It's Half Off and I Still Can't Afford It (SSoDI-G)

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Uh, yeah, Mic? They kinda have a point..." Paul chuckled warily as he approached the angel. "I don't know what kind of cash you have –or what kind of cash you think I have– but this seems a bit much."

"I just wanna be sure I have any kind of equipment I may need at my disposal!" Mic insisted. "You never know when an electric sustenance render scrubber could come in handy!"

Paul donned an awkward grin and pointed over his shoulder. "You know, there is an industrial park out west. I'm sure we could scavenge some scrap from there."

"OH! EVEN BETTER!" Mic smiled back at Paul as he began haphazardly replacing items from his bag. "I could probably ditch half this stuff in that case!"

"...And how much is half?"

---------------------------

"Cease communication. Your attempts at humor are excruciating."

The perpetrator turned Perdix around, bringing him face-to-face with a perfect doppelganger of the synthetic angel. The only thing setting them apart from the real Perdix was their expression, one of deadpan condescension and annoyance, and their attire, which they sought to remedy first by stripping him of his suit jacket and lapel in one swift motion. "You will remain here until I return approximately two seconds following my departure. Am I understood?"

[DanteMGalileo]

"... Um, what currency do you guys even use, anyway? ... Do you even have a currency?"

Will kept a wary eye on Mic's bag, cringing at the overflowing contents. "What, do you use gold? Gems? Random shit you pull out of the ground? ... Excessive violence?" He winced a bit at that last thought. "So, uh, if you guys wanna head out there, I'll go back to the club, see if Leanne and Jordan are back, if Percy's back?" He looked around for Raunen. "Hey, Raunen? You wanna go with me or them? Or are we even splitting up at all?"

---

"Ha ha ha. If attempting to impersonate me, at least copy speech patterns better. Is horrible. Lord Sidhe or Lady Hecate will detect quickly if talk like organic."

Perdix remained his impassive expression, even as this impostor stripped him, removing his identification chip. "Hmm. Am running on on-bank data now. Shutdown in five... four..."

With that, the synthetic angel went stiff, staring blankly.

[ColArana]

Ranuen considered Will's question about currency, and gave a halfhearted shrug. Or at least as best he could shrug, with both of his arms occupied. "Your guess is as good as mine, I've not done a ton of actual buying around here myself." He admitted. "Mostly just mooching off of other people's tabs, or scrounging up what I can. If Mic absolutely needs some of this stuff, I could probably smuggle out a smaller item."

Of course when Will extended his offer to go back to the club, Ranuen couldn't help but throw in a bit of snark. "Oh no, barely holding onto an angel's jacket while he runs at Mach speeds is one of my favorite modes of travel. Right up there with traveling via sneaker or being blown around randomly by strong winds."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Oh, no, our economy doesn't run on physical legal tender!" Mic chipperly responded as he darted about the store and gradually reduced his load. "We use cryptocurrency for the most part, but we do trade certain goods and liquid assets when the situation demands something more primitive."

"I guess I could see the benefit in that..." Paul muttered hesitantly, scratching his head. He wasn't an expert in finances, but he could at least understand where Mic was coming from, as well as forgive the angel devotee for what might have been an unintentional insult. Brushing that aside, Paul turned to Will and Ranuen with a smile. "I guess break time is over, huh? If you guys wanna catch up with the rest of the gang, go right ahead. I'll stick with Mic for now."

"I think that's everything!!!" Mic chimed in, rounding a corner and showing off the tools and appliances he had held onto. "Paul, we good?!"

"Y-Yeah, I think so..." Paul gritted his teeth in an awkward grin. He could still sense a hefty bill on the horizon. Still, he did his best not to let it bother him, continuing, "Hey, can you guys find Kenny before you go? Let him know what's going on, see who he wants to go with?"

---------------------------

The doppelganger stared flatly at Perdix as he mocked their impression and subsequently shut down. Once he was no longer conscience enough to hear it, the imposter let out a deep sigh and grumbled in a distinctly non-robotic tone, "F*cking angels..."

After taking a quick ten seconds to get dressed, the doppelganger briskly marched out of the restroom.

