7/16/2006

Station Mall
 
Isn't capitalism a -wonderful- thing? The greasing of palms, the exchange of material wealth for material goods...it just warms the heart, doesn't it? A memorial to Almighty Market Forces, the Station Mall is one of the city's oldest buildings. It's comforting to know that though nations may crumble, millions may perish, the food court will still be open for breakfast at eight every morning, on the hour. 
 
The Station Mall elegantly combines the past and future - renovated shophouses glassed over with gleaming panes and steel girders; it's an entire city block or two of the old historical district, sealed with a shell of air-conditioned minty freshness. With potted plants and indoor palm trees. Boasting a plethora of niche shops, bookstores, cafes, and their ilk, the venerable Mall contains all the usual things that make consumers tick. But there -are- larger attractions; the supermarket, for one, is underground, and the basement (accessed by unobtrusive escalators), houses larger stores, free from having to conform to an old-fashioned shophouse facade. Yet though most of the Mall's movie multiplex is subterranian, the old surface cinema building remains - bearing an ancient hand-painted billboard, advertising the pre-War classic film, 'Chao in Space'. Wouldn't want to spoil the motif, now would we? 
 
[Exits   : Out <O> ]
[Players : Klonoa ]

Ah, the later hours of the evening are always quiet and peaceful, as the sky changes into deeper shades of blues and black and the stars begin to wink just beyond the clouds... Well, that is if you like to spend your time outside on nights like these, of course. But inside of the Station Mall, last-minute shoppers are still bustling about with heavy paper bags and often small, window-shopping children in tow, pointing out the latest toys to their parents. 
A few of the venders might have decided to close their doors to the public by this time of night, but there are still a few open shops that are attempting to make the most of their money by leaving their doors open an extra hour or half-hour longer. After all, money makes the world go round, right? But meanwhile, the food court is still doing a good turn of business as hungry customers try to decide between their favorite kinds of food. There are many different shops around, from venders selling fruit smoothies to cheesesteaks and takoyaki, and their colorful signs and alluring smells attract all kinds of different crowds.
In the midst of all this, we find Klonoa, as he walks to an empty table with a black tray in hand and humming happily to himself. On his tray is a drinking cup full of iced water, while his meal is comprised of a rice dish with a spicey-smelling brown stew poured over top of it, filling up a plastic black bowl. He pulls up a chair with one hand, while balancing the tray with the other, and plops down with a grin. Then, brandishing a plastic spork and knife in each hand, his teeth show clean and white in a great big smile spread over his muzzle. 
"Time to eat~!"
                
                The joy of consumerism is mostly lost on Gantz this evening. He follows behind Klonoa, with his own plastic tray, but this is the only thing he's really considered buying all evening. He sits down in the chair across from his friend and drops his tray down with a soft thunk. He sniffs the waft of steam rising up off the rice and curry on his own plate and smiles as well.
                "You were right for once... This was a good place to get dinner," Gantz admits.
                He whips out his own spork, holds it up high for a moment of emphasis and praise, ears pricked and face solemn, before scarfing down his food with minimal attention to manners.
                
Klonoa mmms as he takes in his first hearty spoonful of the spicey curry. He has been looking forward to treating himself to this dinner for awhile now, and so he doesn't mind relishing it a little... even in front of a very hungry vulpine. He sweatdrops, but he smiles and takes the spork in hand again as he chews and swallows with a happy sigh. 
"Isn't it? Isn't it?" he says excitedly, waving his spork at Gantz a little, "I always like getting food from one of the places here, every once awhile." He scoops up more of the curry and mumbles with the spork handle still sticking out of his mouth, "Ish da best!" 
He pulls out the spork with a soft *pop* and continues eating, reaching his hand out every few minutes or so to take a few sips of water from the long bendy straw protruding from his iced water.
                 
                 Gantz also has a drink on his plastic tray, a paper cup full of lemonade. Yet he ignores it until his eyes begin to water and his mouth feels like a furnace. He sticks out the tip of his tongue, little puffs of breath coming out audibly, before taking a gulp of icy fluid. Oddly enough, he's smiling even more than before.
                 He sighs before saying idly, "It is. I've missed good curry."
                 Gantz watches the milling customers and Klonoa for awhile, waiting a bit for the spice to leave his tastebuds alone long enough to start eating his food again.
                 "Why'd you decide to invite me here?" he asks.
                
