Snake? !gwSNAAKE5k 2008/06/14 (Sat) 21:21 No. 41864 Wall writan gaems.
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You walk inside the building. A small bell chimes as you open the door. Looking around, you see walls upon walls of junk, some of which you're familiar with. The store appears devoid of life, save for a woman in red browsing the wares in front of the register. You examine the first wall's top shelf to get an idea of what the store may carry. You see an automobile's crankshaft, a small dagger, a green sheet of unfamiliar material with metal bits sticking out of it, and a small grey machine that appears to be similar to the device Komachi gave you earlier. That's right, you had something like that. You'd completely forgotten it in your inventory count. You pull the device from one of your jacket pockets and compare it to the device. The buttons on the box are in the shape of a small circle, and you have no idea what it does. You put the phone away and begin your search for anything of interest.
"Find anything?" You turn around, startled. Aya's standing behind you. "Lemme know if you find any film."
"Film? Like for a camera?" You turn back to face the wall, examining another strange device on one of the shelves.
"Yeah. Something that says '35mm' on the canister will work." She taps you on the shoulder and begins walking to the other side of the room.
You call out to her, "Let me know if you see any good weapons."
Continuing your search, you find several more automotive parts. If you tried, you could probably put together an entire engine, minus a few parts, from what they've got here. You notice a kitchen sink in the corner of the room, and you walk over to investigate that part of the store. You find two 30-round SMG magazines. One of them is half-full of bullets and..
"Hey, these are mine!" They're definitely yours. You recognize several of the marks on them, and you grab them immediately. Suspicious, you look around for more of your stuff. Somehow, they must've made their way from the mountain shrine to this store. You take the bullets from them and place the empty magazines back on the shelf. You count 17 rounds total. You look around quickly, and upon seeing nobody you stuff the ammo into your pocket. You return to your search. You notice Aya speaking with the woman roaming throughout the store, but you can ignore it for now. You're on a mission, and supplies are just as important as intelligence. Although this store doesn't have much of use. You wander around for several minutes, finding a rack of swords, two cases of film, several .22 rounds, a firestarter, and a device that looks similar to the one from your last dream sitting on the counter. You walk over to it.
"Please don't touch that. It's not for sale." You hear a man's voice coming from a stairway tucked away behind the counter.
You see the lower half of the man walking backwards down the steps. He appears to be pulling on something stuck in the room at the top of the stairway. He curses to himself as he pulls on it. For now, you might as well leave it be. You walk over to Aya and hand her the film canisters. She examines them carefully as the woman walks over to the counter.
"Hmm.. It's a little old, but I suppose it'll do. Was that all you found?"
"I found some of my old gear, too."
She feigns surprise in jest, laughing to herself as she speaks. "How odd. It's not like Rinnosuke to buy stolen property."
"Somehow I feel you're familiar with the place?"
"I did a story on his business practices once. He'll buy anything from anyone, even if he knows it's stolen." She laughs, looking over to the counter. You notice the man from earlier is now standing at the counter speaking to the woman. You walk over behind the two, listening to their conversation while waiting in a sort of line. A strange greyish-colored box sits on the counter.
"..sorry, but that's all I have at the moment. Things like this don't come in too often."
"I see. It's an old model, but it'll work. Let me know if you get a new one in."
"I'll see what I can do." The man lifts the box and hands it to the woman. She carries it effortlessly from the building. "What can I do for you, young man?"
Funny, he looks to be only slightly older than you. "I'm looking for some cigarettes, and ammunition for one of these." You pull out the pistol, remove the magazine, and place them both on the counter.
The man cocks his eyebrow. "Well, cigarettes I can help you with, but I'm not familiar with this machine. It's certainly a firearm, but..."
"I guess just cigarettes then." You shrug, reloading the pistol and replacing it in it's holster. "What brands you go here?"
"Brands?" The man gives you a confused look. "Would you, by any chance, be from the outside world?"
"If I tell you, will you tell me what you know about this dragon incident I've been hearing about?" You watch as the man pulls out a box full of loose tobacco and rolling paper.
"I could tell you what I know. Frankly, it's not much. I'm about as informed as the other villagers here are, so all I know is that one was seen flying towards the lake."
"I see. Could you tell me who saw it? If you know, that is."
"Nobody seems to know. Rumors started about nine days ago. The village was evacuated the day after that, and that evening Marisa comes running in yelling about a giant flying mushroom or something." He pauses for a second. "Excuse me, Marisa is an acquaintance of mine. You may have met her before?"
"I don't think I have." You sift through the box, looking for any ready-made cigarettes. You find a box of cigars. "Hey, this looks good. How much?"
"You can have it if you want. It's been in there for ages, and I don't think anybody knows what to do with it."
"That's awfully nice of you."
The man turns his attention to the side as he notices Aya waving from behind you. "You're not here for an interview, are you? I'd hate to be subject to that humiliation two times in a row."
"Nah, I'm just getting some supplies. This guy here's gonna be on the next front page!" She pats you on the shoulder.
"Why would you say that?"
She leans over the counter, grinning. "Classified information."
"I see. So what'll it be then? If you're not using it to spread more lies about my shop I wont charge you for it right away."
She stands up straight, crossing her arms. "Wha~t? You won't gimme a freebie like you did him?"
He stands there, calmly. "I won't. If you remember, I'm still mad at you over that article. Even if nobody reads it I've still my pride to consider."
You return to browsing the store's wares as she argues with the man. Returning to the rack of swords near the back, you find several small pistols in a glass case.
"Find anything?" You jump to the side, turing to face Youmu.
"Jeez, would you guys stop doing that?" You sigh, heavily.
Ignoring you, she turns to face the wall of swords. "Hmm. He still hasn't sold this one? I'm not surprised, the quality of work is inferior." She pulls the blade from it's sheath, swings it a few times, and places it back on the shelf as it were before.
"Well, I found a box of cigars, but that's about it." You shrug, looking at the handguns. Most of them are small-caliber, and several are of makes unfamiliar to you. You notice a Luger sitting in the corner. "Never expected to see one of these here." You bring Youmu's attention to bear on the weapon.
"What is it?"
"A weapon from my time. I've taken a bullet from one of these before." You lift up your right sleeve to show off the scar you have on your forearm. You remember where it was, but you can't seem to find it. "Huh. Well, I can't seem to find the scar. Maybe it's the light."
"Maybe that has something to do with the eyes as well?" Youmu continues to look at the swords, one by one, as she speaks.
"Maybe. I've never heard of scars just disappearing like that." You pull your sleeve back down and head over to the front counter. Youmu follows you even though she hasn't finished looking through the swords.
You notice Aya and the clerk have ended their argument over God-knows-what, and that she's standing by the door, waiting.
