that next stage is scheduled to drop in less than five hours
if you want, we can cooperate a minimal encounter of the next driving segment (assuming our times are close enough) or something in the next camp (stage 7 camp)
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YOU ARE GONE IN THE WIND
KOOOOOOOOOOOKORO NI WA TSUMUJIKAZE NO TOBIRA E TSUDZUKU KORIDOOOOOOOOOOOO HIDAMARI NI KAMIWOTOKASU IMA DEMO KIMI WA SOKO NI IRU FURIMUITA SAKAMICHI NAMIDA SAE MISENAIDE SATTE ITTA HAAAAARUKA TOOOOOOOOI HI NO USHIROSUGATA NANTE YASASHIKU YOMIGAERU IN THE WIND IN THE WIND YOU'RE GONE IN THE WIND AI WA SUNA NO YŌ NI BOKU NO YUBI NO SUKIMA O KOBORETEITTA KEREDO IMA MO KOKORO NI WA TSUMUJIKAZE NO TOBIRA E TSUDZUKU KORIDŌ TŌI HIBI E NO KORIDŌ TŌI HIBI E NO KORIDŌ IN THE WIND IN THE WIND YOU'RE GONE IN THE WIND
BLAZERS
x
BLACK RABBIT CORP.
These series of stage were written alongside @Tzuyu_main.
Samiraie, a seaside jewel awash with splendor and debauchery, with a nightlife as active as its economy. Pearly walls and buildings tower over either side of the immaculately-kept brick roads bustling with activity, through which a salty breeze blew.
“Crikey!” Mel fell limp against the steering wheel and groaned loudly. “Last again. Just brilliant. And nearly two hours after the team before us!”
“Itai!” Tanuki winced as she kicked her door open and crawled out of her seat, falling limp onto the ground. “These seats are way too uncomfortable and the suspension really gave me a beating! Also, why the hell were we so slow again? Weren’t the roads in much better condition this time?”
Unbuckling her race harness and casting it off with a loud clatter, Mel slumped back and stretched her arms and legs out. “Must be that the suspension bushings are fucked… the ride shouldn’t be this bad. And maybe if someone didn’t forget their oh-so-beloved shotgun, we would’ve saved a couple of hours!”
“Whatever,” Tanuki pouted. “I’m tired and hungry. Hey, remember that tavern we passed on the way? Want to go check it out?”
“At least one of us has to remain sober! And I’m not the kind to get shitfaced in the middle of the day!” Mel snapped back.
“Your loss.” Tanuki brushed herself off and leaned inside the open right side window, grabbing her trusty SIG and her wallet. Mel wasn’t sure what use a currency from Earth would serve in this strange land, but then again, nothing Tanuki did would make much sense initially. “So, what are you going to do, Mel?”
“I’m beat, but not knackered. I think I might check out the beach. I’m not much of a forest person, so this is a nice change of pace,” Mel answered. “Ever been to Gold Coast in Queensland? I used to roadtrip there every summer with my oldies way back in the day. Plenty of great stops along the way like Sydney, Canberra, hell, Katoomba even, but the journey there is only the start. It’s sort of like Australian Hollywood! Great for surfing, so it’s really popular with the Yanks, and some really nice pubs. But you don’t just go there to get absolutely hammered. It’s all about the beach and the surf!”
“Very interesting,” Tanuki nodded. She smiled under her mask and gave two farewell taps to the roof of the Dauer. “Try not to get yourself killed! I’d better see you here by sunset!” She took off through the open city gates and quickly disappeared into the crowd, never to be seen again for the next few hours.
…
Mel ran behind thick tropical undergrowth, far away so that no stray pair of eyes would ever find their way to her bare skin. Some minutes later, she emerged wearing a white Dauer t-shirt with the tricolor Gothgirl stripe running across that hung loosely over her figure and not much else. Under this thin article of clothing was her favorite two-piece white bikini, something she’d recently picked up days before the start of the rally. Just like the cool gust of the Pacific she was no stranger to back in Adelaide, her eight tiresome hours of aggressive nonstop driving was rewarded with a chilly coastal breeze in which her platinum blonde hair danced and fluttered, causing goosebumps to rise on her arms and neck.
Perhaps she should have changed closer to the beach, for when she walked through Samirarie’s dense alleyways and streets she felt every gaze within a five meter radius intently studying her every move and her scantily-clad figure. The Dauer t-shirt was from her father and big enough to cover most of her assets, but the lower piece of her bikini left nothing to the imagination, and she found herself having to pull the hem of the shirt down to attract less stares.
In spite of what was either genuine curiosity, unsolicited sexual harrassment, or some combination of the two, to say Mel was captivated by Samirarie’s beauty would’ve been a criminal understatement. The layout of the city, the pristine white plaster and marble of its architectural style, and its proximity to the beach all evoked fond memories of vacations in the Aegean island of Santorini. Though it was by far the most modern and economically active settlement they’d reached yet, there was some allure of classical civilizations from a bygone era, and the lively ambiance combined with the mystical affluence of this seaside paradise painted an unmatched picturesque scene that moved Mel to her very soul.
The golden pale sands of the beach finally came into view after a labyrinthine trap of street markets from which mouth-watering aromas emerged and brothels from which foul eye-watering stenches wafted out. It stretched for miles on either side beyond the horizon, with no clear end in sight. Blue waves softly crashed and rolled against the shore into foamy white tides that slid across glossy brown sands. The gust of salty air blew stronger still, and the monotonous gray canopy overhead saw its gaping perforation grow wider and wider through which golden rays of sunlight streamed. Perhaps this was the day Mel would finally get her long-awaited sunny beach escape all to herself, and she wasn’t going to let any bloodthirsty giant wolves ruin this well-deserved, rare opportunity for R&R.
It didn’t take long for Mel to notice one glaring inconsistency, a very familiar red profile that stuck out like a sore thumb from the pale shores it sat upon. It was a Yamada ASR-4, a common sight in suburbs down under, but this one was unlike any other she’d ever seen. Gussied up with comically beefy tires, a lift, round auxiliary lights, a snorkel, and a roof rack, the rally-built crossover looked absolutely outrageous. But Mel knew that these upgrades weren’t just for show, considering how at nearly every stage so far, the Yamada was always at the campsite by the time the Dauer arrived. Indeed, this humble cute red crossover could punch well above its weight class in the right hands.
Mel invariably found herself drawn towards the typical Japanese family hauler in a very atypical location. She wasn’t the only one, and a small passing crowd had formed around the foreign dirt and sand-streaked wheeled contraption. But for some unknown reason, they kept their distance from the strange vessel, and as the down under detective approached, she noticed minute rocking and jerking of the body in spite of its stationary state. The windows weren’t very tinted, but the glare from the increasing sunlight made it nearly impossible to look inside and distinguish anything more specific than general movements of dark shapes.
Though the Yamada remained dormant, its rear right door suddenly flung open, but from where Mel was standing she couldn’t see inside. Suddenly, a foot emerged and touched the white sands, shortly followed by another. The open door hid everything above the shins, but when it was swiftly closed with a slam of authority that rocked the entire vehicle, only then could Mel clearly see what - or who - had just appeared. Blonde hair like the sands of the beach and azure eyes, just like Mel’s. Unlike Mel, however, she was a lot shorter, but far more developed in a certain area of interest; two bountiful volumes of great quantity resided underneath that white one-piece swimsuit that framed a cleavage of biblical breadth, a mammary sea that not even Moses himself could hope to part.
“Nice car you’ve got there!”
Startled by this sudden, unexpected voice, the blonde shortstack turned around to locate its source. “Oh!” she exclaimed. Upon seeing not just a fellow rally team member but another girl, she was no longer so tensed up and relaxed her shoulders. “Salutations!”
“Hello! I don’t believe we are acquainted with each other, are we?” Mel immediately noticed some familiarity with the tongue that she spoke with and the timbe of the syllables and inflections. To the untrained ear, it would’ve just sounded like any other accent of a Commonwealth nation. But being of one herself, she instantly knew otherwise.
“I do not believe so.” Answered the girl, before starting to ask a question of her own. “Judging by the way that you speak, you’re another contestant of the rally, are you not?”
“Yes! Our team drives the Dauer, I’m sure you’ve seen us before. You can’t miss it!”
The girl looked at her with an awkward confusion, quite unusually. “R-right… Dauer, isn’t it?” She scratched the back of her head. “Which colour automobile would that be?”
“Yellow, red, and blue. Surely you know what a Dauer is, right? They’re only some of the most iconic sports cars to come out of Germany, let alone ever made! I can bring it down here later, I’m probably going to have to move it anyways.”
“Dauer…? I sincerely regret informing you, but I had only ever heard of that name on a tank.” She thought for a bit, but with a sigh, she began to speak with a tinge of anxiety. “The thing is, I do not come from the same time period that you come from, or anyone in this rally for that matter.” She said with a face clouded with a slight weariness. “So it is likely that Dauer could have evolved during the time that had passed. I’m sorry.”
“Pardon?” Mel frowned, raising an eyebrow. “Time period? What the hell could you mean by that? It doesn’t look like I’m your senior by many years!”
The girl giggled a little bit. “Time travel really does wonders, doesn’t it? To make a long story short, I was brought to this era by accident, and seeing as there was not much in the way for me to be able to say no, what option did I really have?” She sighed once more.
“Aha, yes, time travel! Of course! Silly me…” Mel laughed once, then sighed. She’d lost far too much sleep arguing with herself over the existence of humanoid animals capable of speech. Now especially was not the time to let space-time conundrums ruin her rare mid-rally vacation. She brushed it off and cleared her throat. “Oh! Where are my manners? What’s your name, miss?”
“Emily, Emily Clarkson. And you must be?” She tilted her head.
“I’m Melanie, but you may just call me Mel! I’m delighted to meet you, Emily!” Mel’s eyes curiously wandered down, past Emily’s face as she looked longingly at one of her most distinctive features. Her breath escaped her as she was utterly taken aback, but she quickly snapped back to reality and reminded herself to inhale and exhale. “By the way, I love your swimsuit! It looks super cute on you!”
“Why, thank you, Melanie! Though, I believe I had been given one a few sizes too small for me…” She tugged on the edge of her swimsuit where her legs emerged, and the fabric instantly snapped back towards her skin with a weighty flop as it contacted the upper part of her thigh at a decently fast velocity. “I’m only borrowing this, after all.” Emily looked over towards the edge of the shore, where a certain black-furred feline and a silver haired girl with a distinctive marine tail were off playing with each other. She turned her head back towards Melanie, now proceeding to scan her from the neck down, she observed her outfit. A white shirt with unfamiliar words printed onto it, and much to her astonishment, a lack of anything underneath except for a white bottom which revealed her rather long and decently toned legs. A couple of thoughts quickly dashed through her head, but dissipated almost as quickly as they came, and her eyes quickly rose back to meet Mel’s. “I hope you do not mind me asking, but surely, you have a top behind that shirt, do you not?” Asked Emily as respectfully as possible, but still slightly confused.
“What, wanna find out?” Mel smiled coyly, rolling her shoulders back and puffing her chest outwards. The Gothgirl and DAUER script was slightly distorted from the curvature, but it was nowhere near as much as Emily’s. She looked around, scanning the coastline to her left and the extravagant seaside estates perched atop rocky cliffs to her right. “Where’s the rest of your team? Surely it’s not just you?”
“Ah, of course… As for my team,” Emily looked back again towards the sea and pointed over towards the two figures playing about on the coast. One of them, a humanoid feline donning a red two-piece bikini, and the other a small child-like girl with a large marine tail in a frilly pink one-piece. “Those two, and two other boys who are most likely drinking their minds off at the local tavern. How about yours?”
“I’m not sure where she went, actually. Probably at the pub as well, in fact!” Mel folded her arms and swayed her hips melodically from side to side. She chose her next words very carefully, despite the subject of her thought not even being present. “Well, there’s no beating around the bush here. She’s the one who recruited me, in fact! She’s also… er… she runs her own security company, yeah.” That explanation would suffice for now, as she didn’t feel like scaring anyone off this early.
The calls of seagull-like avian fauna sounded far over their heads as the surf crashed loudly onto the shore like a roaring clap of thunder.
“Hey, Emily!” Mel put her hands on her hips and leaned forwards. “Can you swim?”
Emily tilted her head a bit and smiled. “Decently well enough, can you?” She smirked.
“Is that a challenge?” A smug grin broke out across Mel’s face as endless thoughts raced in her mind. The day was still young and ripe with possibility, the sun was out, and the cool Mediterranean winds sifted through their shimmering platinum locks of hair. “Then I’ll see you in the water!” she called back as she kicked off her shoes and ran towards the horizon that lay before her, where the azure canopy of the sky dipped below the swelling waves.
Soft mounds of golden sands easily crumbled under the touch of their bare feet. The gradient of the beach went from a blend of pale tan to a sun-kissed latte the closer Mel and Emily got to the water, and the granularity turned into a cool mushiness with moisture that collected between their toes. Finally, they set foot in the shallow waves that broke at the shore and crashed into their ankles. The sting of the seawater was a biting cold, albeit a refreshing one.
“Hey Emily!”
Mel reached down, submerging her hand and making an underhand swipe towards Emily. The detective’s aim was deadly, and a stream of chilly water landed square in Emily’s exposed cleavage. A soft squeal emerged from Emily’s wet and shiny lips, and with a lick from her slick tongue, she quickly retaliated, kicking up a sizable wave towards the taller blonde. “Two can play that game!”
The retaliatory attack splashed directly onto Mel’s chest, and she gasped as the icy liquid soaked her shirt and clung to her skin. To her horror, she looked down and noticed where the water had landed on her shirt, a sizable splotch of fabric was now translucent, perfectly framing her bikini top. The stone of mutually assured destruction was set rolling, and the two girls exchanged rapid swipes or kicks, flinging streaks of water at each other without remorse. Frigid water clung to their tender skin and thoroughly soaked the fabrics that stretched over their slender bodies.
Mel reached down and grabbed the hem of that white Dauer shirt, now soaked, translucent, and clinging to her shapely, toned figure. In a single burst of motion, it was cast off and flung over their heads, carried a great distance by the ocean breeze and landing beside the Yamada that glittered in a vibrant garnet sheen. She arched her back and stretched, now freed from the suffocating weight of the wet t-shirt.
