Season 1 / Bow-Wow - "First Inning" [The First Trial Projection]

Kaoru Naito

He’d been lurking around the corner while some others entered the projections, but this was the first one he actually stepped into, quiet as he just barely gets close enough to enter the room.

To Vincent’s muted confusion and the look on Robert’s face, he can’t help but smiling.

“Don’t look too excited now, geheheh. Dog’s interestin’.”

He’s used to being uninvited, the stares of the faceless shapes wandering through the mall don’t bother him. His eyes flick to the car and the bike immediately, but he doesn’t think he wants to start there.

Instead, he’ll look around the escalator while calling out to the closest passing shopper to him to see what minds of reactions they are capable of, maybe curious what’s with the looks, waving and grinning.

“Hey there, wanna sign my petition? ‘Bout savin’ orphaned baby seals n’ shit!”

Bow-wow

Kaoru Naito Instead, he’ll look around the escalator while calling out to the closest passing shopper to him to see what minds of reactions they are capable of, maybe curious what’s with the looks, waving and grinning.

The escalator looks… dubiously safe. Clearly suffering from years of use and poor maintenance, you get the impression that you'd be able to get to the top floor, but that it might struggle and complain.

The NPC's do little more than continue glaring at Kaoru as they carry on with their day. They don't even seem to acknowledge any of his grinning and waving… sorry, Kaoru!

Bow-wow

Robert McCay Before he heads back inside, he’s gonna sneak a peek at the parking tickets….

Some of the tickets have already began falling off, battered by the elements. Others are more legible- on what is presumably the most recent one, Robert can read the following:

Offense: Parking for longer than the maximum time, Parking outside of allowed hours
Make of Vehicle: Honda Civic, Silver
Ticket issued to: Luca Marsh

I wonder who that is…

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

...Hm. That was Bow-Wow, wasn't it. And that was Bow-Wow definitely paying for a customer despite clearly not wanting to. Vincent squints, and it only takes a moment for him to decide: Fuck it, not like this was Real Life anyways.

So now there's a 6'4" man stalking towards them hoping to intimidate the thieving customer a bit (to which the NPC is spared from being Fully blocked in only for OOC reasons hciuduchs). So, ultimately, Vincent's eyes flick over Bow-Wow himself.

"…Hey. You don't gotta pay for anyone you don't wanna. It's theft. This' the kinda thing you might needa report." …That said, if Vincent HAD any money on him he'd probably also have given this to bow-wow, but he's doubtful he still has his pocket change right now.

Bow-wow

Erin | Vincent Churchwell “…Hey. You don’t gotta pay for anyone you don’t wanna. It’s theft. This’ the kinda thing you might needa report.” …That said, if Vincent HAD any money on him he’d probably also have given this to bow-wow, but he’s doubtful he still has his pocket change right now.

The teenager looks terrified.

"Um- Sir- I- Um- I-" His eyes go wide as he stares at Vincent, staggering backward slightly. "Um- well, uh…" He looks away, fidgeting nervously.

"W-Well- Um- It's better than gettin' written up for givin' out handouts-!" He squeaked out, voice cracking noticeably. It's perhaps somewhat more obvious why this guy isn't capable of arguing back against people who don't want to pay… he looks like even talking is too much effort.

Kaoru Naito

“For every missed signature a baby seal goes t’ hell, ya know!”

He cheerily yells at the random person giving him the cold shoulder, satisfied with what he learned there. Hearing a conversation and seeing a sad little beanie baby in need of advice, Kaoru ditches the annoying escalator to add:

“If he’s too poor for a damn weenie, just make ‘im steal it straight up instead of robbin’ you, you get like ten bucks a day at a gig like this, gehahah! How else’re you gonna save up fer a shiny new car?”

He’s literally helping.

Bow-wow

Kaoru Naito “If he’s too poor for a damn weenie, just make ‘im steal it straight up instead of robbin’ you, you get like ten bucks a day at a gig like this, gehahah! How else’re you gonna save up fer a shiny new car?”

"It's more like five…." He says in that same tiny voice. "I-I tried, before, but…um…" He trails off without finishing his sentence.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Huh, THAT was the scar that Bow-Wow was so worried about? Not that Vincent can't understand the instinct to hide stuff like that, but also this kid hardly looks intimidating at all-

And despite Karou's Kaoru way of saying it, Vincent gives him a nod his way, agreeing. He's literally helping. Looking back to Bow-Wow though, Vincent can see that he's intimidating the little (5'9") guy too, so he takes a moment to Attempt to loosen up his body language. This is a very minor improvement.

