[ooc] Time to answer questions, and make a few more. Time to meet, my gang.[/ooc]
Thyla and Sparky skated as slowly and as inconspicuously as they could into Chuo street. It wasn't too hard, all they had to do was make sure they didn't bump into any screeching pedestrians, and nobody would care for their presence.
"So where are we going now?" asked Sparky.
"The um, lizard thing," answered Thyla, the name of the Chuo street monument escaping her mind at the time.
"Is that where we're gonna meet the others?"
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Hey, back off." The two turned and skated up towards the bit green construction that was literally the landmark of Chuo street. Sitting between it's legs, waiting for them like a hawk waits for a mouse, was a girl with long, wavy brown hair, a leopard print top and black pants.
"Hey! Ferox!" called Thyla,
"Hey," greeted Ferox in return, "What too you two rouges so long? Why ya got paint all over you?"
"We had a run in," grumbled Sparky. "The local gang was kinda tough. I swear-"
"Frequently."
"-there's a dint in my head from that spray can as big as a dollar coin!"
"Aw, stop complaining. Either of you two seen Fireball?"
"Nup. He's usually late though," shrugged Thyla.
"Or in jail," added Sparky. Fireball, the individual the three were waiting on, was well known by the police. They suspected him of being guilty of all the unsolved crimes committed within the last 100 years, which was a bit ridiculous considering that Fireball wasn't even twenty yet. In reality, he was probably only guilty of about 10% of all crines committed within the last ten years or so. The police knew all about him, and yet still managed to miss the important details, like how the hell he managed to escape them the whole time.
"He's not that stupid. Not this early in the day," dismissed Ferox.
"COWER BEFORE ME, INFIDELS!" shouted a boy facing up the grid rail that would lead towards the sewer pipe. His t-shirt was completely black, but for a big red bird on the front and the back. His hair was a mid-range color brown, but had been coloured red at the tips. The words 'LOVE' and 'HATL' were written on his knuckles. He had run out of ink before completing the last 'E'.
"Put a sock in it Fireball," dismissed Ferox. "We gotta get back, if you're finished mucking around. Loon, Ryter, Muse and No-Yo will be waiting for us back at the joint. Come on," Ferox stood up and led the way.
"Did you get any tagging done?" Sparky asked Fireball as the four of them headed off.
"Yep," said Fireball proudly. "A big phoenix."
"Cool. You'll have to show me later."
"Yeah. Muse's 'spray by numbers' things really work well."
***
"Ye-hah!" screamed Ferox as she jumped off the roof of a building, followed closely by Thyla, Sparky and Fireball.
She was very fortunate to land on a washing line that she could grind, which took her to an open window of the building. In an often practiced gesture, Ferox placed her hand on the windowsill and vaulted through, quickly getting out of the way as Thyla, Fireball and Sparky came in after her.
"Welcome back strangers," greeted a girl in the kitchen, who had just put the kettle on to boil.
"Hey Ryter," replied Ferox. "Feeling better?"
"Much, thanks." Ryter's eyes and outfit were both a striking green, and her hair was brown streaked with blonde. She was actually short compared to the rest of the gang, but her height didn't get her down.
"So, what's the word on the street?" asked Ryter.
"No Parking," said Thyla automatically. Ryter considered this.
"Nice," she decided eventually. "Very metaphorical. 'No Parking'. You can't stand still, you have to keep moving, keep changing. It speaks of rules and laws, and the fact that we obey them in one sense or another. It's also a kind of funny phrase. How'd you come up with it?"
"Er, Major said it," admitted Thyla.
"…Oh."
"Hey, where's Loon?" asked Sparky.
"Oh, he's around somewhere. Possibly down the street. Not to mention 'round the bend." The door to the apartment creaked open, and a stack of books walked in on two human looking legs. On closer inspection, it proved to be another girl carrying a stack of books.
"Need help, Muse?" checked Fireball as the girl dumped the tonne of books onto the table.
"Nah, I'm fine." Muse was also very short for her age, with a mass of blonde hair and shiny blue eyes. She wore a pair of jeans that were starting to go thin at the knees, and a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue dragon printed onto it.