“Emily~” Mel purred, turning towards the buxom British girl. A receding wave rushed from the shore and coursed gently around their ankles. “How come you’re so far away? Come closer!” She dug both of her feet into the moist sand and lunged for Emily.
Emily felt the much larger girl playfully crash into her, and the both of them tumbled down into the shallow waters, with Mel’s arms wrapped around Emily’s waist as the two had a light-hearted tossle on the softly drenched near-white sands of the beach. The shorter girl was determined not to be outdone, however, and quickly struck back as she lifted herself up from the shore bed, pushing Mel over with a large splash as they displaced water away from their landing spots.
Letting out a high-pitched yelp as freezing water splashed all over her back and legs, Mel gritted her teeth and slowly rose to her feet. Her lower lip quivered in the cold breeze, yet the back of her neck was already starting to get roasted from the sun beating down on them overhead. Staring down the stacked English girl, eyes laden with intent, she once again planted her legs in place and prepared to rush her once again. This time, however, Emily was prepared; just before Mel’s body could make contact, her open hands met Emily’s, and they clasped their hands together as they leaned into each other, trying to shift their bodyweight to topple their opponent. Toes curled and heels rooted themselves into the malleable wet sand as crashing waves crescendoed all around them.
As they locked their fingers together over the squabble turned into an impromptu watersports wrestling match, Mel stared intently into Emily’s deep blue eyes that stared right back. “Not bad, Emily! You’ve got some fight in you!”
“Whatever happened to ‘swimming’?” Emily asked playfully as she continued the struggle, continually pushing forward towards one another until their chests met at the middle, squishing and pressing together like a perfect, juicy meat sandwich as their sweat and seawater dripped down their cleavages and mingled in a perfect dressing.
“W-wait! STOP!” Mel squealed and tried to push herself off Emily, almost buckling at the knees; as it turns out, she was quite sensitive in the affected area, and the applied pressure was overwhelmingly stimulatory. Noticing this, she continued thrusting herself towards her, attempting to take advantage of any weakness Mel might have despite Emily’s obvious physical disadvantage. She slid her hands down Mel’s decently built arms, swiftly maneuvering them towards her waist to get even closer and move the battle closer to somewhere the Australian girl wouldn’t expect. Emily’s large chest was now the deciding factor for this decisive battle as they massively overpowered the other girl. The odds began to stack in different ways now, and the stalemate wouldn’t last any longer. The battle was in full climax, and it just wouldn’t stop now.
Every time the contact patch of their skin separated only by thin layers of swimsuit fabric slipped, sparks of lighting shot across Mel’s vision. It was too much for her to handle, and this relentless assault on her senses left her defenseless and unable to break free from the much smaller girl’s vice-like grip.
With a lunge from Emily and a great big splash from the salt-ridden shore, the two toppled themselves down onto the shallow waters from where they once stood.
“Have I won already?” Emily smirked smugly, still resting her bosom atop of Mel’s, and her arms wrapped tightly around the larger girl’s waist which was slowly coming loose.
“Playing dirty, I see?” Flocks of coastal birds flew across the blue canvas that hung over Mel, laying in the sand. She finally yielded to the British girl pinning her down with her legs and two soft somethings that squished together and burst from the corners of her white one piece swimsuit. Locking eyes with the triumphant Emily, Mel sighed with an exasperated smile. “Fine. You win this time!”
The two girls giggled with their gazes separated by mere inches as they lay there on the soft, wet sand with the sea slowly swishing upon them with assistance from the cool sea breeze that chilled their bodies which had drenched in a special compound of the saltiness of the foreign beach and their very own body liquids.
After a short while of intently gazing into one another, Emily was the first to move up, sliding herself off of the larger girl. One she had gotten up, she offered her hand to Mel who still lay there slowly being lapped by the soft waves. “Are you going to get up now, or continue pretending to be part of the shore line?” She snickered.
Mel took Emily’s hand and was hoisted back onto her feet effortlessly, with Emily using her bodyweight as leverage. “Thanks,” Mel said as she tried to brush off the wet sand clinging to her back and hair. The attempt was futile, and she scowled at the feeling of sand dripping off her hair and down her back. It was like quicksand, clumping up and proving impossible to remove once it set in. “Ugh! Give me a moment, I’m going to get this gunk out of my hair.”
She waded her way into deeper and deeper waters, splashes flying out from her legs and knees, making sure to evade any incoming waves either by jumping to keep her head above the water or merely stepping aside. Eventually, she reached a depth where the swelling sea was tall enough to reach above her hips. Waves gently crashed into her exposed tummy, rocking her slightly but lacking the strength to truly throw her balance off. Bending down, the sand dissolved and easily came out of her hair once she submerged it under the water, running her fingers through to remove any foreign media. She flipped her hair back like a whip as she rose to her full height in a majestic, sweeping motion, droplets of water flying off in an arc around her.
Suddenly, a powerful mass of rolling waves slammed into Mel from behind, immediately knocking her off balance and dragging her under the briny seawater. Wrought by confusion and out of breath, Mel opened her eyes to see complete blackness and shifting sands beneath. Strong underwater currents tossed her limp body about like a hamster in a washing machine. Realizing she was completely submerged, she regained her balance by planting both feet on the ground and standing up. Her head broke cover just as the crest of another wave passed, coughing up bitter seawater mixed in with sand that burned her sinuses and eyes. Such gnarly waves, as she probably would’ve said, that she wished she’d brought her surfboard as well!
Mel exhaled violently through her nose to expel the last of the seawater. With every passing wave came a swelling, gentle motion of the water as it slowly returned to equilibrium. Foamy white waters collected around her body, blending in quite well with the milky white hue of her breasts that swayed freely with the tide.
Wait a second. That wasn’t right.
The way they were so easily influenced by even the most minute change in the direction of waterflow was most unnatural. Furthermore, the stinging cold of the ocean felt much more intense, only exacerbated by the sensitivity of this newly-exposed area. Mel looked down to confirm her suspicions to her great horror. The white piece of fabric that bound and concealed her breasts was nowhere to be found, leaving her entire upper body exposed to the elements and untold numbers of prying eyes. Her hands flew up and clasped around her freed bosom, eyes darting left and right as she frantically searched for that crucial white bikini top. But among the disturbed surface of the water that bubbled white and stretched far, it blended in far too well. Whether it had been dragged out by the riptide or under the waves to the murky ocean floor, the dreadful reality that her beloved brand-new two piece would forever remain half the bikini it used to be slowly started to sink in.
“Mel!” Emily called out, running over through the foam-covered shore to reach Mel. The taller girl was all over in the deeper part of the beach, not too far out to sea, but certainly enough to tint the ocean a deep turquoise as it hid the surface beneath from the light to bounce back towards her retinas. She continued walling across on her desperate attempt to help Mel out, and the water began reaching up towards her chest when her right foot stopped in its tracks and began to sting. She fell over with a large splash as the pain ran through half her leg, and desperately she began calling out to Mel once more.
The cries of distress carried themselves far over the virgin waves, landing within earshot of a very panicked Mel. Just from the voice alone, she could sense the pressing urgency behind it. The overwhelming, genuine fear. She spun around, searching for the source of the disturbance with the eyes of a hawk. It was just in time for her to see Emily suddenly vanish under the rolling waves with a splash, a stray splayed arm breaking the surface one last time before sinking out of sight. Higher functions gave way to a primal fight-or-flight instinct, and just like that, the woes of her unfortunate wardrobe malfunction went straight out the window. Keeping her torso beneath the waves, Mel pushed herself through the biting cold water with her arms and legs in a hybrid swimming-running motion. As the ground crept up beneath her feet, she used her right arm to cover her breasts and ran over to where she last saw Emily. Her thighs and calves burned with lactic acid and her triceps ached, yet she pushed herself harder and fought against the hydrodynamic resistance of the currents and waves that pounded against her relentlessly.
…
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TOMEDONAKU, AFURE DERU, SUISHŌ NO, TSUBUYAKI NI
GIN'IRO NO, KADZE O AMI, ANO HITO GA, YĀTEKURU
WOAH, MY LITTLE SWEETHEART, KOKORO WA KIMI NO
SWEETHEART, NAMAE O YOBU YO
SWEETHEART, MY LOVE NOW PLEASE DON’T LOOK AWAY
HITOSHIREZU, OMOIDE NO, NAKA NI SUMU, SHŌNEN'YO
SAYŌNARA, MŌNIDOTO, FURIKAERU, KOTO WANAI
WOAH, MY LITTLE SWEETHEART, KOKORO WA MARUDE
SWEETHEART, FURUERU MAMA SA
SWEETHEART, MY LOVE SO COME AND EASE MY MIND
ZŪTO MITSUMETE ITA, TOKI WA SUGITE ĪTA
IMA WA KANASHIMI SAE IRODZUITA…
WOAH, MY LITTLE SWEETHEART, KOKORO WA KIMI NO
SWEETHEART, NAMAE O YOBU YO
SWEETHEART, MY LOVE NOW PLEASE DON’T LOOK AWAY
BLAZERS
x
BLACK RABBIT CORP.
A few feet away from her, she saw another hand shoot out from the surface. Taking a deep breath, she slipped beneath the waves and reached under. The signature white tank top stuck out like a sore thumb against the seabed, and Mel spotted her almost immediately. She snaked her arms around Emily’s waist and yanked her upwards, expending every last reserve of strength she had left. Both blondes re-emerged from the murky depths that lay below, gasping for air. “Christ!” Mel gasped, still holding onto Emily, pressing herself into her luscious bosom as she caught her breath. She looked into her irises that glittered with the luster of sapphires as she grew lightheaded. Was it from the intense rescue she had just performed, or was it something more? “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
Emily coughed out loud, she seemed to have ingested an amount of seawater, but how much exactly she was unsure, but she was conscious and after achieving a grip onto Mel’s arms, she blinked the seawater away from her eyelashes and opened her eyes. “I… tripped on a rock… I believe.”
The stinging pain was still there in her foot, and she struggled to move under the soreness of a violent impact against an unseen rock on the ocean surface. “It really hurts… Mel…” She let out a pain-filled moan, “That was a bit reckless of me, I’m sorry.”
“We need to get you back onto the shore!” For some reason, Mel still looked around, riding on whatever little glimmer of hope she had left that her bikini top would be suddenly cast out of a wave and land in front of them. But the more pressing matter was quite literally in her arms. “How bad is it? Can you walk?” she asked with concern in her voice.
Emily let go of Mel for a moment, and attempted to stand straight, but she only continued to writhe in pain as she did so, the seawater making contact with the bare scratch on the top of her foot as it swayed around not helping her case as the brine liquid seeped its way through. She was more or less unable to maintain her balance, and ultimately landed once again onto Mel, her face clouding with guilt. “I don’t think I can…” She said with a defeated sigh, leaning herself onto the larger girl. “I’m really sorry about this…”
“Dammit…” With no help from Tanuki, Emily’s teammates, or any other team in sight, the two blondes with funny accents were running out of options. Emily couldn’t walk, and Mel didn’t particularly feel like giving the nearby voyeurs even an ounce of satisfaction. Not all hope was lost, however, as there was still one more thing they could try. Her tenure as a detective demanded unconventional solutions for equally unconventional problems, and this one was no different. The cogs began to turn in Mel’s head as she formulated a plan. As ridiculous as it was, it just might work. It had to. “No, it’s okay, I’ve got this. We’ve got this! If you can’t walk, no worries… I can just carry you on my back!”
“Really?” Emily’s eyes sparkled.
“There’s just… one slight problem…” Mel’s voice trailed off as she looked down, her bust firmly pressed against Emily’s. Indeed, that bikini bottom painfully hiked up her asscheeks was all that she wore.
“Oh… OH. I see.”
“I’ll… turn around…” Mel said, quickly turning her back towards Emily and the beach. “Could you hold on? To my-”
Before she could finish, Emily pressed herself onto Mel’s back, and with an unexpected sense of urgency, grabbed right onto Mel’s chest. “Like this…?” She whispered.
“O-oh!” Mel gasped, glancing down to see Emily’s hands concealing her breasts perfectly. “Yes, but be careful…! Now, get on my back, I can hold your legs.”
Emily climbed up onto Mel’s back, hanging her arms over her shoulders as she held onto Mel’s bust, as requested. Her plump thighs squished Mel’s hips tightly, keeping her secured in place. Mel supported her by holding her under the thighs, and given that she could routinely squat just over 100kg, carrying Emily wouldn’t be a problem. What would be, however, was Mel’s great degree of sensitivity in the soft area Emily had her hands cupped around. Emily tried her best to keep her grip firm but not tight, but on occasion her fingers would loosen and her palm would graze against a highly sensitive epicenter densely packed with nerve endings. To make matters worse, the hands that gripped at her bare skin were as cold as ice. Fighting off curious stares from an increasing number of bystanders, she continued onwards and endured.
Mel walked as steadily as she could over uneven mounds of sand back towards the Yamada, carefully Emily on her back. With each misstep, Emily would tighten and shift her grip to stop herself from slipping or falling off, causing her ride to gasp and spasm. As a consequence of this, Mel would softly bite her lower lip to prevent herself from crying out and stumble slightly, taking a moment’s rest to regain balance and continue walking.
By this point, Mel’s arms were sore and starting to cramp. Squatting at the gym was very different from running for prolonged distances with someone on your back over uneven ground, as she had just found out. They finally reached the red crossover perched on dry golden sands, and Mel carefully got on her knees to gently let Emily off. With her hands now freed, she brought them back up as a substitute bikini top and turned to check on her patient. “How’s your f- oh, crikey,” she gasped. Streaks of bright red ran down Emily’s foot from a gash of substantial size, staining the sands into a dark maroon color. “That’s a gnarly cut… we need to get this treated right away! Do you have any medical supplies?”
“There are a few bandages in the car, from what I remembered.” Emily looked down at her foot, a sudden pang of anxiety hit her and the cut only burned more as she finally caught a glimpse of it. “I’m… not sure where they are, however…” She said, her breathing becoming more intense as the pain only continued to sweep up her foot.
