When Reina enters the Gear Shop, she can see shelves and racks of clothing, anywhere from plain clothes, to clothing that looked as though it belonged at a Hot Topic store, each shelf and rack being marked with a metal insignia in the shape of a Greek letter. The ceiling of the store was a screen, showing static that matched the sky outside, and the walls were black with gray stripes, while the floor was constructed from metal tiles, in a black and white checkerboard pattern. The
man standing at the desk is one with fair skin, dark hair that reaches his chin, brown eyes, and rectangular glasses. He was wearing tight red jeans, and a blue sweater over a bright orange button-up. Much like the man that was standing in the window, this guy also looks at Reina as though she were a bug, though he speaks politely “Hello, there, miss. I don’t recognize you, so I’d assume you’re new… therefor, welcome to the Undercity, and better yet, welcome to the Undercity Gear Shop. How may I… ah… help you today?” he said, the pause where he seemed to fumble for words sounding completely intentional, as the guy doesn’t seem awkward at any point during his introduction. After he had spoken, he started drumming his fingers on the black-tinted glass of his desk, which contained even more gear.
Off in one corner, a
guy with both sides of his head shaved, wearing a black hoodie over a red shirt, with black jeans, was eyeing Reina, while a
white-haired girl with red eyes, wearing a black top over a white-button up, with a red skirt, black thigh-highs, and black loafers, seemed to be completely ignoring Reina’s presence as she scans items on the shelf.
Yeesh. Talk about a tough crowd. You had the distant beauty checking the shelves with an air of coolness around her, the arrogant shopkeep who acts like he's the king of the continent, and the perverted thug leering the ever so innocent new girl to town. It was so... dreary—annoying, really—but Reina didn't let that get to her. Instead, she approached the shopkeep with a smile. "Thank you, thank you~ I've only just recently arrived here and I've had such a tough time already, so it's nice to receive such a friendly hello~" As usual, her voice bounced about with a lilt in a playful manner, sounding sweet and honeyed. "Say, I don't know much about gears... or Gears? Shopkeep~ can you tell me a bit about what you're selling and why it's useful~?"
The shopkeep leans forward, standing at least a foot taller than Reina even when hunched over his desk “Hmm you’re not just new to the Undercity, but new to this game?” he replied, almost as if trying to ensure that other people could hear him, but certainly not shouting. “Well, I’m pleased to help you learn, then.” he said, using his pinky to poke the center of his glasses to move them upwards, before continuing “Gear is the clothing you wear, and they improve your performance in the game, improving your physical attributes in certain regards. Each Gear is different in terms of how they affect the wearer. Naturally, this means that if you were to get attacked, you’d want better Gear, so that you don’t get hurt as badly. In this game, objects that you find aren’t just objects, each one can be checked with your Digivice to verify its quality. The later the letter of the gear or weapon, the better quality the object. You can also use your Digivice to check the strength of others, it’s called Digi-Soul Sight, and it allows you to see the Digi-Soul Auras of others… the more intense the Aura, the better the… quality… of the prod- person.” much like with the earlier pause, the ‘accident’ in which he seemed to have started to use the ‘wrong word’ sounded completely intentional. “Is this your first time in a city, miss?” he asked.
While the shopkeep was speaking with Reina, the male with the stupid haircut had moved to a closer rack and was still staring at Reina, while the girl was holding her Digivice up to a Gear on the shelf in front of her, continuing to ignore Reina’s presence, and her conversation with the clerk.
Woooow... he really had an overwhelming aura of shadiness. There's absolutely no way this guy's someone to trust, and that other guy is likely an accomplice. Reina upped the charming smile. "Woah... that sounds cool!" First, show excitement. That's always step one when it comes to these things. "By city... do you mean in the game or... real life? Ah, in person, I'm really a city girl if it weren't obvious~" Reina reached for her Digivice as she dumbly rambled. "I've only ever lived in the city and I've never really thought about being anywhere else, so I guess you could say I'm not really new~? Oh, but I have been out to other places though! I've actually traveled lots~" The pinkette pulled out said Digivice and checked to verify the existence of this Digi-Soul Sight, namely by aiming her Digivice at him. In the meanwhile, she'd also check around the shop to see if there was anything sharp or blunt nearby.
