Shitbox Rally 2024 - Journey to Holsia (Completed, Final Stage Released)

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
PART 6.2 - I ALMOST GOT THAT BASTARD!

TW: SPIDERS

“Do this fucking support bracket have to be removed?”, Andreas sighed.

“Yes, otherwise you won’t be able to get the heater core far enough to the left, to be able to pass it through so you can get it out of the door, and…”, Janne sighed. “Nevermind, let’s just say that it all has to be removed.”

“The engine too?”, Andreas said with a grain of salt.

“Almost”, Janne answered.

Lots of work later, they had managed to get the heater core out, but the whole interior was also more or less outside the IP. Janne did not lie when he said how those cars were built. A lots of scrubbing later they had managed to remove the butter residues, and there was now a possibility for the car to smell…well, at least a little less unpleasant. Needless to say, there was even more work to get the IP back together again. The sun was starting to go down when they were finished, both exhausted and tired, they decided to walk around for a while, to see something else than the IP.

TW

At around the same time, Marie came back from doing…well, who knows, Janne and Andreas had ordered her to do anything else than being around the IP to not risk having the heater core being shoved down her throat, at least she had no luck in looting beer, so she was looking into the minibar for something to drink when the giant spider jumped out from it.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”, she was screaming, while the spider was escaping the cargo area. “THAT FUCKER WAS AS BIG AS A FINNISH SPITZ!”. Marie took the axe and started chasing the potentially lethal monster.

“TAKE THIS YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”, she was shouting, swinging the axe, hitting everything but the spider.

With the spider trying to escape into the car, Marie didn’t calm down. “This is probably some poisonous bastard that will kill the whole camp!”, she thought.

“TAKE THIS!” - CRASH!
“AND THIS!” - CRASH!
“AND THIS!” - CRASH!

Scared for its life, the big spider was running away…somewhere else, while Janne and Andreas came back and…

“MARIE, WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE???”, Janne screamed, totally losing his temper.

“I just tried to kill a goddamned bastard of a spider!”, she said, sitting inside the smashed interior, with blood stains coming from her managing to hit herself rather than the spider.

“I… I… I JUST SPENT MANY FUCKING HOURS TO GET THAT DASHBOARD BACK IN PLACE, AND NOW YOU HAVE MADE IT INTO SOME GODDAMNED THREE DIMENSIONAL PLASTIC PUZZLE, I JUST CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE, RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“Well, you should have worked faster then if you thought it took too long”, Marie replied, while Janne just went away towards Team Shift Happens without saying anything more.

“GREAT! We have to drive this POS tomorrow, and you have smashed it up completely!”, Andreas said. “What do you have to say to your…NO, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR!”, an almost as furious Andreas said. “Just…Just don’t say a word”, he said, starting to duct tape the interior together in panic, which didn’t repair the smashed windshield though…

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Highway Hooligans & Team Shift Happens

Stage 8


Cody looks around at the camp in the dark, quiet hours just before sunrise. The big furry fellows were definitely asleep, as was most of the camp. He pulls out a roll of electrical tape and starts covering cameras on the bus, giggling quietly as he wanders around. As a last act of defiance, he scribbles “Ha Ha” on a sticky note and adheres it over one of the front mounted cameras. His seeds of chaos now sown, Cody sneaks back over to the Ishu, chuckling quietly the whole time.


Kivenaal sighs as the alarms go off, announcing it was time to get up and start the long, tedious process of preparing to leave camp. Breakfast, pack Jayde’s tent into the Cargo-Trailer-of-Holding, get everyone onboard the bus and buckled in, inevitably have to wait an extra 10 minutes for Lauren to get off the bus and go pee, get out of the camp and onto a road, then enable the self-driving AI.

Like most days, things went pretty much exactly to plan, with the exception that it was Malavera who needed the toilet break instead of Lauren. The solution, crude and disgusting as it was, that Mal took to remedy the problem was simply to stand in the rear doorway, unzip, and let fly into the grass before straightening up his clothes and getting into his seat.

Things went great up until Kivenaal hit the switch to let the AI take over, and within 2 seconds, it piled on the brakes with enough force to nearly unseat everyone, as well as causing things in the rear shelving unit to crash around.

“Mal, Tak, your AI is being stupid again,” Kivenaal calls out.

Takaraya wanders forward and takes a look at the debug screen.

Sensor_Conflict_Resolution - Too Close to Vehicle Ahead.

“Seems to think there’s a vehicle in front of us,” Takaraya replies with a shrug. “Come on, everyone, let’s go see if there’s leaves on the sensors again.”

Most of the crew leave the bus, though Kiva, Jayde, Kasiya, and Inaelus stay on.

Mal peels the sticky note off of the front of the bus and holds it up for Kiva to see. “Someone’s fuckin’ with us.”

“May their whole fuckin’ team have an interesting night, then,” Jayde grumbles.


Five hours later, they’d found all of the little pieces of tape stuck all over various cameras and sensors, peeled them up, and disposed of them in the wastebasket by the front door. The bus makes a mostly-trouble-free trip into the latest camp, spotting a grinning set of Hooligans grabbing some beers out of the back of their Ishu Astrion with a trailer bodged onto it.

“Heard you guys had an unscheduled stop,” Cody says with a smirk.

“Laugh it up, Stay-Puft,” Kayden grumbles, looking over as Kaylie helps Jayde set up his tent.

Jake laughs, Trevor smirks, and Cody groans. “Ouch. That’s really the best insult you could come up with?”

Kayden gives a wicked, full-fangs-showing grin. “Oh, I don’t need to insult you properly, Cody. You already earned a surprise from Jayde.”


To Be Continued…

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Stage 8 - A dumb idea and a new friend

teams included:Hillbilly Rollers by @Knugcab, Chitko by @MrdjaNikolen, Shift Happens by @Madrias, Firulais by @Angelustyle. The train for the photoscene has been provided by @Mikonp7

also as kitschy as some teenie romance in some parts, but thats because the real Chanty wanted to write more of her dialogues herself…

Chanty started her day with a serious hangover - the Highway Hooligans usually party VERY hard, so not only beer but also booze was consumed, and she was not woken up by her team in order to not make her emotional breakdowns worse by adding fatigue. But she finally did get up, and heard people chattering about… the spider!

“DAD! YOU BROUGHT THE SPIDER HERE?”

“Sure, stuffed it Marie in her throat. I think that is a fitting revenge for what she did to you.”

“NO! That spider was running across the camping site and this could scare people!”

“It´s just a spider and it will escape into the forest anyway. Spiders have a good sense of orientation and it will find the way back to the castle easily.”

“You have NO right to put other peoples feelings in question, that is invasive behaiviour of you.”

“Your generation is really … some pathetic snowflakes, come on, grow up.”

“Impose boomer standards that are going biological extinct anyway soon on people that will outlive you by decades and making them suffer for nothing but the sake of your small ego is pathetic!”

You could hear a leaf falling now, as it became very silent after Chantys rage, but suddenly some group of younger team members applauded Chanty, making her feel a bit uncomfortable. To escape the situation, as she didn´t want to stand next to her annoyed father for an eternity until he finally figured out to rant back, she decided for a shower, while Thomas just mumbled “young people are really weird these days”, but otherwise seeming to accept that he was considered being in the wrong.

By walking to the shower with her bag, Chanty passed Andrea who looked quite desperate this time, so for once it was not Andrea comforting Chanty but the opposite.