Mel remembered the white Dauer t-shirt she wore earlier, now dry as it lay basking in the sunlight. “I could use my shirt as a bandage, but we’re going to need some sort of disinfectant too. The last thing you want right now is an amputation, especially in a place like this. I could run back to my car and get some disinfectant… unless…” her words trailed off as she reached an epiphany, brought by a sudden lapse of humiliating memories from a freak accident many years ago. “… I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Emily asked, her curiosity aroused.
“A long time ago, I was camping in the outback with a close friend. Long story short, he got a really bad cut on his foot when wading through stagnant water. We were too far away from a hospital and had no cell reception, and we didn’t have any disinfectant on hand.” She paused for a few seconds, taking a deep breath. “So I…”
Mel leaned forwards and whispered softly. When she was finished, she sat back down and bowed her head, avoiding eye contact as her cheeks flushed with a bright pink.
“We… don’t have a choice…” Said Emily, her face too beginning to flush with embarrassment at the thought. “Do what you have to do, if anything, that would be better than me losing a limb.” She attempted to suppress the heating of her cheeks, but the idea of a girl she had just met letting loose her body fluids as a method of disinfecting her injury seemed a bit too much for her, as necessary as it was.
“O- okay!” Mel got up, still covering herself and quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was watching. She positioned herself over Emily as inconspicuously as possible, but found it hard to stay still as her breathing grew faster and faster. “Could you please cover your eyes?”
Emily shut her eyelids as much as she physically could, but even then, she felt that was not enough, and placed her hands all over her face, not only because she wasn’t trying to get a peek, but to also cover her face from the embarrassment.
“You’re peeking,” Mel said very flatly.
Just as Mel said that, Emily slightly opened her fingers to have a glimpse through, all the while denying that she ever did so as she shut them once more. “I-I’m not!” She said, as within her hands her face only continued to heat up as she caught a small glimpse of Mel kneeling over her foot. She shook her head in an attempt to resist these thoughts, but it was simply futile.
“You’re not a very good liar, are you, my dear Emily?”
Before she could respond, Emily felt a pair of hands grab the sides of her head and pull her forwards. She opened her eyes to see nothing, but what she felt was beyond description. An incredible warmth was all around her, and her face was cradled between two large somethings that squished against her cheekbones. It felt as if she was being smothered, but whether this was due to the pair of bare Australian milkers forming a perfect seal with her mouth or the emotion that flooded her senses remained a mystery.
“Now hold still…” Mel mumbled, hovering her hips and bringing them into position.
In the distance, the tides broke into foamy white pools as they gently rolled across the shore, chasing off birds as they took flight. Their caws rang through the salty air that carried an unusually warm moisture on an already hot summer’s day. The heat and humidity was suffocating, but strangely enough, Emily found peace within it, and the numb, throbbing pain in her foot began to recede and gave way to a soothing warmth.
…
“Emily!” A familiar voice called out to the shorter blonde. Emily turned her head to see a face she was glad to have recognised, and attempted to get up from where she sat, but even after being coated in a special solution in an attempt to reduce the pain, the soreness of her foot only pricked at her nerves and ultimately she was unable to get up and only flopped back down into the sand without having made any meaningful ground. In the distance just by the shore was a bipedal panther that approached them with a new haste now, and holding her hand was a short, almost child-like girl that had this disproportionately sized marine tail reminiscent of a shark attached to the back of her waist.
“Oh my, Emily! Are you alright? That smell…” The feline began to call out until she was there in front of them, as she approached her face turned slightly sour as she caught a slight whiff of Emily’s foot. A white garment was in her hand, but not just any garment, for it was the exact kind that one would wear when paired with a bikini bottom, and one that seemed to perfectly match Mel’s moments before the wave crashed into her and she lost it.
“Is there something wrong?” A heterochromic gaze peered over towards Mel, who still had her arms wrapped around her bosom, and quickly she looked back towards the top in her hand. A connection was made right there and then, and awkwardly she asked the short-haired blonde if it perhaps belonged to her, whilst simultaneously attempting to hand it over. “I-I believe this… might be yours…?”
“Oh, thank god!” Bending down into a squat, Mel pressed her bare breasts against her legs and took her bikini top from the panther girl. “You have no idea how scared shitless I was! What’s your name?”
“I’m Charlotte. One of the navigators for Blazers alongside Emily. Now, I believe you’re the driver of that blue and yellow Dauer, aren’t you?” She said, with a particular enthusiasm appearing at the mention of the vividly liveried sports coupe.
“Yes, that’s me and my baby! I’m Melanie, and it’s a pleasure to meet you and Emily!” Upon noticing the quite short girl accompanying Charlotte, Mel accordingly shifted her focus to this new subject of interest. What intrigued her the most was perhaps the… shark tail she was wearing? “Oh hello there!” she cooed affectionately, bending down so that she could be eye level with the apparently young girl. “And who might you be?”
The girl turned her head towards Mel, but as she opened her mouth, no words seemed to come out, and she looked back down towards the shallow waters they were standing on. Emily was about to speak up for her, but without notice, the girl lifted her head back up and out from between her small and soft-looking lips emerged a dulcet tone as she stuttered her words with a soothing gentleness not dissimilar to that of a sheltered child.
“G-Ga’araiya…” She said shyly, and her voice slowly trailing off. “Nice… to meet you…”
With her small words, she looked away once more, her face slightly flustering as she pulled on the frills of her light pink one-piece.
Gara… Grayi… how did you say it again? Mel couldn’t help but smile. It was the kind of cuteness from a child that would fill anyone with paternal instinct, and Mel herself almost felt some sort of motherly duty. With this newfound concern, she looked up at Emily and Charlotte with a raised eyebrow. “You brought a child here? To this rally? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!”
Emily sighed, and responded with an unusual sense of calmness about the situation. “She’s not what it seems. I am not too sure of the details myself, but rest assured, she’s likely the eldest among every one here. Whether that is a magical property of her homeland, again, I am unsure.”
But even saying that, Ga’araiya’s immense child-like-ness was unhideable as she quickly clung onto Emily and hid behind her, almost as though she were alarmed at Mel’s sudden outburst.
Convinced? Hardly. Melanie turned to Griayaya and pouted sympathetically, as such an outrageous statement - even though it was true - was such a hard pill to swallow that to actually process it would take longer. However, she ultimately saw no reason to hold any blame or distrust against them, and given the amount of revelations she experienced within the last few days, it was just another routine surprise the shitbox rally and its many teams had up their sleeves. Besides, if they could even keep her safe from the Dyre attack, then neither of them had anything to worry about.
“Right. Well, I’m delighted to get to know all of you!” Mel closed her eyes and flashed her best smile. Emily, Charlotte, and Ga’araiya. Despite their obvious quirks and esoteric backgrounds, there was some special bond between all of them, unlike any other that Mel had seen in other teams. One not bound by time, space, or even species. If anything, their staggering differences was what brought them together in the end, something that cultivated a newfound sense of fascination in Mel. She needed to know more, but more importantly, protect Ga’araiya at all costs. And maybe get back at Emily in some way for what she did in their wrestling match. “By the way, is anyone else hungry? I’m getting a severe case of the munchies.”
A sudden rumbling not dissimilar to that of an animal groan sounded with a near perfect coincidence, and all eyes focused themselves on the silver-haired girl whose face was now flushed a bright red. She quickly turned her head and pretended not to notice, but now everyone was well aware of the situation.
“Well, someone is for sure!” Charlotte let out a hearty laugh as she waddled her way over towards Ga’araiya to place her hands on the smaller girl’s shoulders. “I don’t see why we can’t get ourselves a meal now, the sun looks like it’s preparing to set, so we may as well!”
…
The Yamada ASR-4 came to a screeching halt before the Queen’s Rest Inn and Tavern where a large dark-skinned man greeted the girls as they came out. A slightly anxious look on his face was there as he looked behind them towards the vehicle, and a sigh of relief came as he approached them.
“How’d the beach trip go?” He approached the blonde who emerged from the driver’s side door. “Did you cut your hair or something…?” He said, unable to recognise who really was there in front of him as the light of day slowly settled over the horizon, generally being blocked by the buildings all around. The girl was taller than he remembered, and as he scanned the rest of her, he also noticed that she was a bit more lacking in a certain area.
“That’s not Emily, by the way.” Charlotte said as she slowly helped another blonde girl get out of the car’s rear door, and the girl who did emerge was indeed far more familiar to the man, and at once it clicked. “That’s Melanie, or Mel, from Team Black Rabbit. We met her on the beach earlier. I think they ran off with each other or something while me and Ga’araiya weren’t looking, but Emily’s hurt and she needs a bit of rest.”
“Oh…” An awkward look came upon the man. “Sorry about that, Mel…?”
“Melanie Lyon.” She smiled and gently shook Romulo’s hand. “You must be Romulo! Emily and Charlotte had a lot to say about you…” she cracked a smile as she glanced back at the two girls.
“O-oh… Did they…? Hah ha…!” He seemed to be stumbling on his words a bit, as a certified and bonafide blonde girl enjoyer, he was in for quite a treat as he now had made acquaintances with not only a girl in his team, but another one too. He would have loved to continue chatting with her, but he looked over towards the sun and saw the people all around beginning to go out and disperse for their own businesses into the night. “I-I… I think maybe we could chat later but… I’ve got to put this car back into its parking lot, haha…!”
With that, Romulo got into the red crossover and off he went into the dimly-lit alleyway towards the camp, the vehicle’s dim tail lamps disappearing as it went behind a corner.
Upon the girls’ entry into the tavern, it had an aura of relaxation to it. The furniture was clean, the lighting tinted a cozy orange and lit just enough to allow people to see what they were doing without getting bombarded with needless amounts of light. At one end was the counter, where different kinds of folks gathered around drinking and eating together happily, and on the other end were numerous tables large enough to fit a decent amount of people who wished to have a meal, or a drink with their own closed off groups. In one table in particular, a man with hair like that of faded gold sat with plenty of young village women all around as he told his wondrous tales that sounded of baloney when said by any other person, but to him sounded as legitimate as the breathing of air.
“Isn’t that Watson?” Charlotte looked at him with a somewhat repulsive look. Emily simply sighed. “It seems even here, he attracts the eyes of a lot of women.”
Among the girls Watson was with, one of them had particularly striking features, and was the one he seemed to be closest with, as his arms were tightly wrapped around her waist and her head lay on his shoulder. Her hair was a strikingly deep blue that matched her eyes and was cut short just before her shoulders. She quickly struck a glance towards Emily, and had a smirk on her face as she looked back towards Watson.
Emily simply rolled her eyes. “I think we should just… get going…”
Charlotte shrugged and off did they go towards the second floor of the tavern where the rooms were. She found the room that matched with the key they had, and with a quick turn they entered the small 2-bed-room which, while simple, had this aura of comfort all around it.
“That’s not as bad as I thought!” The feline exclaimed as they assisted in helping Emily onto the bed and unloaded their luggage. Ga’araiya meanwhile, had located one of the free beds and without a word, jumped right onto the soft mattress and simply dozed off.
Once their supplies had been unloaded and organized, the three remaining girls went downstairs to the tavern for dinner. Their table was set outside in the tavern’s courtyard, where a wooden trellis with intricate lattice patterns formed the walls and ceiling, creating an open-air experience that provided shade without sacrificing natural sunlight. There, they had a clear view over the walls of Samiraie and front-row seats to the spectacular sunset over the coast. It was at this time Tanuki happened upon them seemingly by some cruel twist of fate.
According to her account of her day in Samiraie so far, the tavern had been completely packed throughout the afternoon, and with hour-long waiting times just to be seated, she
By the time the four girls had eaten their fill, the sun was starting to wane and dip towards the horizon, touching down with a fiery blaze of oranges and reds that faded into a progressively darker blue evening sky. Dull, glowing lights from oil lamps shone through windows, lighting up the buildings and street lanterns that surrounded the streets.
“I don’t know about you three, but I’m not tired yet!” Tanuki triumphantly declared. “The night is still young!”
“I’ve had a long day today, Tanuki… I’m feeling pretty buggered. I think I might just catch up on some Z’s tonight,” Mel yawned as she stretched.
Eventually, after a bit of discussion, the four of them had settled on their plans for the night,where Tanuki and Charlotte parted ways to explore the rest of Samirarie and perhaps enjoy the thrill of its busy night life, an opportunity that seldom presented itself given the kind of stops they’ve had so far, and on the other hand, having nearly drowned, Emily and Mel elected to retire back to their room as they felt the pangs of weariness grow stronger and stronger. Wooden flooring creaked under their careful feet as they ascended flights of stairs to their room on the second level of the inn. Unlocking the door to their room and carefully entering, they found Ga’araiya still face down on the bed, snoring softly, arms and legs spread out like a starfish. The oil lamp sitting on the dresser was the sole source of light in the room, dimly lighting the sparse furnishings with warm colors.
Emily limped over towards Ga’araiya’s bed, rearranging her arms to a more comfortable position, and raising her head up to sit properly on the pillow. She then took the blanket on the nightstand of the bed and slowly draped it over the sleeping girl, taking extra care with her tail, before stroking her long silver hair and whispering a good night to her.
“She’s just so adorable…” Mel whispered, bringing her hands to her mouth. She was almost moved to tears by not only Ga’araiya’s sweetness and cuteness even when fast asleep, but also Emily’s motherly gesture of affection.
“Indeed,” Emily nodded. “There’s a lot of reasons I’ve decided to come along with this trip, but being able to be with this girl is… Well… I just can’t help it, can I?” She said as quietly as possible as she got up and sat down on the bed next to the now sleeping fish girl. “I remember my mother would do the exact same to me when I was a little girl. Simple, gentle strokes can mean a lot.” She yawned.
Mel walked over towards one of the other beds, and she too yawned as she sat down on the edge of the mattress. She looked out the slightly opened window to her left, where she could just barely make out a glimpse of the individual shapes of the neighbouring buildings, with some shutting their lights off in a dim fade as the night continued on.
“Hmm. I’m pretty buggered, but I feel like I’ve still got some energy left. There’s a bathhouse here, isn’t there?”