“Actually, I was referring to cities in this game.” he says, as Reina searches for something blunt or sharp. While she doesn’t find anything to use as a weapon, she does manage to find the Digi-Soul Sight under ‘Skills’. If she chooses to activate it, she’s able to see that the two guys have a notably larger Blue Aura(the Clerk) and Black Aura(the other guy) than Reina’s own Magenta Aura, while the girl off to the side has a bigger White Aura than both of the two guys. After Reina had already found the Digi-Soul Sight skill, the clerk mentions “You’ll find it under skills, if you’re looking to try what I mentioned.” he says, his voice sounding as though he wasn’t really trying to be helpful. By now, the other guy in the shop had moved to a rack right beside the door, but was still pretty close to Reina, and was continuing to stare at her. The girl had now moved to a different shelf and was scanning other Gear with her Digivice as if nothing as going on around her.
"Ooooh, I found it~" Interesting results. It seemed like she wasn't likely to win a fight against these two, should they slash when they attack. That is, if she were alone. But the girl over there... she's strong enough to turn the tide of such a hypothetical and very likely battle. Though she'd have to carry Reina since she's still very much damaged and very low on energy. Hm... yeah, she didn't have good chances in this hypothetical fight.
Eh. Better to burn that bridge when she gets to it. "I think I'll take a look around then... hopefully I've got enough money to get something~" She waltzed over to the same shelf the girl was checking out, looking over the wares with her same smile. "Find anything cheap or worthwhile~?" Here's a gamble. Depending on whether or not this was the 'ice queen' type of person, she could either annoy her and make an enemy or neatly acquire a strong ally. "I wanted to get a more neutral opinion on this grade of stuff than what I'd get from the shopkeep selling it."
“There you go, now you can use that anytime you intend to start a fight with another Tamer. Do remember, your eyes will appear the color of your Digi-Soul when you use that skill, so people could potentially notice that you’re sizing them up.” he says, after Reina announces that she had found it. When Reina informs him of her intent to look around the store, he replies “Please, take your time.” he says, politely, as he adjusts his glasses. Though, when he adjusts his glasses, she can see his eyes flick to the guy near the door and back to Reina for only the briefest of moments. The guy by the door gives a very, very slight nod and remains in place by the door.
When Reina speaks with the white-haired girl, she doesn’t turn her head to look at Reina, but she does reply, her accent a slight Russian one “Nothing cheap, that’s for sure. Many would be worthwhile, but at my ranking, it’s better to get Gear from battles. If you battle strong Digimon, then the worst Gear they drop is better than what stores carry.” she says, as she stands on her tip toes and scans something on the highest shelf with her Digivice. While she didn’t sound annoyed by Reina’s presence, her face remained much the same as when Reina had first walked in.
"Really..." This girl had a pretty voice. Reina already found her liking her despite the ice queen aura she exuded. "What would you recommend to someone in their lower levels then~? I really need to get stronger so those other guys stop picking on me, you know..." She made a show of pouting. "It's a surprisingly rough world in this game! I already got attacked by a super big continent-sized monster that probably killed both of my friends, and I think I might be traumatized or something from it... now I'm here and I'll need to learn how to protect myself from anyone wanting to take advantage of me in this city!" Part two of the game; figure out this girl's moralities. Just from her presence in this city, Reina felt it was pretty likely she's not the type to subscribe to the naive good. If she's right... she had an idea for that.
When Reina asks what lower-leveled Tamers should do, the girl paused for only a moment, though her expression did not change “Find weak dungeons, fight through those. Preferably near a city. At lower levels, you lack the resources to buy equipment, or defeat strong Digimon. Maybe find another lower-leveled Tamer and get them to help. Their loot drops are separate, anyway.” When Reina mentioned the continent-sized monster that killed her friends, the girl looked at Reina for only a moment, before returning to scanning the Gear “That just means your friends recovered slightly when it left the area. There’s only one known Leviamon, so watch Alerts.” she then paused a moment and added “In this city… you have to establish yourself as someone people don’t want to make product… or you become product. Own other people, or people own you. Own nobody, and you’re weak.” she said, more quietly.
Wow... she kind of sounded really broody there. Reina wasn't the type of person to fawn over those types so -2 points to coolness. Still, she got a good idea of how this person thought now. Maybe there's a way she can spin this... "I had a feeling it'd be that kind of city... so, say someone were attempting this sort of thing in the here and now... any chance you could help a girl out~? She very well couldn't go to these weak dungeons and get stronger from inside some old man's cage~" Reina tried to keep her voice down- low enough that the two men she was pretty sure was trying to "own" her wouldn't hear her. "Say you were to help, maybe there could be something in that for the both of us... this is the kind of place where the winners get to do whatever they want with the losers after all, right~?" She absolutely plans to rob the shop if she gets into a fight and beats the shopkeep. Either that or get access to all this slavery stuff and get someone for herself.
