Inside the shop

Alexander walks in, heads to the counter, and puts 4500 zenny down.
"Three hp memorys please"

"Three HP Mems coming right up." He paused his game, opened a drawer filled with small, yet clean-as-the-day-they-were-packaged boxes, took 3 of them out, and turned to the customer... "Here you go. Take care now." He went back to playing his game. The money had again been smoothly squirreled away without notice.

Alexander takes the HPmems and runs out the door.

Suien nervously peered into the Navi Shop not wanting to attract his doppelganger's attention, but realizing the futility of the endeavor. He sidled up to the netCola machine, apparently absorbed in making his selection but inwardly avoiding the inevitable confrontation. With a small sigh, he turned away, walked up to the front counter, and removed his PET from its holster. He pressed a few buttons, preparing 5000 zenny for transfer, and set the large device on the table alongside two vouchers he had been carrying around since before his college years.

"Uh... Suitachi?" he asked in an unsure voice, "Can I redeem these vouchers for a 1.0 and 2.0 upgrade and purchase an additional level 2.0 process upgrade?"

Rania quickly hopped off her seat on the metroline, then ran in a no-nonsense dash for the store. She hated wasting time in any activity, no matter how mundane.

Entering in, she turned took a quick look around, spotting the individual she thought she remembered being the store's owner. Reaching out quickly with the zenny in her fist, she stared him straight in the eyes, saying, "I'd like to buy an HP memory upgrade please. It will be 2500, since this is my fourth one," she explained, then suddenly gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry! You're not Suitachi! It's just that you look so much like him!" she exclaimed, holding her hand over her mouth.

Turning with a bit of red on her face and feeling foolish, she handed the money to the store's real owner. "Um, yes, one HP memory please. It's 2500, I believe," she restated, placing the money on the counter and trying to avert her eyes from people in general. Evidently, she must have some huge problem with her own mistakes...

"Well, as long as you're qualified and these aren't fake, I don't see why not." Suitachi said. He took both vouchers, and with a marker, wrote VOID on both of them, sticking them in a drawyer. He then takes out the two upgrades and hands them to Suien, "Well, that should take care of you. Now for the next customer." Not wanting to furthur embarass Rania, he ignored the mistake she made in the other customer's identity and silently took the money. Then, with a smile, eh handed her an HP memory and waved. He then went back to whatever he does when he doesn't have any customers.

Suien took a small, surprised step backward as the firey-haired girl thrust a fistful of zenny toward him, demanding an HP memory. His backwards momentum nearly bowled over a nearby plant and knocked the tall netOp's glasses askew. "Uh..." he started, adjusting his glasses awkwardly and straightening himself up as best he could, "I think that you..."

"Oh, I'm sorry! You're not Suitachi! It's just that you look so much like him!" she interrupted, clearly not hearing what he had to say. The slender girl turned away, leaving a very confused Suien to deal with his visual double. As Suien accepted the three boxes and placed them into the bag, he stole another glance at the girl and narrowed his eyes, trying his best not to appear like he was staring. Can't deny that she's a cute one, he thought, face reddening slightly at the thought, but her rough and almost... nagging voice sounds familiar somehow. Like something I've heard recentl...

Suien froze, eyes widening at some sudden realization. He turned away swiftly, shaking his head. Nah, she couldn't be... could she?

Adjusting his glasses with a smooth motion, he walked up to Rania and cleared his throat. "Hey um... don't worry too much about the mistaken identity," he said discreetly, gesturing toward Suitachi with a subtle motion, "It threw me off the first time I saw him too. You're a netOp too, I take it?"

Coming from ACDC on the Metroline, Rigel walked into the shop, his cape falling limp as soon as he was inside. When he got to the counter, he pulled out a handful of zenny and two sig attack vouchers he had received when the previous shopkeeper retired.

"It's been awhile, Suitachi," he said to the new owner, recalling the exploits of Swing and Tempoman years ago. "Nice redecorating job you did, I never really liked the atmosphere when the last guy was here." Taking a simple glance at the other two customers, he suddenly noticed Suitachi talking to a cute young girl with red hair. But...Suitachi was...

Looking back and forth between the Suitachi next to him and the Suitachi behind the counter, he sighed, confused. "Well...this is certainly odd. You two related or..."

Rigel caught himself before saying anything else, not wanting to pry. He turned back to the Suitachi behind the counter and turned his discussion to business. "I'd like two HP memories, if you would." He set 2500z on the counter. "Also, I've got a voucher for a level 1 and level 2 process upgrade." Setting the vouchers on the counter, Rigel made sure Suitachi could see the signature on the bottom. "The last owner of this place gave them away as a going away present of sorts."

((Hey, I needed an RP reason for the vouchers. Why not.))

"Thank you again," Rania muttered, taking the HP memory and quickly installing it as she turned back to the first man. Her eyes briefly strayed to the new netop who had entered the store, but then she locked them with Suien's. "Yes, I'm a netop, although I've only recently started netbattling. I was just about to take to my home and do some netbattling while I waited for the next event to start." Turning to walk out, she looked back, asking, "So are you planning to do some netbattling today? You've got a navi too I assume?" She had a suspicious that this man's navi might be one of the 17 or so others who were signed up for the large event MeleeMan was taking part in. She decided that if he was, it would definitely be advantageous to know about his navi before-hand in case they ended up in the same team.

Suien frowned at Rania's mention of "heading home," but quickly regained his composure. Home? You mean she still lives with her parents? Aw man, I was checking out a... no, there's a perfectly logical explanation for this. I *thought* she looked a little young, but 'home' could refer to her dorm or apartment or something... or maybe she's just here for the weekend, he thought, I mean, it's not like she's jailbait or anything... right?