“Oh, you look so sad… what is wrong?”

“You don´t look much better, so… you first.”

“Just a hangover and I am still scared by that dead cat and the spider…”

“SPIDER? WHERE?”

“Ah, I will tell you on the way to the shower. You are coming with me?”

“That is the problem! A wild boar… or something similar raided my bag. We should really not have left our cookies in the bags, that´s attracting the local wildlife. Most of my clothes are gone!”

“OH NO! Can´t you take something from Pi, at least for your… upper half?”

“Pi´s stuff is also gone.”

“Ah well, I have an idea then. Finally I can tell Jan and my dad that bringing tons of stuff isn´t unneccecary!”

Chanty provided her friends with some of her clothes, which looked… weird. Pi loved her anime t-shirt, while Andrea looked funny in the hello kitty pyjama that was waaaay to oversized for her, but was grateful for the help, although she propably would had asked someone with a more… usual taste, but didn´t tell that, as she did not want to hurt Chantys feelings. She regretted not having asked Jakasxandra quick enough to not have been offered stuff by Chantal.

“You don´t like it?”

“Oh, I do, it´s fine, really. Its only for a day anyway, as we might have the opportunity to shop at the next destination anyway.”

Chanty, being happy to be of assistance and giving back her friends some support, leaned against Andrea and started cuddling with her.

“Oh, if we weren´t attracted by men, you`d be my one of my possible choices, sweetie.”

“I am actually Bi, but don´t tell that Jan, he is already jealous enough at boys!”

Both laughed until Thomas passed by in the Primus, honking and making wild gestures.

“COME ON! WE NEED TO GET TO THE STARTING LINE!”

“Let me drive! We need to win for once!”

“Are you sure that you are fit for driving?”

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAASSS! Move your not-bad-for-your-age ass to the backseat!”

It could have been an easy drive, despite narrow and windy roads, but Chantal was by now used to the rather large Primus. But when they passed the Hillbilly Rollers for a start, Marie yelled something very mean at Chanty, and she almost started to cry, still trying hard to surpress it.

“Chantal? What is it? Was it what Marie said? I didnt hear it really, what did she say?”

“Thomas, you better don´t know, but I got it, too, and it was … not very nice.”

Jan put his left hand on Chantys right hand, and since they drove an automatic, were able to put their hands on the center console, and Chanty made sure she did not let loose for even a second, but being upset anyway, she drove again faster than one should, and they were quite far up front when they approached a railroad crossing. Actually, they were leading for the first time.


“Ah shit, all that speeding for nothing, you can have a stop now for a cigarette, it seems you need a smoke to cool down. That steam cloud seems like a train is coming.”

“NO WAY! We can do this!”

“Chantal, no, that won´t work. We are too far away to safely pass the crossing. I can´t tell it from that distance as I don´t see the train, but my experience tells me we will just wear down our tires and brakes for nothing.”

The engine of the Primus roared, as Chanty did a kickdown all the way back in second gear, which executed the old and worn transmission with a jerk that made all parts of the car clattering.

“BABY NO! THOMAS IS RIGHT!”

“CHANTAL JOLINA NILFERT, DON´T KILL US FOR FUCKS SAKE!”

“Relax, we have enough space left to catch up.”

“Eeeeeh… at lightspeed, maybeee… but it will be a close one! How fast are we going? The car almost falls apart on that road at that speed!”

“A… 130…135…140!”

“You two are aware that the speed limit here is 60? AND NOT 160???”

“Jan, we can read. Ok, this should be fast enough for survival. But … it SHOULD, not it IS. I would rather not do that, Chantal.”

“YOU TWO CAN´T BE SERIOUS!”

“Jans concern is valid, if I tell you to stop just before the point of no return, YOU DO THAT, UNDERSTOOD?”

Jan pulled the handbrake, but Thomas still hasn´t repaired it since it failed in Nevada.

“Are you insane, if that handbrake worked we would have spun in the ditch!”

“That is at least better than being crushed by a FUCKING STEAM TRAIN!!!”

“Oh, damn, CHANTY, WE ARE NOT MAKING IT! STOP! STOOOOOOOOP!”

“WE CAN DO IT!”

Now Thomas voice was full of fear, as he realized that the distance of maybe 400 Meter to the crossing is too long to pass before the train that is much slower, but only has like 200 meter left to travel. Jan tried to jump out of the car, but that would have been lethal at that speed as well, so Thomas stopped him by holding the door lock control rod down, overriding the door handle.

“NO, JAN, THAT IS LETHAL! CHANTAL, IF YOU DON´T STOP NOW, I WILL KICK YOU OUT OF MY LIFE IMMEDIATELY AND REFUSE ANY CONTACT! YOU ARE DEAD FOR ME THEN!”

Thomas then slammed with his head against the headrest of the passenger seat in front of him, as the Primus came to standstill with both rattling ABS and screeching tires, as Chanty pressed the brake pedal as hard as she could. In just that moment, the train passed them with a distance of maybe 5 centimeters, with the drag of the air causing the large car to shake like it was a small fishing boat in a thunderstorm in the ocean.

“Ooooofff… that was close! Are you all right?”

Jan left the car without saying a word, slamming the passenger door so hard that the window fell down. Chanty was still not even loosening her seatbelt, but silently crying.

“Heey, yes that was a very dumb action, but I won´t kick you out. You saved us by doing the right desision and listening to me. Heeeey, Chanty…”

Thomas put his hand on her shoulder, knowing that what he just verbally threw against her broke her heart in thousands of sharp pieces, but he did not have enough time to think of something milder that makes her stop in every case immediately.

Suddenly Jan, who first walked away from the car in order to not let his anger out at the others, made the unfortunate descision to come back, and ripped the driver door open, starting to yell at Chanty.

“I AM SO TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I THOUGHT THAT I CAN LIVE WITH EVERY OF YOUR SHIT, LIKE EXPOSING YOURSELF LIKE A SLUT ON THE INTERNET, COMING HOME LATE AND DRUNK AND I DONT KNOW WHERE YOU WERE, REFUSING TO LEAVE THE BED, TELLING ME DAILY HOW SHIT YOU ARE EVEN IF I TRY SOOOO HARD TO PROVE YOU OTHERWISE BUT IF YOU START NOT JUST HARMING YOURSELF BUT ALSO ME THAT RECKLESSLY…”

“JAN! Take a breath! Don´t you see she´s totally collapsed? I see your point, really, and I am also REALLY pissed but that is bad timing! We will discuss th…”

“NO, THOMAS! NO! I AM OUT HERE. I will now use that ring and…”

“NO! Don´t leave her alone like that at this moment. Do me the favour of staying until our destination and then we will discuss that matter, but with fair play, not by completely wrecking her.”

“Funny, Thomas, usually it´s you who yells at her, and now I do it for ONCE, because she finally carried it WAY TOO FAR, and suddenly you are the saint and I am the idiot?”

“Please, Jan, be a man, get in the car, and I will continue the driving for today.”

“NO, I AM WALKING! NO WAY I WILL EVER ENTER A CAR WITH YOU TWO AGAIN! I AM DONE WITH YOU, CHANTAL! GO KILL THAT MINDREADER BUT NOT ME!”

