8/3/2006
{Heh heh... the actual room in which we RPed this scene amuses me. Also, if you want to know what the characters look like, glance at one of the earlier logs. I'm feeling lazy.}
Random RP is occurring. Shhh.
Look kids! It's your imagination! RUN!
[Exits : None ]
[Players : Huepow (Puppet), and Klonoa ]
Gantz pulled his hovercycle over to the curb with a jolt when he noticed the name of the building nearby. He let the engine idle as he pulled a piece of paper out of his coat pocket. This had to be the place. The street was correct and this was the apartment complex. He turned off the ignition and pushed himself off the seat to land lightly on his feet, turning on the security system as he glanced around.
It wasn't too late at night but his shift had ended at GUN already. Today was Klonoa's day off but he'd decided, for once, to take Klonoa's cheerful suggestion of dropping in anytime at face value. He was feeling a little bored and down. He wasn't about to admit that to Klonoa but Klonoa sometimes helped to get his mind off such awkward things.
The apartment complex before Gantz is relatively simple-looking. It doesn't appear to be particularly extravagant, then again, it doesn't look too destitute either. The building itself seems to be in decent shape, with cream-colored outer walls and several black-painted iron stairwells leading up to each long row of boarders.
Outside, the street corner is bathed in the soft white light of an antique lamp post. The black paint is beginning to peel a little along the intricate curves and the base, but that doesn't seem to dull its charm. At this hour, many of the boarders have dimmed the lights or turned them off completely to prepare for a good night's sleep. But up on the second row of rooms along the apartment complex, one room appears to be glowing with a faint blue light admist the darkness, forming a real contrast to some of the other nearby apartments.
Gantz notices these details, particularly the light. That's probably the one right there. After all, he blames just about everything else unusual on Klonoa. Why not that?
He tromps up those set of steps with minimal sound, his hand lightly gliding up the railing with it's peeling paint, and checks the piece of paper in his gloved hand again. The number beside the door is the same, so he stuffs the paper back into his pocket and raps his knuckles against the door. He rests his hands on his hips as he waits, studying the stars peering weakly through the clouds and light pollution.
The first few knocks on the door go unanswered. But, no, the number beside the door is correct, and so Klonoa should definitely be home. Though a quick peak into the nearby window would only show a dark living room, with that faint blue glow coming from somewhere nearby. Maybe it's the television? Nevertheless, the door has been left unlocked in case Klonoa ever needed to run out to fetch something quickly from the store or to visit one of his neighbors. An action that would seem highly dangerous elsewhere, but the air of the neighborhood around here seems calm, if not friendly.
If one were to listen very closely for a moment, however, you could hear the faint traces of two voices coming from within the apartment. The voices are soft and far away, and barely above the level of a whisper, but there's no mistaking it. One is the gentle and excited tone of a familiar friend, but the other is more child-like... even moreso than Klonoa. Maybe he's found someone his age to play with at this time of night?
Gantz tries the knob and considers telling Klonoa off for that regardless. But what better way to do that than to just walk right in? He pricks his ears and flicks them a little as he ponders the voices, however. He has no business interrupting anything but it's Klonoa's fault for leaving the door unlocked. In fact, he locks the door behind him, once he's inside, without much thought.
He pauses there, letting his eyes adjust to the sudden change from light to dark, inspite of the moon and the lamp post coming in from the window, before glancing around what is probably Klonoa's living room. With a sigh, he decides to explore further, his hands fidgeting and ready to reach for his guns, just in case the whole thing is a trap.
Inside the apartment, the room is indeed dark and dimly lit by the light flooding in through the nearby window. Looking around, there really isn't much to see. The living room is actually pretty sparse. There is a large cough sitting against the wall around the center of the room, and a small TV set sitting across from it on a table. A quick look underneath the table will reveal a dated video game console that resembles a small box made out of plastic. Next to the couch, a lamp sits on a nightstand and that is about all that can be made out in this darkness.
