01 - Let's do Business

[truthkills]

Who: Kiriya (still going by his AU name of Kiran for the moment) and anyone who needs a new phone at very reasonable prices
When: A couple of days after the app starts appearing on everyone's phones.
Where: Lazer's Pawn
What: Clearly, everyone who's been dealing with this Applenet thing needs a new phone, and Kiran is all too happy to exploit the situation while quietly trying to see if he can identify anyone else on the network in real life. Also serves as a general mingle for other pawn shop shenanigans should you so desire.

Lazer's Pawn, which is currently owned and operated by one Mr. Kiran Sparrow, has never been one of the more respectable establishments in Eddam. Far from it. People rarely end up there on purpose; they mostly wind up there on accident after making a series of questionable decisions. Located in Richmond, it's easily spotted by its bright pink neon marquee sign bearing the store name.

There's currently a sign outside the shop that reads "CELL PHONE BLOWOUT SALE AND TRADE-IN-PALOOZA! DETAILS INSIDE." Kiran even sprung for a few shiny gold mylar balloons just to help draw attention to his no-expense-spared handwritten posterboard that looks like it's been taped over a "Wet Floor" sign.

Stepping inside the pawn shop either presents the impression that the owner really loves the late 80s and early 90s...or is too cheap to pull up that hideously outdated vintage carpet or redo anything else in there. At least the cash register seems modern enough, and there are several signs up warning customers that these premises are monitored by security cameras...though there are no cameras in view, and it is entirely possible the signs are a load of crap. (They are, after all, cheaper than actual cameras.)

The proprietor is currently kicked back behind the counter, leaning back in an office chair with his feet propped up by the cash register. He's wearing round sunglasses indoors, so it's impossible to tell whether or not he might be asleep. Between that and the garish Hawaiian shirt and torn jeans he's also wearing, he truly looks like the pinnacle of responsible business owner.

Comments

[extremelycute]

Ayu stops by on her way home from school, like she sometimes does. Is she supposed to be there? Absolutely not. But her mother probably started her shift an hour ago, which means she can pretty much do whatever she wants until someone contacts her big bro to make sure she's been doing what she's supposed to.

"Oh, wow," she exclaims as she enters, haphazardly dropping her backpack near the door before kicking it out of the way. Take that, evil schoolbooks. "Did a shady businessman give you a big deal on phones or something, Captain?"

She slides over to the counter. It might be taller than her—at four feet and eight inches, she's a little shorter than most kids her grade—to check and see if he's alive.

[truthkills]

"Nah," Kiran says, the only immediate outward sign that he's alive the fact that he's talking, "I just found a box of 'em in the back, thought I'd see if I could get 'em to move." The only shady businessman doing any phone deals around here is right behind the counter. "Shouldn't you be in school?" Like he knows what time it is offhand.

[extremelycute]

"Oh, so that's how it is, huh. For a second there, I was worried you might be planning ahead or making good decisions." The shade is subtle and friendly. Now that she knows her uncle is awake, she wanders away from the counter, looking around to see if anything new's been brought in. "Oh, school? They canceled that for, like, a while. You don't have to look into it, you can take my word for it."

[truthkills]

"Nah," he says as he finally sits up and takes his feet off the counter, "you know how it is. More interesting if I don't." There's a grin at that statement about school. "Look, when you tell your mom, just make sure you try to print something out on official-looking school letterhead. And check your punctuation."

[extremelycute]

"Punctuation is the worst. I'll just make everything an exclamation point and things will turn out fine in the end, probably." She turns back around. Nothing interesting in this corner, at least nothing she'd be willing to ask about yet. "But Natsume likes school. So I'd get found out in no time. That boy's got to get his priorities straight."

[transient_specter]

Gen doesn't want to trade in his phone, but ever since someone said that the app appeared on their new one, he's been curious. He's been looking for a pawn shop - better to test this on some virus-ridden piece of crap, after all, than any new phone - and Lazer's Pawn isn't too far from the dorm. He hops on the subway and heads over to it.

... He almost immediately regrets it, wincing at the ridiculously bright sign and the incredibly ugly carpet. The owner - employee? - looks like... well. A loser. Not that everyone manning a cash register has to be cool, but it still looks awful. He heads over towards the counter and leans on it. "Hey. You awake?"

