[PRP] Odds and Evens

[BlackFireKitsune]

The grunt continued to stay silent as the odd pair continued, the jester obviously trying to buy... something from the giantess of a woman. He was more curious about what Rouge wanted to buy rather than who this strange, large person was that had seemingly come out of no where. ...really, though, they'd walked right into her, it wasn't as if she'd jumped out from somewhere. Honestl--

"Qué?" Inigo was suddenly forcefully pulled into the conversation during the pause while Rouge presumably counted the money it was probably - possibly? - going to give this 'Mini' person. "Ah, uh, hola..?" He offered hesitantly, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. The teen wasn't at all sure about what this sudden statement meant. Special deal..? Deal on what? And how..? The whole situation made him feel rather uneasy.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Mini blinked, and Rouge made a sound at the back of the throat that was either a cut-off snort, or something was stuck. Mini glanced back at the clown. "You're making friends with Hawaiians?"

"Ahh, Mini, my dear," Rouge responded in an almost whimsical tone. As it spoke, the jester lifted both hands in the air with a flourish, while at the same time walking backwards with one foot setting down smoothly behind the other. "Allow me to introduce my recent acquaintance," the clown stopped directly to Inigo's left, and waved at him with both hands as though presenting a game show prize. It finished by crossing the heels, left hand on hip, and right arm crooking at the elbow to prop the clown's smaller body against the taller Grunt's shoulder, "Spanish." Even with only the mouth visible, the clown looked very smug and confident over this.

Then Rouge seemed to pause and think for a moment. "Tauros knows if I can understand what he just said, though." Rouge shrugged at the monotone statement.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Hawai--what?

Both his eyebrows rose in surprise, but both descended a short time later -- only for one to raise again at Rouge's behavior. Though, to be entirely honest, he wasn't even too surprised by whatever the jester did anymore. The nickname he'd been given, like Mini's, also didn't surprise him.

"Just said hello," the grunt offered, shrugging the shoulder Rouge wasn't leaning on. Shrugging both would've displaced the elbow currently residing on that shoulder, and he didn't want to be rude. "Nice to, ah, meet you.." Should he call her Mini? That was an.. odd nickname for her, to be sure, and he wasn't sure if she even wanted the jester to call her that...  

[Catzandbirdz]

Inigo wouldn't be able to see it, but the clown was giving him the closest thing to a sideways look that the mask would allow. Not everyday you found someone who could take an encounter with someone like Mini in stride.

Mini straightened with a chuckle. "What's the matter, boy? You haven't forgotten what Jack here called me less than a minute ago already, have you?" She was watching Inigo intently, but she held out her hand toward Rouge with her palm up. Shrugging again, Rouge stepped away from Inigo and lightly clapped a hand down on Mini's, leaving behind the bills that were due. Mini started flipping through the money while seeming to wait for a response. Now she was just flat out messing with him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Both eyebrows raised again. "Claro qué no," he replied, moving his raised hand to pat Oriana gently. Poor thing was trying to hide behind his shoulder. "D'you always go by 'Mini'?" It still seemed like an odd name to go by, and definitely not the name her parents had given her. Now jester, on the other hand...

He still seemed oblivious of the fact that people would normally react much differently when meeting a person like this. Ether of them, actually.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Mini's face split with an amused, devious smirk, aimed directly at Inigo. She tucked the money away into the low scoop neck of her top. "Depends on the audience. Now, if you've come along down this back way for some of my other services..."

Almost magically, Rouge had reappeared at Inigo's side and resumed the earlier pose of casually leaning against him via elbow. "Spanish here's a fan of a different sport, I'm afraid."

"Ain't that how it always goes?" Despite the wording, Mini didn't seem at all put off by the news, whatever it had meant. "A'well. Since you're one of Jack's, Mini works just fine. Just don't go over using it, now," she warned. This was followed by tossing a medium-sized zip-lock bag to Rouge, which was caught by one hand. If Inigo were to look at it, the clear plastic would show a mix of various items contained within, the most obvious being the bottle of white costume make-up and black patch of cloth. Mini pointed to the bag and Rouge in unison. "Not everyone approves of folks who associate with this clown." Rouge merely grinned wider.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo didn't seem to understand her question, if the raised eyebrow and vaguely confused look was any indication, but when Rouge suddenly appeared at his side again - wait, when did it leave in the first place? - he looked at the clown with both eyebrows raised partway. What was...? Well, the clear plastic made it easy to see the contents; supplies, which wasn't surprising at all because the jester had to get them somewhere, and he kind of doubted Jack could steal all of those so easily.

