[x] We should probably let Ms. Kurodani know what happened before taking any action. At the very least, she'd probably want to know of any damages before you try and fix them.
[x] Let's go look into what that gauntlet might be.
-[x] Loathe that you might be to go to him, there is that information merchant?
As you do your best to get what little possessions you have in order, you try to figure out what your plans for the day should be. In the end, Aya's worry from the previous day comes back to haunt you a bit, and you decide that you should probably see if you can figure out anything about the gauntlet that you put on. The only problem is that you really don't have any sort of leads on where to start on that. You could always head back to the library, but since you don't have any clue what the symbol might mean it seems unlikely that you would be able to parse through the stacks with any sort of efficiency. Suke comes to mind as another alternative, but his ability only works in regards to inanimate items, and since the gauntlet has seemingly fused itself to you it's somewhat doubtful that he would be able to get a clear reading on it, or anything at all for that matter.
Of course, when it comes to information there is one source that you know to be reliable, but? ugh, is it really worth it to go and see that guy? You rack your brain for any alternative options, but in the end you can't think of anywhere else to go that would be able to get you what you need, so you resign yourself to paying
that man a visit.
Still, that's something that you'll have to get to in a bit, since your first and foremost priority is getting the door to your room fixed, and that means going to see Ms. Kurodani. In all honesty you're a little bit hesitant about putting her through the trouble since she's got more than enough problems to deal with on a day to day basis as it is, but you know that she would be very upset if you took it upon yourself to fix one of her doors without even letting her know.
Leaning the broken door against one of the walls in your apartment, you make your way towards the apartment Kisume and her mother share. As you approach, you can hear a racking cough coming from down the hall, making you feel like a horrible person for bringing this poor woman even more work. You can't think of a single time that you've encountered Ms. Kurodani where she wasn't afflicted with some sort of terrible disease. It never proves to be anything too debilitating, but considering that she's a single mother trying to raise her daughter in a city this chaotic you can only wonder where she gets the strength to get up each morning. Kisume certainly tries her best to lend as much support as she can, but there's only so much a single middle school student can do. it's because of all this that you've never felt jealous about the fact that Yuugi lets the pair live here rent free, only asking that Ms. Kurodani perform repairs and maintenance to the building in exchange for living here. (You leave those kinds of feelings to Parsee, since she seems to have more than enough envy to go around)
Speaking of the old hag, rounding the corner you see your tall landlady standing in front of Ms. Kurodani's apartment, smirking as if there was nothing wrong with the world. Hearing you approach, the two of them turn to face you. Yuugi is dressed in her usual slacker attire, while Ms. Kurodani is wearing her usual brown dress that poofs up near her knees with a matching black shirt and pair of shoes. A yellow ribbon decorates the dress, giving you a distinct impression of fall. The weak looking mother gives you a smile as you approach. "it's been a while since I've seen you last, Conner. How have things been with you?"
"I've been alright," you answer, trying to put off your request for just a bit longer. "You're looking? alright, though I'm hoping that cough I just heard isn't indicative of your actual state of health."
"Oh now don't you start this up again!" Ms. Kurodani says as she puffs up her cheeks, "it's bad enough that I have Kisume fussing over me all day, I don't need you to start as well!"
"Yeah Conner, back off a bit will ya?" Yuugi says with a grin plastered over her face, "A little alcohol and that cold will clear right up, isn't that right?"
"Er, maybe later Yuugi." Ms. Kurodani says hesitantly. "In any case, don't worry about me Conner, I'm doing fine."
You give a small shrug. "If you say so, Ms. Kurodani."
"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that, Conner?" Ms. Kurodani asks with disapproval. "I'm only a few years older than you after all! Please, just call me Yamame!"
"Ah, sorry," you say with a slightly apologetic bow. "it's just that, y?know, it feels like your so much more above me in terms of experience, and well?"
"None of that, now," she says with a wave of her hand, "you don't want me feeling any older than I actually am, now do you?"
"Tsk tsk, Conner," Yuugi grins as she downs another shot from her bottle, "You should know better than to make a woman think about her age."
"Yeah, I'm a real villain alright," you say with a sarcastic roll of your eyes, but it only takes a moment for you to feel like an actual bad guy for what you're about to say. "Speaking of which, I have something you two aren't going to like to hear?"
The two women freeze, look at each other, and then turn back to you with apprehension on their faces. "Suika?" Yamame asks, trepidation riding in her voice. When you give a nod in response Yamame only groans while Yuugi's grin transition's into a scowl.
"That little shit." Yuugi says as she hands Yamame her bottle. "What did she do this time?"
"Tore my door clean off its hinges it looks like," you say, turning back towards your apartment. "She ended up passed out on top of me when I woke up, so I took the standard action and threw her into the trash pile outside."