“From what I’ve heard, it’s part of the inn complex. It should be just aft of the corridor to our rooms.”
“Well, I’ve been raring for a hot bath for days now.” Mel slipped her shoes and socks off, placing them at the foot of the bed neatly. Looking at Emily with inviting eyes, she flashed a smug grin. “Care to join me?”
Emily was about to respond with an affirmative, but a sudden flash of memory quickly halted her actions, not helped by Mel’s grinning at her. “Are you looking to take revenge on me for this afternoon?” She said with hesitance, though she was currently at a crossroads battle on whether or not she should join her in the bath house, as the saltwater was getting to her and she could smell it in her own hair. It wouldn’t take much for her to concede it seems.
“Of course not!” Mel laughed, waving the idea off. But deep inside, she knew this was only a half truth. She wasn’t planning on raising any trouble in the bath house at least, but who knew what she had in stock for whatever came after? “Besides, like I said, I’m too tired for any of that now.”
Emily thought for a moment, if she did need a bath, it’s not like she could go after Mel, after all her foot was still injured, and she would need assistance just getting to the bath house. Eventually, however, she caved in. After all, there’s surely no way that Mel would do that unlike a certain feline.
“Fine… Shall we go, then?” She said, extending her arms to ask for Mel’s assistance in getting up and towards the bath house. Mel nodded with delight as she got up from her bed and walked over towards Emily, helping her up and leading her towards the door. Down the corridor was an open passage where a dim light with a calm yellow hue shone through and illuminated one of the corridor’s walls adjacent to the doorway.
They walked through the dimly-lit corridor and out towards the light, and once they entered the wood-lined entrance the two were greeted with a small apodyterium with shelves for people to leave their belongings on. On the other side of this room was a passageway that led to yet another room filled with a thick humid air which they were yet to enter.
“Do you need help undressing?” Mel asked Emily as she let go of her hand, with a thought crossing her mind for a second. She felt her cheeks warm up slightly, but a quick suppression of it meant her face muscles only tensed up for a minute, which Emily was unable to notice.
Emily shook her head. “No thank you, I believe I can manage myself.” She said as she lifted the thin white dress off her, revealing her young and tender curves beneath as she set aside the dress and placed it upon the shelf. She turned her back against the wall to witness Mel halfway through undressing herself, but had stopped and simply stared at the far bustier blonde.
“M-Mel… Don’t stare too much…” Her face began to flush a soft red, and so did Mel’s once she realized how long she’d been staring for, but she didn’t turn her head away even as she apologized.
“Oh!” Mel felt her cheeks burning with the fruits of a forbidden passion, but remained frozen in place, captivated by the grandeur sight. “Sorry. It’s just… I can’t help it…”
“Is that so…?” She began to cover herself up and turned back towards where she initially looked in embarrassment. She usually didn’t mind having her body exposed to another girl, but something felt different with Mel’s gaze.
Mel eventually turned herself away, and undressed herself fully to reveal her toned form, built up from her years of exercise and detective work all culminating in this highly refined body. Emily herself decided to look back, and couldn’t help but stare at Mel as well, moving her eyes down her back to a particularly heavily toned section just above Mel’s legs, and just as she was about to turn her head over, Emily quickly turned back and attempted to pretend as though nothing had happened.
“You’re telling me not to stare too much, but there you are…” Mel grinned, her detective attentiveness coming into play for quite an unusual moment. She slowly walked over towards Emily, greeting her by sliding her hands down the smaller girl’s waist, which was met with a sudden whimper as Emily felt Mel’s action-honed hands slide around her belly.
“Wh-what are you doing…?” The petite girl turned her head behind her, her face brightly flushed with nervousness.
Mel leaned over, whispering. “Getting you into the bath…”
“You don’t have to sneak up on me like that…!”
“Sorry… I couldn’t help it…”
Mel slowly continued leaning in, their breaths becoming closer and closer and continuing to mingle together with every inch that their faces got closer. Their huffs and puffs heating their faces up before they could even enter the bath tepidarium. Slowly, Mel led Emily over to the other room where the steam and humid heat would begin to fill their surroundings. Sweat and moisture accumulated on their bodies, coating them in a glaze of mist as they moved together towards the main bath.
Hot, thick clouds of steam lifted out and wafted over the pools of light turquoise spring water, clinging to the tiled floors and walls covered in condensation. But nothing burned brighter or greater than the flames within Mel’s heart. Still, she had to hold herself back since they had just gotten in, and didn’t want to end things too quickly with one fell sweep of action.
“I’ll go this way…” Emily said as she attempted to limp over towards one end of the bath house where a fountain spouted out a slow-moving stream from atop a pillar that sat on the wall. Before she could leave her grasp however, Mel quickly caught her, and pulled her in close. “You can’t…” She said softly. “I can’t risk you falling over, it’s quite slippery…”
Emily looked back, but quickly turned away to hide the flushing of her face. “I-I see… Thank you for looking out for me…”
“It’s my pleasure.” Mel moved her head away from the smaller girl as she led the two of them down towards the spot where Emily wanted to go. For a moment, they did not think of much as they were tired, but the flame within the Australian girl’s heart only sparked larger, and despite the suppressing of it, Mel was now unable to resist as she slid her arms underneath Emily’s assets and leaned herself onto her back. A soft moan came from between the younger girl’s succulent lips as rough hands honed from many special operations began to slide lower and lower down her body before stopping right between her legs. Mel felt the softness of the smaller girl in her hands, and she simply couldn’t get enough as she let out her tongue onto Emily’s ear, with sweet and dirty voices blending in a unique symphony of pleasure as the heat only continued building up.
“M-Mel…”
“Emily…”
The water was clear that night, and warm with sensations of the great yonder of subliminality. The distant star patterns twinkled in and out, shifting with every pounce, and the water’s viscous noises on the movements of the tides didn’t stop for even a split moment with the embraces of the dark.
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SA ILALIM NG PUTING ILAW SA DILAW NA BUWAN PAKINGGAN MO ANG AKING SIGAW SA DILAW NA BUWAN AYOKONG MABUHAY NG MALUNGKOT IKAW ANG NAGPAPASAYA AT MAKAKASAMA HANGGANG SA PAGTANDA HALINA'T TAYO'Y HUMIGA SA'N KAYA? SA ILALIM NG PUTING ILAW SA DILAW NA BUWAN PAKINGGAN MO ANG AKING SIGAW SA DILAW NA BUWAN ANG IYONG GANDA'Y UMAABOT SA BUWAN ANG TIBOK NG PUSO'Y RINIG SA KALAWAKAN AT BUMABALIK DITO SA AKIN IKAW ANG MAHAL IKAW LANG ANG MAMAHALIN PAKINGGAN ANG PUSO'T DAMDAMIN DAMDAMIN AKING DAMDAMIN SA ILALIM NG PUTING ILAW SA DILAW NA BUWAN PAKINGGAN MO ANG AKING SIGAW SA DILAW NA BUWAN
BLAZERS
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BLACK RABBIT CORP.
With Emily’s hand in Mel’s, they climbed back up towards the second floor of the inn and into their rooms, where they were once again greeted with a pleasant flickering of the oil lamp as it dimly illuminated the room. The larger girl assisted Emily onto her bed before walking back to her own and sitting down gently so as to not wake up Ga’araiya, who at this point was deep in sleep and snoring calmly. She had finally moved around in her bed, no longer in a face-down position as she lay on her side with her closed eyes and rosy cheeks now visible and illuminated by the soft flickering of the oil lamp.
“Those two still aren’t back, it seems.” Emily commented as she looked out of the window. Outside, the light of the city was slowly beginning to fade as darkness continued, the distant inorexible stars overhead now glowing brighter as they burned their fuel and broadcasted their bright dross lightyears away. Beyond was the dark unknown, absorbing the light and waves that soared across the deep yonder of galactic melancholy.
The two sat there, pensive about their own spectres that gloomed over their heads with every passing moment. Quietness, save for the shallow pricking of the dimly fueled lamp, echoed around the hollow room as it clashed against the subtle ornamentations of the classical architecture, and neither one of them spoke to each other in their conciliating state of tranquility.
This silence was at last broken with a small hum from Mel, finally acknowledging Emily’s comment about Tanuki and Charlotte. “From what I can gather, they’re likely not to return for a while…”
Emily sighed and nodded. A thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she looked over towards Mel. “What’s Tanuki really like? She seems quite… lively. But I have no idea what’s going on in her head.”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Mel shrugged, chuckling. “But seriously, you’ve seen how she is by now. As crazy as she is, I thought she’d be relatively straightforward. What you see is what you get. Having spent the last few months with her, however… there’s so much I’m still trying to find out about her. She can be super harcore at times, but push the right buttons and suddenly she’s the sweetest girl around.”
“Is that so?” Emily giggled softly. “She does seem like quite the companion, even with what might seem little that you know about her.”
“How do you feel about your teammates?”
Upon her asking that question, Emily lowered her head with a slight hint of poignancy. Mel had sighted this, and was about to retract what she had just said, but Emily was quick to efface the consternation with a change of her look as she raised her head. “They are a good bunch. Although I do feel a sense of them immuring how they truly feel about the current situation. As though they are irresolute on how we should continue forward with this. We’re all from different places, Charlotte is of this world, Romulo is from his own, and Ga’araiya and Watson have their own affairs that they will have to minister to by the time we return.”
There was no vivacity in her delivery of her professions, and now the two sat callous with each other as different undulations remonstrated through their heads.
Once again, they fell into a desponding silence with their own thoughts. Mel’s relaxed expression appeared content and tranquil, but the machinations inside her mind were anything but. Her eyes stared thousands of miles into the distance, searching for an answer she couldn’t find. She was lost in thick clouds that crowded her mental space, only to be snapped out of her trace as Emily gently sat down beside her on the bed.
“What seems to be the matter, Mel?”
“Doesn’t it feel… odd to you? Meeting someone and knowing that’s the last time you’ll ever see them?” Mel brought her knees to her chest, hugging them and slowly rocking side to side. “Sure, this already happens to us every day. But we have telephones, mail, even social media to connect to those people. We have the means to talk to anyone we’ve ever met, or even those we haven’t yet met, or ever will. But you?” She fell back on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. “Once all this is over… aren’t you going back home? Back to… your time period? What happens then? Doesn’t the thought disturb you?”
Emily looked at her unfazed, the gaze in her light blue orbs were unreadable as she turned towards the window. An undistressed smile grew upon her face as she looked back at Mel.
“It does. It disturbs me that I’ll have to wait a hundred years before I can even begin to feel the sensations I feel right now, see the things I see, and…” Her voice began to shake. “… I think it’s inevitable… Time is a construct we cannot fathom… I don’t know what I will do once I get back, but there’s a mission I have to complete.” She looked towards Ga’araiya with the smile still unfading from her face. “It’s always been like this. Seasons that come and go for funny reasons, like people. You never know when they might come back, or if they even will. You have to accept that things don’t last forever, and for good reason.”
Emily turned over towards Mel, fully climbing onto the bed and crawling over towards her. Both of them stared into one another’s eyes, with Emily brushing away the strands of hair that slowly came down onto Mel’s face.
“In order for something to be precious, it must be finite. Going past finiteness means only loneliness. You just want to savour everything as it is now, without worrying about the consequences.” She smiled. “After all, that’s how we met, didn’t we? You had no hesitation in approaching me, not even knowing if the person in that vehicle would’ve been someone favourable.”
“Then I guess my only regret is that I didn’t meet you sooner.”
“That was something you had no control over. Is it really right to keep repentance over that?”
Emily moved backwards and away from Mel. “I guess it’s just prophetic that the most frank-hearted among us are those who befall an inglorious dissipation. As odious as it may be. Exculpate yourself, indignation will lead to nothing but destruction from your abhorrence with fate.” She sat up from the bed and trotted over towards the window, the immutable darkness of the sky reflected back into her own light blue orbs. A pang she felt through her stomach as she looked back down at the street below, where she sighted the tavern staff as they moved the tables that lay outside back indoors as they closed up for the night. She looked back at the room, and still saw Mel as she sat in a disconsolate state. With the sight of the tables being moved below, her mind was inspirited with a notion as she once again moved over towards Mel in a bid to shift the lamentation away from the room. “I’ve never really bothered asking, but how much has food really progressed through the years?”
“Food? What exactly do you mean?”
“Well… The depression brought massive food shortages where I lived, you can barely survive with a few centesimi. At most, the delicacies I’ve been able to eat is bread. In fact, yesterday might have been the first time I ate meat in a long time.” She laughed uneasily, trying to hide the melancholy that was slowly getting to her as she sat on Mel’s bed. Emily peered over into
Mel’s eyes, which seemed opaque with only the dimness of the room reflecting back, but eventually her head rose up and she looked back at Emily. “You? Looking like that by only eating bread?” She smirked as she eyed Emily down, studying the faint glow of her skin and the soft, sweeping curves of her figure.
Instead of being met with hostility, however, the bustier blonde simply smiled as she ran her hand through her hair, straightening her back. “You again with those remarks…”
“Well…” Mel smiled as a bout of inspiration struck her. “I think I have just the thing for you!” She started to rummage through her travel case, sifting through neatly-folded articles of clothing and various bottles of cosmetics. Shortly after, she produced a pink cardboard box slightly taller than a deck of cards, bearing a signage unfamiliar to Emily. “Oh, Tanuki’s gonna kill me if she finds out I took some of her snacks,” she mumbled, opening the box and taking out a long stick-shaped biscuit covered in pink frosting on one end. Placing the coated end in her mouth, Mel handed another one to the blonde beside her. “Here, try this.”
Emily inspected the pink-coloured stick, pondering at first if it were indeed edible or not, but as Mel took a bite of it, her worry was lost and she decided to give it a try. She opened her mouth and the tip of the snack disappeared behind her lips, carefully biting down. Upon the brittle biscuit breaking off and landing into her mouth, a plethora of flavours she was yet to taste began to land upon her tastebuds, filling them with a taste of artificial strawberry and baked biscuits.
“So? What do you think?” Mel was bursting at the seams with anticipation and even started to bounce slightly, the springy mattress creaking quietly under her.