"I agree with him. You might needa keep trying to stand firm again em, then. Or just outright discuss with your manager what they would prefer you to do in this situation and follow that to the letter. Get it in writing if you can for legal reasons, if you get fired for following directions you can report it." This might be a little outside the scope of the projection though HDSUIHDISU

Robert McCay

Hmm… The name doesn't sound familiar, but Robert will keep it in mind.

He heads back into the mall and hears the commotion happening at the hot-dog stand. What could Vincent be getting so worked up about? He walked closer, dodging a shove from some rude NPCs, until he could get a better look at the person he was talking to… OH.

Robert freezes for a moment. He's not supposed to see this, right? But since he has, well-- he can't help but crack a smile for a moment.

"He really does look like…"

…He sighs. Suzune didn't remember anything from her projection, right? Bow-Wow probably wouldn't either. As much as he wants to cheer up the boy or cuss out the rude shadows…

"I think we should get movin'. Y'all are right, but he ain't gonna remember any a' this when he wakes up… Best we get out of his head soon as we can, I figure. Sorry Bow-Wow."

The last sentence he directs at the boy, as he resists the urge to ruffle his hair and instead heads up the escalator to the left.

Bow-wow

Bow-Wow clearly has no response to the name Kaoru had given him. Beebow? I hope he does somehow remember that because he'll sit there looking shell-shocked…

Robert McCay The last sentence he directs at the boy, as he resists the urge to ruffle his hair and instead heads up the escalator to the left.

As soon as Robert makes it up the escalator on the side of the TCG Shop, he hears loud, intense yelling alongside frantic footsteps. By the time he's planted his feet on the upper floor, the door of the shop swings open with a loud 'slam', and two young-looking NPC's bolt from the store. The NPC's are cackling wildly as they duck and dodge to avoid the store owner.

Black anti-theft fog billows from the store behind the three NPC's, the younger two barging past Robert before running down the escalator with armfuls of trading cards of all kinds. Once the perpetrators had successfully escaped, the door of the store slams shut, and the fog dissipates. Enter?

Kaoru Naito He’d try to buy a hotdog, but he doesn’t have money either, and that just seems mean to do to Bow-wow twice. With that, he’ll trot off to half-ride half-walk up the escalator impatiently to look at the shitty little rides.

Kaoru heads up the opposite escalator, and finds himself in front of an ancient-looking race car ride. It's worn with age, its paint flaking off in chunks. In front of it, there's two footprint shaped stickers. It seems like whoever had intended to ride it before has left their coin on the dashboard, though!

Kaoru Naito

“Ohh fuck, he ain’t gonna remember this?”

“Beebow, quit yer damn job! Jesus christ, go do doordash or somethin’, we like, don’t have rights there either, but least ya don’t get locked in a dunkass eight hour shift in a dead fuckin’ mall, geheheh!“

He’d try to buy a hotdog, but he doesn’t have money either, and that just seems mean to do to Bow-wow twice. With that, he’ll trot off to half-ride half-walk up the escalator impatiently to look at the shitty little rides.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

…Right, the other side to this not being reality was that… no argument made here would actually make a difference to the real Bow-Wow, huh? Vincent looks conflicted about this for a moment, but ultimately it's Bow-Wow's own lack of response that convinces him it's best to just leave it here.

"...Alright. Just take care of yourself, kid. Food service may be a Hell job, but that doesn't mean you need to damn yourself to the worst fires of it yourself." Very normal thing to say with entirely seriously, Vincent.

……..To what Kaoru's saying, honestly for a short moment Vincent looks a bit amused though actually and gives a hum, but then heads up the shitty escalator after Kaoru first as he re-schools his expression again.

Onlyyy to see More Theft happening on the OTHER escalator, to which he mutters a curse for under his breath and pinches at the bridge of his nose. This was just that kinda mall, huh? Rough for a teen worker. Whatever. He glances at Kaoru first, noting the race car ride and notes it seems rideable with the one coin (for one person, he assumes).

"Oi, if you wanna ride this, I'll leave it to you and head over to the other crime scene." Though Kaoru could (and presumably would) do whatever he wanted Anyways.

