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The Aekea Shopping Center is nothing more than a glorified outlet mall, in which manufacturers sell their products directly to the public through their own store brands. Other stores located here are operated by retailers selling returned goods and discontinued products, often at heavily reduced prices. Clothing, sporting goods, electrical products, cosmetics, and toys are among the types of items sold here.

Outlet malls can also be attributed as a factory outlet: a store attached to a factory or warehouse, selling surplus stock at discounted prices.

Therefore, many Gaians find themselves driving all the way out to Aekea merely for the savings they can find.

Sending a message to Gamma as they seemed to be verging back together, "Let's sweep back to our starting point. There's nothing here." Starting up his system he moved back to the south, leaving the area on fire behind him. Random destruction, how he enjoyed it.

Enter, stage South, popping the last of his pack of antacid tablets. Those things usually took forever to work anyway. Man, he shouldn't have run so soon with beans and jerky in his stomach, but it couldn't really be helped; he was on a schedule of sorts. Begin the same old routine.

"Excuse me, did you see some... balls of light drop out of the sky around here?

"Hm? Sorry, no... no idea what you're talking about."

Next person. "Balls of light? What... no."

One woman threw money at Lazenca's feet and hurried off, clutching her purse close to her. After a moment of being annoyed for being mistaken for a bum, Laz pocketed the cash. Looks like there was nothing here. Eh, time to leave town.

"Man, Rick, I tell ya... wierd crap."

"A clock. Really now... you're drunk. It's too early to be drunk like this Clyde, we talked about this. I'm not bailing you out again..."

"Oh, shut up. I'm serious, there was a damn CLOCK on a TRICYCLE. No legs to walk on, no feet to pedal the legs. But as clear as we're here, that thing was going."

An ear perked, and a brow rose.

"You're so full of it."

"Aww, what do you know? You weren't even there."

"Excuse me..." Lazenca had come up to the man telling the story, interrupting as politely as possible. "You say you saw a... clock, on a bike?"

"What, you weren't there? Yeah... over yonder, down the way." The man pointed. "Dunno if it's still there; someone probably picked it up and hauled off. Myself, I'm not getting tangled with that magic and bad voodoo."

"Don't tell me you believe him?"

Lazenca nodded slowly "Sir, you'd be suprised what can happen in what I'm dealing with. Thanks both, for your help." A semi-salute into the air, and Lazenca turned to the way the man pointed.

Lack of tricycle noted, but more noted was that there was a clock sitting on presents. A few people around murmered about it- those who had seen how the clock got up there. Maybe it was magic, someone put it up and stole the trike, or others thought that this clock was the reincarnation of some Time God and created a makeshift altar, placing the timekeeper up top.

No, that last one was too stupid.

Upon approach, Lazenca walked around the pile, eyeing them, getting a general feel of what he was dealing with. Though not a good aura reader, he'd been twice exposed to the energy that he was supposed to be on a lookout for, and would be able to at least recognize that it was around. It was likely that he'd find it in the anthromorhpic clock, but perhaps the presents? Ah, he didn't need anything blowing up in his hands just yet.

Assuming the coast was clear and all the such, Laz would reach over the pile and pick up the clock from behind, to not alert it. If it was able to move, he didn't need the thing running off.

A living, talking bird? That helped explain things, after Laz went to 'cartoon logic'. This kinda thing happened in cartoons, you see- the cuckoo birds were sometimes alive. Sometimes crazy, but that thankfully didn't seem to be the case.

"Relax... come back out, please? I'm just looking for something... I'm not going to eat you or anything like that." He turned the clock around so that the cuckoo's door was actually facing him.

...Message? That altered nursery rhyme was the message?

"I just ate... and my stomach hurts. Trust me, I'm in no mood to eat you right now. Now... Ring around the roses, pocket full of posies. Ashes ash, the centaur falls down. Was that the message? What does that mean?"

Roses, posies, petals. Look for roses, posies, and centaurs in the same area? Man, saving the universe and all was a major headache. "If it's a message, then you know what's happening. Can't you tell me where any magical petals or recently-fallen balls of light are?"

"I see. One last question, and then I'll leave you be. What's in all the present boxes?"

"Ah... that's really nice of you... tell them hello, from the wolf-guy you randomly met on the street."

He gently put the birdcage down, and only after the avial was finished did he take a single box from the top of the pile. Perhaps he could use this to have shin guards or new bracers made. With a whispered word of thanks- because he didn't want to bother the bird more than he had to, he looked 'dataways,' where the void was supposed to be.

Wasn't the bird worried about others stealing its presents? Maybe it was the randomocity of it all that was keeping others at bay.

"Finally... maybe my luck will turn around." A nod to himself, and he left. Exit, stage "Dataway."