"When I get done with her she's going to
wish that waking up in the trash is the worst thing that happens to her today." Yuugi says as she marches down the hall, smacking a balled up fist into her open hand. "I'm going to beat the value of my tenant's privacy into every inch of her fucking little body, and after that-"
You turn your attention away from the unsurprising rampage your landlady is creating and back to Ms. Kurodani, who is surprisingly taking a shot out of the bottle she was handed. As she sets the bottle down with a small hiccup, she turns to you with resolve in her eyes. "Alright, why don't we go ahead and see what we can do about that door, hm?" Before you can respond she steps into her room, grabs her toolbox and heads towards your apartment. You can only shake your head and follow as you hope this won't be too taxing on the poor woman.
The good news is that you needn't have worried. Suika must have been feeling a bit lazy last night, due to the fact that your door was actually still in one piece and not a pile of splinters on the floor. While it probably won't hold more than a few more days against Suika in its current condition, Yamame's skill as an expert carpenter were more than enough to let the two of you get it standing up and attached to your doorframe once more.
"That girl," Yamame says with a sigh as she tests the lock once more, "I will never understand why Yuugi lets her have so much free reign around here."
The two of you feel a slight rumbling coming from outside, and you shake your head. "I don't think it's so much Yuugi giving her free reign as it is Yuugi being drunk out of her mind half the time, which tends to impair her judgment somewhat."
"And it doesn't help that she now has Parsee to distract her all the time these days either, does it?" Yamame says with a small giggle, "Though I suppose that I can't fault her on that." Satisfied with her work, Yamame steps back with a look of pride on her face. "Alright, I think that should more or less do it! I'll have to talk with Yuugi about installing a new door if possible, but *COUGH*COUGH*HACK*?
You run over and give Yamame some support as she breaks down into another coughing fit. With a sigh, you lead her back to her apartment, hoping that she'll at least try to take it easy until Kisume can get back. As you walk past the window, you can't help but glance outside. Suika seems to have woken up, and is now retaliating against Yuugi as hard as she can, seemingly enjoying every time she both manages to land a blow and every time she gets hit. You can also tell that while Yuugi might still be royally pissed, she's beginning to warm up to the fight as well. A crater has formed under the now-grappling women, and you can see a few pedestrians are fleeing the scene as quickly as they can.
You can only shake your head as you continue on towards the Kurodani's apartment. "And some people wonder why the rent here is so cheap," you can't help but mutter as you make your way down the hall.
---
After you escort Yamame back to her apartment and listen to her say that she's fine at least ten times, you get cleaned up, throw on some clothes, make your way past the warzone outside (a feat in and of itself) and get on your way. Your destination for today is in the slummier parts of town, and while you wouldn't exactly call the area a wretched hive of scum and villainy you'd still do best to watch your back as you move around. Fortunately, it doesn't take you too long to reach your destination, and soon enough you find yourself walking towards the door of the only watering hole worth mentioning on the darker side of the City's streets.
Standing outside, you wonder if it's actually worth it to be going to this man. In a way, you consider him to be something similar to a filibuster; everyone hates it when the other side uses his services, but he's too valuable of a tool to get rid of in case they find themselves in the same position. Still, if you weren't able to think of a lead on the way here, then you've probably got nothing left to loose. Steeling yourself, you push the wooden door open and walk inside the Cantina.
***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCGPt3XFxJk ***
You can only shudder as you hear the music playing in the background. You have nothing against it personally, but does the owner have to play it on a loop every hour of every day? It gets a little grating.
As your eyes adjust to the gloomy, dim atmosphere, you take a look around. The bar itself is as dingy as you would expect, with smoky-yellow colored walls, a few run down pool tables and shadows at every turn. There are also a number of musclebound men lounging around the place, and when you enter every eye turns to you. After a few moments they seem to lose interest and go back to what they are doing. But you know that you're still being watched. Still, so long as you don't try to cause any trouble for them, they probably won't try to cause any for you. Probably.
You walk with purpose towards the back corner of the den, and note with relief that your intended target is not currently occupied; you won't have to spend a moment more in this place than you need to. You take a seat across from him in the booth he is occupying, waiting patiently as he finished writing something down. After taking a sip from his beer, the man turns to face you.
"Conner."
"Greedo."
Despite the fact that you need what this man can give you, you have always felt a little creeped out by this man's appearance. His face is long and thin, and his black eyes are huge, much larger than you would think could ever thing possible. His ears are like plates attached to each side of his head, and his mouth looks more like a snout than a pair of lips. And you could never prove this but here in the shade of the bar you could swear that the man's skin has a sickly green taint. Even his clothes weird you out, consisting of a brown vest over a one-piece green jumpsuit. If you didn't know better, you could swear to yourself that this person is an alien.