[truthkills]

Excuse you, Kiran is the coolest. "Of course I'm awake," Kiran says, lazily stretching as he takes his feet off of the counter. "I was just resting my eyes." It's impossible to tell--thanks, shades! They serve so many purposes besides shielding him from the neon and the carpet. "So, what, you want to hock something?"

[transient_specter]

Yeah okay, weird shady man. You do you. Gen rolls his eyes. "Looking to buy, not sell. What kind of cheap phones do you have that don't need a new SIM card and will be able to download apps?"

[truthkills]

Kiran leans forward with great interest, lowers his shades to get a better look at Gen--he is not impressed--and ducks under the counter to grab a box filled with phones. They're all older models, some are in a little rough shape, and upon close inspection, some of them won't actually have any serial numbers. "Got your cheap ones right here. Three thousand macca a piece." Here's wondering if the kid's going to try to negotiate.

[transient_specter]

He looks into the box and pulls out an older model with some scratches on the screen. It definitely looks like it doesn't have a serial number, but it does look like it'll fit his charger. Which is good, because he isn't going to trust any of the ones here. "Are you kidding me? This looks like it was stolen. Two thousand for this one."

[connivingbird]

Look. He really shouldn't be here since there was about a gazillion things to do and all them needed to be done before he ends up getting pinned to a chair for his hair and makeup perfection time. But Ariel doesn't care as he slinks into the pawn shop and immediately regrets it but only because it looked like someone got a hold of the bargain bin from Best Buy and was trying to make a mountain of cell phones to bury unwary customers with. He snorted at the attempts at making things look lively and hops up on the counter - while staying well away from the phone pyramid - and reaches over with one foot to nudge the owner with one expensively clad foot.

"If you don't wake up, I'm going to call my manager and have him come spiting hellfire on your ass."

Sure, he was a nice and sweet idol that had a drove of followers that think he can do no wrong, but Ariel was also human. And it was unfortunate that in his circle of people that the media did not know about included a few shady characters. But then again, shady characters were good for rounding his education even if they tried selling him basil and called it weed.

[truthkills]

"Ooh, your manager. I'm quaking in my boots." Kiran does not sound at all impressed by the threat as he lowers his sunglasses to peer at Ariel and arch an eyebrow. "If you get off my counter, maybe I'll get you some of the good oregano from the back. It's much stronger than the basil."

[connivingbird]

Ariel rolled his eyes, huffing enough to make his bleached bangs move. He was still a lot annoyed by that stunt the last time; as if he was into drugs anyways, and as if he did not know what spices smelled like in the first place. It made him wonder how many kids thought they were getting real weed when they came in here looking for drugs, which was kind of funny, just not the kind of funny he appreciated, especially when pushed onto him.

"Humor. Har. Stop being a jackass and tell me where you put that mod you have for my bike."

Because that would be the only reason why he would come in this dump, and Kiran should know it too. Which was probably why the guy liked pulling Ariel's chain too much. Honestly, if he could get some of the pieces for his bike in a normal store, he would have, but they were actually afraid of his managing company and did not let him go outside the normal add-ons for his motorcycle.

[truthkills]

Look, there was a valuable life lesson in there: don't go trying to buy mysterious baggies of weed from shady pawn shop owners. Bike mods were one of the things Kiran actually excelled at; being an ex-racer certainly helped him in both knowing the merchandise and having connections. "Ah," he said, "yeah, it came in. I got it in the back. And maybe, if you get off my countertop, I'll go get it."

[summerorange]

Niko has been warned to stay away from this place. At least, after this new owner took over the store. But she's 20 and fully in control of herself. She's not going to just be swept away by some seemingly shady guy, and some of his finds are actually interesting from a professional perspective.

Which is why she's half-skipping into the shop one afternoon after catching her eyes on the colorful selection of used watches in the window. "Hey, Mr. Sparrow! Got a question for ya..." He can probably guess what type it is by the fact that her camera is already in her hands.

[truthkills]

Kiran lifts up his sunglasses to get a better look at Niko. "What, you wanna hock the camera?" There's an easy grin. "Or you looking for parts for the camera?"

[summerorange]

"Wha--no, neither!" There's a momentary scowl on her face. "Why would I give up my livelihood? And I don't need anything new for it right now."

