I don't own any of the characters in this story except for Demi Steele.
A little intro, for those who haven't played the game...
Demi Steele: New girl in the city. Trying to work her way up the social ladder. (My original character of the story.)
Kicktail Park is the skate park area. Characters who reside there include:
Skid Mark: The boss of the skating job. Infatuated with Mazuiko Jackson, sushi chef of anime loving, video game playing, brightly colored Neon East.
String Bean: Lazy teenager who loves to skate. He loves it more than money, seeing as how he is unemployed and consistantly staying at friends' houses.
Rolanda Skye: Skater girl, clothes designer
Trang Hang: Skater
Alley Stile: Skater girl
Ah, The Foundry... Home to all beatniks. Residents try to stay cool and composed above all else.
Crispin Black: Owner of "Crispin's Cauldron", a sculpture boutique. Never really found the right girl. Just looking to stay out of trouble.
Neo Flange: Designer of "wearable art" in The Foundry. Slightly british. All around cool guy.
Arthur Pop: Performing artist. Calm cool and collected. The cool guy of The Foundry, if not a little shallow.
Bella Ciao: Beatnik girl. Extremely shallow and snobbish. A fangirl, if you would, of Arthur's.
Roxanna Hardplace: Fashion critic of the whole city. Found her niche in The Foundry.
This may be updated as the plot unfolds, and new characters are introduced.
I remember when I first saw her… She was the new girl in town, but "new", in this case, didn't really say much. After only a few days, she had made a home in Kicktail Park, and just a few days after that, her name finally reached us in The Foundry. I didn't have anything better to do that day, and I had a few friends over there that I hadn't seen in a while, so I figured I'd go make her acquaintance. After all, if she could get that kind of rep in under a week, then she would likely be the next Darius. And anyone with brains knew that they didn't want to be on the bad side of whoever had that much power, socially.
I have brains.
So I took a subway over to Kicktail Park. God, it seemed bright. The Foundry was mostly grey. Actually, The Foundry was ALL grey, except for the flame lamps, the books on the shelves, and one of the robots in the battle cage. My eyes were used to the neutral tone, so when I stepped out of the subway tunnels, it was no surprise that the brilliant colors of the skate park made it temporarily hard to see. "Yo, C-man!" Through the tiny slits of my squinted eyes, I managed to make out the familiar silhouette of the tall, bald-headed "Skid". These people and their weird names… I'm not ashamed to admit I was a bit reluctant to smile.
"It's Crispin." Before finishing out my conversation, I started glancing around for the new girl. "So how's it going with Mazuiko?" He had been after her for a long time, as I recalled. He grinned triumphantly.
"Oh, she'll come around… Last week, she hit me with a fish that she was gutting. I think she likes me, man." I guess he noticed that I wasn't really paying attention, because when I looked back, he was smiling smugly. "Looking for Demi? The new girl?"
Finally, I raised a hand to shield my eyes a bit. "Yeah… word got around to us over at The Foundry. Thought I should introduce myself."
He clapped me on the back. Hard. "Good choice. She's wicked hott." Did he seriously just say that? "She went to her apartment yesterday, but she said she'd be back sometime today. Go wait for her in Floaters, I guess. She'll be here any time now."
"Woah, woah…" I waved my hands a little. "I'm not looking for a date, I just figured I should meet her." I didn't want him getting the wrong idea about my intentions or anything…
His hand fell away from my back and he shrugged. "Whatever, man. Listen. I'm gonna leave ya for a while. I gotta go see the sushi babe and show her some tricks and shit." I sighed. Had he no clue as to how a guy should woo a lady?
"Have you thought about maybe bringing her some flowers, or glowsticks, or whatever those Neon East freaks like?" No offense to them. Wait. Yes offense! There's no such thing as fashion over there. It makes me sick. I can't be there for more than five minutes without getting a headache. Backing away from that train of thought, I looked back at Skid. He blinked a few times, a telltale sign that he was actually thinking for once.