Otherwise, other darker paths can be seen leading into the kitchen, and into a short hallway that leads to the bathroom and bedroom. Of course there are some of the other assorted nick-nacks scattered about: video games, toys, photographs, books, and a cardboard box. But that's really not that important right now, right? Near the living room, the light streams in from a doorway cut into a larger window leading onto a balcony. The window itself has been cracked open a bit to let the cool air into the apartment, but surely, there Klonoa sits on the brown-painted wood with his gloved hands holding himself up. He's laughing, and next to him floats a mysterious glowing orb of light that has a similar pair of white hands and a little yellow star balancing on top. It chirps in response and wavers with laughter itself.
Gantz (OOC) says, "The BOX! *bends it* Klonoa: NNOOOOO! MY TREASURE! ;_;"
Klonoa (OOC) hees!
Klonoa (OOC) needed to mention The Box. There was no escaping it. :D
Gantz moves as quietly as possible, which is surprisingly quiet in a pair of boots. They're well-crafted, don't squeak, and he knows how to place his feet well. Besides, NO apartment that is easily afforded would use wooden floors when cheap carpet and fake tile is readily available. Given that Station City was never conquered, that would seem to be the case.
Something pokes itself into the middle of Klonoa's back but does no actual damage... yet. A gruff baritone sounds out near the top of Klonoa's ear, where it attaches to his head, and the voice is reasonably familiar to Klonoa at least.
"Put your hands up. Both of you."
Of course, Hue Pow is at a position where he could more easily tell the dark-furred intruder is just using his hand and not one of the guns in his faux leather holsters.
The aforementioned floating blue orb, Huepow, is surprised at himself when he doesn't notice the sound of approaching footsteps before Klonoa and his large earflaps do. But distracted by the scenery, the poor feline's ears stick straight up and a shiver races up his spine as Gantz pokes him menacinly in the back with a... hand? He yelps and Huepow, surprised and at a loss due to this unexpected disturbance, spins around to face Gantz before quickly ducking behind his friend.
But Klonoa isn't stupid and he -does- recognize the voice cutting through the darkness from the behind, cracking a smile. As his ears drift down back toward the sides of his head with a light *fwoosh*, he slowly steps around and puts his hands on his hips.
"Geez... You nearly gave me a heart attack, Gantz."
Meanwhile, Huepow is still hiding behind Klonoa, peeking out to blink a pair of curious deep blue eyes at the stranger before disappearing once more.
Gantz is doing his best not to smirk. No, really. Okay, maybe not his best. But it's so much fun to watch Klonoa react like this. He closes his eyes, tilts his head down a little for a brief bow, and holds his hand out in a casual but theatric gesture, with his palm up and his fingers spread up and out, like a fan that is pointing in Klonoa's direction.
"You shouldn't leave your door unlocked," Gantz cautions, though by now he no longer cares about this detail.
He finally pays more attention to the little glowing creature that is tucking itself behind Klonoa for protection and arches an eyebrow at the sight of it. How... strange.
"Who's your friend?" he asks, suddenly wondering about Klonoa's connections.
Klonoa breathes out a sigh, lifting his baseball cap up off his head by the 'bill' with one hand and then pawing through his headfur with the other. "It's not that I'm not cautious or anything... I just keep forgetting to grab my keys, that's all," he mumbles under his breath with an embarrassed blush, replacing the cap on his head.
Then for the first time, he really notices the darkness through how different Gantz looks at night, blinking up at him. He points past him toward a nearby lamp.
"Should I turn on a light? I've been sitting out here for awhile, and so I didn't really think of turning anything on after the sun went down."
Then as his attention shifts to Huepow, he hums and turns his head to his side.
"Oh, you mean Huepow?" he asks, with a grin, as Huepow peeks out from behind him once again, "You've never met him before, have you? He doesn't usually appear outside of the ring, in the city, since he worries about drawing any bad attention."
Taking a short sidestep, he continues to look down toward his friend with a reassuring smile. "Come on out, Huepow. Gantz may look scary, but he's really a nice guy when it comes down to it."
