A Pleasant Stroll [Invite]

At the exact moment that Delia was emptying out her knapsack and panicking over not having her wallet, Donût was dancing his way down the street.  In addition to his always-present cheapo sunglasses, he was wearing a pair of canvas sneakers, some thrift-store jeans, and a pink "Badman" polo shirt that he wore over a black tank-top.  Out of the front right pocket of his jeans came a chord... that split into a pair of earbuds that got lost somewhere in the mane of hair that flowed from the top of his head.  Said mane was whipping and flowing and bouncing about in time with Donût's own dance moves.



He hopped... he skipped... he moonwalked at a certain point... pointed, head-bobbed, the whole nine-yards.  And he was very, VERY much in his own world as he did so.  Therefore, it came as quite a surprise when a skinny woman with about half-a-foot of height on him appeared from nowhere with tears in her eyes.  She was screaming and shouting about... her wallet?

Donût reached up his left hand to his left ear to pull a single earbud free.  His right hand, meanwhile, reached into his pocket to turn off the sick tunes he was listening to.  After a quick fumbling on the touch-screen for the pause icon, he managed to get his tunes stopped and was able to properly listen to the tail-end of Delia's cry for help.

Now, even when he wasn't wearing his Mister Steel costume, Donût was far from a passive man.  He'd worked far too long on his muscles and chest hair to let someone in need down!  So, with all the subtlety and tact that the situation called for, Donût was prepared to ask...

"Do you uh... need help findin' yer wallet?"

Donût shook his head and raised his hands up in front of his face, palms out.

"Woah, no way, lady!  I wus just walkin' down tha street when I heard ya screamin' is all."

With that, the hairy little buff man took a single step back.  To try and get out of punching range.  Or, at least, give himself a bit of extra time to block or dodge if Delia threw a punch or a kick his way.  While he did that, Donût looked about at the confused crowd that was starting to gather.  This could turn into a scene very, very quickly.  And if the woman was armed, or worse ki-trained, said scene could get very, VERY ugly.

Therefore, Donût dug deep and tried to recall whatever scraps of conflict resolution he'd been taught in school, by life, and through books.  He knew from experience that outright telling someone to calm down or relax would often have the opposite effect.  But people tended to respond positively to offers of small kindnesses and requests to do things like... think about blue skies, take deep breaths, or focus on some small task that would help them accomplish their goal.  So, Donût focused on putting together a nice sentence in his head, and spoke slowly and calmly.

"Howsabout I get ya sum water and a snack, and you try ta remember tha last time ya saw yer wallet.  Sound good?"

Donût capped his question with a thumbs-up and a gentle smile.  Maybe this would work?  Or... wait... had the advice been to tell the person to remain calm outright?  Had he screwed this whole thing up?

"Cooley-McDooleys!  One water, comin' right up!"

As Donût replied to Delia, he gave a thumbs up and wandered over to the nearby vending machines.  The source of, and solution to, the tail-less Saiyan's current woes.  Once he arrived at the little roofed-over, public vending machine, Donût pulled out his own wallet, a simple black leather job with a chain attaching it to his jeans.  From said wallet, he produced a 1,000 Zeni bill.  Then, he lined it up with the machine's bill slot and fed it in.  There was a light whirr... a grinding... and then the bill slid back out the slot.

Donût pursed his lips and stroked his goatee as he pulled the bill free to check it.  A single corner had been folded down at some point.  Which probably messed with the machine's laser-reader.  He grunted and liiiightly unfolded the corner, smoothing over the fold with his forefinger and thumb.  Then, he put the bill back into the slot.

Once more, the bill disappeared, only to reappear again.  The machine still would not accept his Zeni.  Donût grumbled and took the bill out of the slot, before grabbing both sides of the piece of the note.  Once he had a firm hold, he put the center of the note against the corner of the machine and began to rub and grind the thing... to smooth out ANY wrinkles that the note might have developed.

Another attempt was made to feed the bill to the machine.  Yet again, it failed.  Donût's eye twitched and he pulled his sunglasses up and off of his eyes to peer at the machine.  It was then that he noticed the little, index-card-sized sign which read as follows, 'No notes at this machine, only coins or cards accepted.'

He sighed, then rummaged into his pockets for a few coins... And he pulled out a 100 Zeni, and a 50 Zeni coin.  Enough for one bottle of water!  He fed one coin, then the other into the little slot with a clink and a clank.  A quick button-press later and Donût FINALLY had the elusive water bottle.  That was the first struggle down!

He turned about and looked at the bent-over Saiyan woman.

"ALRIGHTY!  One bottle of water... an' yeah, there's a COUPLE lost-and-founds around.  But ya said tha last place ya saw it wus yer hotel?  Howsabout we start there, with their lost-and-found?  Then we can sorta trace yer path back ta here from there, an' check along tha way!"

Donût passed the bottle of water as soon as the open hand was held out.  Then, he stroked his goatee while he listened to Delia's explanation.  So, she'd already had to go back to check the hotel's lost and found, AFTER she would have lost her wallet.  Therefore, that location could be eliminated from the search.  Now, the wallet could have been lost anywhere between those two locations, especially if Delia had needed to pay for any services.  Services like a taxi-cab or rideshare, food and drink, the bus, buying a nice hat, getting some more sunglasses, etcetera, etcetera.

