Denise looked across the hallway from IGC, and considered how much he thought Stephanie would do better with a different outfit. Since he already figured that upping the power-level of her abilities through some kind of enhancement was the best call, decided he would leave this Block and head back this way after he was done… picking something that more closely resembled whatever it was she looked and felt like afterward.
Stephanie May Louis hurried to the nearest escalator, her custom-formed police boots smacking the floor as she ran, hurrying passed everyone in her way as she pushed and shoved the inconsequential NPC's as she made here way back around and up to the Third Floor while heading back into the central Food Court.
Glancing out in the direction of the McDonalds that Red had mentioned, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her iPhone, hitting the iTunes button and looking through her playlists. Before she could hit anything, she had an incoming call from 'K.B.' which interrupted her motions. She frowned, deepening the white V of the fur on her black forehead. She tapped the 'Answer' button on the screen and said hello.
"You bitch!" came the voice of the Anthropomorphic male lion named Kenneth Baker. "Where are you!? I'm going to beat you to a bloody pulp."
"Alright, Kenny. I'm gunna warn you," she said, "that if you can't start a conversation any other way than 'you bitch' or can't understand that I'm in no ways intimidated by you, then I'm just going to have to hang up on you and put you on Ignore permanently. You're retarded. Go away," she said in her cute little voice, but with as much boredom she could manage.
"You killed me twice! I'm sorry, but there's no other way to start this conversation."
Stephanie shook her head and started walking in the direction of Block Six, around the second floor of the Food Court. She reached up to her white shirt with her other hand, trying to move it so it would stop chafing her breasts. She pinned the iPhone to the waistband of her navy blue pants that were all cut up down the legs. A white colored metal headset wrapped around the back of her head, and circled up over and into her ears.
"Apology accepted," she said as she ran her hand along the guardrail, walking towards the escalator column inside the Sixth Block. She smiled to a man walking by her, and dodged between two gnomes she hadn't seen who had previously been holding hands as man and wife. She ignored their complains as she made her way up the escalator and Kenneth made an exasperated gasp.
"I did not apologize!" he yelled. "You freaking looted my corpse!"
"Your money is tied to your being, Kenny. I couldn't steal your wallet or anything, because it's one of those things that's always with you… like my backpack is a duffle bag, and even though it's not on me, it's still mine, and it holds all my stuff," she said, jumping over the wall at the top and onto the third floor.
"So you left your guns at home, huh?" he asked, and she stopped for a moment. She sighed, thinking she said something she shouldn't, but thinking it shouldn't matter if he doesn't know where she is. "Yeah, I heard that," he said. "You have any idea how much a shotgun to the head hurts?"
"More but shorter than having a Giant Crocodile rip apart your legs?" she asked, running her right foot up and down the back of her left leg, feeling her pants rub against her scars there. "Anyway, I need to train up, Kenny. Feel free to waist your time trying to find me," she said, hanging up on him.
"I already did," came Kenneth's voice from behind her at the direction of the escalator. Stephanie sighed, turning around slowly to look at Mr. Baker, she leaned back against the railing taking in his appearance. He was dressed in an orange and blue Gi that looked a little too much like what Guko wore in Dragonball Z. She smiled and shook her head, laughing to herself as he asked, "What's so funny?"
"You watch too much anime," she said, sighing. "Well, I have better things to do than waste my time with you, Kenny. You're really about two steps away from being a stalker," she said, taking a single step forward from the rail, and leaning forward into a slight kneel. Her tail went up behind her as she put one arm more behind her, her other one lifting her hand forward at him as she waved him on. "Come on!"
Kenneth took one step, then another, having already been killed by her twice today. He took in a breath, his hands up in some kind of martial arts pose, and took a running charge at her. Instead of leaping over him as he'd expected her to do, Stephanie kicked off the side railing just behind her and slid on her knees through Kenneth's legs.
Kenneth stumbled forward, trying to grab her as she went through his legs, but failing. He hit the railing, his arms over the side. He slammed a fist into the railing and swung around, watching her as she jumped up to her feet and turned around. She sprung on him too quickly, though, flipping forward, her hands on the floor, she kicked into his chest with both feet, and he flailed on the railing, almost falling.
Stephanie's speed was almost on par with his, and her ability to dodge was as-yet unmastered. Still, landing on her back on her tail kind of hurt, but she thought this a better position than a stand up fight. And so it was, when Kenneth's arms went up as he lost his balance, his back against the railing, she reached out with her left foot and kicked his legs out from under him.
Kenneth's legs went sideways and then up in the air, his body jerking as he tried to react but did so the wrong way. His head went back, and he started falling. Smacking his arm on the second floor railing instead of grabbing it, he landed in a rack of spears outside a weapon's shop of the first floor of the Black Market district.
His scream of terror and pain was cut off by each one of the spears shooting up through different portions of his body, puncturing his organs and breaking his bones… his flesh ripped and snagged on the spears, his blood gushing out onto the floor as only an AO-Rated or M-Rated Game could manage.
Stephanie cackled a good laugh as she looked over the third floor of the mall down at his body as his life left his eyes. She wiped a tear from her eye, then sucked in a breath, going back to calm as she turned around and waved at the people nearby.
"I can't believe you just did that!" a woman off to her side yelled out. Stephanie slowly turned her head to look at black woman wearing a red dress. She had small breasts, and black hair tied back in a ponytail behind her. She looked shocked as she continued, "This is a shopping mall, not an arena!"
Stephanie blinked, thinking that--besides Kenneth--this was the first other Player she'd come across. She smiled and waved to her, and turned to enter the Suite 2612 which was her whole purpose for heading this way… not to get into a fight, and not to dillydally talking to PC's.
There was a front room in this little shop, black and dark brown, lined with photos of things that looked like superheroes and things that looked like cyborgs or robots. There was a desk with no one at it and an old-style cash register. On the desk sat a little metal service bell, and she walked over and tapped it twice.
Looking back behind her, she sat down on one of the chairs who's back was facing the window and the mall passageway just outside. She crossed her legs as she leaned forward, waiting on someone (anyone) to exit the big black door behind the counter. It took a few minutes, but eventually it did swing open, and the owner stepped out front.
He was just a little taller than she was and the only other character she'd seen who was the same 'race'. He was also an anthropomorphic skunk, though his form was almost entirely black. There was a goatee of sorts at his chin in white fur, and his eyebrows were almost white. Presumably under his clothing he had a continuation of the white fur from under his chest and down his belly. His tail was extra fluffy, but the end of it looked like it had been ripped off in a fight at some point, mostly a nub with a few hairs of fur growing back on it.
He moved his red-tinted goggles up from his eyes and up to his head to push back his spiky black hair out of his eyes. His smile went a little crooked as he took in her form, as he himself looked to be teenager in appearance. He wore blue blue overalls and a white shirt with a mechanic's belt around his waist. He stepped up to the counter and looked over at her, taking in all of her form.
Denise watched the man, thinking that he'd never been treated with that kind of look before. It wasn't a simple lusting or being female, this guy thought he had found a kindred spirit or something. He looked like he appreciated Stephanie's mere presence than anything else. "May I help you?" he asked.
Stephanie smiled and stood up, stepping over to the desk. "Yes," she said, "I was wondering…"