Klonoa (OOC) says, "Actually, there is something I always wanted to tell you."
Klonoa (OOC) says, "I... I..."
Klonoa (OOC) says, "I think this is the best curry I've ever tasted! o_o"
Klonoa (OOC) *is shot*
Gantz (OOC) cackles.
Gantz (OOC) says, "And during this there is a long, slow-motion cut of Klonoa leaning in and Gantz looking so shocked. @_@ Then it all comes to a screeching halt when Klonoa suddenly steals some of his curry. ;)"

Klonoa blinks his yellow eyes at Gantz just after taking in another spoonful of curry. The spiceyness of it doesn't really seem to affect him as much. Taking a few short chews, he swallows and looks back toward the vulpine with a small smile. "Why not? We're friends aren't we?"
He dips his spork into the bowl and picks up another good helping of the curry, just letting it sit there as he holds the utensil betwen his fingers. "Besides, curry tastes better when you're with other people." He pops the curry into his mouth and clenches his fists tightly. "Delishious!"
Such a kid.

Gantz (OOC) says, "Yeah but he just engorged half of his in one go. ;3"
Klonoa (OOC) exclaims, "Hehehee!"
              
                Gantz arches an eyebrow at Klonoa's comment on friendship improving the taste of curry. Oh, yeah. Klonoa's definitely weird.
                "What? You're saying you like the taste of me shedding fur all over your food?" Gantz asks with a smirk.
                Not exactly accurate, as Gantz wasn't really close enough to accidentally or intentionally shed on Klonoa's bowl of curry, but summer -is- the season when most Mobians lose a lot of downy fur, and some of their hair, to the heat wave enveloping the continent. Thus, the comment is still worth making. Overall, Gantz begins pondering their so called friendship. What makes them friends? Is it because Klonoa says that they are or something more? He ruffles a white gloved hand through the fur lining his neck and then flicks his fingers in the direction of Klonoa and Klonoa's meal.
                "You really are something else, you know?"
                
Klonoa gives pause at Gantz's first comment (in the middle of chewing even), cautiously glancing down toward his own bowl, which is only half empty, before an expression of disbelief starts to settle in. Chew chew. (Nah. There's no way.) He reaches over to take another sip from his water, and blinks as Gantz points a finger right in his general direction. 
"Mnyaa?" he intones, confused by the question at first, but then he starts to smile and cups his hand between his hands, "Hee hee."
                 
              Gantz decides to go back to his own meal before more conversation can begin. He wolfs down the rest in another series of quick gulps, fast fingers working around the epitome of eating utensils that is the common spork, and leans back in his chair once he's done. He sips the rest of his lemonade slowly, a style he learned from his daily shifts at the coffee shop that is the GUN Outpost, and ponders existence.
              "Klonoa," he begins slowly, savoring his words as he thinks, "I was wondering. What made you want to be my friend? At first..."
              
Gulping down a few more heaping spoonfuls of curry, Klonoa finishes his own meal in quick succession. Then he pads the tip of his muzzle with a napkin and takes a nice long sip from his water until it starts to make slurping noises. Letting go from the straw, he lets out a gasp. 
"Kuu... I'm stuffed," he says, patting his tummy with a yellow gloved hand, while leaning back in his chair. He breathes out a contented sigh and then tilts his head to one side as Gantz addresses him once more. 
"Hmmm?" He brings his hand up toward his chin, looking up thoughtfully. 
"What made me want to be your friend?" he repeats the words, quietly to himself. A moment passes as he hums softly, as if mulling things over with eyes closed in concentration.
Opening up one of his eyes in a wink, he says, "Well, at first I thought that you were a really scary guy."  
Solemnly he continues, with both eyes now open and looking down, "But then as we set out on our journey, I was able to learn more about you. About your revenge..." 
"And about how you can be a nice guy too," he adds, with a great big smile. 
Then he brings his hand down and nods to himself, looking toward Gantz. "We've learned so much about each other, and you gave me the chance to go on my first real adventure. So, of course I consider you my friend, Gantz."
                
              "... Ah," Gantz murmurs, resting his chin in his hand after placing his elbow onto the table in front of him, his other hand resting on his arm.
              He isn't entirely certain he likes that answer. Nice?
              "Do you really think you've learned a lot about me?" Gantz asks.
              After all, what does he know about Klonoa? What does he care to know? Does it really matter if Klonoa probably knows him better than anyone else? Would he prefer it if no one knew him or if more people knew him well enough to want to call him a friend? It's just so hard being cool.
               
At first, Klonoa doesn't know -how- to react to a question like that, looking back at Gantz in a puzzled manner. He hums and reassumes his thoughtful stance, before giving his head a slow shake with his ears swaying from side to side. 
"No, I don't think so. It's like... ummm..." he scratches behind one of his ears, laughing softly before wondering outloud, "How to say it?"
He pulls his hand down to his side, looking up toward his friend, smiling softly. "I don't think that it is important whether I have learned a lot about you or not. I mean... You are you." 
His smile broadens. "Am I wrong?"
                 