Jan walked off, despite Thomas trying to convince him to just take a deep breath, and Chantys panic attack from being yelled harsh at by Thomas not only doubled but tripled from Jans outbreak, and she exited the vehicle, running to the intersection and sitting down on the rails, continuing to cry desperately in what is propably her worst panic attack yet.

“AH NO, NOT THAT! That was really missing at the moment to make the disaster perfect!”

Although he didn´t want to have Jan out of sight, Thomas decided to pick him up later, and sprinted towards his daughter.

“GET OFF THERE! The next train maybe arrives soon.”

“I DON´T CARE! It´s all useless anyway…”

“Yes, I think this time he´s REALLY pissed, but… it´s mostly the shock. He doesn´t want to leave you for real, but that was an extreme situation that you caused. You have to go through that for the next hours now. After that, he will surely calm down.”

“NO, HE WON´T, DIDN´T YOU HEAR WHAT HE SAID?”

“It would be the best for now if you heard what I say, and this is now that you should come with me in the car and get off the rails, and then we will somehow get Jan back on board.”

“NO, JUST LEAVE ME HERE! Everyone is better off without me.”

“CHANTAL! I still have duct tape in the car. You want me to use it?”

She shook her head, and then followed Thomas with hanging shoulders, while her father hastily lighted a cigarette, which he then inhaled in less than a minute.

“Damn, where is Jan? Are you a bit better now?”

“Aren´t you also hating me now?”

“Of course I am quite angry at you, but nobody hates you. And it wouldn´t help if I explode now as well…”

“Just erease me from your life as you said, and continue a better life without me… I will survive here somehow, and if not, nobody cares, and I could prevent some wild animals from starving, I am fat enough that they don´t need to stay hungry…”

“I AM TRYING TO BE PATIENT LIKE A MONK WITH YOU TODAY BUT ONE MORE WORD AND I WILL GET THE DUCT TAPE AGAIN! Damn, this is not a race, didn´t you listen to the driver briefing in Nevada?”

“Sure, but I wanted to win something to make you proud.”

“I am a winner, Chantal, I have a beautiful and lovely daughter, and Jan is a winner, as he propably has the best girl he could pick. It´s pointless to risk your life then in order to get something we don´t need. Give me the team radio.”

“Here…”

“Rhinos here. Has anybody seen Jan? He got … lost on the way. Please report to me if you spot him, thanks.”

Everyone reported negative.

“Crap, I think we need to ask Shift Happens to locate him. But that also means explaining this shit, damn it.”

Just in that moment, Thomas had a short brainfreeze, then turned the car keys.

“AH! I think I … somehow know where he is, not far from here. Weird. Anyway, you stay in the car then, I`ll talk to him from man to man.”

Thomas drove down a small forest road, and they found Jan after only five more minutes. It needed another 10 to convince him to at least enter the car and continue the stage to the finish line, and then discussing how to continue.


Nobody spoke a word. Thomas focussed on the driving, trying to keep it sane in order to not make Jan boil even more, Jan was… staring out of the passenger window, and Chanty was silently crying in the backseat, cuddling with her Rudolph.

“Eh kids, I need to speed up a bit, Jan, are you OK with driving a bit faster, just a bit?”

“Why that?”

“Look in the mirror. These swedes are about to catch up. Do you really want that Gollum finishes in front of us?”

“Actually not. Yes, Thomas, keep them behind us.”


Upon arrival, all three were silent, until Jan asked for the car keys in order to drive to the center of Hofrost to get an own tent, which Thomas considered childish, but he thought like letting Jan doing a drive on his own might cool down his temper. At least the fact that Jan looked for a tent meant that he would consider staying with the team and Chanty in general instead of going home and really breaking up with Chantal. Thomas also noticed, that even if Chanty still had some random crying attacks, she also giggled a bit between them.

“What is that funny? It´s ok that you have something to laugh about in that situation, but I want to as well then.”

“The town´s name… it sounds like Bofrost and NOW I AM HUNGRY!!!”

“Yeah, the food from Bofrost wasn´t that bad, true… mmmmh, yes, let´s cook.”

When the food was ready, the Primus rolled back onto the campsite, and it seems Jan found something, as he started to build it up after getting a bowl of food without saying a word to his girlfriend.
Suddenly, he was greeted by Kasiya, the god of Peace and Renewal. He sensed that he might be needed, and offered Jan to discuss the matter with an independent person, having even more life experience than Thomas but being emotionally not involved. It seems it helped a bit, and when Kasiya left, Jan announced his descision to stay in Holsia, and Chanty ran towards Jan and hugged him, giving him many kisses.

“So… you still love me?”

“I love you, yes, of course. but I am not sure if this is sufficient. I maybe have underestimated how our different characters can conflict with each other when I agreed to be together with you… Propably my fault.”

“That…means… you still want to break up?”

“Honestly, I just said I leave, not that I break up, that is what you make out of it because you are a drama queen, but I do not want to make a descision on that now, especially not so briefly after such an argument.”

Chanty then ran away in tears, and Thomas was about to run after her, but Jan stopped him.

“No, no, Thomas. I think if everyone talks and talks and talks to her over and over again it will not make anything better. She needs some time for herself just like me.”

“So, you, the idiot causing her crying, now tells me how to treat my daughter?”

“Thomas, I think I am NOT an idiot for being honest to her, this is what she deserves, because I really love her and I just do not want to tell her a single lie. Would you prefer me pretending something?”

“No. I don´t feel to well, my heart… I might lay down a bit.”

“Yes, but take care. I`ll clean up the dishes here, and DON´T DRINK ALCOHOL AND DON´T SMOKE WHEN YOU HAVE ALREADY ENOUGH SYMPTOMS THAT YOU ACTUALLY ADMIT YOU ARE NOT WELL!”

“Yeah, yeah, fair point, but just promise me to keep an eye on Chanty and… please don´t make too quick descisions.”

When Ana went to the toilet shed aside the train tracks for an obvious reason, an elder train employee carefully knocked against the doors of the ladies restroom, calmly asking someone to get out.

“Eeeeh, that´s a longer dump then, eh?”

“Excuse me, WHAT?”

“Uhm… sorry madam, that was a bit informal.”

“Indeed it was! But, maybe you can help me. It seems someone from your tourist group has a really bad day and locked herself in, crying. I do not want to be impolite, but… people need to get in there, and would prefer them not standing on the train tracks to wait for her to finally get out. The first ones are already waiting here and it is a security risk, although this rail is used to park your train, but you get the point if more and more people are piling up here!”

“Hm, thats propably Chantal. I`ll try. Psssh! Hey, Chantal?”

“M-hm?”

“Ana here. I don´t want to interrupt your session there, but you start to build up a queque here, so I suggest… you get out of there and tell me what´s wrong.”

“I thought you hate me!”

“No, I don´t, and that lady here also doesn´t judge you, it´s just that… we have needs, too.”

“But it was me who dyed your hair…”

“That was obvious, but you know what? I started liking it. Now, please open the door and let me guide to some safe place where you can tell what happened, ok?”

Ana was still considering Chantal as a very annoying person, but she developed a bit of sympathy for her on the previous stage, when Angel told about his mindreading experience, so she thought she could get to know her a bit better and offer emotional assistance, although Ana was generally bad at that. A bit later, Jan struggled to build up both tents, and Thomas was asleep after taking some strong medication, as Andrés walked by.

“Oh, you have two tents now?”

“How many do you count?”