"The spray-by-numbers-phoenix worked well," said Fireball. Muse smiled, it was a truly inspiring smile, like the sun rising.
"I'm glad it worked."
"You're not seriously reading this stuff?" scoffed Sparky as he fingered through her books.
"Hey! Leave my books alone!"
"It's all nonsense stuff! Look at this, U.F.O.s, aliens, crop circles, unicorns, dragons, and stuff. Why are you reading this junk? It's not real."
"That's what the government says! They're just covering it all up," insisted Muse. Ferox shook her head. When giant footprints had appeared around the fountain in the park last winter after the snow there had been two theories. There was Muse's theory, which said it was Bigfoot, and there was Ferox's that stated it was a combination of Fireball and two 'Giant Rubber Feet, A Wow at Parties!!!!' from the joke emporium in Penny crescent. The Bigfoot theory had the backing of so many official sources in books and television programs that it practically outweighed Ferox's, which was merely based on watching him do it. But there was no harm in letting Muse believe what she wanted, for one thing in inspired some wicked artwork.
"Can we not have this argument again, please?" she asked.
"Yeah, the tea's ready," said Ryter.
"Great! Bring on the elixir of life," declared Fireball, "With two sugars."
"Coming right up."
"MAD!" a twang followed the shout as something heavy landed on the washing line. Thyla glanced at her watch.
"Right on time," she announced as another boy flew through the window. He wore only a singlet and shorts, no matter what the weather was.
"Yes, we know, we know," said Thyla tiredly. "We're all completely mad."
"No, no no nonono," contradicted Loon, "You're not all mad. That jump is mad. MAD!"
"Yeah, yeah," yawned Ferox. "So we're just waiting for No-yo to finish work then?"
"Yep," assured Ryter, "He should have finished by now, but the bus does sometimes run late. Sparky, what's with the paint on your clothes?"
"Sparky and I ran into a couple of daft kids from some other gang," said Thyla.
"I swear, they came out of nowhere," insisted Sparky. "We were just cruising, we weren't even tagging or nothin', and they jumped us!"
"Where were you?" asked Ryter.
"Aw, near the Shibuya terminal," said Sparky.
"Wherever we were, they jumped us," said Thyla darkly, "They didn't try to talk to us or anything, thy just started spraying."
"And what did you two do in return?" asked Ferox, bored with the conversation.
"Er, nothing. We just scarpered. It wasn't our territory," mumbled Sparky. Ferox raised an eyebrow.
"Did you now? Didn't try to, oh, I don't know, ram some guy into a wall?" accused Ferox. Sparky looked at his feet, but didn't shuffle them because he had long ago discovered that it was not wise to do so in skates.
"Who told ya Fer?" Ferox lifted a radio from her pants pocket.
"Jet Set Radio is tuned in on them. They're the GG's, apparently. Very popular it seems."
"Yeah, so?" snapped Thyla, feeling the need to defend Sparky.
"So anything we do involving them is going to be noticed. Not only by other gangs, but by the cops. We gotta play it careful. Anyway, Sparky. I thought I told you no killing?" Just then, the doorbell rang. Ferox sighed tiredly.
"No-Yo! You don't have to ring! Just come in!" shouted Fireball. The door opened. A boy walked in, probably over eighteen judging by his looks. His skin and hair were dark, and he was beginning to develop a 5 o'clock shadow. A pair of black, lace up shoes were hung over his shoulder while average looking skates were on his feet. He was wearing business pants, a white shirt.
Even, shock horror, a tie.
No-Yo was aptly named. He never said 'yo' or 'check it out' (except at the supermarket) and the only person he ever called 'mother' was his mother. No-Yo claimed it was all racial stereotyping to say all black kids acted like that, but, however you looked at it, No-Yo was born anti-cool. If you gave No-Yo a baseball cap, he'd put in on [i]the right way around.[/i] That's just the way he was.
Sparky was called that because he was full of energy, and not graceful enough to be called Slick. He also had a habit of sparking things to turn them into bigger problems, and a temper that flared without warning.
Muse was fairly typical. A little crazy, but in a normal way. Ferox didn't necessarily believe everything she said, but Muse was an inspiration to everyone. She was always happy, and her artwork was fantastic. She was pretty funny too.
