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Posted by Amp/Vibe on Aug 17, 2007 20:00:08 GMT -6
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Nov 20, 2008 23:30:31 GMT -6
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The girls paused outside the pawnshop, glancing around for a moment. This was a rather seedy part of town, moreso than usual. Trash lined the streets, both in torn up black bags and strewn loose. The buildings were so close together that you didn’t need to jump from one apartment to another; you could just step across. There were slightly larger alleyways every couple of buildings, just large enough for two people to walk side by side. Most of those, however, were occupied by drunks and/or homeless persons. And then, about once every other block, you’d come across one alley large enough to house a dumpster. The buildings were an ugly dark red brick, with shaky fire escapes, broken windows, torn up yards and junked out cars, and even during the day the place seemed dark and gloomy. Given their taste for luxury, it was the last place one would expect to find the Sonic Sisters. Yet the girls were very familiar with the area, and with the pawnshop’s owner.
Amp pushed open the door, ignoring the annoying the rather sick-sound bell that announced their entrance.
>That is a sorry excuse for a ring,< Vibe remarked. Amp chuckled then bellowed out, ”Nico! Front and center!”
”What?!” a muffled voice came from the back. The girls wove their way through the junky shop toward what should have been a counter. At the moment it was being used as a laundry folding station; or at least that’s what it looked like, covered in garmets of all shapes and size. The Twins exchanged a disgusted look when they saw a pair of men’s underwear among the pile.
”Ugh! Lowering your standards a bit, aren’t ya Nico?”
”Eh? What? Who wants to know?” A man emerged from a beaded curtain behind the counter. He was mid-height, with slicked back black hair that was thinning badly from the sides in, and had a major beer belly sticking out from under a black muscle shirt. He squinted at the girls from behind a pair of plastic-framed granny glasses. ”Ooh, you two again. ‘Dos? Eh, dem’s me bruddah’s. Don’t know how ta do his own laundry.” The girls raised and eyebrow, their expressions clearly saying, Yeah, right. ”So, you been out cleaning up the neighborhood again, eh?”
Amp gave him a sly grin. ”Oh yeah. Got some interesting ‘litter’ to share with ya, somethin’ real special. Check it out.” Amp pulled out the ring she and Vibe had picked up from that drunk guy at the Mansion. She didn’t feel the slightest bit of sympathy for the man who had lost it to the drunk, nor the woman it was probably meant for. ‘Sorry honey, some drunk stole your engagement ring’ was probably not a good way to start out a marriage proposal.
Nico pulled out a beat up jeweler’s loop, and took a closer look at the little half-carat diamond. After a moment he grunted.
”Eh. Bad color. Small. Flawed. Eh, I’ll give ya a hundred for it.”
Amp scoffed and snatched it back. ”A hundred? Please! I may as well keep it for that. We want at least five.”
”Whadda I look like? A bank? I ain’t givin’ you nos five hundred for that pebble! One fifty.”
”No, you don’t look like a bank, unless it’s a piggy bank. Look at that gut!” She smacked him in his stomach. ”Four seventy-five.”
”You must have knocked down a few too many walls and hit ya head Red. Two hundred, no more.”
While the two of them continued the haggling game, Vibe wandered around the store. There was very little there that held any interest to her. There was everything from used clothes to musical instruments to computer parts to pictures. She even saw a bag of expired dog food in one corner.
>Uh, yeah. Eeww!< She had what some would call ‘gourmet taste’, and this pawnshop was far from high-class. Still, Nico never asked questions, and paid in cash, and that’s all that the girls cared about.
With a sigh and roll off her eyes, Vibe sat down at a small piano on one wall. It was fairly clean, the only reason she risked touching it. She crossed her legs and placed one hand on the mantle. Out of habit she began tapping the surface of the antique. The taps soon evolved into tracing small circles.
At first none of them were aware of it, but a sound soon could be heard in the air, faint yet persistent, a single note. Suddenly Nico’s speech began to slur a bit.
”C’mon Red, ya gotta understand. Can’t go more’n three... three-twenie... I’m a busine... bizman... nesman...”
”Say what?” Amp, watching his lips, couldn’t make out what he’d said, so she repeated herself. ”Sorry Nico, I want four hundred. Nico? Nico. Hey! Yoo hoo!” Amp waved her hand in front of the man’s face. He had seemed to freeze in place, his eyes unfocused. She turned to find her sister, and found her also daydreaming. She started to call out to her, then paused. She saw Vibe’s finger tracing the circles. Suddenly she became aware of a vibration coming from her, one that was different than her usual. Amp wasn’t doing anything with it, yet it was still... different....
Amp glanced back at Nico, then back to Vibe. Curious, she walked over to her sister. Vibe heard her coming and turned to look at her, coming out of her daydream. She stopped tracing. The sound stopped. >What’s wrong?<
Nico shuddered, and shook his head. ”Wha? Where was I?” He blinked as if he were confused. Amp turned back to Vibe.
”Hey, do that tracing thing again.”
>What? This? Why?< She began tracing circles again. This time she heard the resulting note, similar to when you run your finger over the rim of a glass of water. Again that dull look came over Nico. Amp raised an eyebrow. She leaned over, an idea suddenly coming to her. She began feeling around the piano, eventually finding the latch to open the lid. Sitting amongst the string inside the instrument was a roll of velvet, tied with a ribbon. She untied the ribbon and unrolled it. Nestled inside the soft fabric was a set of tuning forks, in perfect condition. Amp gave her sister a triumphant smile, a devilish idea entering her mind. She turned and yelled at the pawnshop owner.
”Hey Nico! Make it four-fifty and these forks, and you got yourself a deal!”
The shop owner blinked as if in a daze. Several minutes later the red-headed twins were strolling back down the seedy backstreets, cash and forks in hand. Vibe gave her sister an exasperated look.
>And what, pray tell, do ya plan to use those for?<
“Me? Nothing. But I think I know a way you can use ‘em. A very profitable way.”
>Huh?<
“Trust me, sis. I’ll show you back at the Sanct. We can go shopping later. This will be more fun. Loads more.”
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>Vibe Thinks< ~ "Amp Speaks"
Profile Link Here
5 ~Physical Strength~ 5
8 ~Agility~ 8
15 ~ Mental Strength ~ 9
11 ~ Stealth ~ 14
12 ~ Senses ~ 12
7/8 ~ Mutated Strength/Control ~ 9/8
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