“Two!”

“So, you answered that question now yourself, Andrés.”

“Jan, you seem upset.”

“You would be too, if you had to build that trash up! And be a bit more silent please, Thomas is not feeling well, and I measured his heart rate, it´s not good.”

“You mean, he will die like in Sweden? OH NO!”

“Pssssh! Damn it! As far as I can see, it´s serious but not yet dangerous with his health right now, and if he has a rest, this will be sufficient… at least for the moment. So, what do you want?”

“You are interessed in biology and read a lot of books about Holsia since you are here, right? So, can you tell me if… the nearby lake is safe to swim?”

“I can look that up as I know in which of the books it was written about Bofrost, yes, but as you see, I am busy.”

“Bofrost? You mean Hofrost? I can build up that tent for you, I am not too bad at such stuff. You are more the intellectual, I see.”

“Yeah, there is some food company named Bofrost in Germany so I mix that up. Anyway, that sounds like a plan.”

In the evening, Ana and Chantal were still swimming, although Chanty was now feeling really cold - and exhausted, as sport is not really something she usually does.

“Hah! Sending Andrés as mailman worked well. I am so smart!”

“Please, I can´t any longer. Since the sun is gone, I am freezing and I am also very exhausted.”

“All right, let´s get back to our teams…or if you are scared of them still being pissed, just come with me. But hey, that action was really savage. But guess what? I would have tried to race that train, too, without a doubt.”

“Yes, but your team wouldn´t hate you for it.”

“Oh, come on, Jan will calm down. I am astonished that he is such a phillistine, from everything you told me about him and your life as couple. He looks so cool, and then you find out he´s a pensioner just looking like a cool guy. Thats like buying an Audi and then seeing it´s just a VW anyway.”

“But… he´s the first not only using me for the one thing.”

“I guess, he is lame there, too.”

“Well, so lazy that I am afraid that he would rather get a pregnant woman instead of making kids with me when he finally wants some.”

“HAHAHAHAHA, CHANTAL, YOU ARE SO SASSY! I really like that! Listen, how about challenging Marie once more? Your face is almost normal again, but I enjoyed you looking bruised like having kissed a sledgehammer a lot…”

“That was so painful, that´s not funny! I really thought she broke half of my bones and I have to compete for the remaining stages in the back of an ambulance! I will dye your hair green if you don´t take that back!”

“Hey, at least a stretcher would have been more comfortable to sleep on than your matress. Hm, how about then… even after looking like having kissed a sledgehammer, you were still a beauty?”

“That´s a lie to please me, I guess?”

“Do I look like a people pleaser like Angel or Andrés?”

“No…i…think?”

“Come on, I was just mean at you because I was jealous of how a great person you are, hm? Argh, stop it Chanty, I am not a plush tooooooy!”

Well, Ana was indeed a bit lying to make Chanty happier, she really didnt consider her very chubby figure attractive, and even if she liked tattoos in general, having as much as Chanty wasn´t to her taste at all, not to forget that Ana would be the last person considering crying as normal, especially in the amount that Chantal does. But, Ana was actually doing something in order to let someone feel better for the first time in a veeeeeeeeeery long period, and she developed some sympathy for Chanty since that was really an archievement. Also, Ana, not really a physical person, would usually feel annoyed or even disgusted by hugs, but Chantys love dose finally made Ana feel something again, so she did not bother to stop Chanty any longer and accepted her fate.

When she went back to her campsite, she was very shy and insecure, knowing that the conflict was not solved yet, so she just stood there mute after arrival and was not really knowing what to do, so Jan, reading one of his scientific books, made the first step.

“Oh, there you are. I was starting to worry, and I am surprised you haven´t been with Angel, you were not with him when I saw him.”

“No…am I allowed… to come back? Where is my dad?”

“Inside, he´s tired, but don´t worry.”

“I… I fucked it up, and he´s in danger because of the stress I caused…”

“No, just tired. Don´t worry.”

This was clearly a lie but telling Chanty that she indeed caused an incident that made Thomas feel not well would not have improved the situation at all.

“Please, don´t sleep seperately, I can´t sleep with Rudolph alone…”

“I was about to talk about this matter, yes.”

“Please… make it short then… I can take it, I guess?”

“Please, don´t cry again. I haven´t said anything yet. So, the reason I did not follow you is that I wanted to have some time alone without you, and you propably without me, after we were more or less together on very little space all the time. So, how was it without me?”

“Terrible. I mean, I can do my own activities, but knowning you`re not “there” like you used to is a very cruel torture. I would rather go through Marie beating me up with a baseball bat every single day over and over than this.”

“That won´t happen because Marie would need to get past Thomas and me first, which we wouldn´t allow. To be honest, I also felt really shit being here alone without you. And this tells me, that you are indeed the other half completing me. That doesn´t mean that we don´t have to work on some things, and that definitely includes your social media addiction and … well, not trying to bring yourself and others in danger. And maybe, I need to relax a bit more, a bit of our arguments is surely on me for being stinky.”

“So… you are no longer mad at me?”

“Ah, now that my adrenaline is back on a normal level, I am over it. Actually, the result of our time off from each other was exactly as bad as I had assumed, and I am happy you are back here to clear this up. So, what to do with the empty second tent then? Renting it to Angel so that he doesn´t have to sleep in a car?”

“Hrhr. You know what couples are supposed to do after a really bad argument? Let´s move my father over there! He snores anyway.”

“Oh no, Chanty…”

“This was not just a proposal. Come on! You said yourself you need to relax more!”

“This is definitely not relaxation with you.”

“That´s your fault then, move now!”

3 Likes

Team Firulais

Stage 8: Ana begins changes, Ángel Isolates himself for the night as Mind Reader’s Hell Continues

(Mentioning @That-S-cop [Cunning Stunts, just a mention], @HappyHungryHippo [The Rhino Squad], @Madrias [Shift Happens, Highway Hooligans], @Knugcab [The Hillbilly Rollers], @SheikhMansour [Spy Kids])

Morning at Drur.
First Time for Many.

Why is it the first time for many…? Well… Ángel slept well for once. This is his best night of sleep in the rally. No nightmares, no nothing. Probably some discomfort in the Aurora’s back seat, but, not much else.

This was also Ana’s first morning in a while without a Hangover.

For Andrés, it was the first night in which he didn’t make his Pokémon Match with Ángel, as mentioned in last stage.

For the other two though, it would be nothing more than an average night.

And an average (and therefore, rather boring) morning too. At least, they wouldn’t suffer anymore, right…?

Well, remember they have wipers permanently on since Stage 6.They, apart from not being able to solve it… Have another issue, which they discovered not long after Andrés turned the engine on…

Andrés:“W-W-What is that screeching ?”
Ana:“Wipers ? I mean… Could be. Don’t all wipers screech ?”
Josué:“Wrong assumption. They only do if the blades are worn out.”
Ángel:“I don’t think they sell spares here… Do they ?”

As they left Drur, and headed for the mountains, the screeching started to slowly but certainly gain loudness… Andrés, who was driving this time, felt stressed with it not long after the opera began. Soon the stress would go on to affect Ana, Josué, Tomás… And before they reached the halfway point of the Stage, even Ángel would be tired of that noise as well. Sadly, one of the things Ángel didn’t expect to happen was this… So he had no spares in case something like that happened…

After said halfway point, the trip would be as dull as ever. Apart from seeing the crashed motorbike of Cunning Stunts, not much else happened during this stage. Sadly, no cassette wanted to be played today either… so they had to enjoy the opera which was gratefully delivered by the windscreen wipers for their displeasure. Luckily, by the time they got to Hofrost, the mood improved.