Emily took another bite, raising her finger as a way of telling Mel to be patient, and once again chewing down on the creme-coated biscuit, she felt it tingle in her mouth one more in a sweet blend that she found hard to describe. She gulped the mush down and thought for a minute.
“It’s… very sweet. The part beneath the strawberry coating seemed stiff at first, and contrasted with the coat as I first bit down on it… But it all eventually blended into a taste I quite enjoy! It’s like a long biscuit of sorts…”
Emily leaned over and grabbed herself another stick from the box, and the two continued snacking on the unfathomably delectable strawberry-coated stick biscuits.
After some time, both girls had consumed a small but equal amount of the snack, savoring its sweetness and crunchiness in silence. Mel reached inside the box for another piece, but with how quickly the smile and optimism ran from her face, Emily could sense that something was amiss. “What’s wrong?” She asked, tilting her head to get a better view inside. The issue quickly made itself known; Mel carefully pulled out another pink-colored stick, pinching the uncoated end between her index finger and thumb. With her other hand, she shook the pink box. No sound came out save for the rattling of crumbs against the shiny cellophane package. Both girls slowly looked at each other, an empty dread filling their eyes, for without even speaking a word they both knew what was at stake.
It became clear that the last strawberry-flavored biscuit would not be partitioned diplomatically. No, that was far too easy. With such a delectable snack at stake, friendships were cast aside and primal instinct set in. Mel quickly placed one end of the snack in her mouth, but this left the other end ripe for opportunity. Before she could realize what was going on, Emily leaned forwards and quickly closed her lips on the other end of the stick. Even though both girls were now simultaneously biting into the sole remaining snack on their respective sides, neither of them were willing to forfeit the last biscuit that easily. This would be a fight determined not only by the capacity of their resolve, but their willingness to fuck over others as well.
Emily felt a single vibration travel through the stick as Mel bit down on her end, breaking off a small piece that she carefully chewed and swallowed. Since neither of them would budge, it was no longer a battle of the mind, but now a race to see who was aggressive and opportune enough to eat as much of the remaining golden and pink linear delicacy as possible. Slowly but surely, they inched closer and closer as they bit off small increments in a race against time, staring at each other with murderous intent. It was a race against time, and as they grew more daring, they started to bite off progressively longer and longer pieces, savoring the taste of the strawberry frosting melting on their tongues and the texture of the crunchy biscuit underneath.
It eventually came to a point where only a single inch of the original snack remained. The tips of their noses were touching, and their pursed lips were only separated by an infinitesimally small gap of solidified pink food dye. Mel placed her hands on Emily’s shoulders, taking her by surprise as they pulled themselves against each other, closing the distance between their bodies and lips. A muffled squeal escaped from Emily’s mouth, and with this opportunity that presented itself, Mel clenched her teeth around the piece and pulled it free from Emily’s lips.
Emily shoved her hands onto Mel as she pushed away. “Hold on! We can’t do this! W-we’re girls!” She said, shaking her head. But actions spoke louder than words, for there was barely any resistance from her when their lips met, and not only that, but her pushing Mel away was more resting her arms on the larger girl than an actual attempt at forcing her off.
“So kissing is where you draw the line?” Mel smirked, crossing her legs. “Even after what happened earlier?”
The longer haired girl avoided eye contact, her face flushed full like a golden-leafed roma tomato as she raised the back of her hand towards her lips. “T-that’s… The thing is…” She once again met eyes with Mel. “Well, I don’t even know myself… This feeling is different, I’m not sure if I’m ready for it. What would people say if we continued forth with this? Would we not be shunned for this?”
“Well~, remember what you said back then? Times change, Emily, and society changes with it. Attitudes shift, taboos fade away. And guess what?” A sly smile grew across Mel’s face, and her voice grew quieter. She leaned closer to Emily, with eyes half-closed and her warm breath grazing against her cheek. “It just so turns out that in my time, women fuck each other like rabbits in heat. The best part? Nobody bats an eye. Some quite enjoy it, in fact. Besides,” Mel continued as her words turned into sultry whispers that tickled Emily’s ears, “it’s not like anyone’s listening, are they?”
Emily simply sat where she was, feeling the soft Australian breath of the girl before her as she brushed her hair aside and past her ear. “Even then… but Ga’araiya…?” She looked over towards the other bed, even with all the commotion they were having that would cause anyone to instantly awake, she lay there peacefully with the blanket heaving up and down as she respired the thick humid air in the room.
“She won’t be waking up anytime soon.”
Even if this girl before her made her feelings tingle in ways she never felt with any guy she met, there was an uncertainty in how she wished to proceed. Her heart audibly thumped, and her breathing deepened in the moment with the balminess of the atmosphere. Emily turned back towards Mel, with the straps of her thin nightgown sliding off her bare shoulder which she paid no mind to. Their eyes met each other’s gaze in a delicate kiss, and the gates of feeling had turned their way open for the two as a matter of feeling drew them in closer towards one another.
Mel seemed ready to pounce, and all she really needed was even the slightest hint of evidence that Emily wanted to be with her right there in the moment. Emily’s indecisiveness was making Mel impatient, but still she held out as the smaller girl continued shifting about, losing eye contact once more with her as she looked down at her hands.
In her mind, Emily was battling a front that she knew she would lose. Deep down in her heart, with the many boys she had befriended, met, and attempted to create something meaningful out of, none had ever clicked, and in this moment it only confirmed her suspicions that her love might be meant for a completely different kind. Like her feelings, the oil lamp by the bedside flickered up and down, side to side indecisively with the movement of air around it, and with their breathing audible to one another, they had to decide.
At last, the key turned within Emily’s heart as she took a deep breath and sighed, at once she looked up at Mel with eyes that communicated it all, and without a word, they knew within themselves that if they didn’t want to let these stolen moments continue going by like sparks in the night, there was no better time to go forth.
The Australian’s switch flipped, and her eyes switched to a completely different kind as she prepared to prance.
“Then, shall I give you a demonstration?”
With a playful shove, Emily fell back onto the thick bedsheets that rustled and sunk around her curvaceous figure. She let out a yelp of surprise, but covered her mouth to ensure that Ga’araiya’s sleep wouldn’t be disturbed. Crawling on all fours like a large feline stalking its prey, Mel swung one of her legs around Emily and held her wrists against the bed, placing the blonde directly beneath her.
Their noses were mere centimeters away from each other, so close that they felt each others’ warm breaths on their necks. “May I?” Mel’s whisper was barely audible, with such a tender softness that drove Emily wild. Her cheeks were so hot she could barely feel her own face, and it was as if her breath had been taken away. Immobilized by some inexplicable feeling, all Emily could do was nod once and succumb to her electrifying, stimulating touch.
Mel gently brushed Emily’s bangs aside and caressed her cheek, giving her full, unobstructed access to Emily’s quivering lips. Her waist-length hair was spread out and glowed in the light like rays of sunlight, and she closed her eyes in longing anticipation as Mel’s face inched closer and closer. Exhaling lightly, she too shut her eyes and pursed her lips, gently lowering herself to join their bodies in a union of flesh. They finally made contact, touching each other so softly that their lips merely brushed together. But even this small amount of contact was enough for sparks to fly across Emily’s vision, her toes curling and her fingers interlocking with Mel’s. She pulled herself away, opening her eyes and shakily breathing as she stared intensely, longingly into Emily’s eyes.
As much as Emily’s mind was screaming no, with nearly two decades’ worth of conservative values drilled into her mind at stake, her body screamed and yearned for Mel, wrenching against the rusting chains of societal convention. Her heart was bursting at the seams, overflowing with a forbidden emotion that clouded her judgment and gave way to unbridled instinct. Not a second passed before she reached up and pulled the detective back down, pressing their lips together. Their tongues consummated like a pair of mating serpents, vehemently prodding and twirling against one another. Mel’s hand carefully slipped under Emily’s nightgown, slowly working its way up acres of soft, milky skin to the two bodacious masses of mammary tissue that presented themselves elegantly under a thin layer of soft, off-white laced cotton, and a gasp escaped from her mouth.
After five minutes of uninterrupted, raw passion, their lips separated once more, connected by a thin trail of saliva.
“Mel-!”
The dark waves gently lapped against endless embankments of sand and stone, reflecting the off-white sheen of the pearly moon affixed in the night sky.
7 Likes
Shitbox Rally
Stage 7: Samiraie to Vallengarda
Stage Start: 1 Sun, 25/7/3251, Samiraie Campsite
Weather at Stage Start: Warm, humid, and windy.
Weather at mid-stage: Hot, humid, and even windier.
Weather at Stage End (First Car): Cooler than the stage start, incredibly humid, the wind starts to fade.
Weather at Stage End (Last Car): Even cooler than before, the humidity is still present, and the wind picks up a little.
Weather at 8 Sun: About as cool as it was at Stage End, but the humidity turns into rain.
Stage End (First Car): A little after 3-and-40 Sun, 25/7/3251, Vallengarda Campsite
Stage End (Last Car): A little after 7 Sun, 25/7/3251, Vallengarda Campsite
The road leaving Samiraie is smooth and fast cobblestone, similar to the road leading into it. However, at the halfway point, the road roughly transitions into gravel, which, by the end, deteriorates into dirt as we reach Vallengarda. The lovely ocean view is swallowed back up by trees as we return to the forest that gives the next town its name. (Vallengarda = Forest Guard.) The winding, somewhat hilly gravel-and-dirt road is fairly difficult to drive through, with numerous completely blind turns, several sudden dips in the road right before or immediately after a turn, narrow sections of road barely big enough for the cars to squeeze through, and the constant looming threat of trees on either side, just waiting to break a radiator, crush a fender, or send a car spiraling into the forest after a glancing blow. After the nightmare road leading up to it, however, Vallengarda is a fairly decent campground, on par with some of the better ones we’ve been at so far. A pond provides a place to fish, for those inclined to try their hand at that activity, and we again spend our time in what remains of a logging camp. As a result, there are plenty of tree stumps and log benches to sit on, and a few teams might be able to seek some shelter inside the old logging office, provided they’re willing to share the space.
Notes: Randomization is active. Breakdowns are active. Time is in Earth Time. Times included in Finishing Order.
Team Shift Happens
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:32:42
Average MPH: 47.0
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Despite his dislike of driving, the team voted for Jayde to get another turn behind the wheel. When he saw the miniature porcupines, they stopped long enough for the team to do a little hunting, gathering up a few of them for everyone, after Jayde mentioned they were a local delicacy.
Team Wayfarers
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 09:35:57
Average MPH: 37.0
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Jack and Jill went up the hill in an old and rusty truck. They went off the road to avoid a big toad, and there they got a bit stuck. They thought the truck was extra tough, the engine cried “I’ve had enough!” Mud is caked above the wheels, as beneath the hood, a lone belt squeals, and as the team begins to feel that maybe they should just go home, the tires find a bit of grip, no longer in the mud they slip, and on the road they return to roam.
(Author’s note: I’ll fully admit, I’m a terrible poet, but I couldn’t resist the temptation on this one.)
Team Gearknobs
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:33:14
Average MPH: 47.0
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
“Can you hear that noise? It’s awful!” In the camp, it’s discovered that a small rock wedged itself between the caliper and the front right brake rotor, and has been scraping and squealing as it carved a groove in the back of the rotor. After replacing the rotor, they check the other wheels to make sure no loose debris is stuck like that, and to make sure the brake discs aren’t gouged, either.
Team Fallen Angels of the Past
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:53:27
Average MPH: 51.5
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Sure, the two girls in the Claussient aren’t the fastest people out there, but they seem to have some luck on their side today, as they get extra-sideways around a corner after the hard transition to gravel. Instead of spinning out and crashing, they carry that speed through the turn.
Team Slow
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 10:12:41
Average MPH: 34.7
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 1 (Powertrain)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
What everyone thought was a simple misfire turned out to be a little more complicated. Turns out, one of the coil packs has come apart during the previous six stages of hell and caused two cylinders to misfire together.
Team Oil Crisis
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:19:16
Average MPH: 48.5
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 2 (Chassis)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Aedan has to call a brief pit-stop after the two Dyre pups decide that the most fun game they can come up with is “How much stuffing can we rip out of the back of the seats.” While they’re refueling, it’s Orlan’s idea to make a few burgers for the pups to eat. This takes a few minutes, but at least with food in their hands, they’re much less interested in tearing up the interior.
Team Hillbilly Rollers
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:45:02
Average MPH: 61.7
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
With Eddie Meduza blaring at full volume in the old Concer-tone radio, a bottle of water in Marie’s hands, Janne saying the engine “should” be fine after making some small adjustments the other day, and Andreas driving the pink van hard, they made up a good bit of time, or at least, what felt like a good bit of time.
Team Witchlight
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 10:29:51
Average MPH: 33.8
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Anyone know any repair, restoration, or revival spells? Because those tires are D-E-A-D. Dead. What they thought might have just been a couple of critters unfortunate enough to be in their path turned out to be miniature porcupines. With four flat tires, it takes the whole team’s effort to get them back in running shape again, and Elist, Ambay, Finne, and Kira are all so very grateful when they limp the car into Vallengarda as the last car moving.
Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 07:01:50
Average MPH: 50.5
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
With a liberal application of more duct tape to the cargo, and a cautious use of Mrdja’s right foot, the Kontir Cunningham cuts a clean time today with no chaos.
Team Blazers
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:56:40
Average MPH: 59.7
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
This is what the Yamada ASR-4 wanted to be on. A good cobblestone road and gravel are what it handles best. The dirt, not so much, but they travel quickly. Unlike some other teams, however, they avoided running over any of the miniature porcupines that were migrating to the other side of the forest.
Team Machinas Con Passiones
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:44:11
Average MPH: 61.92
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 4
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Thibault decides, for once, to listen to Giacomo insisting that what is behind him is not important. After Giacomo ripped the inside rear view mirror off of the windshield and tossed it over his shoulder, hitting Chad McChad in the face with it, Thibault floored it. Sure, they had to stop four times for fuel, but they made decent time. Unlike their NASCAR team, Thibault manages to grab MCP a proper and honest third place.
