Recreation District

“Hrrrm…” He grumbled, in a mix of awe, disappointment, and even a bit of embarrassment, as he watched with a blank countenance at the idiocy going on on the boob tube. Even the Don, who thought TV to be the devil’s incarnation was mystified by the antics which the news called ‘Phenomena Investigation’.

The man on the street, Chase Horion, a young man with fiery orange spiked hair and hazel eyes, was doing some sort of….dance? To “Quell the spirits of 8-Bit”. Apparently the last edition of the special report found Chase visiting a street shaman for advice on what to do about the current going-on’s in town, and this…embarrassment was what the shaman managed to pull out of his ass.

“Thank goodness this isn’t on national TV. People would start pulling our funding like crazy…” Xavier pinched at the space between his eyebrows; his frustrated air gave a much older look to his person for that instant. The Don, seeing this, couldn’t help but chuckle at Xavier’s distaste for the news’ antics.

“I would have thought you’d be all for shenanigans like this Xavier, whaaat you don’t like the dancing boy?” The old man couldn’t help but cackle at his own words, after all, The Don thought he was a regular riot himself, how could a regular riot not laugh at his own jokes? Xavier grimaced, shrugging dully.

“Yeah right, that garbage. There’s no doubt that something weird’s going on in 8-Bit…but doing that—“ He broke his speech pointing with one large finger to the television, he was now doing what seemed reminiscent of a rain-dance. The wailing however, that was coming from the alley Chase and all of the people around him (cops and citizens) watched with enthused expressions. “Doing that’s not gonna solve a thing…” After shutting his eyes for a brief moment, he rose from his seat at the counter, and strolled over to the windows on the eastern walls.

The steel shutters were still up, so he could see clearly what was going on in the bustling street. Nothing but the norm, car after car whizzed by, tight clusters of folk passed on by, ranging from the elderly, to the young adult, to the teenager, struggling to shake off the idea of school starting the next morning. At the latter, he had to laugh, thankfully, this was his last year at the esteemed Atari High. He glanced to the last of the line of three wall length windows, the one which held the flashing neon sign that indicated whether the shop was open or not.

“We stay open late Noodles?” Xavier said, a bit amazed. As dead as the place was on a good day, he found it hard to keep track of the spot’s business hours.

“Of course! Late night eating is the future Wallace! You should learn this!” His boss replied with a matter-of-fact tone.

“Rrrright. I’m gonna step out and…stir up a crowd.” He was lying of course, he just needed to get some air, the smell of the Don’s newest creation ‘Rainbow Ramen’ was way too fresh in the air. Xavier didn’t know just what was in the Rainbow Ramen…but it seemed…foul.

Outside the shop, there was single wooden chair which he kept outside for his own use during breaks, much like this one. With a tiny satisfaction he removed his brown apron, and draped it over his neck and shoulders, sort of like a gym rag. Letting out a breath of relieved air he took his seat, legs spread out far, almost far enough to be an obstruction on the side walk, arms folded comfortably behind his head to form just the right amount of cushion that the wooden foundation of the restaurant behind him could not.

Xavier proceeded to people watch, casting a few soft glances at some of the people he knew. There was a flashing LED billboard atop the line of complexes across the street from them, between adds of new, cutting edge spots, it also displayed the time in the lower right corner.

9:00

“How late does the Don want me to stay…doesn’t he have sons to take my shift?” He scratched at his sideburn with a frustrated context.

“Hey, didja hear what’s going on in the shopping district?”

“Yeah! Another one of those…things happened right?”

“Yeah, but we can go see it live now! Chase Horion’s going to try and calm the spirits!”

“Seriously? Let’s go Maki!”

The duo of gossiping girls broke out into a hurried trek to the monorail, causing a few others around them to do the same.

“It’s like the hipster version of a witch hunt. Sheesh.” Xavier shook his head, no interest there. Instead, he reached into the left pocket of his jeans and removed one of his prized possessions, his white PSP, complete with the Vader decal on the backside. With a grin, he booted up his E-Boot of 'Legend of Mana', hacked PSP's were the best kind of PSP's.