Hofrost.
Reconciliation Time.

Ángel:“Alright, team…!”
Josué:“That’s my line !”
Ángel (giggling):“Извини…!”
(Извини (Izvini) = “Sorry”)
Josué:“Anyway… I think we should all, for once, separate to see what we can do. We’ll meet up at… What time is it now Ángel ?”
Ángel:“Well… We woke up at approximately 1-Sun-60, started at 2-Sun, and now I think it’s… Just past 3-Sun, maybe 4-Sun, my estimations may be wrong.”
Josué:“OK, hopefully there are clocks here. We meet up here at 10-Sun, or 1-Moon.”

Tómas sat up Camp with Andrés. Josué would go sightseeing. The ones to truly pay attention to are Ana and Ángel.

Let’s start with Ana. She needed to go to the bathroom, for an obvious reason, before finding out that Chantal was in the bathroom, crying. This was the turning point for Ana. She had to express her sympathy, and it worked out well…

…at the same time, Andrés became Ana’s Mailman. He’d not only ask Jan if the nearby lake was safe for swimming, but would also help Jan set up camp, releasing some stress from him. Andrés felt like he was becoming more of a messenger than anything else… But he didn’t felt annoyed by it.

In the end, the two blue-haired girls, of which one of them wasn’t blue-haired much more, were starting to reconcile with each other…

The ones who wouldn’t reconcile, however, were Ángel and his VINDICTIVE Mind Reading…

Quite some time later…
Mind Reader’s Hell Continues.

Little did Ángel know, or even thought he’d have a Mind Reading Incident today. He, for once, wasn’t exactly worried today. He seemed very happy today, actually.

That happiness would be thrown out of the window, as soon as he started to approach the Shift Happens team.

He thought it was best to apologize due to the constant MRIs… Plus telling Kivenaal in such an explicit way what he saw in his mind.

Ángel:“H-Hello… Again.”
Kivenaal:“Ángel ? What is it ?”
Ángel:“Nothing. I just wanted to apologize after the incidents during Stages 5 and 6 of this rally.”
Lauren:“What incidents ?”
Ángel:sigh“Uhm… You know. Manikihali… Malavera and Kivenaal all know about what happened when I came to them at Lauda.”
Lauren:“What happened there ?”
Manikihali:“He read Kiva’s Mind. Seeing him struggle so badly made me realize he ain’t exactly normal with that Mind Reading.”
Ángel:“So…?”
Manikihali:“Just be aware, you’ll have more, from what I can assume.”
Ángel:“I-I… I already know that… I just don’t know exactly… when. But, anyway… Yeah, I wanted to…”

And then it struck. Guess who of the +10 member team did it hit. Manikihali. Precisely the person Ángel was trying to apologize with first… and sadly, the shock would come back, after he heard this:

“You shouldn’t read the mind of someone who can see the future !”

Ángel attempted to reply by telepathy, but the pain the Mind Reading caused was so distracting that he just couldn’t send the message…

Luckily, something did actually translate, because Ángel, after 5 seconds of agony, would scream:

Ángel:“なぜ私なの!?なぜ今なの!?”
(Pronounciation: Naze watashina no! ? Naze imana no! ?
Translated:“Why me ?!? Why NOW ?!?”)

The Ring managed to catch that. Whoever got the message realized things weren’t exactly as they seemed… Because while Ángel would be reading someone’s mind, it would be wrong to assume he did it at will…

This first incident would last only about 20 seconds. But still, Ángel started to cry. The left lens of those round glasses got wet by the tears, and not long after, Ángel would start standing up, and walked away… Without saying anything else.

As he was walking away though, he’d crash into Trevor, from the Highway Hooligans, from behind.

Trevor:“Hey, look who is here… Aren’t you…”
Ángel:“…Ángel Yukobaiyaroslavl, from the Firulais…”

Ángel would still have tears in his face, but Trevor would notice more that particularly long surname…

Trevor:“Anngel Yuko… Yuko-what ?”
Ángel:“Uhh… J-Just… Juuuust… Just call me Ángel.”

It was then when Trevor noticed the tears in Ángel’s face. He wasn’t exactly as bad as he was just after the Mind Reading… But he was struggling.

Trevor:“You look bummed. Anything happened to you ? You seemed to have some joy yourself a few moments ago… And, as far as I’m concerned, you don’t even smile that much.”
Ángel:“N-N-No, Nothing happened…”

A tiny pause happened before Ángel had to admit the truth…

Ángel:“OK, no… Actually, things did happen. I had a bit of an incident with Shift Happens, the hosts, back at Lauda… And then I had another one at Björnes… And now I’ve just had another…”
Trevor:“You shouldn’t mess with them… Cody already got us in trouble because of that.”
Cody:“That I did what ?”
Ángel:“What ? How ? Why ?”
Trevor:“He messed their entire stage up. Put electrical tape on the cameras of that bus, and that didn’t allow them to move for a while… Jayde said he did something to insult us, but, we yet have to know what…”
Ángel:“I… I now understand why I was told to NOT crash into that bus. H-Hopefully it doesn’t happen… I think I feel ready to drive for next stage. And if not, for the one after…”
Trevor:“Well… Anything else you want to talk about…?”

Ángel saw this as a perfect chance to recur to Janne… Little did he know, the occult abilities of Janne were probably fake.

Ángel:“Yeah… I have a question… Do you know where is the camp of the Hillbilly Rollers ? The swedes ?”

Trevor gave Ángel some indications on how to go there. It wasn’t a long walk anyway.

Ángel:“Ahhh, OK… Well, ありがとう, and have a nice day ! Wish you best of luck with the hosts !”
(ありがとう (Arigatō) = “Thanks”)

Ángel knew the hosts were relatively understanding. But given how he was told to not crash under any circumstance with that Bus before the driver’s meeting, he felt a bit intimidated.

In any case, Ángel walked towards the Hillbilly Rollers’ IP.

Just before arriving though, he heard something go “bang” behind him. When he turned around, he found out that the Highway Hooligans were having a beer shower… As if the cans of beer they just opened decided to blow up…

“It’s either Jayde’s Punishment… Or them storing them in the freezer for some reason…”, he innocently thought.

Eventually, he arrived at the Hillbilly Rollers’ camp. He approached to Janne.

Ángel:“Uhhhh… Guten Morgen ?”
(“Good Morning” in German.)
Janne:“Did you mean God eftermiddag ?”
(“Good Afternoon” in Swedish.)
Ángel:“I… Y-yeah, I don’t know swedish… Anyway. Are you Janne ?”
Janne:“Indeed. And, you, as far as I’ve hurd, are the one who tackled Marie at Björnes, right ?”

“At least not everyone is recognizing me as the Mind Reader”, Ángel thought.