If he knew where the hotel was, Donût was pretty sure they could plot a route all the way from there to the vending machine and look over the whole area.  Or, alternatively, they could search in ever widening circles from the vending machine to look for some sort of thief.  But that would-

"Huh?  Oh, uh... Well m'name's Donût.  Technically Donût the Second, since I wus named after ma Granpa, but just "Donût" works just fine.  That 'er "Nût".  Though, some folks know me by a second name.."

Donût began what was clearly a well-rehearsed routine as he sent forth a flurry of jabs at open air in a direction away from Delia.  The jabs moved so fast that most people wouldn't have been able to even follow them, it would have just been his arm disappearing into a blur of motion.

"THE UNBREAKABLE..."

He leaped up HIGH into the air, so high that he cleared a two story building and earned a few gasps from random onlookers.

"MISTER..."

He landed on the tips of his sneakered toes, with arms outstretched to either side and a big grin on his face.

"STEEEEEEEEEEEL!"

He stood with a big grin on his face for a few moments after that, as if waiting for Delia to recognize him.  Even though she had no reason to.  Once he'd waited enough, Donût sighed and complied with the second request.  Out went everything in his pockets.  And that meant EVERYTHING.  His phone, his earbuds, his charging chord, his wallet and chain, some smaller denomination Zeni coins, pocket lint, a cool rock he'd found that day, a paper-clip for some reason, and a plastic frog keychain with no keys.  Once he'd shown Delia each and every item he had on him, the buff little man started to put it all back.

"So uh... wut's yer"

THE UNBREAKABLE MISTER STEEL... sighed again as he got further proof that his introduction had not garnered the intended effect on his audience.

"Donût is fine..."

He went back to stuffing his possessions back into his pockets in a somewhat haphazard way, while Delia began to introduce herself.  Now, while Donût had failed to impress the Saiyan girl, he was actually rather impressed with Delia's showy introduction.  He grinned and clapped with now-empty hands as soon as she lifted her leg and winked from behind her victory/peace sign.  As he applauded the young lady, the buff little man replied.

"With an intro like that, I don't think I'll ever ferget it!"

He chuckled, then began to puzzle and ponder.  Where WOULD be a good place to start?  Perhaps the road into town?  Or tracking back from the vending machine.  He rubbed and stroked at his goatee, picking at a few loose hairs that fell from his chin...  His eyes wandered about up and down behind his sunglasses.  He could maybe get a better vantage point from the rooftops, but a wallet was a small thing.  So would they be able to pick out the fine details of its existence when they were further removed from the street?  Would they-?

Donût pointed at the ground behind Delia as he noticed something small and vaguely wallet-shaped was on the ground behind her feet.

"Hey uh... should we start with that thing behind ya?"

Once more, when Delia pointed her finger at Donût, Donût raised his hands defensively and shook his head. 

"I didn't take it, Delia!  I swear ta ya!  Besides, I wus too enthralled by yer routine ta toss yer wallet from in front of ya without ya noticin'!  Although..."

He put a hand to his chin and stroked his goatee while he pondered and puzzled their conundrum aloud.

"It is kinda weird that tha thief, whoever they wus, just dropped yer wallet off right behind ya while neither'f us saw it.  It's also kinda weird fer sumbody that stole yer wallet ta just return it without takin' anything out of it..."

Another few moments passed, and Donût's brows furrowed over the rims of his shades.  A finger on his free hand scratched on his scalp, the hand on his goatee began to fiddle with individual hairs.

"Unless..."

His hands stopped fiddling with the hair on his face and head.  The palm of his right hand was instead laid facing up, and his left hand formed a fist to fly down into the upraised palm.

"We're dealin' with sum sorta criminal mastermind that's just doin' this sorta thing fer kicks!  Takin' wallets, causin' distress, then returnin' them in such a way that makes tha victim question reality!  It's tha perfect crime..."

Donût's eyes peered around the street, taking stock of the people walking this way and that.  There were a few aliens, some Zoans, and dozens upon dozens of humanoid Earthlings just going about their business.  Some were dressed for work in suits and uniforms, others were in casual wear enjoying a day off...  Any one of them could have been the thief.  NONE of them could have been the thief, with the thief having beaten a hasty retreat.

"It may not be safe ta keep talkin' out in tha open like this.  Where anyone can see 'er hear...  This guy might be watchin' us RIGHT NOW..."

Donût joined Delia in her search up and down the street for the possible thief.  He looked in the harder-to-reach places.  Sewer drains along the curb, smaller trash-cans, underneath cars, inside of cars...  He and the Saiyan girl probably looked like absolute maniacs to everyone.  Especially whenever Steel "investigated" under and behind random passers-by on the street, lifting them up and out of the way of his eyes before setting them gently upon the ground again.  Police were called, they were on their way by the time Delia waved goodbye.

In turn, the young Donût waved back and began to go on his way.

"I will!  An' no worries, that's why I have tha chain!"

With that, he leaped over the top of the nearest building.  He still had a few errands to run for his family, and the search for that elusive thief had made him a bit late to pick up the dry-cleaning!

Meanwhile, in a place of hidden shadow, Pickpo, the world's greatest pickpocket stared with narrow eyes at the departing heroes.  He scratched the stubble on his chin with his unnaturally long fingers, wondering... wondering how they had caught on to his little game...



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