"What can I do for you today?" Greedo says in that weird voice of his, making you feel like a synthesizer is supplementing what he is saying. You repress a shudder as you hold up your right hand, showing the information broker the symbol emblazoned on there. "A little while ago, this showed up. I have no idea what it is, and I'm hoping that you might have a lead."
Greedo only takes a glance at it before shaking his head. "Sorry kid, I can't say that I've ever seen that symbol before; any idea on how it got there in the first place?"
You hesitate to give out information just like that, but decide that in this case there probably isn't too much to lose in letting Greedo know if it can get you answers. "I ended up putting on some sort of glove, and it kinda maybe merged with my hand."
Greedo lets out a screechy laugh which causes you to flinch. "Still doing stupid things to this day, eh kid?" he says with a grin as he leans forward on the table. "You wouldn't have happened to find that glove while you were wondering around in the Lost Woods, eh?"
You can't help but flinch again. "Heard about that already, huh?"
"Half the local net is up in arms about the weirdo who insulted the Lunarian Princess!" Greedo laughs, "I'm pretty sure nobody there actually recognized you enough to spread your name around, but you certainly know how to cause a scene."
You can feel your cheeks growing hotter as this strange man laughs at your misfortune. "Look, can you just keep an eye out for what this symbol might mean? I'm kind of paranoid that it's going to try to shock me to death or something."
"Heh," Greedo laughs, but you can't help but notice that he's now watching your right hand somewhat nervously. "Sure, let me just get a quick picture." Quick as a flash, Greedo takes out a camera and snaps a picture of the emblem on your hand. "I'll have the boys keep an eye and ear out; if I hear anything I'll make sure to contact you." Satisfied with how the image came out, he just as quickly puts it back from wherever he got it in the first place. (You don't want to know)
You lean back as you take a moment to collect your thoughts. You're a bit disappointed that Greedo didn't have any information on hand, but at the very least you've got a good information network looking into this for you. Also, as shady as he might be, Greedo does hold himself to a code of honor of sorts; he won't charge you a cent unless he actually finds out some information about the emblem, and at this point any lead would be a good one. Still, you had better be able to pay up once he has the information ready. If Greedo has to make an effort to get you some information you had better believe he'll be expecting payment, even if it's something you already know.
Still, that's a bridge to cross another day, so you consider whether or not you are ready to leave at this point. While you may have finished looking into the gauntlet, there are still some other things that you might want to look into?
---
********************************
GREEDO's INFORMATION EMPORIUM!
********************************
Greedo knows a lot of things, but every piece of information he can give you comes with a price. However, despite the? questionable means that he uses in obtaining said information, you can be sure that the price he is asking for most likely correlates to how "good? or ?detailed? the information might be. (Results not guaranteed)
Before we start transacting, however, why don't I go ahead and let you in on a few things that Conner already knows, just so that you can be in the loop. Infodump incoming!
---
THE CITY - As you have probably guessed, the city is situated on a very large island (around the size of Rhode Island, maybe?) that has a single gargantuan mountain as its center. The city itself is situated on the south end of the island along with the port, and while pretty much the entire island has been explored there are a lot of places that people tend not to frequent, such as the Lost Forest. The island is situated moderately north of the equator, meaning that the seasons tend to follow a temperate cycle, with vegetation to match.
GOVERNMENT - While the citizens of the city will always say that they live in an independent city-state, the truth is that there is no formal government on the island. The three families and various business interests hold most of the power, and while the downtown and resort areas tend to be at least somewhat civilized you can never know what might happen as you take a walk around town. Outside governments often try to intervene in the inner workings of the island, but so far no major power has attempted to control the area, mainly due to the lack of perceived risk and the convenience to settle shadier matters there.
THE THREE FAMILIES - There are three major clans that control pretty much everything on the island: The Tengu clan, the Kitsune clan, and the Tanuki clan. Conner has had dealings and/or run-ins with each of these groups, but so far none of them have perceived him as anything more than an annoyance as far as he knows.
---
Now that we've covered all that, what would you like to know? If there is nothing you are willing to pay to know, you can always [ ] Opt Out.
Current Cash on Hand: $480 + $2,500 that's reserved for the Flandre job
Topics of Interest [ ] The State of the City - $20
[ ] The Three Families, General Information - $30
[ ] The Tengu Clan - $50
[ ] The Kitsune Clan - $50
[ ] The Tanuki Clan - $50
[ ] The Lunarians - $35
[ ] The Fairies - $10
[ ] Remilia Scarlet - $30
[ ] The Nitori Corporation - $40
[ ] <Other Topics> ? Varied
(Note that Greedo also pays for good information; if you let him in on some info that's hard to find, rare, or else very valuable there is a good chance that he will reward you very well. He will not, however, pay on the promise that you will be able to dig some information up for him; o information on hand means no money in your pocket. He also won't pay you if he already knows the information you're providing him with, although there are rumors that he can play a mean bluffing game.)