Ángel:“Да.”
(Да (“Da”) = “Yes”)
Janne:“Anything you need ?”
Ángel:“Да, да. I’ve Hurd you’re into occult stuff. That sounds to magic to me. So, I want to have some sort of cure for my Mind Reading… You may know what I’m talking about, if you’ve paid enough attention at camp…”
Janne:“I don’t know what you’re talking about… But, it sounds interesting…”

Ángel thought Janne was his savior. Finally, the 13 -maybe even more- years’ search for A CURE seemed to be over…

Until Ángel had his second Mind Reading Incident of the Day. This one was shorter, but, long enough for Ángel to realize Janne’s abilities were fake… Maybe Ángel hadn’t hurd of the salty prank on Chantal… But he at least found out by himself.

Janne saw the agony too.

Janne:“You… You OK ?”
Ángel:“I… I think I am.”
Janne:“Anyway… Want a cure or not…?”

Ángel gave some thought before ultimately denying the offer… He’d look for a cure later (although he doesn’t know that a cure for his condition doesn’t exist [!]). He later continued walking thru camp… feeling the need to meet new people…

(It seemed as if he, for today, wasn’t conscious… Wasn’t it best to NOT get close to people ?)

He eventually approached to the Spy Kids, this stage’s winners.

“Hm… A Touareg… I didn’t expect this… Oh, and it’s a V10… And a TDI !”, he thought, with excitement. “Hopefully, this doesn’t go as badly as some of the other meet-ups…”, he added in his mind.

Ángel:“こんにちは!”
(こんにちは!(Kon’nichiwa) = “Hello/Hi”)
Megumi:“こんにちは、どなたでしょうか ?”
(Kon’nichiwa, donatadeshou ka? - Hello, who are you ?)

“I… Didn’t expect another Japanese person here… She looked french !”, he thought.

Shay:“Look, Megumi, you found another Japanese Person !”
Megumi:“I know, right ? Anyway, what’s you name…?”
Ángel:“Ángel. Ángel Yukobaiyaroslavl.”
Petra:“That’s a long name ! Yukobai…”
Ángel:“You can just call me Ángel Yuko. Russian-Japanese. Let’s not complicate ourselves too much with that surname…”
Amanecer:“You like our ride ?”
Ángel:“Yeah, it’s awesome… I’ve seen Touaregs, but, never a V10 TDI…”

Fun Fact: Ángel initially thought of buying a Diesel Aurinko Wagon instead of the one they have. It would’ve been a more comfortable car to sleep in, at least.

Petra:“I’ve heard someone with an Eyepatch reads minds…”

“Here we go again…!”, he thought, before proceeding to point at himself and nod with his head.

Petra:“How does that work ?”

This time, it would be the person who was talking to Ángel the one to be interrupted mid-sentence. Ángel would suffer, AGAIN, reading Petra’s Mind. This one lasted 20 seconds, again, but, inevitably, he was suffering.

And, yes, everyone saw it.

Shay:“You… Are you alright…?”
Ángel:“Y…Yeah… I… That happens to me often whenever I read minds…”
Shay:“You look tense.”
Ángel:“Again… Happens to me…”

This time, Ángel would say about his condition…

Ángel:“I do it unwillingly… I can’t control it…”

Then Ángel remembered some truly brutal words from his older sister… “You can’t control your powers, then you’re a Useless Yumeisotitanian”…

Not being able to control the powers you have…

…it was a CURSE. A thing which he despised. And yet it didn’t have a cure… All he could do was attempt to survive with it, like it or not… And, seriously. His mind reading has got him in quite big trouble. Remember, he was almost arrested at Menes because he read the mind of a Local… And scared people off. He had struggled with this issue ever since he was 11 years old… And the misery just seemed to continue since.

Ángel:“I-I gotta go…”
Shay:“So quickly ?”
Ángel:“Yeah… Got to do some shopping…”
Shay:“Oh… OK. Have a nice day ! Good luck with the Mind Reading !”

As Ángel left, they had themselves a bit more of chatter.

Megumi:“I hope he’s alright”
Shay:“Yeah, it looks like he’s having a migraine…”

Ángel going shopping was… Actually a bit true. He felt like buying an Ice Cream would help him gain some good mood back.

However, while eating it… He would read the mind of a police officer… Out of ALL people possible, it had to be THAT.

What’s worse ? He didn’t even got the chance to enjoy his Ice Cream (because when the incident happened, Ángel fell to the ground and so did the Ice Cream)… He was on a meltdown… He had again, scared locals, and again, got in trouble with the police… This time, he decided to scarper rather than to talk about things… He had enough with the Mind Reading Incidents today…

He came back to camp as fast as he went from it to downtown Hofrost. He then had an idea… An Idea which, sadly, would mean his team wouldn’t have a ride for a while…

Around 1-Moon-10.
A Solution to Mind Reader’s Hell has been found !

Josué:“Yeah, I had some fun trying to read in Aetheriian… How about you guys ?”
Ana:“I’ve made a new friend.”
Tómas:“I bought some clothes…”
Andrés:“And I not only did that, but also helped Jan with his tent, and bought some more supplies.”
Josué:“Hehehehe, yeah, now we can go back to camp and…”

They would all get shocked by the fact their car had disappeared… How did that happen ? Did the “Not Worth Stealing” sticker on the back window work for nothing ?

Well…

1 - HOUR - AND - 30 - AETHERIIAN - MINUTES - BEFORE…

Ángel got himself on the wheel of the Aurora, before driving thru Hofrost, hoping none of his teammates (or, actually, any of the other people) saw him.

After a rather extensive drive to what could be said to be the Outskirts of the Outskirts, Ángel stopped somewhere isolated enough from population… Why ? Well… He thought that, if he isolated from people enough, he wouldn’t have any mind reading incidents… And, partially, he was right.

See, his mind reading has a radius of reach. Said radius is moderately large. But, if no minds (aka, Nobody) are on said radius, he can’t have a mind reading incident…

Take in mind, he would have headaches, truly brutal ones, like, mega migraine level… The fallout from the Crisis was still present in him… But for most of the night, he’d chill out, listening to music to ignore those headaches, practicing some Pokémon, looking at pictures of his family, and more, parked in a place just out of town… Soon, his mood was restored, and he didn’t felt like any more MRIs would affect him, so he returned back, late that night.

3-Moon-70.

Josué:“Look what’s arriving…”
Ana:“Oh… Is that Ángel ?”
Josué:“…and I who was thinking that someone stole our car…!”
Ángel:“…Evening !”
Andrés:“We are pleased… And angry with you, simultaneously. Sadly, you’ve missed dinner…”
Ángel:“Don’t worry, I’ll be OK…”
Tómas:“What happened ?”
Ángel:“I… Better tell that tomorrow. I feel like it would be best to do so… Because I don’t feel exactly ready… Like, if I “stole” the car from you, and didn’t come back until a while later, guess how badly I must have been these few hours…”

Ana hadn’t mentioned who her new friend was… At least, until then…

Ana:“Ángel… I don’t want to admit it.”
Ángel:“Admit what ? That you treated me badly for these last few days ?”
Ana:“…Chantal and I may be becoming friends…”

Ángel’s smile was the peak of the day for the Firulais… And the Night would still have something else to feature…

6-Moon-15.
Shady “Trade “Deals””.

Ana and Andrés walked thru camp, late in the night, after most people were asleep. Ángel was the only other person in the Firulais who was still semi-awake, trying to sleep in the Aurora’s back seat.

Ana (whispering):“Why are we doing this ?”
Andrés (also whispering):“We need some wiper blades… And I know from who may we steal them from…”
Ana (whispering):“I… Feel so bad, yet so good with that idea…”

They would go back to the Aurora, and remove one of the Wiper Blades. That would wake Ángel up… No need to tell, they were whispering.