7:55 p.m

Daniel slowed his motorcycle down and turned into the parking lot of the restaurant. He parked it and than took off his helmet. He laid it on the seat and than fixed his hair by shaking it wildly. He than parted it to cover the left side of his face as he always did. He let out a low yawn and than walked through the parking lot to get to the sidewalk. He walked down the sidewalk to get to the restaurant’s doors. He than saw a girl walking down the sidewalk as if she was lost or had nothing to do. He smiled and waved to the girl as she got closer.

For some reason she looked familiar, maybe he had seen her around school. But she looked young, she looked like she was a freshman or maybe a sophomore. Daniel couldn’t really tell. He shook his head getting rid of the thoughts and he walked into the restaurant. As he walked down the short walkway to get to the main part of the restaurant he saw a young woman waiting, she was the hostess. She looked at him and said “ hi welcome to..” she stopped after getting a good look at Daniel and than said “ oh it’s just you, what do you want Daniel?” Daniel looked at her and asked “ is that anyway to treat a customer, Priscilla.”

she replied “ no it’s not, but your not really a customer your more like a pest.” Daniel looked at her with a fake shocked expression on his face he placed his hand over his heart and he said “that really hurt, your going to make me cry.” Priscilla chuckled a little and said “ ok, come on I’ll get you a table, and maybe if you bring a date in sometimes I might not consider you such a pest.” Daniel looked at Priscilla and said “ sure I can do that, so.. Are you free tomorrow night?” Priscilla stared at him and Daniel said “ I’m just kidding, or am I.” Priscilla walked up to a free table and said “ you better be kidding or your going to be disappointed tomorrow night.” Daniel wiped his eyes as if he was crying and said “ you make me so sad. So can you tell the chef I’m here. So he can make my usual.” Priscilla shook her head and said “ fine.”

A waiter walked up to Daniel’s table and gave him a glass of water and than walked away and Daniel said “ hey, wait your not going to take my order?” the waiter turned to him and stared for a second and than said “ do I have to?” Daniel looked down at the table and said “ no, but you never know I might want to change my order every so often.” the waiter laughed and said “ you come in here almost every week and your order hasn’t changed once.” Daniel folded his arms and said “ does everyone in this restaurant have to be so rude.” Daniel chuckled as he began to drink his water, he knew most of the people who worked at the restaurant so they treated him more like a friend than a customer and this was their usual banter. As Daniel was drinking he found himself thinking about that girl, why did she look so lonely, he started to think that he should have talked to her instead of just heading inside.

8:43 P.M

With a slight frown on his face, Preston marched down the side of the road, weaving through the seemingly endless crowd of people, he heard whispers and even some giddy voices talking about some 'Chase' character, and some odd act he was performing. With his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his left hand gripped the $20 dollar bill his mother had given him to go and get something for dinner. Sure it was late, but there was nothing at the house to eat, so it didn't matter to him. Preston tilted his head upward, looking around for some sign of food joint. He was in the mood for something oriental, so he figured a chinese restaurant would do nicely. Being dark, there were endless lights coming from multiple stores, but he couldn't tell which ones sold food, and which ones were just there for the entertainment of others. He decided to get a little excersise while he was out, so he drew his hands from his pockets and began going at a slow paced jog. A bright neon sign caught his attention about a half-mile down the bussling street. It claimed the shop was open, so he figured he would take the chance.

Upon entering the wooden establishment, he realized he was in a place known as 'Ramen Don' and he was quite content with himself that he had managed to find a restaurant like this from sheer luck. He approached the counter, where he saw a man who looked to be a few years older then he was, judging by his hulking build and facial hair, neither of which he posessed, and an older looking foreign fellow conversing about something on television. Preston hiosted himself upon a stool at the counter, looking up and examining some of the names upon the wooden wall, wondering what on earth they could be there for. His first guess was some sort of eating contest, like spiccy noodles or largest bowl of noodles consumed within a certain time limit, and the thought made him even hungrier.