Team Quick Rally 47
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:23:40
Average MPH: 65.8
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
The Quantum Xenoarchaeology department will be quite pleased that you got photographs of the miniature porcupines in their twice-yearly migration. Likewise, they’ll be pleased that you didn’t ruin any of the Mara’s tires to get a sample. Being first to camp meant you were able to barter for one of the porcupines to take samples, as well as getting a meal that wasn’t just pre-packaged food.
Team Mrezhari
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:33:38
Average MPH: 63.8
Randomizer: 12
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
With full face helmets on again after tanking up on energy drinks and junk food, the four silent racers put the Dunav through the wringer this time. Narrowly avoiding the spiky bundles of doom, they rocket into the campsite at Vallengarda and powerslide the car in a tribute to their arrival in Nevada, celebrating arriving second in style.
Team Jockey
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 09:03:10
Average MPH: 39.2
Randomizer: 8
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
The Yinzer, still wearing the bare-steel racing stripes down the side of the car from the previous day, is quick up until they find the small waddling living pincushions. They put the two surviving rubber tires on the steering axle, and the cart wheels out on the back, even though it means it’s wheelspin city from that moment forward. Better to still be able to steer and stop, after all.
Team RK Series Racing
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 09:17:30
Average MPH: 38.2
Randomizer: 8
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Things went well for the first rail-going drive of Robert, the Tangerine Tank Engine. Despite some issues with getting lined up on the rails for the first time ever and a few minor slowdowns caused by it being the first time properly deploying the rail wheels, it was a relaxing, smooth trip. Unfortunately, this section of track went a good bit of distance “off course” compared to the road, but everyone got a chance to settle in and feel good for once at not getting their spines jarred by heavy bumps. Leaving the rails at the end was a lot smoother, and after driving into camp after traveling (with permission) through the Vallengarda freight-switching yard, they felt great even if they spent a while getting there.
Team Black Rabbit
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 09:41:16
Average MPH: 36.6
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Unlike so many other teams who just barreled through or around the miniature porcupines, Mel and Tanuki stopped long enough to try their hands at hunting a few of them. With a bundle of spiky meat in the back of the Dauer, they headed into camp to try cooking them. Several of the locals, as well as Jayde and Rukari, mention that those will be a very good meal.
Team Spy Kids
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:31:51
Average MPH: 54.3
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 2308.8
Like many other teams, the Spy Kids underestimated the spiky wonders and thought their aftermarket all-terrain tires were tough enough. Turns out, no, they simply became the first ones to find out that the miniature porcupines can tear apart a rubber tire in seconds.
Stage Finishing Order:
05:23:40 - Team Quick Rally 47
05:33:38 - Team Mrezhari
05:44:11 - Team Machinas Con Passiones
05:45:02 - Team Hillbilly Rollers
05:56:40 – Team Blazers
06:31:51 - Team Spy Kids
06:53:27 - Team Fallen Angels of the Past
07:01:50 - Team Mravolinski-Chitco
07:19:16 - Team Oil Crisis
07:32:42 - Team Shift Happens
07:33:14 - Team Gearknobs
09:03:10 - Team Jockey
09:17:30 - Team RK Series Racing
09:35:57 - Team Wayfarers
09:41:16 - Team Black Rabbit Corporation
10:12:41 - Team Slow
10:29:51 - Team Witchlight
Team Shift Happens
Previous Chapters:
Cinnamon and Apologies - Stage 5 Drive and Stage 5 Camp
An Apology / Campsite Stories / I Have Gas! - Stage 5 Camp (Collab with Knugcab - Original Title: “Gimme Oxygen!”)
The Prank - Collab. with SurrealCereal (Team MCP)
A Tent-ative Meeting - Stage 5 Camp
Engine Troubles / Racing Stripes - Stage 6 Drive and Camp
Capt’n Crazy Capsizes - Stage 6 Camp Collab with Knugcab
Not the Face! - Stage 6 Camp Collab with Knugcab
The Saber of Light - Stage 6 Collab written by TheYugo45GV
Begging for Mercy - Stage 6 Camp
Samiraie Campsite, 1 Sun
As the sun peeked over the horizon, spilling light across the camp first, and then into the city of Samiraie, it was the oldest of games who determined who was driving for Shift Happens.
“Not it!” Kaylie yelled without warning.
Rukari, not wanting to get any unwanted maintenance jobs again, likewise belted out, “Not it!”
Malavera and Kivenaal, damn near at the same time, also called out, “Not it!” Kivenaal followed this up, however, with, “I call shotgun!”
Kayden, realizing he could either honorably fill Jayde in on the game, or avoid driving today, simply said, “Not it!”
Jayde stared at the group as if all of them had grown an extra head, then asked, “Care to explain?”
“Sure,” Kayden replied. “We all called ‘Not it’ because we’re not the one driving today. Kivenaal called shotgun, so he gets the front passenger bench seat.”
Jayde groaned. “Next time, fill me in on the game before we start playing,” he grumbled.
Kaylie chuckled as she climbed up into the radio operator’s seat, watching Rukari take the mid-bench up front and Kivenaal sitting in the seat in front of her. Malavera took the mid-bench in the back, and Kayden claimed his usual driver’s-side window seat in the back row. Jayde hauled himself up into the truck, closed the door, then went about trying to get it ready to go.
“Gear selector in neutral,” Jayde said, wiggling the five speed’s stick left and right. “Transfer case in four-high. Right foot on the brake, left foot on the clutch, that one goes all the way into the floor,” he continued, taking his time as he tried to remember all of the steps. “Key to Run, then turned further to Start,” he said, before the V8 bellowed. He twisted the key again by accident and produced an awful sound as he ground the starter motor against the flywheel. “Right, don’t touch the key again or it makes bad noises. First gear, to me and forward,” he said, selecting first, trying to ease off of the clutch and the brake and get his right foot over to the gas, only to stall the engine with a violent jolt. He sat there for a few seconds, completely unaware of what to do.
“Jayde, you stalled it. Foot on the brake, on the clutch, twist the key. This time, less brake, more gas,” Kaylie explained.
Everyone except for Jayde and Rukari winced with mechanical sympathy as Jayde’s second attempt at departing happened. A heavy foot landed on the accelerator as he dumped the clutch, the engine screaming as it produced an awful smell before the truck surged up to speed. It sat there, sounding downright awful as they traveled at 13 miles per hour with an engine full of valve float. “Change the gears please!” Malavera said. Jayde stomped the clutch, releasing the gas a moment later, stuffed the gearbox into second, dumped the clutch, and found the accelerator again. The truck lurched violently each time Jayde changed gears, but at least they were moving.
On The Road
About an hour into their drive, everyone was starting to regret making Jayde drive. His gear changes invoked a sense of primal fear each time he reached for the stick, between the number of times he had employed the “If I can’t find it, grind it” strategy, missed his gear and slammed the stick into a shift gate, (luckily) missed his gear and pulled a nasty second-to-fifth that nearly stalled the truck, and jolted them all around at random with his rough use of the clutch.
“Jayde, can you feel the clutch at all?” Kaylie asked.
“Not really. There’s some vibration I can feel in the wheel, but I don’t really know at what point I feel that,” Jayde replied, after another very-rough fourth-to-third transition leading into a corner. The whole truck shuddered as Jayde slid wide through the turn, kicking up dirt and large rocks as they left the cobblestone road.
“Shit!” Kivenaal said. “Can we keep the truck on the road, please!?”
“Sorry,” Jayde apologized, looking over at Kivenaal.
“Jayde! Keep your eyes on the road!” Kayden yelled. Jayde looked in time to avoid driving into the back of the IFAZ Bogatir of Team Wayfarers as they reversed out of the mud-puddle they’d driven into, horns blaring from both trucks as they narrowly avoided a crash.
Some time later, they came across a few small spiky bundles of joy waddling across the dirt road. Jayde stepped on the brakes, inadvertently stalling the truck as he forgot to use the clutch, then said, “If we catch a few of these, we can have ourselves a good meal later. Just be careful not to step on them, the quills are very, very sharp. Even the Dyre show respect around these creatures.”
There, at the side of the road, Shift Happens did a little hunting for food, using a variety of methods. Jayde’s nearly-painless use of magic led to a lot of dead porcupines, Kivenaal collected more than a couple with his revolvers, Rukari shot three with his black-powder revolver, Kaylie managed to bag one with one of Kivenaal’s spare revolvers, despite using all six shots to try to hit it, Kayden caught two with his sword, and Malavera even managed to get one with a thrown crystal hunting knife. Between the six of them, they had more than enough to share with a few teams when they got to camp.
They filled up the fuel tanks, piled their new-found cargo into the bed, climbed back into their seats, and lurched, jolted, and jostled their way into camp.
Vallengarda Campsite, A little after 5 Sun
The Bricksley made an unsteady approach into the camp, clearly clutch-hopping after a bad stall coming up the last little hill. Jayde was glad when he was able to park the truck and shut the engine down. Soon after, the crew bailed out of the truck, grabbed their supplies for cooking, started a campfire, and started preparing their meal. Jayde worked with surprising efficiency to get the small bundles of meat removed from their spiny skin, while Rukari was just as fast. Kaylie was the only other one helping out with the peeling process as she was the only one who could handle the little bundles of razor-sharp quills without ending up with a hand full of painful quills, while Jayde and Rukari used tools to hold them until they’d been skinned. Kayden, Kivenaal, and Malavera worked to clean the creatures, then started grilling the fist-sized (for Jayde, anyway) creatures. The smell was almost instantly delightful.
Sure enough, after grilling up a batch of them, Kaylie, Malavera, and Kayden got their first experience with the local delicacy. Kivenaal had eaten these exactly once before, and for him, it was a bittersweet memory, as they’d been the last thing he’d eaten before he’d been put into cryo-sleep, though he admitted to himself that at least here, he had others around him that he knew. Jayde and Rukari, on the other hand, had eaten these miniature porcupines on many, many occasions. It didn’t take long for the six of them to eat all of the creatures they caught.
“Twin Suns, those were good,” Kaylie said.
“They’re a local delicacy,” Jayde replied.
After their quick meal, the tents were set up, and before Jayde could really get a chance to relax on the log he’d sat down on, Kaylie leaned in and whispered something in his ear. Within a few seconds, Jayde had gotten up and wandered over to their tent, tapping his staff at the four corners of it to apply a full-strength sound-deadening spell, and even went so far as to hang up a sign out front warning people to keep out. Kaylie and Jayde disappeared into the tent, leaving Malavera chuckling as he’d overheard what Kaylie had whispered.
“What’s so funny?” Kivenaal asked.
“Kaylie and Jayde. He’s so concerned someone will see him and Kaylie together that he’s gone out of his way to make sure no one barges in on him and Kaylie by accident. Kaylie suggested a little stress relief after his drive here, so, they’re ‘relieving stress’ together,” Malavera replied.
Kayden sighed. “At least the one good thing is that he’s making sure no one has to hear that,” he said.
Rukari shrugged. “It is natural,” Rukari said.
“Plus, keep in mind, Kayden, you’ve mentioned that Kaylie’s been interested in Leoni for years now,” Malavera added. “Now she has one that happens to be interested in her as well.”
Kivenaal looked toward the town of Vallengarda, then said, “I’m going to go into town, get a few things.”
“You? Going shopping? Who are you and what have you done with the real Kivenaal?” Kayden quipped.
“Just because I don’t like being recognized doesn’t mean I won’t go shopping if I need stuff. I need some supplies and a pint of ale,” Kivenaal replied, “and the pint is optional. That’s… more in case I need it for inspiration.”
After what seemed like quite a while, Jayde and Kaylie left their tent, though Kaylie definitely looked unsteady on her feet. She sat down on a tree stump, a blissful smile on her face, while Jayde moved a small distance away to meditate.
Jayde, after a few minutes to find his inner peace and relax, finally opened his eyes and reached into the bag he’d dumped a bunch of things into the day before. He pulled out his old golden chain, now no longer having a coil of golden wire or a green crystal on it, and put it back on, buried within his mane again. Then, he reached into the bag once more and retrieved a shining metal hilt, elegant and simple, showing little resemblance to the pile of stuff he’d thrown in the bag the day before. Taking his time to respect what he had made, he pointed the weapon in a safe direction, clicked the switch, and startled ever-so-slightly as the green blade burst into life, humming a low, rumbling note. It buzzed slightly as he moved it, then with a quiet hiss, retracted just as quickly, the light gone in an instant.
Kaylie smiled as she looked over at Jayde. “A more civilized age indeed,” she said with a smirk.
4 Likes
Team Slow
Chapter 3 Part 8
Oh no! Our car! It’s broken.
As we get out the campsite after the surfboard ordeals, we pack our things into the trunk of the car and then we go, Not long later, the car starts slowing down and having 2 less cylinders. “Where’s the c-“ Izzy said and then picked up the CB microphone to say “We have fucking broke down yet again. This reminds me more like my personal car!
Matt checks under the hood once the car stopped and the trio were looking until John points out “Yea, that coil pack is gone, Duct tape can fix it?” he said. “No, look one of the wires is out.” Matt replies back before asking Izzy and she says something similar of a result. She then gets into the car and then the others get into the car and then move the car and to the next campsite “You know, This really shows how these break the minute their warranties run out. Typical for German cars.” Matt says whilst he looks at Izzy and sees she’s flooring it but the car is limping. “By the time I get there, I could use another drink.” Izzy replies yet again and takes a drink of some beer. Then takes another one. “Don’t crash there” John said as Izzy was becoming drunk
They then arrive at Vallengarda Campsite and they set up the tent and then Matt and Izzy painstakingly just lie down after that tedious drive. She then takes in another beer.
Beer count. 3/8, first case out of two cases.
Ooc: Anyome have coil packs?
Mobile so formatting may not be standard.
1 Like
CEST/ GMT+1
at the time of posting this, it’s 10:36AM
Okay
do you have Discord?
if so, we can coordinate there to not clog this up and speed up response times
I do, however im not in the Automation Discord.
Team Shift Happens
Previous Chapters:
Cinnamon and Apologies - Stage 5 Drive and Stage 5 Camp
An Apology / Campsite Stories / I Have Gas! - Stage 5 Camp (Collab with Knugcab - Original Title: “Gimme Oxygen!”)