She glances back at the watch display, and then approaches him with a barely concealed eagerness in her eyes. "I actually want to ask about those watches in your window."

[truthkills]

"Hey," Kiran says innocently, "for all I knew, you were looking to upgrade or trade." There's a pause. "And everyone hits a spot where they need a lot of cash fast."

He perks up almost imperceptibly when she asks about those watches. Eagerness, that he can work with. "Sure, what about them?"

[foxhands]

Lazer's Pawn is a pretty shady-looking store, and Natsume's mom definitely doesn't care much for it. What she doesn't know won't hurt her though, and working there part-time is an interesting experience. Suspiciously-sourced merchandise! Occasional suspicious visitors! Free access to the arcade machine! Everything a teenager could possibly want from a job, right? Yeah.

Okay, so maybe he's not here for the glamour. Anyway, he's here today, studiously doing some of his homework during a quiet moment in the shop. He's definitely not slacking off here! The paper he's got is totally not full of doodles! He's got a math book open next to him and everything, this is as legit as all the perfectly legit merchandise. By which I mean it at least kinda looks like he's being studious...

[probablynoteren]

Speaking of mothers, Haruka's mom doesn't particularly approve of this variety of store, either -- she's the type that prefers to go to more upscale stores when she can afford them, which isn't all that often. Haruka, meanwhile, doesn't exactly go looking for shady shops; he does keep an eye out for deals, though, which is one of the reasons he frequents here occasionally despite the dubious clientele and the equally dubious owner.

The other reason is idling behind the counter, doodling very legit math equations onto his papers -- he doesn't know Natsume all that well, but he's a familiar face, which had been enough to get Haruka curious about the place the first time and... well. Good job being a gateway ad, Natsume.

"... You guys seem busy. For the sale." It's a very mild shade of deadpan as he moves through the extremely quiet store to peer over the counter at his subway acquaintance. He's not here on any urgent business today, but occasionally the shop is on the way and he stops in for a look and a chat. "I didn't know Mr. Sparrow specialized in cell phones."

[foxhands]

Ah, a familiar face! Natsume looks up from his very difficult math problems, quietly acknowledging Haruka's presence, and secretly kind of grateful for the distraction. While they might not be particularly close, there's something sort of nice about the occasional greeting from one quiet guy to another. The deadpan commentary gets a deadpan reply, as well.

"Incredibly busy," says the kid currently sitting in an empty store. He casually crosses his arms over the paper, glancing back for a moment at nothing in particular, before shrugging. "He recently became an expert on the subject." The comment is accompanied by a slight tilt of the head - is there anything you want to buy? A chocolate bar, perhaps? Not that he minds either way.

[probablynoteren]

"I'm glad I got in before the rush." He smiles a little, looking over the intricacy of Natsume's doodles with an amused expression before stealing a look at the boss of the establishment, who's in his usual spot looking like he got teleported in from a beach or a poolside on a tropical island. Haruka knows even less about him than he does about Natsume, notably because he doesn't seem to be awake most of the time.

Or he's just lucky? Not that he comes here often enough to notice a real pattern.

"Do you need to learn about the sales, too?" He never seems to catch Natsume himself doing anything particularly business-related either. Occasionally Haruka is called upon to comment on a doodle, help save precariously stacked merchandise or share confusion about a homework question, but that's it. For the moment, he's idly browsing the DVDs stacked near the cash register.

[truthkills]

Look, at least if any really suspicious sorts come in there, Kiran will at least tell Natsume to vacate the premises for "plausible deniability." He cares!

He also moves much more quietly than anyone would ever give him any credit for with as loudly as he dresses, and it's with that in mind that he'll try to sneak up behind Natsume so he can very loudly ask, "So how's that studying coming along?"

[foxhands]

He's such a good uncle...the best! The only!

Also that surprise just made Natsume jump halfway out of his seat! Before scrambling to both cover up his homework and try to catch his pencil before it rolls off the counter. Did he forget Uncle Kiran was here? He might've, for just a moment.

Ahem. "It's--fine?" Is there even a need to hide his homework here? That might just be a reflex from living with Mom.

[truthkills]

There is absolutely no need to scramble to hide that homework with Kiran; he really doesn't care whether or not the kid's doing any actual studying here. "You don't have a test or anything coming up soon, do you?"