Ángel:“W-What are ya doing…?”
Andrés:“We are stealing someone’s wiper…”
Ángel:“Who’s ? If you tell me it’s the…”
Andrés:“The Black Wagon over there…”

On a normal day… Ángel would disagree on doing such thing… But given Marie was the one who broke their beer… He couldn’t resist and joined in as well… Planning something else to add salt to the wound. As always, whispering.

Ángel:“I wonder if I can help and screw with them a bit.”
Ana:“How ?”
Ángel:“I feel like we could… Uhh… I’ll think of something.”
Ana:“…I know. Let’s paint their car…”
Ángel:“…”
Ana:“What ? Weren’t you an artist ? You’re the one who made my T-shirt !”
Ángel:“Alright… But what could I paint…?”

While Andrés and Ana stole one wiper blade of the IP, and put the Aurora’s worn out one in it’s place, Ángel thought about what to paint…

With a very thick brush, and a lot of black paint, he’d paint the hood… Then he painted some white stripes with a brush which was a lot slimmer. He didn’t thought of anything better which at the same time wouldn’t be obvious. Ángel usually painted with spray cans, but as this was a mission made with stealth, he tried to be as silent as possible and used acrylic paint instead. As a result, his job had still a few tiny bits of yellow here and there. But the end result was an IP which looked marginally better… At least, from the outside… The inside of the hood was still yellow…

You know… The guy sometimes needed to screw with people at times… But he wanted to do it in such a level it wouldn’t necessarily offend the other person, being more of a friendly prank, sometimes even a favour.

Would Marie consider it as such, though ? Time would tell, as Ana, Andrés, and Ángel went back to their tents (or, to the car, if you are Ángel) and enjoyed the rest of the sleep time they had available.

As always, Collabs open.

(Damn, I realized I now have to explain about Ángel’s lore next time…)

3 Likes

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
PART 6.3 - MORE CLASS ON THE GLASS

(Yes, one, soon to be two, levels old now. But I will play catch up now when I have some days off. Co-operation with @Madrias .)

Hoping to get a solution like two years ago, Janne was approaching Jayde of Team Shift happens.

“Uhm, hello Jayde…”, Janne said while slowly approaching him. “Well, you have seen dyre wrecking cars, I guess…and it might have been our fault too, but…when was the last time you saw a car being wrecked by a spider?”

Jayde smirks. “Last time… Rental SUV came in completely wrecked. Insurance company wanted a damage quote so they could justify totaling the car. Turns out, the driver was arachnophobic, and a tarantula had gotten inside. They dropped the sun-visor to check their makeup, spider falls in their lap, SUV becomes a highway pinball off of six other cars before finding a bridge support.”

“That sounds high tech”, Janne said. “70s car, 70s way of doing it, I say. So, do you want a glimpse of…how to do it the old school way?”, he said and pointed towards the IP.

Jayde chuckles. “Do you mean 1970’s old school, or do you really mean 3251 After the War of Magic?” He then motions toward his right arm.

“I’ll need a little help this time. You’ll have to crush the glass if the windshield’s broken. Can’t do that with my right arm in a cast.”

“It might be 1971 years after someone blamed the holy spirit instead of the mailman, or 3251 after that war or…man you should read some of the books I managed to find on my grandfathers attic, they do explain a lot, but will leave you with even more questions, and…”, Janne started to explain to Jayde.

“NONE OF THIS SHIT NOW!”, Andreas said. “DO YOU WANT TO REPAIR THE WINDSHIELD OR DO YOU WANT TO PRETEND YOU ARE IN SOME FREAKING HARRY POTTER WORLD SO EVERYONE THINKS YOU’RE EVEN MORE MAD THAN THEY ALREADY KNOW?”

“…Oh well”, Janne continued and pointed to Marie. “Unfortunately this spider managed to walk on the car when that fat wreck over there was holding an axe and…”, he pointed to the interior, “…we managed to do an almost invisible repair there, except for all the visible duct tape, which honestly speaking is all of the repair, but, well, I can’t repair the windshield with duct tape.”, he said.

“I ALMOST GOT THAT BASTARD!”, Marie said.

“No, you only managed to cut your goddamned fingers so there are also blood stains on the interior”, Andreas sighed.

“Anyway, I think I have a solution”, Janne said and emptied a vodka bottle.

“HEY, THAT WAS MINE!”, Marie said.

“It was probably someone elses to start with”, Janne said. “AND I NEED THIS TO COPE WITH YOUR MOTHERFUCKING MADNESS!”, he continued and drank the last of it. Then he put the empty bottle on a rock, crushed it with a hammer and asked Jayde if it was enough or if he had to empty so many bottles that he would be drunk enough to appreciate Marie’s ideas before there could be a windshield repair done.

Jayde looks over the pile of glass shards, then over the windshield and how much glass was all over the interior.

“I think that might be enough glass. I’ll add to it - I need to take something for the pain anyway…”

Jayde quietly rummages in his bag and grabs a pale green bottle, downing the contents before breaking the green glass along with what Janne had already provided. He crouches down and sets a bowl on the ground, collecting up as much of the glass as he could within reason. After a few seconds, he looks over at the windshield, holding the bowl on his right palm before muttering a quiet incantation. The glass in the bowl begins to glow white-hot, before a flash causes it to vanish, the windshield suddenly becoming one whole sheet of glass again, this time with slight pale green hints throughout the glass where one of Jayde’s supplied glass chips had fused in and left a reminder of his work.

“Need the interior cleaned as well?”

“Thanks. Well, wouldn’t mind it, it will probably take care of the butter residues if nothing else”, Janne grumbled.

“IT WAS THAT STUPID SMURF!”, Marie said.

“If you would not upset that stupid smurf all the time, the stupid smurf would not be smurfing around all the time and smurf all our stuff”, Andreas tried to explain to her.

Jayde laughs.

“And here, I thought you got pranked by the Hooligans. I’ll clean that up, then we can figure out some form of repayment for the energy cost.”

Jayde uses a familiar cleaning spell, last used on the Hillbilly Rollers’ pink van after the mercy bush incident. With a flash, decades of dirt and dust and grime vanish, the butter disappears from the air vents, and some of the other smells are lifted.

“I will sure find out a way”, Janne said, with an air of mystery in his voice. “AND WHATEVER I FIND OUT, MAKE SURE YOU WON’T RUIN IT!”, he said and pointed to Marie.

“I haven’t done anything!”, she said.

“No, but you were probably going to…”

Jayde nods softly. “Food works. I’d request alcohol, but I suspect I know where it’s all gone.”

“So…”, Janne said. “What do you think about our ride this year, spare for the broken windshield then. A show winner a little over 40 years ago”, he said, without trying to hide his pride. “Maybe not so much now…”

“Well,” Jayde admits, “if I thought I’d fit in it, I’d drive it. Granted, at my size… I’d have to turn the poor thing into a convertible.”

“Yeah, the common panel van struggle”, Janne said. “A divider wall where you would like to have your seat. Oh well, having…someone…mid bench does not help with the space either.”

“I HEARD YOU!”, Marie said.

“Happy that you listen to what I say for once”, Janne answered.

“The bus is a lot better than our… First year’s choice. Could still be better, but this is at least good,” Jayde admits. “At least no one’s stuck with a pair of gear-sticks in their crotch.”