But Vincent will walk over to the Smoke of the TCG shop and join Robert!! He will enter…

Bow-wow

Erin | Vincent Churchwell But Vincent will walk over to the Smoke of the TCG shop and join Robert!! He will enter…

The trading card store permeates the weird, sweaty body odor smell that you’d expect from a place that attracts nerds, although there’s an oppressive, somber emotion that Vincent feels crawling into his head. Pushing open the doors, one would usually expect to hear the soft tinkle of a bell, but instead the bell that chimes is near-deafening. The walls are heavily lined with cards upon cards- anything you could want to spend your entire paycheck on. There's graded cards, boxes, single packs… it’s a nerd’s heaven. Any kind of fandom too- Magic, Pokemon, even those Disney cards…

Toward the back, there’s a bunch of grouped together tables. At one table, sits Bow-Wow-

How did he get past you?!

He sits there organizing a series of baseball cards, placing them on the table in very meticulous motions. Although, this time, he doesn't seem aware of your presence- instead getting up once his cards were laid out and moving to stare at the cards behind the display counter. He doesn't seem to have witnessed or experienced the theft. With him away from the table, however, it gives you a chance to examine his cards, if you wish. There seems to be a trash can beside the chair he was sitting at.

At least the only assault you immediately experience was on your senses, there's no physical danger here!

Robert McCay

"Whoa whoa whoa!"

Robert manages to catch himself on the railing, but doesn't recover quickly enough to give chase to the two thieving NPCs. But it's just a projection… right? He still feels a little bad, though.

He sees Vincent approach from the other side of the mall and gives him a nod.

"Mr. Churchwell. Y'know anything about this kinda thing? The cards, I mean. All I know is my partner, he likes the Pokémon ones…"

He frowns, hoping this isn't knowledge necessary for whatever puzzle is going on here as he enters the TCG shop with Vincent.

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

Did he know anything about-? Ah, this was a TCG card shop, right. Vincent wracks his brain for an answer to that as he's mid walking in. He at the very least knows what trading cards ARE, and some types of them, but…

"A... little, though I haven't really paid attention to anything about it since maybe high school. ...Which was about a decade and a half ago now for me." Jeez the flow of time was terrifying, not a big fan of that. Hopefully up-to-date knowledge on these things wouldn't be necessary.

Kaoru Naito

As the robbers run, he whistles at them and points, “Speak of the devils, some good ol’ fashioned crooks, gehahah!”

This is as much as he’s helping, but he’s looking that way to see if Robert gets hit with a giant anvil or lorebomb or anything on entry before activating his own potential giant anvil.

He playfully calls over, probably not meaning the request.

“Boys, grab me some shiny baseball cards if ya see any! Or any weird dog Pokemon guys!”

Erin | Vincent Churchwell

"…Bow-Wow?" How was he in here too-

Wait, right, this wasn't reality still. Ok, carrying on… Vincent gives a look at the baseball cards on the table while he has the chance! The somber emotion that's present in this place is… weirdly familiar to Vincent honestly, so he doesn't pay that part much mind.

Bow-wow

Erin | Vincent Churchwell Wait, right, this wasn’t reality still. Ok, carrying on… Vincent gives a look at the baseball cards on the table while he has the chance! The somber emotion that’s present in this place is… weirdly familiar to Vincent honestly, so he doesn’t pay that part much mind.

The cards on the table are mostly of real players, however there's one card of Bow-Wow himself on there. Weird… considering the fact he'd apparently collected a card of himself. The cards are in small plastic sleeves, and each marked with a price going up from 50 cents to a few dollars each. It seems that they're arranged in order of increasing value, with Bow-Wow's card being marked with the 50 cent price tag…

Vincent gets the feeling in the back of his mind that there's some cards missing…

Robert McCay

"Hah, time flies, doesn't it…" Robert experiences the same chill down his spine at the thought of how far off high school was for him, too. Shaking it off, he follows Vincent over to the table and eyes the card collection.

"So he's a baseball guy… Maybe we should get Kaoru over here-- hm?"

The Bow-Wow card gives him an uneasy feeling… He looks under the table and around the chair and trashcan for anything else amiss.

Bow-wow

Robert McCay The Bow-Wow card gives him an uneasy feeling… He looks under the table and around the chair and trashcan for anything else amiss.

Inside the trashcan is a couple of torn-up cards. Presuming Robert fishes them out of the trashcan, he can identify that they are baseball cards, but not anything else. You probably could put them back together!