He had been about to ask why people wouldn't approve of 'this clown' but stopped before actually asking when he realized people didn't usually associate with or even like thieves and pickpockets. He offered Mini a shrug instead. "Okay." To be perfectly honest, this rather.. Robust woman was starting to unnerve him a little, and he was beginning to wonder when the clown, and therefore himself, leave.  

[Catzandbirdz]

All of a sudden, Rouge stood upright and clapped both gloved hands together. The baggie made a sad "thwump" sound from being caught in the middle. "RIGHT! Well, that's all said and dandy. Best we be skedaddle-ing. Things to see, people to... not see. You know how it is." Mini merely nodded, still looking as amused as ever by the antics while at the same time well accustomed to it.

Rouge tugged at Inigo's sleeve, the only indication the clown would be giving to follow before it set forth. Passing Mini, the clown gave and bow of the chin and raised a hand as though to tip a hat to the woman. "Safe travels, luv." To Inigo, the farewell would likely sound as casually odd as the rest of the encounter. But to the more familiar ear, there was the undertone of an advisory caution. This time, Mini rolled her eyes and nodded again.

"Same to you, dear."

"Come, Spanish! Onward!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

What was.. Ah, they were leaving now - good, this whole encounter was starting to get more than a little awkward. With a nod and a polite "adios" to the large woman, Inigo followed after the clown quite readily. Oriana still clung to his upper arm, so he reached up and gave the small bell-like pokemon a pat on the head and murmured a few comforting words to her in Spanish.

"So, what now?" He asked after a few minutes of blindly following the same clown who had stolen his wallet. Why he trusted this jester is anybody's guess. Seriously.  

[Catzandbirdz]

Rouge's face-splitting grin returned as the clown marched. "The question of the hour."

A couple of turns later, the clown stopped short, and once again spun to face Inigo. The back of the gloved wrists went to its hips, and in a low pitch and tone, Inigo was asked, "Well, Spanish? What. now?" If Inigo were to look around, he would see that the jester had led him straight to the walkways on the waterfront, in an area just off from the docks and which didn't seem to gather as much traffic or the touristy bunch as with much of the rest of the city. Rouge didn't look to the water lapping at the cement barrier some yards away and some more yards down.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo continued to quite readily follow the clown through the less traveled avenues of Camphoreon, that is until they started walking towards a more watery area. He still followed, of course - he still had the blanket slung over one shoulder - but he couldn't help the furtive glances he kept giving to the water as they continued.

Suddenly 'Jack' stopped, so Inigo did as well (albeit it was a bit of a delayed reaction) although he couldn't look directly at the jester for long. His green eyes kept straying to the water that was so freaking close. "Ah.. Oh." Blanket, right. He pulled it off his shoulder with one hand and offered it, once more, to the clown. "You still haven't taken the present I got for you," he said in hesitant tones, almost as if it were a suggestion instead of a statement.

Oh Arceus, why had they stopped this close to the water?  

[Catzandbirdz]

The grin faded a notch. Behind the mask, a questioning frown was forming. It wasn't hard for a clown with questionable sanity to notice a change in the weird blanketman's demeanor. Something to do with the location, no doubt, given the more frequent glances toward the oceanic horizon instead of the bustling city. That, or he was really just that awkward about his blankets. "Didn't ask for it. No such things as presents, only exchanges."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I know you didn't ask," he replied easily, trying to force himself to focus on the jester instead of the water, "and it is a present. I don't want anything in return, except that hopefully you'll use it so you won't be cold." If that even counted as something legitimate he could actually want.

Oriana continued to watch the exchange as she stayed close to Inigo's shoulder. He wasn't cold, nor was she, but the odd person was just wearing that odd outfit. The poor human had to be cold - and blankets were so nice and warm...  

[Catzandbirdz]

The clown stood in silence, studying. A hidden frown was forming behind the dark mask. Just what was this strange blanket person's problem?

Finally, the jester bounced once on booted heels, spun 90 degrees to face away from the water, and marched with arms behind the back to a set of benches. "Neee-weoop." Once there, it stepped, straight-legged, onto the seat of the bench, and then another step to stand on tip-toes on the slated backrest. Another bench was back-to-back with the ocean-facing bench, but the clown just stayed on the back of the first.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo watched with his head tilted very slightly - at this point, nothing the clown did came as any surprise to him. An odd person doing odd things consistently enough was deemed normal behavior, but if an odd person who usually did odd things stopped doing odd things, then he would be concerned.

He waited a few moments before following and sitting in the ocean-facing bench (that way he could face it and it couldn't sneak up on him or pull a fast one, as impossible as he knew it was). He would've flopped into it, but he didn't want to sit too roughly for fear of knocking the jester off-balance. The brown teen debated on what to say for a few moments before he half-turned his head to look up at the mask, with more a side-glance than giving it his full attention. "Why not?"