               For what feels like the longest time, Gantz just stares at Klonoa. His mouth is set in neither a smile nor a frown, his eyes directed at Klonoa, and his ears at a casual angle. Then he crosses his forearms on the table in front of him and rests his fluffy yellow cheek upon them. He is still looking at Klonoa but now with his eyes half closed.
               "That's dangerous," Gantz says, "To assume that knowledge is pointless in this case. It is every bit as important knowing about your friend as it is knowing your enemy. Especially since your enemy can then easily put on a friendly guise. And you wouldn't know until it's too late."
               He adds, "Not that you have to worry about me. The worst I'd do is watch you fight... until you absolutely need me as back-up."
               Gantz closes his eyes and smiles, "Or is it?"

Klonoa's expression is unwavering as he looks back toward Gantz and then closes his eyes as well. He crosses his arms casually over his chest, speaking softly, "You might be right, Gantz. But I don't think that you would do such a thing without a good reason." 
He opens his eyes slowly, his ears shifting as he bends down to pick up his prized possession from off the floor. The Wind Ring. He lifts the ring up onto his lap so that the emerald green gemstone shines beneath the food court lighting. He looks down toward it serenely. 
"It isn't anything that has to do with knowledge or intentions... I guess you can only call it a feeling."
Then his ears stiffen and stick out at odd angles as he scratches the back of his head once more, sweatdropping. "Heehee... Sorry, I guess that would sound a little weird, huh?"
              
              Gantz glances at the Wind Ring, noticing the way the bright halogen lights glimmer off the faceted surface. Then his gaze returns back to Klonoa. He studies something, plausibly the expression on Klonoa's face or perhaps just going over the words in his mind and settling his eyes on nothing particular.
              "But how accurate are feelings? Wouldn't a very good actor be able to invoke those same feelings, regardless of whether they were genuine? Can you honestly say you could never be fooled?"
              Gantz huffs a moment before adding, "It isn't that I find what you say 'weird' so much as I consider it... naive. And far too accepting of your opinion of the world. After all, you haven't always been right, have you? What you think you know can't always be the exact truth."
             
Klonoa brings his hand from scratching behind his head, letting it down to his side as his other hand's grip tighten alongs the band of the ring. He lets his gaze drift toward the ring once more. "Belief and truth... To be right and wrong..." 
He pauses, his eyes going half-lidded before he continues, "Sometimes it is hard to know which way is the right path to follow. Or whether you are in the right as you try to accept in your heart what you believe to be the truth."
He shakes his head slowly, his lips still curved into a small smile. 
"There have been times where I have been wrong in following the path I have chosen or mistaken in what I believed to be the truth... But..." he brings his arm up, pointing the Wind Ring across the table toward Gantz in a non-threatening manner as he says, "All I can do is continue to step forward without looking back. After all, we cannot look back after we have come so far..." 
He pulls the Wind Ring down into his lap once more, while he closes his eyes and the gemstone of the ring glistens. "...right?"
               
                Gantz lifts his head when Klonoa starts speaking of such things, his head still tilted to the side and his ears pricked. He listens while his friend goes into such depth and finds himself nodding. After all, that same philosophy is what has gotten him through life so far, right?
                "You surprise me sometimes," Gantz says slowly, savoring the words, "And I thought you were just some little kid."
                Gantz grins at Klonoa, before putting his cheek back on his forearm. One ear remains pricked and swiveled in Klonoa's direction.
                "So, do you love that short, flat-chested girl you left behind or what?"
                Ah, the bluntness. And tactless nature of his words. The Gantz we know and love!
               
Klonoa (OOC) THUDS!
Gantz (OOC) sneaks up on you with ebil! >3
Klonoa (OOC) exclaims, "Biggest Turnaround EVAH!"

3 seconds...
Whether that took 3 seconds out of the poor Mobian's life or whether it took around that amount of time for Klonoa to end up...literally...floored shall forever remain a mystery within this very court. The poor feline didn't see it coming, and the shock of it had sent him reeling backward into his chair so far that it fell backward (along with the Wind Ring) and sent him spilling out onto the floor, dizzy. Oh, a fall like that won't hurt him, but it certainly managed to put his head into a spin.
Thankfully, everything around him is still left in place, including the table and food. Otherwise, things would have gotten a lot messier (again, literally). Klonoa slowly, albiet painfully picks himself up from the chair and brushes off his t-shirt and shorts before picking up the chair itself and setting it back up. No scrapes or bruises anywhere, at least not from this feline's mild inspection of his black fur. Wait... How would he be able to tell anyway? Laying a gloved hand over the top of the chair, he sighs outwardly. And here Gantz was starting to think he was -more- than just some little kid.
            
                "... I couldn't tell if that was a yes or a no," Gantz says.
                Though he lifted his head (shoulder and back muscles pulled taut) when Klonoa fell over, he quickly settled down again as Klonoa began to rise, not wanting to appear worried. So once Klonoa is standing up straight again, it looks as if Gantz didn't move the entire time.
                Then Gantz makes a tsking sound before saying, "But there must be something more to her than looks if you're going spastic over sheer mention of... what was her name? I never bothered to remember."
                