Two seconds later, they returned, Perdix's clothes strung over their shoulder, a frantic expression on their face. "Too close. That was way too close."

They balled up the attire and threw it down on Perdix in a huff. Then they morphed out of his form and abandoned the angel once again. Onto the next step...

[DanteMGalileo]

REBOOTING...

LOADING PERSONALITY ASSETS...

PERSONALITY ASSETS LOADED.

LOADING SENSORY DETECTORS...

SENSORY DETECTORS ONLINE.

REBOOT COMPLETE.

"What weird sensation. Hmm. Must report to Lady Bennu immediately. Feeling it is bad."

---

"Oh, uh, of course! We'll find Kenny first! Raunen, you safe on my shoulder for now?" Will reached a hand behind his head, stretching slightly. "I guess we'll meet back at the bar? I, uh... Kenny? Did you fall down a well?"

[ColArana]

"Cryptocurrency? What is that?" Ranuen asked, in moderate confusion. While he was up to date on appliances, and he understood what a computer was, the finer points of technological dealings were beyond him. In his homeworld, even cars were something of a major rarity, and most technology ran on magic. He'd adapted well enough to many of the appliances in this world, but stuff like the internet, while Ranuen had learned well enough to figure out what it was, was still something well beyond his understanding.

The group kept talking and Ranuen suddenly developed a sneaking suspicion that nobody had noticed his abrupt disappearance from Will's shoulder. Granted his size made him hard to notice but he somehow hadn't considered the possibility that his absence hadn't been noticed.

When Will made his comment about him being safe on his shoulder, Ranuen shot Will a very flat look. "Will...." He growled slowly, as he tried to move from Mic's shirt onto his jacket in the hopes that Mic would get close enough to Will for him to jump over. "You're missing someone." He added, hoping Will didn't assume he was talking about Kenny.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"OH! HEHEH..." Mic meekly offered a finger for Ranuen to climb onto and tapped Will's shoulder for a speedy transfer. "Sorry! Suppose I'll see you chaps later!"

"Yeah, guys! See ya!" Paul chimed as he waved the duo off. "And if you see Kelsey, let her know what's going on, okay? Thanks, guys!"

Once he was alone with the angel, Paul clapped his hands together and donned an awkward grin. "So I guess my next question is who's paying for what."

"I dunno! How much ya got?"

---------------------------

Kenny sat alone on a bench in the middle of the atrium. His head was held low in contemplation, a nervous grimace on his face. He only looked up when he noticed Will approaching in his peripheral, but any sense of dread he seemed to be feeling only escalated when he did.

"Will..." Kenny promptly jumped to his feet and met the young man halfway. "What's going on? Where's Paul? I... I need to..."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Oh, uh, hey, Kenny! You didn't fall down a well after all!"

After confirming that yes, Raunen was really on his shoulder and didn't fall off, Will gave Kenny a wave and an awkward smile. "I, uh, did I miss anything? Hungry? Mood swing? Step on a rusty nail? Paul's still in the store with Shouty. What's up?"

[ColArana]

Ranuen gratefully took Mic's ride up to Will's shoulder, hopping back on. "Phew. Finally-- err. Thanks Mic." He quickly added at the end. While Mic's lack of an indoor voice still shook him, like a cabinet right next to a stereo system played at maximum volume, he was starting to adjust to it. He gave Will a small glare, but gave Paul a wave off. "See you two soon." He replied, accompanying Will on his way out. As they crossed paths with Kenny, Ranuen gave an additional nod to him. "He was still in the store buying stuff. If you miss him though, I think they said something about an industrial park to the west? Mic's looking like he's going into scavenging mode for parts or something like that."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"W-What? No! I just..." Kenny raised an eyebrow at Will, pointed over his shoulder, then dismissively waved the whole thing off. "Ah, f*ck it..."

He glanced at Will's shoulder, listening intently as Ranuen explained Paul's whereabouts. "Gotcha... So he's not going back to the club? Just straight to the dump?" Then he rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Whatever. He can do what he wants with that nutball. I need to talk to Kelsey."