt. "...Guess there's a line." She smiles sheepishly. "I'll wait my turn."
KING-LING! What's that? Why, it's the bell at the door, signaling someone else is popping in for a bit. But who? Well, who else? Cody's far from an unusual sight here, and the fact that all he has to do is signal and the bartender gets a beer ready for him proves that he's a bit TOO familiar. Still, he's here. As he walks over toward the bar, he peers at the monkey near Station, blinking a few times. "Er....what's a monkey doin' here?...and why do you got a sombrero on yer head, Staysh?"
Station has a monkey on his shoulder and a sombrero on his head. Could he ask for anything more? He reaches up to tip the hat back a little as Black Belt and Heather both walk over. "Ah, yeah. Both of you, actually--no worries, Miss Mason, just take a seat or somethin'?" He gives her a grin that tries to be reassuring. "Since a lot of the questions I'm gonna ask are prob'ly gonna be the same for both of you."
Black Belt blinks. "Questions? But... I haven't studied." He looks worried.
Heather Mason slips into a seat. Okay, easy enough. She's not really nervous about this...but she DID have a pretty bad day yesterday. "No problem," she says. Whether that is really a problem or not.
Cody blinks a few times...then realizes what's going on. "Ah...yeah, intros 'n all that, aint this? I'll stay outta this if it's official stuff 'r whatnot." Not wanting to interfere with Station's work for now, Cody walks past both him and monkey over toward the other side of the bar, waiting for his beer to be slid down before popping it open and taking a quick chug.
Station glances up at Cody then as the fighter wanders by. "Oh, s'just Amigo. He likes hangin' around me." Duh, Station, you feed him. "An' he brought the hat, so. No worries on the interruptin' thing." He glances back at Heather and Black Belt, then gives Cody the classic, apologetic, 'sorry, can't talk more right now' smile.
Returning to the task at hand, he adjusts the sombrero again and gives Heather and Black Belt both a long, thoughtful look. "No worries," he repeats, to Black Belt this time. "They're not those kinds of questions.
"Anyway. Word is that you--Black Belt, at least--are wantin' to join up with the Palace. So, as head of Palace security, I get t'do background checks on both of you." Station gives them another smile that's somewhere between reassuring and nervous. Can you tell he's not used to his new job yet?
...Background? Heather blinks a few times. Well, she can at least pretend this is no big deal, since she has some standard answers that work pretty well in these situations: to varying degrees of verity. She nods, and leans on her elbow. "Okay. I can do that."
Black Belt nods. "I get it. So, uh, what do you want to know?" His own past is shrouded in mystery, to the point that even he has trouble recalling anything. Yeah.
Cody shrugs. He's got other things in mind anyways. The beer bottle is quickly finished off, tossed in the trash. He listens in a bit at the quick conversation, watching the 3 of them as things get underway. He sort of remembers going through this before, but that was a while ago. Anyways, he's not here to be a wandering ear. He's here to fight. And with that, he heads toward the 'closet', likely to get in a bit of sparring against the locals that populate the place when the more 'prominent' fighters in VLand aren't about.
"Standard...stuff, I guess." Station ticks off on a hand as he speaks. "History--references we can verify it with, if you've got 'em. Any regular enemies you've got around, an' where they are right now, if you've been keepin' an eye on them. Allies. /Why/ you wanna work with the Palace, an' what you can do for us."
Heather Mason frowns. "Oh. The Princess said she was giving me a job. She didn't really say ....doing WHAT." Heather glances at Black Belt, and then just says, "You go first."
Black Belt scratches his head. "History? Um, well, since as far back as I can remember, I've been training to help protect my world against evil. Being a Light Warrior and all. Regular enemies? Um, well, there's monsters, and Garland, and Bikke the Pirate, and, uh... the Four Fiends. Dunno where they all are. And as for allies, there's all the other Light Warriors! Especially White Mage. But there's Black Mage and Red Mage and Fighter and Thief, too. And as for why I wanted to join the Palace of Power was so I could have more heroic people around and be able to help fight against the forces of evil! As for what I can do for you, well, there's a lot of things. I'm an expert martial artist, which I have demonstrated by beating up Agent 3D0. I could also teach other Heroes martial arts, and, um... I can cook."
Heather Mason glances at Black Belt, and, listens. Sounds like a resume of some kind or another. She doesn't really have anything like that. "I was more or less looking for someplace I could do odd jobs. Like the mall or something, that's all. I know that... people are all from ancient Greece or the future. I'm from Oregon. I don't really know anybody, since I left home. So...that's no help. And my only enemy, if you can call her that, is Alessa." She rushes the last part out pretty quickly.
As Black Belt starts talking, Station scrabbles briefly at his side, before coming up with a pad of paper and a pencil. He starts jotting down notes in script that's probably only legible to him--a classic security measure--and nods once or twice at the Light Warrior's words. Then he jots down Heather's name and keeps writing as she talks. "--Huh. Alessa. I think I've met 'er before--anything special about her?" He looks up, gray eyes intent on Heather. "She's--pretty creepy," he adds, as an afterthought.