"… No…"
I couldn't help the eyeroll that suddenly took place on my face. Trying to convince Skid to change his ways was like trying to teach a turtle to roll over. Impossible. "Alright… Well, I'll uh… Catch you later… man." That sounded awkward. Skid didn't seem to notice. He grinned his big grin that never failed to look a little weird with the constant glare on his brow before hopping on his board to skate down the staircase into the subway.
A couple distant screams of surprise echoing from the tunnel, and then he was gone. Ah well. I went on into Floaters to wait around until she showed up. I'd been around the area enough to recognize a new person when I saw them, so I figured I'd have no trouble picking her out once she showed up.
Boredom hit me pretty fast. After all, I was only really just sitting around, waiting. I killed some time dancing and inhaling helium and the such and finally, someone showed up. But she was no stranger. I would recognize that green hair and plaid skirt anywhere. Kiki Blunt. Was it not enough that she terrorized us over at The Foundry? She had to torture the skaters too? She stomped over to me, picking up that wicked smirk (notice how I use wicked here as a way to say "evil", as opposed to "cool" like Skid used it earlier) along the way. Instinctively, I cowered a bit as she approached. She stopped no further than a foot away from me. "Hey artsy boy! How much cash ya got on ya?" Without breaking eye contact, I pulled my wallet. No point in trying to avoid it or save myself. I pulled out some bills and handed them to her. She flipped through them, counting. I hated it when she did that. Counting everything while she was still "in my face" like she was. A final smirk played across her lips before she kneed me in the stomach.
I fell to the ground in a heap. "Stick to your little sculpture business in artsy land, poseur!" I turned to watch her leave, still clutching my stomach when I saw another girl standing in the doorway. This one, I hadn't seen before. She looked like she was really pretty. Or would be if half of her brunette hair wasn't covering her face in that skater chick style. Or if she had properly fitting clothes that hugged her perfect frame instead of that tank-top and baggy pants. And those huge shoes? Ugh! She could be wearing little petite things and they would be adorable! Blah. I digress. So she walks in, and Kiki starts over to her, obviously going to mug her too. But just as she gets close enough, the new girl, Demi, whips out a skateboard from nowhere and does this physically nonsensical trick that involves rockets and flying in loops. It was weird, but impressive, in a way. In any case, it stopped Kiki in her tracks, and without getting any closer, her jaw dropped and she started babbling. "No one told me there was someone as cool as that around here! God, I don't wanna piss you off… I'm outta here." Her feet seemed able to move again as she pushed passed Demi out the door. "Tell your skater friends I'll leave 'em alone."
Demi looked after her with a pleased smile. After a moment, she turned to look at me. The she started to walk over to me. And then she offered a hand to me. "Are you okay?" The skater attire made it a little unexpected, but she spoke beautifully. I suppose I'm usually a bit old fashioned, thinking that men should save the women and the like, but there was something about the way that she silently took care of that villain in a very cool way that I didn't mind at all. I let her help me up. "Here. I grabbed this from her as I spun circles around her head." She chuckled a bit on the last few words and handed me my wad of bills. I took it obligingly.
"Thank you." I continued as I returned the cash to its rightful place. "You're Demi, I take it. Crispin Black." I extended my hand, which she shook politely. Not the most interesting of greetings, I will admit, but it gets the job done.
"Steele. Demi Steele."
I slowly stopped shaking her hand, but I didn't quite let go. And then I was hit with the realization that I had no idea what to say to her. The moment seemed to last much longer than it really did, but then, in a second, it was over. People started showing up, and she ran off to greet Skid, then String, then she proceeded to flit about from person to person. I sat down. The moment already feeling miles away.
I watched the party start, and feeling awkward, I started on my way out. I was barely outside before Skid stopped me. "C-man!!" I cringed. "What'd a tell you? A babe, right?" A flash of her face ran through my mind. A stunning specimen.
"She was fairly pretty." An understatement, but I wasn't about to let Skid know how gorgeous I really thought she was… for a skater anyway. My eyes turned to meet Skid's shocked expression.
"'Fairly pretty'? Is that it? Whatever, dude. No wonder you don't have a girl…" Ooh… That hurt… I turned away and kept walking. "Hey, wait up!" I stopped and turned once more.
"Tell her that if she ever comes to The Foundry, she has a job."