Gantz blinks at Klonoa's response. The corners of his mouth twitch downwards and his ears flit backwards briefly, before pricking up again as his mind tugs at a specific detail. His own eyes have adjusted to the level of light significantly, so he doesn't comment on that.
"The ring? What are you talking about?" he asks, while looking at Huepow.
He doesn't see the ring, where ever Klonoa has it right now, and so that just doesn't dawn on him. He's so used to seeing Klonoa with it that he's actually become a little blind to it, even when it isn't actually there.
Klonoa's smile slowly evens out a little as he cups his chin with a paw, looking thoughtful. "Well... That is to say..."
Then Huepow zooms around and forward, close to Gantz's eye level, causing Klonoa to take a small step back just to get out of his way.
"Whoa! Huepow, what's-?"
Huepow swivels back around to look at his friend, and then he bows politely before Gantz in midair (or as best as he can without having any feet to speak of.)
"It's alright, Klo~oa. If he is a friend of yours, then I'm sure I can trust him too!" he chirps cheerfully, while the star on his head spins slowly. "You can call me Huepow," he says to Gantz, as he bobs up and down in the air, "I am the spirit that possesses and lends power to the Wind Ring."
"Huepow and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, right, Huepow?" Klonoa interjects with a befanged smile.
Gantz steps back when Huepow gets so close, though not too far away, and turns his head a little to the side as he regards the floating ball with wide eyes. Then they narrow as he thinks about what Huepow just said. He rubs his fuzzy, yellow chin between his thumb and finger for a moment before grinning at Huepow and offering Huepow his hand, held out flat and sideways, expecting to shake.
"So you're the only reason Klonoa's useful, huh? You're too kind to him, I bet," Gantz chides, with a smirk.
As Gantz reaches out to shake, Huepow catches the hand with his own. White and translucent, it still manages to have a solid grip as he shakes and then retracts the hand back to his side without ever having to move his blue orb-like body around. Though a small sweatdrop appears as Gantz starts asking questions.
"I don't really think that you have the right idea..." Huepow says. After all, Klonoa is fairly talented in his ability to manifest his power, right? So it's more like teamwork than, well, just him being the most useful.
Walking forward, Klonoa moves past Gantz and the window and ganks him by the back of the jacket collar.
"Yes, yes... I don't think I like where this conversation is going," he says with a bit of mild annoyance in his voice. As his fingers let go, he walks over toward the nearby lamp, flicking it on. Then he continues forward and into the kitchen.
He asks, "Well, Gantz, since you came all this way... would you like some tea to drink? Grandpa taught me how to make a good batch the last time I went to visit."
It's a good thing that Klonoa let go when he did because Gantz was about to show off a few nasty little tricks for such insolent treatment. In the end, he just remains standing there for a few minutes, Huepow completely forgotten as he blinks at Klonoa's back and scowls. Then he follows after the cat quickly, trying not to sound too petulant, for once, when he responds.
"Tea would be fine," Gantz answers smoothly, as he finds a place to sit in the kitchen. He waits expectantly for said beverage, as if that might pacify him enough not to kill Klonoa (though the slight was small.)
He eyes Huepow though, if Huepow follows, and asks him, "So does this mean you stay inside the ring itself or something like that? Wouldn't that be boring?"
Following Gantz into the kitchen, Hue Pow hovers in mid-air, somewhere between the sitting vulpine and Klonoa as he sets to work filling a kettle full of water and heating up the stove. Closing his eyes, he shakes his whole body from side to side.
"I don't usually find it boring. In fact, I only ever stay in the ring to avoid danger. Otherwise, I can appear whenever I choose."
He smiles, turning to see Klonoa watching the kettle slowly come to a boil with impatience in his expression.
"Besides, I can observe quietly from within the ring, and so there really isn't a lot that I feel I'm missing," he explains.
"... Does that mean you watch him go to the bathroom too?" Gantz asks, looking briefly troubled at this idea, "Come to think of it, don't answer that."
OOC: This scene hasn't been finished yet but... what a great note to pause on, huh? ;) (
geocities.com/dove_cg)