When Reina had finished speaking, the girl turned her head slightly, and her eyes flashed white for the briefest of moments as she looked at the two men in the store. “If my Digimon came out, they’d back off immediately. What’s in it for me?” she whispered, her voice so soft that Reina could barely hear it, and showing no concern, motivation, nervousness, or any emotion whatsoever. As the two spoke, the two men closer to the front of the store were starting to whip out their Digivices, and both were now eyeing Reina. When the girl saw that the two were getting their Digivices out, she lowered her Digivice in front of herself and switched it to Digimon Selection, hovering one of her
Digimon while pretending to continue scanning the Gear in front of her.
Her smile would've twisted if she didn't have the control she did. This was the chance she wanted... she just had to play her cards right. "Would you want money? Scan data, if that were possible? Or maybe... me~?" She joked. Mostly. If this girl were to ask for that latter thing then she wouldn't be against it. The white-haired girl WAS pretty cute, all things considered. Truth be told she did have other things she was considering offering, but... Reina would rather not if it could be avoided. "If not any of that, I could do a favor for you in exchange for this favor. Wouldn't you call that an equivalent exchange~?"
The girl’s expression didn’t change “You? Yeah. I suppose that would be all you have to offer at your level. I accept your terms.” she says softly. At that moment, the two men projected their Digimon out onto the floor, each one appearing as ball of energy before slamming into the ground and forming the wire frame of the Digimon, before being covered by their textures. The one summoned by the guy with the glasses was a black
dinosaur-looking creature that was made of lego blocks, while the other was a
gear-shaped creature, floating off the ground, with two gears forming its hands. At that moment, the girl turned towards them, summoning her own Digimon, a black orb projecting from the screen and slamming into the ground, forming her own Digimon the same way the other two had, this creature one with stitched up sickly pale, practically purple skin, and bone protruding from its arms and chest. Its mane was black, and it was wearing black belts wrapped around the entirety of its forearms, and leather pants with stitched up legs. It had razor sharp claws, and steam was rising from its mouth. The two guys looked on in horror at the towering creature, twice their height, and shaking as though it could barely contain its rage. The girl stepped up beside it and looked the two guys over “This girl belongs to me. I suggest you put your Digimon away.” she says evenly, as she places herself between Reina and the two guys.
Ah. Well, she's not entirely sure that's what she meant exactly... but it's better to watch this play out for now and react to that little tidbit later. Reina clapped at the sight of the three Digimon, looking amazed at the white-haired girl's beast. It was WAY more impressive than the other guys'. "Oh, and could we get a discount or free stuff for this little kerfuffle~? Something to smooth over business relations, you know~?" Truth be told she kind of wanted a battle to start. If they beat the two of them, surely they'd get to just take what they wanted from the store, right? That's the best case scenario to her.
The two guys hesitated a moment, then the clerk began to stutter “Y-y-yeah, f-fine, just make sure i-it’s-” he started to say, however, the girl reaches up and grabs
something from the top shelf and shoves it into Reina’s hands. “Now, put those Digimon away.” she says, which the two guys do immediately, after which they raise their hands into the air to show they’re no longer holding their Digivices. Once the two Digimon were gone, the girl grabs Reina by the hand and tugs her along as she exits the building, her Digimon following suit, having to duck and turn sideways to fit through the doors. When the two are outside, the girl pulls Reina across the street, to a sidewalk in front of the cafe, and stops, her Digimon following her and stopping by her side, before dropping to all fours and poking her hand with its nose. She pets its head gently and turns her stare to Reina, but doesn’t say anything, she just lets the silence hang there.
Wait what can't she get a choice- GASP! It's... "What a cute outfit~!" It was definitely her style. She kind of liked more pink for the "pastel goth" look, but black is always a great color and she really liked the little skull- whoop! Reina suddenly found herself being dragged off by her new friend. "Oh I guess we're on our way now buh bye~" She all but beamed at the two men as she waved cheerfully at them with the outfit on her shoulder. Reina also made sure to flip them off right before they left through the doorway. She just HAD to taunt them one last time for trying what they were. The two guys don’t get a chance to speak, but both look both afraid and annoyed when they see Reina flip them off.