Loon was just crazy, but intelligent at the same time. His insanity flared up from time to time, and when it didn't he seemed pretty normal.
Ryter, well, Ryter worried Ferox. She was nice, pretty and charming, but it all looked forced.
Thyla was cool, but at times she seemed almost psychic. Sometimes she'd say what you were going to say first, down to the exact word. Other times she predicted the weather, or seemed to literally disappear. She had 'instincts' or 'hunches' about people too, and hadn't been proved wrong yet. Ferox had learnt long ago to not make any bets with Thyla.
Fireball was a big contrast. In fact, Ferox often suspected that Fireball as just an idiot, pure and simple. But then he'd come up with something really smart, like a plot twist in a story. She couldn't tell if he was a tactful genius, or a lucky fool. Or even a little from column A, and a little from column B.
And for Ferox herself, well, she'd say she was nothing special. She just growled a bit at the gang when she thought they needed growling at, and was sympathetic when she deemed appropriate. The word 'Ferox' itself was from Latin, with a meaning that was something along the lines of 'fierce, wild, insubordinate, warlike, headstrong, spirited, courageous', or something like that. Fireball had given her that name one day when he thought he was being smart, and it just stuck. Ferox had been flattered that she'd caused such an impression.
"How'd your job go?" asked Ryter.
"Same old, same old," dismissed No-Yo.
"Who the hell discovered you could get milk from a cow, and what exactly did he think he was doing at the time?" blurted Loon.
"Having a good time, obviously," said Fireball.
"Or a man may have observed a mother cow suckling her young, like most placental mammals, and used his logic to his advantage," offered No-Yo.
"My man," said Loon patronisingly, "You just take all the fun out of it. Logic isn't for witty lines like that."
"Sorry," shrugged No-Yo. A sudden thump made the whole gang turn to stare at Ryter, who had just collapsed on the floor. Muse was kneeling down to her instantly.
"Ryter! What's wrong?"
"Ugh, my gut. It hurts again," Ryter gasped.
Thyla and Sparky skated as slowly and as inconspicuously as they could into Chuo street. It wasn't too hard, all they had to do was make sure they didn't bump into any screeching pedestrians, and nobody would care for their presence.
"So where are we going now?" asked Sparky.
"The um, lizard thing," answered Thyla, the name of the Chuo street monument escaping her mind at the time.
"Is that where we're gonna meet the others?"
"No shit, Sherlock."
"Hey, back off." The two turned and skated up towards the bit green construction that was literally the landmark of Chuo street. Sitting between it's legs, waiting for them like a hawk waits for a mouse, was a girl with long, wavy brown hair, a leopard print top and black pants.
"Hey! Ferox!" called Thyla,
"Hey," greeted Ferox in return, "What too you two rouges so long? Why ya got paint all over you?"
"We had a run in," grumbled Sparky. "The local gang was kinda tough. I swear-"
"Frequently."
"-there's a dint in my head from that spray can as big as a dollar coin!"
"Aw, stop complaining. Either of you two seen Fireball?"
"Nup. He's usually late though," shrugged Thyla.
"Or in jail," added Sparky. Fireball, the individual the three were waiting on, was well known by the police. They suspected him of being guilty of all the unsolved crimes committed within the last 100 years, which was a bit ridiculous considering that Fireball wasn't even twenty yet. In reality, he was probably only guilty of about 10% of all crines committed within the last ten years or so. The police knew all about him, and yet still managed to miss the important details, like how the hell he managed to escape them the whole time.
"He's not that stupid. Not this early in the day," dismissed Ferox.
"COWER BEFORE ME, INFIDELS!" shouted a boy facing up the grid rail that would lead towards the sewer pipe. His t-shirt was completely black, but for a big red bird on the front and the back. His hair was a mid-range color brown, but had been coloured red at the tips. The words 'LOVE' and 'HATL' were written on his knuckles. He had run out of ink before completing the last 'E'.
"Put a sock in it Fireball," dismissed Ferox. "We gotta get back, if you're finished mucking around. Loon, Ryter, Muse and No-Yo will be waiting for us back at the joint. Come on," Ferox stood up and led the way.