Clearing his throat, Suien opened his PET and cleaned the dual screens with a corner of his shirt. "I am, as you guessed, a NetOp. Just moved here a few weeks ago. I've been looking for a job around ACDC, but so far all I've run into is a lot of trouble on the local networks," he said, "I've been living off of a grant from Shar... I mean... my savings for far too long."

Suien faltered a moment, but continued on. "I've considered getting a job with the netPolice, but I'm really looking for a research position for navi technology and development. It's really hard to find an opening these days though..." Suien shrugged, and locked eyes with Rania, whose gaze had not once faltered during his explanation. "...but I digress. My name is Suien Matsumoto and it's a pleasure to meet you Miss...?"

"Suita, er, Suien. Of course. My name is Rania Firebrand," she replied, shaking his hand promptly. "I'm a student at a small private school in Electopia; I'm in my senior year currently." Her disarming eyebrows seemed to arch warningly as he had more in-depth thoughts about her life at home, almost as if she could read what he was thinking. "A job with the netpolice would be quite interesting, although if you've got a grant from Sharo, you must be some sort of researcher already right?" She didn't seem afraid to neglect his earlier coverup of his dependence on the grant.

"So, there's a lot of commotion on the net currently," she remarked casually, adjusting one of her knuckle-gloves as she talked, tightening it with what seemed excessive force. "The Net Police seem to be putting out jobs left and right. Have you considered having your navi participate in any, by chance?"

"Oh, hold on, I just realized we're blocking up Mr. Suitachi's store. We really ought to go outside if we're going to talk. How about it?" she asked, giving a smile that was somewhat more warm and friendly than her past expressions. "We could do a little busting if you and your navi are up for it."

Shit

Suien flushed slightly, partially from fear that he had let slip his "part-time" job with the Sharo government and partially from embarassment that he had been checking out a freaking High School Senior. He fumbled his PET as he attempted to conceal his awkwardness, nodded his head, and replaced the large device on his holster. "Ah... of... of course! Wouldn't want to block business for Mr. Suitachi" he said, flashing a quick smile and compulsively adjusting his glasses, "My navi and I have some big jobs coming up, and the combat experience is always helpful. Lead the way."

He followed the young girl and sighed, glancing to the side. I'm not a terrible person, he thought with a frown, I mean... seven years isn't THAT much of a... oh god, she was in fifth grade when I was her age, wasn't she? Suien grimaced and shook his head.

...yeah... I am a terrible person...

Jared walked in, straight from work, still in his work attire (which does not consist of anything even remotely resembling science lab gear), walked past the two chatting in the lobby... one appeared to be a kid, the other appeared to be in high-school at the least...

However, Jared's attention was focused more inward that outward, reflecting upon his last visit to the shop, and how it had turned out... Yeah... With me in the hospital for a few days and.... (his expression became pained for a split second) Winter was abducted here.

His thoughts carried him to the counter, where he spoke to Suitachi in a rather absent manner as his thoughts turned elsewhere "Hello. I'd like to purchase my first and second HP Memory upgrades and a Level 1 Process Upgrade, please." He placed a credit chip on the counter with 5500 Zenny stored in it electronically, then stared off into space for a moment, totally lost in thought.

"Very well...." Suitachi said mildly to the two. He gathered the upgrades and gave them to Jared and Rigel. "Have fun with those, and don't get too carried away with tweaking your navis..."

"I won't make any promises," chuckled Rigel, taking the upgrades and heading for the door. Hm... he thought, To follow the Suitachi lookalike or not...

Eventually deciding against it, he headed out the door. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but wonder if the two were related.

Jared hadn't heard a word Suitachi had said to him, and continued to stand there lost in thought for another couple of moments before shaking himself out of it and noticing he'd been given his upgrades. He gave Suitachi an absently courteous "Thank you." before he turned and walked out of the store quietly and went home.

((To ACDC Town))

A dark blue sedan pulled up outside the store, then fell silent as a slender, dark-haired man emerged from the driver side, wearing a red scarf, a pair of sunglasses, and a thick black jacket against the weather of another land, and toting a familiar-looking messenger bag.

He removed the sunglasses as he entered, and looked around a little curiously, noting the new decor. THings had changed. He was going to miss Meijin. That guy had had style.

"Do you take these?" He asked the store owner as soon as he saw him, trying to see past the shoulders of several other customers, all of whom were, natrually, taller than him. He flashed an old coupon from out of the bag. "The last owner of the store gave me these."

Suitachi emerged again fron the back room just in time to see Kazu make it to the counter. "Yes, a few people have already used those," he said, holding his hands behind his back and making it clear that Kazu was to place the coupon down on the counter.

After taking it, he handed over a small box, which looked like it had never been touched. "This is the expansion chip. If for some reason it's incompatible, just come back and I'll trade it in. Thank you for your patronage, sir."

With a nod, Suitachi disappeared into the back room again.

The Navi Shop was rather shockingly identical to the Chip Shop.

There was the same glass counter, the same displays (although the products that they were flaunting were entirely different from the Chip Shop), and the same mildly anal-looking dude waiting on the customers. She pushed past some guy in a red scarf who was standing at the counter and put down her Zenny card with the thick slap of plastic hitting glass.

"Two HP Memories. That should be 2500 zenny, right?"

timmy walked off the metro and ran into the navishop, the door almost hiting the wall.

"helo sir, two HP memorys please."

Timmy then quickly slaped down 2500z and waited for the shopkeep to give him what he needs.