Klonoa (OOC) wonders if she overreacted? Nah, it -was- kinda abrupt, huh?
Gantz (OOC) chuckles, "Nah... he came out of nowhere with it. And we love our humor too much to NOT overreact." XD
Klonoa (OOC) says, "Yeeeeees. o/~"
Gantz (OOC) points at Gantz freaking out over a coffee table robot. Though to be fair, even a SMALL robot could harbor a bomb.

Klonoa grumbles as he stoops down to pick up the Wing Ring, which is currently rolling against the floor like a quarter dropped out of a pocket in need of mending. Scooping up the ring with one hand and grasping onto it, he reaches up with the other and readjusts the tilt of his hat. Oof... His shoulder still hurts a little from the fall, but that much should pass in a minute or two.
Turning around, he looks down toward his tray with his cheeks flushed lightly as he picks up his straw wrapper and plastic dinner ware and gathers them all up in the empty bowl, ready for disposal. 
"Her name is Lolo, and the two of us have been friends for a long time," he says as he walks toward a nearby trash unit with tray in hand. He promptly dumps all his trash into the appropriate bin, and reaches up to place his empty tray atop a few others, already sitting on top of the unit, before returning to his side of the table.
                
                This reminds Gantz that he needs to throw away his own trash soon but... not right now. He's still playing with the spork in his hand, turning it around in circles between two of his fingers.
                "So if you're just friends, why did you fall over? You're not normally clumsy."
                So, so cruel.
             
Klonoa doesn't bother to sit down right away, enjoying the few minutes where he gets a chance to stand and stretch his legs out a bit. Oh, but he's looking flustered now, frowning and wearing a stern expression on his face. 
"Anyone would fall over, hearing something like that so suddenly!" 
He feigns looking hurt, though he thinks that Gantz probably won't buy it. "Weren't you worried at all? I might've gotten hurt!"
But all in all, the feline is in chipper spirits now, which is something that he feels more than a little thankful for. He was beginning to feel uncertain about himself as they spoke after dinner, and now it makes him feel a little curious about what Gantz might have been getting at before... Such a strange guy.
               
               Gantz smirks when he hears Klonoa ask if he was worried about Klonoa's health. Of course, with his knowledge of Klonoa, he did expect some kind of startled reaction. Just not falling over, specifically. He scratches his chin, looking up at the ceiling as he does.
               "Hmmm. I guess having more sense than I originally credited you with isn't the same as being able to tough it out when it comes to little scrapes and bruises, huh?"
               He chuckles. Yes, his own joke amused him.
               "I bet you still don't even like girls, hmm? Wait, no, you did say she was your friend. So how did you end up friends with her?" Gantz asks, not letting up.
              
Klonoa drops his feigned expression of hurt with a sigh, discovering that his first guess was the right one. Then again, he didn't expect such an act to work on Gantz, nor did he probably even want it to for that matter. He lets out a 'hmph' at Gantz's next scathing comment, but it only manages the same result as ever... just making him more irritable. He folds his arms over his chest, looking off to one side. 
"Lolo and Popka have always been my friends, since we met in my old hometown. She would be away every so often to attend to her duties as a priestess in training, but she would always come back home to check up on Popka, Chipple and me." He bobs his head in a nod. "That's all."
                  
                  Gantz nods to this comment. He gets up then, the tray in his hands, and walks over to the trash can Klonoa stood at earlier. He dumps his own trash into it, banging the tray a little on the side to get something dislodged, then sets the tray on top of the others. He drinks the last of the lemonade in his cup (which never had a straw in it) and then pitches that in as well. He puts his hands on his hips next, looking Klonoa over a moment, before letting them relax at his sides again.
                  He smirks when he says, "We should be going. I think they're closing any minute now."
                  
Klonoa blinks and then turns his body around, spying out a nearby clock hanging on a high corner of the court. Is is this late already? Looking around, he is starting to notice that many of the shoppers have gone home by now, and many more of the shops have their lights out and doors locked up tight. His head sinks a little, embarrassed. "I-I had no idea..."
Not wanting to be left behind, Klonoa starts to trot toward the door on his two feet, with Wind Ring in hand. He goes as far as the mall doors near the edge of the courtyard and waves Gantz over. 
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
                  
                   Gantz isn't far behind him, though he huffs a bit at the way Klonoa passed him. He pushes the door open and holds it for Klonoa behind him, then does about the same with the second set of doors on the other side. Before long, they're met by the bright, clear sky overhead.
                   "We should do this again, sometime. Maybe," Gantz says, then heads for his motorcycle, "I'll see you tommorrow at the outpost."