"Did you get any tagging done?" Sparky asked Fireball as the four of them headed off.
"Yep," said Fireball proudly. "A big phoenix."
"Cool. You'll have to show me later."
"Yeah. Muse's 'spray by numbers' things really work well."
***
"Ye-hah!" screamed Ferox as she jumped off the roof of a building, followed closely by Thyla, Sparky and Fireball.
She was very fortunate to land on a washing line that she could grind, which took her to an open window of the building. In an often practiced gesture, Ferox placed her hand on the windowsill and vaulted through, quickly getting out of the way as Thyla, Fireball and Sparky came in after her.
"Welcome back strangers," greeted a girl in the kitchen, who had just put the kettle on to boil.
"Hey Ryter," replied Ferox. "Feeling better?"
"Much, thanks." Ryter's eyes and outfit were both a striking green, and her hair was brown streaked with blonde. She was actually short compared to the rest of the gang, but her height didn't get her down.
"So, what's the word on the street?" asked Ryter.
"No Parking," said Thyla automatically. Ryter considered this.
"Nice," she decided eventually. "Very metaphorical. 'No Parking'. You can't stand still, you have to keep moving, keep changing. It speaks of rules and laws, and the fact that we obey them in one sense or another. It's also a kind of funny phrase. How'd you come up with it?"
"Er, Major said it," admitted Thyla.
"…Oh."
"Hey, where's Loon?" asked Sparky.
"Oh, he's around somewhere. Possibly down the street. Not to mention 'round the bend." The door to the apartment creaked open, and a stack of books walked in on two human looking legs. On closer inspection, it proved to be another girl carrying a stack of books.
"Need help, Muse?" checked Fireball as the girl dumped the tonne of books onto the table.
"Nah, I'm fine." Muse was also very short for her age, with a mass of blonde hair and shiny blue eyes. She wore a pair of jeans that were starting to go thin at the knees, and a light blue t-shirt with a dark blue dragon printed onto it.
"The spray-by-numbers-phoenix worked well," said Fireball. Muse smiled, it was a truly inspiring smile, like the sun rising.
"I'm glad it worked."
"You're not seriously reading this stuff?" scoffed Sparky as he fingered through her books.
"Hey! Leave my books alone!"
"It's all nonsense stuff! Look at this, U.F.O.s, aliens, crop circles, unicorns, dragons, and stuff. Why are you reading this junk? It's not real."
"That's what the government says! They're just covering it all up," insisted Muse. Ferox shook her head. When giant footprints had appeared around the fountain in the park last winter after the snow there had been two theories. There was Muse's theory, which said it was Bigfoot, and there was Ferox's that stated it was a combination of Fireball and two 'Giant Rubber Feet, A Wow at Parties!!!!' from the joke emporium in Penny crescent. The Bigfoot theory had the backing of so many official sources in books and television programs that it practically outweighed Ferox's, which was merely based on watching him do it. But there was no harm in letting Muse believe what she wanted, for one thing in inspired some wicked artwork.
"Can we not have this argument again, please?" she asked.
"Yeah, the tea's ready," said Ryter.
"Great! Bring on the elixir of life," declared Fireball, "With two sugars."
"Coming right up."
"MAD!" a twang followed the shout as something heavy landed on the washing line. Thyla glanced at her watch.
"Right on time," she announced as another boy flew through the window. He wore only a singlet and shorts, no matter what the weather was.
"Yes, we know, we know," said Thyla tiredly. "We're all completely mad."
"No, no no nonono," contradicted Loon, "You're not all mad. That jump is mad. MAD!"
"Yeah, yeah," yawned Ferox. "So we're just waiting for No-yo to finish work then?"
"Yep," assured Ryter, "He should have finished by now, but the bus does sometimes run late. Sparky, what's with the paint on your clothes?"
"Sparky and I ran into a couple of daft kids from some other gang," said Thyla.
"I swear, they came out of nowhere," insisted Sparky. "We were just cruising, we weren't even tagging or nothin', and they jumped us!"
"Where were you?" asked Ryter.
