[Mini... START!] * Mariah squints, but overall she doesn't seem displeased. Quite the contrary, actually. "Man, I've been inside too long..." Studying too much? Studying, practicing, cramming tactics... all of it, I guess. * Arthur starts slowly down the mountain, not really paying much attention to his feet. Yeah, it sorta bogs down sometimes. The practice especially. Maybe I've just been cramming too much. You should join the student dueling association. Plenty of practice, and not so much time. * Mariah nods. "I've been thinking about it. That, and some other after-school stuff... dunno what my teammates'll say about it, though." Get them to join, too. You could try fighting one of the sophomores. -THAT- is a real test of your power. * Arthur steps off the mountain onto the street and heads for the crosswalk. * Mariah follows behind. "Sophomores, huh? I wouldn't have a chance, but... it'd be a thing just to see them fight." * Arthur turns a corner off the main strip, back towards a more residential area. "Yeah, they're really good. I think you could take one of the weaker ones, on a good day, though." I dunno, if they can make it to sophomore year... ... hey, where are we going? Grocery store. It's better for getting food than the places on the strip. There's another option if you want to get out more, too. Man, the *grocery store*? .. that sounds like a good idea. How weird. It's no piggly-wiggly, but it'll do. I dunno, every Piggly-Wiggly I've ever been in has been pretty grody. But hey, whatever. I meant as far as selection goes, actually. Ohhh. Okay. * Arthur turns a corner and heads into a small corner grocer, but it's big enough to have what you're looking for, and appears, from what you can see, to stock food from all over the world. * Mariah looks around. "... hey, this place is pretty good!" * There's nothing terribly obscure, but the major regional snack foods from every major country are represented, along with a fair number of the minor countries. Yeah, they have a really good selection for their size. Probably because Battle High gets students from all over. Makes sense... hmm. What to get.. * Arthur grabs a massive value pack of Pocky(r) off a shelf as he passes, along with a bag of Nacho Cheesier(r) Doritos(r) Karasu wanted popcorn, right? Yeah -- white cheddar, I think he said? Something like that. * Mariah looks over the shelves and finally decides on a bag of apple chips. * Arthur reaches up and grabs a bag of white cheddar popcorn, then. "If this isn't the right kind, he can do the shopping next time." It's Karasu. I don't think he's gonna mind... Yeah, probably not. What kind of soda? I dunno, what do they have? Um... all the really popular brands, some Spanish stuff that looks kinda odd, too. There's some Japanese or Chinese stuff, but I don't know what the heck it is. * Mariah heads over to the soda case to check for herself. "Huh. Wild. I'm gonna try something different." She grabs one of the more benign-looking Japanese varieties. * Arthur shrugs and grabs two litre bottles of Coke, Pepsi, and Sprite, and a couple bottles of the odd looking Spanish orange soda. Anything else? This should be plenty, I think. Yeah, it seems like enough to me. I was just trying to remember if anyone else had any requests.. * Arthur nods and heads up for the cashier. "I don't remember anything else." * Mariah nods. "If we missed something, people are just going to have to deal." * Arthur sets the snacks on the counter and waits for the cashier to finish ringing them up. Anyway, about this getting out problem you have... Yeah? What about it? Well, if you like, we could go out on the town on friday. .. hmm. I dunno; this week is gonna be so busy that I'm not sure how I'll feel about going out. I mean... yeah. You know all the stuff. * Arthur flinches. "Sure, busy week. Next week's even worse, too, what with midterms." I mean.. I'd like to if everything goes well, but I don't even know how today's gonna go. * Mariah seems a little nervous. What do you mean? Well... when Ao-Lang hears. * Arthur turns and forks over some cash without really looking at the amounts. You'll do fine. Have faith in yourself. I dunno. I'm gonna try, but it seems like every time I stand up around here I just get pounded down again. Then now's the perfect time to break the trend. * Arthur grabs the four bags of snacks and starts for the door. .. yeah, you make it sound easy. It's never easy, here. Oh, I know that much. I'm just.. getting tired. Of fighting?! * Arthur makes it sound like that's the strangest thing you could possibly have said. Not of fighting. Of the obsession about who wins and who loses. Oh. I suppose. [Mini... end!]