The Prank - Collab. with SurrealCereal (Team MCP)
A Tent-ative Meeting - Stage 5 Camp
Engine Troubles / Racing Stripes - Stage 6 Drive and Camp
Capt’n Crazy Capsizes - Stage 6 Camp Collab with Knugcab
Not the Face! - Stage 6 Camp Collab with Knugcab
The Saber of Light - Stage 6 Collab written by TheYugo45GV
Begging for Mercy - Stage 6 Camp
“Not It!” - Stage 7 Drive and Camp
Vallengarda Campsite, 6-and-71 Sun
When Team Slow arrived (@interior) in the camp and drove past the Bricksley, Kaylie got a whiff of something she’d hoped no one would have dared to do while here. Not long after they had gotten the car stopped, Kaylie was on her feet and already fuming mad. Sure enough, as a drunk Izzy stepped out from behind the wheel, Kaylie went off like a stick of dynamite.
"HOW FUCKING DARE YOU DRIVE DRUNK ON THE ROADS!?" Kaylie roared, not caring how many people heard her, and not caring to keep her natural growl suppressed. “I don’t care if you think you’re safe when doing that, or if you think the only things you have to worry about are the occasional slow-moving carriage, you DO NOT DRIVE DRUNK! Your fellow competitors are out there, the people of this world are out there, we are supposed to be shining examples of what heroes are supposed to be, so fucking act like it! If I EVER catch you, or any other team driving drunk again, I will personally make sure that Jayde, Kivenaal, and Rukari,” Kaylie said, pausing long enough to point to the 8-foot-5-inch tall lion in black robes, the 8-foot-3-inch tall four armed, twin tailed Valraadi wearing a fairly convincing gunslinger’s outfit, and the 7-foot-9-inch tall Valraadi wearing armor and carrying a large rifle-cannon across his back, “send the offending team and their car home!”
Not long after, she stormed off, reached into the cab of the truck and grabbed the CB handle, twisted the knob to PA mode, then climbed up on top of the toolbox. She keyed the microphone, then spoke for the whole camp to hear, “Listen up. I can’t believe I have to bring this up because every civilized nation has laws against this sort of thing, but the next team I catch driving drunk will be going home. There will be no negotiations, no second chances. You will simply be rounded up, herded into your car, and teleported home. We are supposed to be setting an example for these people. What examples are we setting if people are driving while drunk during a stage? Even our team, who has a fair share of people who drink alcohol and, in some cases, have used mind-altering substances, have managed to not put an intoxicated driver behind the wheel. When I can say with perfect honesty that I’d rather share the road with 16 rookie drivers who have never seen a car before than one drunk driver who thinks they’re safe, and someone here was driving drunk in the last stage, I have to put my foot down. This is a problem regardless, but the worst part is, we had a learning driver on the same stage.”
Kaylie paused for a minute, then said, “Yes, his gear changes inspired primal fear in all of us, and he occasionally used every square inch of the available road, but I would rather share the road with a field of drivers like Jayde. Think about this: Jayde does not know our driving laws. What are we teaching him if teams are driving drunk?”
Again, Kaylie paused to let the message sink in, then said, “We’re here to have fun, people, but respect your fellow competitors. Stay sober behind the fucking wheel.” She hopped down off of the toolbox, put the CB handle away, and flicked the microphone selector switch back to Broadcast mode.
3 Likes
dont worry this would be a one time thing then.
1 Like
Presumably this being an actual offence like an CSR-kind of bin^
I don’t want to have to end a team’s run, but I have to draw the line somewhere. I’ll tolerate a lot of things on the roads, but drunk driving is a hard no. Because it wasn’t established as a hard no before (mostly because I figured no one would have someone crazy enough to actually do that in their team), this is a warning to everyone, delivered in character that it will not be tolerated.
I let it slide for Knugcab’s team because the effects of the mercy bush were more humorous in the moment, but as someone who has personally lost three friends to drunk drivers, I’m not letting drunk driving slide. I do not need to glorify drinking and then driving under the influence.
3 Likes
That’s a fair enough one then, Sorry for your losses though.
Team Slow
(Filler to C3, P8, and yet another mini-short, and a follow-up)
We have been warned.
Whilst Izzy was being screamed at by one of Team Shift happens’ team members during camp, alongside an announcement. “Why the fuck were you driving drunk, next stage i’m taking the wheel.” John says, alongside he places the cases of beers and hides them inside the spare tire well, under a spare tire and putting back the carpeting associated to it. “We don’t want to be teleported home, alright?” John says again, and then Izzy replies “Alright, fine, I’ll stop it with the drink driving behind the wheel.” And then they go back to the tent, knowing rest assured the beers are hidden away so it does not happen. “John, do you want to take the wheel before we all get teleported home, this may sound like something from a sci-fi movie on Earth, but this isn’t a joke.” Matt says and then agrees to John taking the wheel for Stage 8. “You nearly crashed the car doing that, not realising there was 16 people, could’ve jeopardised them all!” John says.
(TO BE CONTINUED, had to do this mini-short as a follow up to this whole incident. Smaller than average, but an quick response.)
2 Likes
TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
Earlier parts
PART 0.1 - A prologue to the prologue
PART 0.2 - Another piece of the prologue puzzle
PART 0.3 - Viva la IP 4Z!
PART 0.4 - Robotman
PART 0.5 - Interference problems
PART 0.6 - Can I play Tetris?
PART 0.7 - Tangerine and familiar
PART 1.0 - Now things got serious!
PART 1.1 - Hello, Thibault and friends!
PART 1.2 - Poor kitty
PART 1.3 - Curse you, Team Oil Crisis!
PART 1.4 - Interlude
PART 2.0 - Bird bird bird, bird is the word!
PART 2.1 - D. Head
PART 2.2 - Good night!
PART 3.0 - Freeway Rockstar
PART 3.1 - DISCO TJO DISCO HEJ
PART 3.2 - Van-Werewolf 1-0
PART 4.0 - Calm after the storm
PART 5.0 - Mirror mirror on the…oh, crap!
PART 5.1 - Hello, little puppies!
PART 6.0 - Speed
PART 6.1 - GIMME OXYGEN! (feat. Madrias)
PART 6.2 - Steamin’ hot! (feat. Elizipeazie)
PART 7.0 - The Kayak
PART 7.1 - Marie the valkyrie?
PART 7.2 - Vegetables
PART 7.3 - Time to tie things up.
PART 8.0 - The hangover
Before the rest of the team woke up, Janne did some small tune-ups on the Freeway Star. Hopefully, it should be running well for the day then. Andreas was sleeping in the tent, and Marie…well…in a pile of sand they managed to drag her too last night. When Andreas woke up, it was almost time for the start of todays race, so the challenge now was to wake up Marie.
“Hyyyyuuuuurrrgggghhhh…”
“Have you been sleeping well?”, Andreas laughed.
“God damn, what happened?”, she asked.
“Well, I heard that you headbutted Malavera and Rukari to steal their moonshine. Not really your brightest moment, huh?”, Janne asked back.
“I don’t know…I remember I had a kayak, and then…just fragments”, she said, confused.
“Let’s just say that you HAD a kayak”, Janne answered, a bit cynical.
“Whatever. I need a beer!”, she said.
“There is no beer left”, Andreas said, looking very innocent.
“SAY WHAT! NO BEER?”, she yelled.
“You must have been drinking it all!”, Andreas said.
“No way! There must be plenty left…fuck…where is it?”, she said, starting to go through the van.
“Well, someone must have stolen it then, I presume”, Andreas said.
“WHAT THE FUCK! NO BEER! I am thirsty…fuck…VEGETABLES? Why did you bring a box of fucking vegetables with you?”
“We might be able to trade them for stuff”, Janne smirked.
“Yeah, trade your damn rotten cauliflowers for some beer then”, Marie said. “I am thirsty!”
“Here is a bottle of water!”, Andreas said.
“Euuuwhhh… Water! I hate water! It is gross!”, Marie said with a wrinkled face.
“What is so gross about damn regular water?”, Andreas asked.
“How can I be sure that frogs haven’t been fucking in this water?”, Marie asked, while Andreas just sighed.
“Now that question is actually legit”, Janne said.
“Marie, do you know that there is mostly water in beer?”, Andreas asked curiously.
“Yeah…but… Beer is different. It contains…ehm…beer stuff I guess? You know the one that tastes good. And makes me happy. Water only makes me miserable and sad”, she said.
“Well, we don’t have anything else, so water it is!”, Andreas said, trying to hold his laughter back, knowing where the beer was now.
The team got into the van, which was running very well, just as Janne predicted. In fact it was running so well that Andreas was impressed, and decided to stomp on the accelerator a little bit more. Someone that was less impressed was Marie, that was complaining about everything.
"UUURGGHHH…turn down the damn volume!, Marie said after being forced to listen to this on full volume, having the mother of all headaches.
“NO WAY!”, Janne and Andreas said. “Now you get Eddie Meduza on full volume, just like you always have wanted!”
Marie was keeping up with it for some minutes until she hit the radio with her fist, changing the source from “CD” to “AM tuner”, which in this world just meant silence.
“Ah, finally. But I want beer!” she said.
“Drink water, or you will be all dried up soon”, Andreas said.
“Probably not after the kayak incident of yesterday!”, Janne answered, and Andreas just nodded. At the same moment, however, Marie fell asleep and somehow managed to hit the transmitter button on the CB, which resulted in some very large amounts of acoustic feedback being transmitted to the CBs of the other teams.
“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!”
Marie hastily woke up and managed to hit the CD button on the stereo again, this time it was at least a somewhat easier tune by Meduza to listen to.
Andreas felt right at home on the narrow, curvy forest gravel road where many other teams struggled, and managed to get to the finish relatively fast, without even refuelling once. Marie however was still in a terrible mood, having an even more terrible headache.
VEHICLE STATUS:
Interior unusually clean.
Airbag cover duct taped together
SRS light removed
Front bumper broken
Rear bumper scratched
Bull bar bent
Windshield cracked
Left side sliding door caved in, door handle broken
Right side sliding door being stiff to open and close, something must have happened during the werewolf fight
Left outside mirror mostly gone (only the metal base left, plastic housing and glass gone)
Running like a champ again!
No centre headrest
No lexan window in the divider wall
One hubcap missing
TO BE CONTINUED…
@TheYugo45GV - my thought is that maybe the dyre puppies starting to trash the seats is a stress reaction on the acoustic feedback being sent out on the CB. You decide yourself it it is the reason or not.
3 Likes
RK Series Racing; Stage 7 Drive.
The next morning was calmer than usual die to the added time they have before needing to depart for the stage. Constantin once again went through his set of exercises before the others even had woken up.
The rest of the morning was the usual affair, with equipment being packed up, the roadgoing Railcar being steamed and greased and a basic breakfast being enjoyed to the best of their abilites.
The entering of the car proved… a challenge once again as Valentin had to fold his massive frame to get to the driver seat from the passenger door. The same applies, to a lesser extent, to Tim for the seat behind Valentin.
“We need to fix that window here soon… I don’t fit into this thing already and folding myself in half to get in is not exactly my definition of comfort.”, Valentin burts out in annoyance on the way over to the driver seat.
“Though you do make a great contortionist”, Tim smirks in response, though he does agree that for him, it must be pain to get there.
They were the last team to leave camp and drove over to the Steamworks, where they were greeted by a cheerful shift of workers who got word of the story from the others. An empty maintenance bay was used as a transition point onto the rails, and the on-site workers were specifically instructed to not provide aid to the team to get a more accurate feel of switching modes on an open bit of line without any help.
It took numerous attempts and a lot of crank-turning from Constantin to transition to rail mode as they got a feel for how to align the rail wheels with the actual track. A good 15 minutes pass before they are on the rails proper, with the road tyres being suspended and floating in mid-air. Jonathan approaches the car and it’s occupants.
“Well… good luck on your journey! Hope my people did fine work.”, Jonathan says while stood at the fireman’s window, behind which Connor was sat.
“They are very pleasant to work with, thank you! As per their quality, we’ll see, assuming my engineering is sound to begin with…”, Valentin replies from across the car.
After that, the whistle is sounded twice to indicate a moving “train” and Robert the Redneck Railcar rolls out of the maintenance bay, stopping just shy of the shunting signal in front of it. The signal quickly is cleared and they roll across the Samiraie Steamworks yard one last time before joining the mainline, following the 2-00 Sun Longitude Express train.
As they roll out onto the mainline, Valentin cautiously applies more and more power, making sure that the wheels won’t slip. Despite having all-wheel drive, steel wheels on steel rails don’t provide all that much grip, which is compounded by not having a sander as a traction-aid.
Nevertheless, Robert gradually picks up speed, relatively quickly by train standards, but very slow by road car ones. 30, 40 and 50MPH come and go without a hitch. Approaching 60MPH, Robert starts swaying from side to side, which scares Valentin a bit, forcing him to pull back on the throttle slightly.
Reminding himself that at this speed, the sway is normal and nothing to worry about, he eventually pushes past, at which point the oscillation subsides and is replaced by eerily smooth running, save for copious amounts of wind noise.
As they approach the current speed limit of 100MPH, Valentin decreases throttle substantially and reaches over to the Fireman’s side to flick a switch over, changing the throttle’s behavior similarly to how electric cars have different settings for regen-braking.
Not long after, they are forced to slow due to a distant signal showing ‘danger’, indicating that the next signal will force them to a stop.
It turns out Robert actually outperforms the Longitude Express trains, especially in acceleration out of slower-speed sections, with about equal braking capabilities.
As they roll to a stop a good 50 feet in front of the signal, Constantin is sent ahead to the signalbox to notify the signalman that their “train” is stationary. As he returns, the signal shows clear, but a bit further down the line, a second signal at danger can already be seen. They once again stop there and repeat the process according to local railroading procedures.
The remainder of the trip turned out the be very pleasant, as the smooth rails (save for the occasional shoddy joint and the transition at points or switches) are much more comfortable than the poor dirt and cobblestone roads elsewhere.
A pair of stops for refueling were made, both of which turned out much longer than anticipated due to the comparatively poor availability of suitable fuel away from villages and tows. This forced them to wait even longer to let following, non-stopping trains pass, which they used to take a break and have a snack.