"Aw, near the Shibuya terminal," said Sparky.
"Wherever we were, they jumped us," said Thyla darkly, "They didn't try to talk to us or anything, thy just started spraying."
"And what did you two do in return?" asked Ferox, bored with the conversation.
"Er, nothing. We just scarpered. It wasn't our territory," mumbled Sparky. Ferox raised an eyebrow.
"Did you now? Didn't try to, oh, I don't know, ram some guy into a wall?" accused Ferox. Sparky looked at his feet, but didn't shuffle them because he had long ago discovered that it was not wise to do so in skates.
"Who told ya Fer?" Ferox lifted a radio from her pants pocket.
"Jet Set Radio is tuned in on them. They're the GG's, apparently. Very popular it seems."
"Yeah, so?" snapped Thyla, feeling the need to defend Sparky.
"So anything we do involving them is going to be noticed. Not only by other gangs, but by the cops. We gotta play it careful. Anyway, Sparky. I thought I told you no killing?" Just then, the doorbell rang. Ferox sighed tiredly.
"No-Yo! You don't have to ring! Just come in!" shouted Fireball. The door opened. A boy walked in, probably over eighteen judging by his looks. His skin and hair were dark, and he was beginning to develop a 5 o'clock shadow. A pair of black, lace up shoes were hung over his shoulder while average looking skates were on his feet. He was wearing business pants, a white shirt.
Even, shock horror, a tie.
No-Yo was aptly named. He never said 'yo' or 'check it out' (except at the supermarket) and the only person he ever called 'mother' was his mother. No-Yo claimed it was all racial stereotyping to say all black kids acted like that, but, however you looked at it, No-Yo was born anti-cool. If you gave No-Yo a baseball cap, he'd put in on [i]the right way around.[/i] That's just the way he was.
Sparky was called that because he was full of energy, and not graceful enough to be called Slick. He also had a habit of sparking things to turn them into bigger problems, and a temper that flared without warning.
Muse was fairly typical. A little crazy, but in a normal way. Ferox didn't necessarily believe everything she said, but Muse was an inspiration to everyone. She was always happy, and her artwork was fantastic. She was pretty funny too.
Loon was just crazy, but intelligent at the same time. His insanity flared up from time to time, and when it didn't he seemed pretty normal.
Ryter, well, Ryter worried Ferox. She was nice, pretty and charming, but it all looked forced.
Thyla was cool, but at times she seemed almost psychic. Sometimes she'd say what you were going to say first, down to the exact word. Other times she predicted the weather, or seemed to literally disappear. She had 'instincts' or 'hunches' about people too, and hadn't been proved wrong yet. Ferox had learnt long ago to not make any bets with Thyla.
Fireball was a big contrast. In fact, Ferox often suspected that Fireball as just an idiot, pure and simple. But then he'd come up with something really smart, like a plot twist in a story. She couldn't tell if he was a tactful genius, or a lucky fool. Or even a little from column A, and a little from column B.
And for Ferox herself, well, she'd say she was nothing special. She just growled a bit at the gang when she thought they needed growling at, and was sympathetic when she deemed appropriate. The word 'Ferox' itself was from Latin, with a meaning that was something along the lines of 'fierce, wild, insubordinate, warlike, headstrong, spirited, courageous', or something like that. Fireball had given her that name one day when he thought he was being smart, and it just stuck. Ferox had been flattered that she'd caused such an impression.
"How'd your job go?" asked Ryter.
"Same old, same old," dismissed No-Yo.
"Who the hell discovered you could get milk from a cow, and what exactly did he think he was doing at the time?" blurted Loon.
"Having a good time, obviously," said Fireball.
"Or a man may have observed a mother cow suckling her young, like most placental mammals, and used his logic to his advantage," offered No-Yo.
"My man," said Loon patronisingly, "You just take all the fun out of it. Logic isn't for witty lines like that."
"Sorry," shrugged No-Yo. A sudden thump made the whole gang turn to stare at Ryter, who had just collapsed on the floor. Muse was kneeling down to her instantly.
"Ryter! What's wrong?"
"Ugh, my gut. It hurts again," Ryter gasped.