It was nearly 9 PM when the older boy hopped from his stool and proceeded to go outdoors, and Preston took that as an oppurtunity to place an order. Raising his ahnd politely, and mustering his voice, he called out to the elderly man. "Excuse me, but what exactly is 'Rainbow Ramen'?"

Just as he felt he could relax, Xavier alerted to a new visitor by the tiny bell above the door.

I should REALLY turn that sign off He thought with a grumble, and was just about ready to shove the newcomer out the door , but to his surprise, it was a familiar face. They weren’t the best of friends, but they talked, and despite the rumors surrounding her, the girl was very cool people. Her name was Jayx, and they had a pretty damn interesting about snails; mainly about what it would be like to be one.

“Hm? Nice to see a new face here, welcome to Ramen Don Jayx.” He was a bit surprised to see her here though, she wasn’t a usual at Ramen Don, but business was business he supposed. To his relief, she didn’t give in to the temptation of the Don’s concoction, and instead, piggy backed on his referral to the blonde kid. Tonkotsu.

Feeling as if his work was done here, he strolled back over to the counter to take a seat himself, closest to the TV so he could laugh at the foolery going on in the Shopping District.

It was 9:30 now, and it looked like Go-To-Guy Chase had just finished his ‘spirit-quelling’. The crowd erupted into a thunderous applause and the TV personality flashed them all his winning smile.

“Nice.” Xavier shook his head at the man’s antics. But that grin of amusement on the young man’s face quickly wiped away to give way to one of immense shock; for the scene on the television suddenly went for celebratory, to horrific.

From somewhere in the alleyway they stood around outside off, a powerful stream of flame flew into the crowd. It didn’t touch the people nor Chase, however, what DID hit Chase was some sort of invisible ‘force’, it smacked the red head so hard he was sent tumbling deep into the crowd. The camera man must have began to make a break for it at that point like so many others did; but anyone watching could make out the sound of a fanfare of police and ambulance sirens.

“What the hell?” Xavier shot up from his seat, he was headed closer to the tv, but when that cut to nothing but snow, he spun around on his heel, and headed for the door. “I’m clockin’ out…” With a distant tone, he reached for his key-lanyard before he pushed against the door.

“You be careful down there!” The Don hollered out, Xavier was surprised for a moment, but he remembered that he was wearing the restaurant’s apron. The way the boss saw it, any type of advertisement was good, even if it meant a dead employee. He had to laugh as he poked his head back in to toss the apron back on the hook beside the door.

“Later!” There was something down there in the Shopping District, something his curiosity couldn’t let him ignore.

His car was parked only a few blocks away from his place of employment, the black hooptie, complete with do-it-yourself roll down windows, and a driver side door which only way in was to go through the window, it was his love machine, and his baby. Stylishly, he swung in, legs first into the vehicle. He wasted no time in starting the ride up, it would take about five minutes for the engine to warm up anyway.

Rat-tat-tat-cler-clunk-put-put-put-hrrrrmm

That was the best way to describe the sound Xavier's car made upon start up, remarkably though, it the car kept itself alive since the end of his sophomore year. He named her Black Lavender, simply because the outside was black, and the inside was a fuzzy lavender decor. Finally, the car was ready to go, so with a fire in his brown eyes, he grabbed the gear-shift and pulled it down to the 'D'.

"Let's go..." He pulled a single CD from the dashboard, it was riddled with scratches both on the back and front, it was burnt so there was no indication as to what was on the disc, he knew what it was of course, and with a devilish grin he popped the disc on in, and began his drive to the shopping district.


Everyone Nose, Theme of Action

* * *

Demetri leaned himself up against a random wall a ways from the shopping district. He watched as drones of people came running from a certain direction with looks of horror plastered on their face.

"Dammit," His eyes were focused on his cell, the once tiny red dot on the grid had grown into a giant blob.

"A Rift-Hopper. No doubt about it." His golden had a new fire in them, odd for one as aloof as he typically was. "Those idiots agitated it, now it's going on a rampage..." He sighed.

"Troublesome..."

[I'm sure you all figured this out, but start heading towards the Shopping District in the next few posts, come getcha some action!]]