Apart from that, they arrived at the yard on the other end. Sure, the trip took about six earth-hours, but 6 hours on a “road” smoother than any interstate can possibly be is way better than spending eight on dirt.
As they roll in, a class-sized mass of people has piled around the entry to the repair bay, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Railcar.
Valentin aggressively sounds the whistle to get them off the rails, which isn’t exactly successful.
Thus, he inches ever so slowly into the building, forcing the crowd away bit by bit.
Soon, they come to a stop, followed by the doors being opened against the crowd.
Valentin didn’t really feel like engaging with a mass of people and stayed in the car with Connor for the time being. The process of getting it off the rails was much simpler, as raising the wheels needed less force and moving the drive belt wasn’t a work of delicacy either.
Soon after, the tyres are grounded once more and they drove the thing over to the other entrance, where they stop to arrange the departure times of tomorrow’s leg. This time, Valentin is forced to actually get out, much to his annoyance. The talks with the supervisor have been quick and pleasant, with Valentin returning not much later, just to spend a good five minutes folding himself back onto the driver seat.
“[Swedish Expletive], we need to fix that window, [other expletive]”, Valentin exclaims in anger on the way in, followed by the others grinning ear-to ear.
Then they drive over to the campsite, where the car is shut down and, once again, contortion exercises are done getting Valentin out of the driver position, though this time, Constantin helps a bit by dragging him out.
To calm down a bit, they resort to card games, with which they spend quite some time…
RK Series Racing; Stage 7 Camp
this part was written in collaboration with @interior.
As Team Slow’s vehicle rolls into camp, it coughs and sputters as the broken ignition coils sends misfires into the two affected cylinders. The freshly converted railcar of RK series racing is parked somewhat close to the Bricksley of Shift Happens where they are playing some card games. Kaylie immediately ran over to vent some perfectly reasonable rage at Izzy, as it turns out.
The team members of RK Series Racing look over at the Schnell in curiosity, which turns to widespread disappointment as they discover that Izzy apparently had done the stage drunk. Kaylie heads back, into the Bricksley Raioman’s seat and did a public announcement.
“Lunatics driving drunk… Thank fuck we’re on rails now.”, Valentin spoke, looking at the Schnell with a face of minor hatred.
“Hope nobody got their life… taken by the idiocy of them…”, Constantin added.
Isabella would go up onto the populated area of the campsite, after sobering up and then say “Look, I finally sobered up to see my mistake and now I apologise for drunkenly driving like that.”
She then walks back to the car and notices the cases on the passenger footwell being missing, and she says again “That’s good, they went flat anyway and tasted like piss. Not doing that drunk driving again before we get teleported home” And then she opens the hood of the car yet again and tries a certain home remedy to fix the ignition coils as there probably is no parts for that kind of car in Crugandr and had a spare amount of wire to try fix it back up after the home remedy possibly fails.
As Isabella walked up to the camp’s center and spoke her apology, The members of RK Series Racing looked at each other in distrust.
“Yep… what i would say if i was caught drunk-driving.”, Tim remarks, having been caught once as well. At least he got off easy, due to “only” being a wee bit over the limit and driving in the middle of the night with nobody in sight.
“Maniacs like those are the reason why people get killed. That and speeding, tailgating and people with a need to compensate.”, Valentin adds, having had his fair share of poor-driver experiences from a Cyclist’s perspective.
“The fact that the hosts let that slide is what’s irking me, tbh… You’d be forced to high-tail outta there if i was busted being drunk behind the wheel.”, Constantin explains, knowing that his statement may not carry too much value to Valentin due to previous events.
The attempt at fixing the broken coil is noticed, but not immediately acted upon.
Whilst Izzy was there fixing the car, she goes, “V7… Then now V8…” she says to herself as she tries to fix the coils with what she had on hand, and then finishes it shortly and closes the hood and sits on it and takes a rest on the car, slightly on the roof and technically sitting on the windscreen.
Confusion fills the group at the back of the Dione.
“Wait… was she just checking oil or what?”, Tim asks.
Neither remaining member responds, as even Connor cannot tell exactly what she did in the engine bay.
At some point, they simply lose interest and return to their card game.
John then notices Izzy sitting on the windshield and then advises her to get off it, “You might break the glass if you sit on that if i’m honest with you, Sit on the roof or something, but not the windshield,” Izzy then moves up to the roof and lies down on the roof taking in the sun. between the basket modification bars. “You know, I regret doing it drunk, Nearly got the team teleported home.”
And then Matt approaches Constantin, “Honestly didn’t expect this day to go to shit, Broken car, you know, cause the warranty ran out, then the coils got fixed now.”
Constantin turns around in response to being talked to from behind, followed shortly after by Tim and Valentin. “…i’d think that the car is of lesser concern to you than your teammates are at the moment.”, Constantin says in a cold tone of voice. The other don’t say anything yet to not interrupt the existing conversation.
Matt then replies dead in the eyes to Constantin “Oh, Izzy driving drunk?”
“I see no sensible way as to how anyone of you could let her behind the wheel in the first place, unless you are shitfaced-drunk as well…”, Constantin adds with a hint of resentment.
Valentin crosses his arms as he too is not exactly fond of someone intoxicated driving a car on a completely unknown planet with equally unknown roads.
“Honestly, i wasn’t awake to see the rest of it go down when she was driving” Matt replies back, after realising that she was intoxicated behind the wheel and yells “ISABELLA, GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE! Why were you drunkenly driving!” Matt yells out to get her attention and then she yells back “I ALREADY APOLOGISED TO THE WHOLE CAMP!”
“ALRIGHT.”, Matt blares back.
“Don’t you have a third member in that car of yours?”, Constantin asks, digging deeper at the attempt to dodge responsibility.
Tim leans over to Valentin and whispers: “You think he’d be a drunk driver as well?”
“How am i supposed to tell? I don’t drink.”, Valentin replies, also in a whisper.
“Yeah, that’s John, He’s sober,” Matt replies back to Constantin
“Cool… and he didn’t do jackshit to get this ‘Isabella’ away from the wheel and like… drive himself, alright.”, Constantin counters, mentally having had enough but still engaging out of inherent respect for Civilians.
“Sometimes he’d be an ass though” Matt replies back to Constantin sort of agreeing
“Being an ass sure qualifies if you are by-proxy endangering others in the process… So you need anything now or what?”, Constantin mutters, annoyed at the circumstances of it all, despite having had the most pleasant stage to date.
“Nah, i’m alright, I’ll get back to my car and see if she’s found the beers yet that we hidden.” Matt replies and walks back to the Schnell.
Matt then checks the trunk and the hiding spot whilst Izzy is not looking and sees that none of them are missing “That’s a good sign.” He then closes the trunk.
Constantin just nods in response and returns to the other two, continuing the halted game in the process.
“Well at least they have their Black and White flag now.” Tim comments, followed by a slight smile from Valentin and confusion in Constantin’s face.
“A black and white flag, divided diagonally is waved at an offending driver during motorsports events as a last warning notice before penalties are applied.”, Connor explains, filling Constantin’s lack of knowledge with a ‘TIL-Moment’.
to be continued
3 Likes
Vallengarda, Crugandr
Local time: 5 Sun to 6:40 Sun
Written with help from @Madrias
Green Light
As the announcement about DUI came through the radio, K’mino switched it off. He wanted no part in hearing about the dangerous activity and the consequences. He shifted uncomfortably as he stretched his legs out the passenger side window of the Magistrate. Plus, it was not as if he cared if someone who wasn’t him died. To him, Team Slow were morons, even before they pulled that stunt, Team Black Rabbit unsettled him, Especially the team member with the obscured face. Team Blazers? Not of any significant interest. Marvolinski-Chitco? They were different to say the least and Hillbilly Rollers, Two men and a chaos machine. Shift Happens were sort of a neutral in between, even with that annoying snow leopard with the metal arm.
But these thoughts faded as he saw Jayde. Earlier there had been the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber firing up. Did the lion man finally create himself a blade of light?
With a sigh, and some reluctance, K’mino got himself back into a regular seated position, and then exfiltrated the car, and began a stroll towards the slumbering Bricksley.
Jayde looked up as K’mino walked toward him, taking his eyes off of the elegant and slightly-ornate hilt for the first time in a while. He had been amazed at how well the weapon fit in his hands, how it felt nearly weightless yet carried momentum when ignited, and how vivid the green light had been.
“You look troubled,” Jayde said, not so much reading thoughts as intents, though K’mino had a look Jayde was all-too-familiar with on his face.
K’mino sat himself down on the log beside Jayde. “This day has been an absolute shit storm, first the pups tearing up the seats and then bandits attacking us, and now someone driving under the influence. Which, I’m sure you know by the reaction your teammate gave, is a very bad thing.”
Jayde nodded. “It has been a bad day, I’ll agree. Getting picked as the driver was not what I wanted today, but they played a little game to which I did not know the rules, and so I had to drive. It… is not easy, I was all over the road, and I’m sure that I’ve damaged the truck in some way, because it kept growling at me.” He took a deep breath and let it out, before adding, “And then we get here, and find out someone was drinking and operating a motor carriage. Even before Kaylie gave that speech, I knew it was a bad thing.”
K’mino glanced at the saber hilt before Jayde turned the lightsaber over in his hands again, then said, “Bandits, you said? Their leader wouldn’t happen to have been a smooth-talking highwayman by the name of John Mitzal? I know revenge is not the way, but,” Jayde held the hilt out in a safe direction and flicked the switch, the green blade igniting suddenly, “let’s just say that we’ve clashed a couple of times and he usually gets away. I swear, that man is resistant to lightning.”
As K’mino watched the blade he inhaled gently. “I picked up a newspaper from a newsstand the other day in Samiraie, and I found a headline about someone with that exact name, apparently his crew robbed a train just a few days before we got here and he tried to rob us and a merchant we picked up and later tried to rob us again, If Orlan hadn’t scared them off with his gun, we’d be walking the rest of the way. Anyway, I’m glad to see you made yourself a lightsaber.”
Jayde switched the blade off and smiled. “I’m not so sure I can say that I made it. I put all of the pieces into a bag and meditated while they were in the bag in front of me. This was the result,” he said, holding the hilt up for K’mino to get a better look. The titanium was a little rough in some places, it was obvious that it had been made using random spare parts, and yet it held some form of unrefined elegance, an almost-unfinished quality that showed it would, over many years, be improved as Jayde grew more confident in his use of the Force and his lightsaber.
“I don’t suppose that gunshot earlier was the end of Mitzal, was it? Someone like him always manages to slither away like a snake. Just like a certain sorceress that Rukari’s father killed, Mitzal will one day make a mistake and someone will take him down,” Jayde said.
K’mino shook his head before looking down at the ground again. “No that gunshot wasn’t the end of Mitzal, but it did bring down one of those giant lizards of his. Though, the size of the muzzle flash and the amount of smoke that was left behind made me think at least that it was some kind of armor piercing round. On the other hand, your parts choice for your lightsaber is a little unusual, but as time goes on, you’ll be able to upgrade it.” and with that he retrieved his own lightsaber and fired up the blade.
“Sounds like war-surplus .58 Pointed to me,” Jayde said. “It’s a black-powder round, loaded with as much powder as they could pack in, designed to punch through armor.”
When K’mino mentioned his choice of parts for his lightsaber were a bit unusual, Jayde chuckled. “Not a lot of choices around here, to be honest. Armor scraps, a plasma pistol barrel, my old crystal, the gold wire that held it to my chain, I worked with what I could find. Though it is good to know it can be upgraded still.”
As K’mino fired up his own blade, Jayde smiled. “Green and blue. Fitting colors for those on the side of light,” Jayde said.
Kivenaal wandered back in from the town with a bag of stuff, though before he found a place to sit down and meditate on what he’d brought, he heard the ignition of a lightsaber and startled slightly, raising his hands to fight until he realized the weapon was not aimed his way. He set down his bag and grabbed the last bottle of moonshine out of the truck, pulled the cork with a pop, and then poured the contents into one of the fuel tanks of the truck. “After seeing what it does to some people, I am done with the stuff,” Kivenaal muttered, putting the empty bottle away and grabbing his bag of supplies again, wandering over to a log not-too-far from K’mino and Jayde. As he reached in and removed a couple of seemingly normal crystals, Kivenaal placed them between his finger and thumb, then squeezed. There was a brief snap, followed by Kivenaal startling and nearly dropping the pair of crystals with an exclamation of pain.
“Ai!,” Kivenaal yelped, tossing the two crystals to another of his hands and shaking his upper right hand. “Did not think those would shock like that,” he grumbled.
K’mino looked in the direction of the truck. “He’s trying to make a saber as well?”
The contents of Kivenaal’s bag clattered as he set it down next to him. “I’m going to try, at least. Just, out here, it’s quite difficult to track down a proper power source and Kayden won’t give me one of his power cells. But, there’s been this guiding voice that keeps pointing me in what seems like the right direction, and these ‘mysterious lightning crystals,’ as they were labeled, might make a good start.”
The blue blade retracted with a hiss.
Jayde chuckled. “From what little I know of him, he’s persistent. Even only just barely knowing it’s possible, he’ll give it everything he’s got until he gets a result,” Jayde admitted.
Kivenaal studied his bag of supplies and gave a quiet sigh. “Small steps. Power sources first,” he said to himself. “Nothing can be done until I have some way to provide energy.”
“Small steps are the only way anyone can get started with anything really.” K’mino said. “Everything comes with patience and some training obviously. I think its likely for the best for me to wait for you two to construct your weapons.”
Then the three separated and went about their business. Upon returning to the car, K’mino opened the center console and rummaged around for a moment before fishing out a case of pre-cut cigars. Popping one into his mouth, he then turned his attention to the ice chest hidden under the rear seat bench, fished out a bottle of whiskey, poured it into a glass and dropped a couple of ice cubes in it. Shutting the ice chest and returning to his spot and putting his legs up out the window, he settled in to relax. The lighter flicked open and lit up with a click, igniting the tobacco and producing a plume of smoke.
To Be Continued (Like Always)
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