Heather Mason meets Station's gaze, and says, only, "She is. Yeah. She's my problem." She then looks intent at the table, so as to avoid any more questions. She doesn't really want to go into it.
Station squints at Heather as she looks down. "This somethin' that might be a problem t'us later?" He pauses, then adds, hastily: "It's not like I'm implyin' we're gonna come down on you for it, miss. I just need t'know if there's gonna be any threat t'the Palace from her if you're workin' there."
Black Belt hmms. "Well, you won't have to worry about Garland being a problem. White Mage told me to, *ahem* 'Hit Sir Armor of Gothic here until he stops thinking concious thoughts', and, well, I did. It took me forever to get the blood off my hands. It was really sticky. I had to shake it really hard to get it to come off. Like this." He then waves his arm up and down, creating a rather strong wind, that'll probably cause the sombrero on Station's head to fly off.
Heather Mason shakes her head. "Uh...no. Alessa won't come after me. At least I don't think so. It's more the other way around." She looks at Black Belt, and then back to Station. Her eyes look...deep and dark.
Though momentarily distracted by his codec, Station keeps his attention on Heather and Black Belt. He even has the presence of mind to reach up and grab the sombrero before it's knocked off his head by Black Belt's enthusiastic waving. "A'ight, Black Belt." He gives the Light Warrior a tiny smile. "Y'got any references I could follow up with you on?" He gives Heather a glance, one that seems to say 'we'll talk about the rest of this later'.
Black Belt blinks. "References? Um, well, there's Red Mage. He's the only Light Warrior around."
Heather Mason melts a little under that glance. Yeah, she has something to explain, but it's not the kind of thing she wants to... bore people with.
Station's attention is back on Black Belt, so he doesn't notice Heather's discomfort. "I'll see about talkin' to him," he replies. "Though what's this about Mother Brain volunteerin' to vouch for you?" Well, that came out of left field.
Kliff Undersn has connected.
Black Belt nods. Then Station goes and blurts that out, and Black Belt turns towards Heather, doing the Tim Allen-style suprised/confused grunt that can't be shown in letters. But you know what it's like.
Station tilts his head slightly to one side, pulling the sombrero down so it hides his eyes. Just a little. "Didn' hear about that one, huh?" he asks, somewhere between annoyed and amused.
Heather Mason shrugs, and leans back. She has nothing like THIS on her perminent record.
Black Belt just blinks, and looks at Heather. oO(Why would Mother Brain reccomend a Hero to the Palace of Power?)Oo
Heather Mason looks at Black Belt. Then at Station. Then, she blinks. "Wait. She said that...about ME?!" She points at herself. "...about me?"
Station glances over at Black Belt. "Nah. Him. Don' worry yourself about it, Miss Mason, Black Belt." His eyes narrow slightly, and he adds: "I'm just gonna have to investigate this a little further." He removes the sombrero from his head, handing it back to the monkey on his shoulder. "Later," he then adds.
Black Belt blinks, and looks at Station. "Um, okay."
Heather Mason shakes her head. "I didn't think so. I never even met her. Unless Alessa's said something."
Station nods slightly to Heather. "Like I said. It's not you." He glances between them, frowning a little to himself. "Either way, thank you both for comin' t'talk to me about this. I'll talk to the princess 'bout what we've discussed here, an' I'm sure she'll get back t'you guys soon about joinin' up."
Black Belt nods, and looks at Heather. "So, um..." He scratches his head. "I dunno what to talk about. Maybe you can think of something."
Heather Mason shrugs her shoulders. Well, that wasn't so hard... "I ... kinda imagined a more normal job interview, but, at least let me know what the job is." Her brow knits.
Station gives Heather a weak grin when she says that. "Yeah, well. Welcome t'Videoland Proper--things aren't exactly 'normal' here by any stretch of the imagination." His tone says he certainly sympathizes with it. "As for--well." He actually looks sheepish now. "The princess didn't tell me what she wanted you t'do around the Palace, Miss Mason. You'll haveta ask her yourself."
Black Belt just sits there, looking at Heather.
"Okay. As long as I don't get kicked out in the next couple days. But, if i do, I'll make do," Heather says. "Did before, can again."
"I don't think that'll happen," Station reassures her, as best he can. Then he clears his throat, glancing to Black Belt. "You two have anymore questions about this?"
Heather Mason shakes her head a few times. She looks tired suddenly: a condition that seems to set on her all the time, very suddenly. "No. Just wondering what she's gonna say."
Black Belt blinks at Heather as she suddenly becomes tired. He looks at Station, and shakes his head. "Not really. Though, I'm kinda wondering what the dental plan is like."
Station smirks. "Hey, most of us are volunteers." He doesn't go so far as to say 'what dental plan?', but that certainly leaves it hanging. "All right. If y'don't have any more questions--" He looks to Heather worriedly. "--I'll get back t'you in a coupla days. Or the princess will."
Black Belt nods. "I see. I was just checking. I'm not doing it for any kind of reward." oO(Except the treasure I find during the way. That can help pay for equipment and weaponry.)Oo