“Well, if you can cure seats with saturday night pukes, eh, or even worse things… on them using magic, the choice of a bus all of a sudden makes sense”, Janne said.

Jayde smiles. “It’s a used city bus, so, yeah, it’s something that made a lot more sense here. Lower speeds. Lots of space. Relatively comfortable when it’s not driven by an idiot.”

“Oh well”, Janne said. “Thanks a lot for the repairs, I hope that if I get back to you it will be for a more fun reason…”

“Not a problem. It’s reasonable to ask one of the magic users when someone has decided to axe-murder your car,” Jayde mentions. “Just… When you’ve figured out a form of payment, let me know.”

“No problems”, Janne said. “Because I guess you don’t want an annoying crew member as payment…”

“I HEARD YOU!”, Marie said.

Jayde starts laughing. “We don’t have the room. Rukari volunteered to stay behind so Inaelus could go with us, but we have 11 people and 11 seats. And she wouldn’t want to ride with us - We don’t have any alcohol onboard.”

“Oh well, I guess I will have to check the vehicle through for tomorrow now”, Janne said. “But thanks a lot and see you!”

Jayde nods and heads toward the bus. “You’re welcome. Maybe next time…” Jayde pauses and gives a smirk, pulling his staff out of his bag.

“Next time Marie grabs the axe, maybe it’ll become a snake.”

Jayde taps his staff twice on the dirt, then puts it back away.

TO BE CONTINUED…

4 Likes

Shitbox Rally - Stage 9

Stage 9: Hofrost to Talrem

Weather: Mid teens, strong showers, very windy


The road out of Hofrost is generally fine, but a bit narrow in general. On either side, the road is flanked by mountain ranges, increasing in height as we go along, with a small river running alongside the road. Along the way, we drive across a bridge over a larger river, about 30 km away from our destination.

Cunning Stunts lose a couple of minutes when they change out their burned out headlight bulb, so they can be seen in the rain.
(@That-S-Cop)

The Interceptors, on the other hand, slide a little in the rain and pop a tire. Two “new” used tires are put on the rear axle and they’re on the move again.
(@AndiD)

For Straight Outta Seratos, it’s just a routine matter of changing a windshield wiper after realizing the one they had did a better job at fouling up the window instead of cleaning it.
(@Shibusu)

Machinas Con Passione has to slow way down after their attempt to fix the windshield wipers results in a near-total electrical failure. After some clever use of chewing gum, paper clips, a pen spring, and a jumper cable, the car is running again, but they’ll have to push on to the next camp if they hope to keep up with the group.
(@SurrealCereal)

The Troublesome Trio and Theo get to enjoy a quick pit stop to figure out why all the lights are flickering. An hour later and a new alternator installed, the lights are steady, and as an added bonus, it no longer reeks like sulfur in the car.
(@06DPA)

What’s more fun than changing a tire in the rain? Team Fuist knows the answer - It’s changing two tires in the rain.
(@Djadania)

Ramjet has to stop long enough to change out a windshield wiper so the driver can see where they’re going.
(@JCurtiss96, @Leone)

It’s clear that this is the beginning of a mountain pass, right about the time that we arrive at Talrem.

This little village houses 28 people, with their handful of houses, a few farms, and a nice bakery.

Our camp is the village. The train is parked at a crude station made out of wooden planks set up near the track - They see a train maybe once a week in normal service, so we’re not blocking anything important. It’s clear that our presence is a little overwhelming to the locals, but they’re trying their best to be accommodating to the crews. The good news is, there are some facilities, though they are a bit primitive - Some wooden outhouses for toilets, and some medieval-style open-air bathtubs.


Spreadsheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQriVPEky_B00QiZ6lYrtLVt-u3XWPQW7CvfFNFordo91W4o4LYgWKmW6-SchgIpnTR4wQ6cfSyyQfl/pubhtml

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Stage 9: A Savage Business Plan

including Highway Hooligans by @Madrias, Hillbilly Rollers by @Knugcab, Firulais by @Angelustyle, Fuist by @Djadania, Honey, I bought a Sh!tbox by @Rambow, mentioned only: Shift Happens by @Madrias

“YAAAAAAAAAAWWWWN!”

“Damn, Chanty!”

“Sorry…”

Now, that Jan was away with her, too, both crawled out of their tent. As Thomas slept more or less for half of the previous day, he got up early and had the car already jacked up, with using some planks to have a solid ground that you better not asked where he got these from this time.

“What are you doing there this early?”

“Fixed the window you smashed and now the handbrake. So… it seems you had a very short, or let´s say … eventful night?”

“DON´T SMILE THAT DIRTY! Chanty, where are you going?”

“To Andrea and Pi, my shower buddies. I mean, I won´t go alone.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but after doing some repairs and becoming dirty, I had to make the experience that there are none here. You can wash your hands, that´s all, or maybe hold your hair into the sink.”

“Naaaaaaaaaw! Damn.”

“Could you two please prepare breakfast, I AM HUNGRY AFTER WORK!”

“You are not the only one, dad…”

“JAN! Your job then! I don´t trust Chantal, she will propably eat half of what we have just while preparing.”

When they wanted to proceed to the starting line, Thomas started the engine.
Wrwrwrwr…SRRRRMMMMMMmmmtaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktaktak…

“FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”

Thomas turned off the engine and stepped out of the car, walking in a circle with visible despair. Then the withnessed how Chanty tried to sneak back from the front of the car, holding something… silver.

“Chanty? Is that a wrench? WAIT! Don´t tell me you have been knocking on the grille to make me think the engine is gone! JUST DON´T!”

“Eh… I would NEVER, I mean, …eeh…”

In the bush behind, giggling was audible, and Thomas found Cody there.

“Let me guess: That was your idea?”

“Of course.”

“Yeah, really great, when I would have started I might have rolled over my daughter, idiot!”

“You sure that this works with your rear wheels still jacked up? I mean, my grade in physics wasn´t great and I could be wrong, but I am just asking…”

“Ah, CRAP! I knew I forgot something!”

Cody and Chanty could not hold it any longer and bursted in laughter, so that Thomas couldn´t really be mad at them, especially since it was such a pleasant sight to see his daughter having fun and being honestly happy at the moment.

The stage itself was not very spectacular. Thomas was driving fast, but not reckless, and they had to do a fuel stop since the V6 didnt generate power out of nothing. But the roads became bumpier in the last third of the stage, and Thomas managed to hit a pothole very hard, causing the CD (after the cassettes were all played through) to start hanging.

“AAAAAAAAAH TURN THAT OFF! TURN THAT OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFF!!”

“CHANTAL! DONT TELL ME YOU ARE STILL SCARED BY A HANGING CD! Please…”

But it had no use, Chantal was already crying from being scared to death by that loud and, well, eerie sound. Thomas had to stop and let navigator Jan change from the passenger to the rear seats in order to calm her panic attack down.

“Thomas, I don´t think you should judge her! Weren´t you afraid of tube radios?”

“Jan, that comparison is unfair, because I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD! Plus, that weird sound when it wasn´t warm and that scary glowing of that thing were really frightening.”

“You were what? HAHAHAHA!”

Finally Chanty forgot to be scared of the scratched CD because she now focussed imagining her father being a scared little boy…

Upon arrival, their “host family” served them some kind of soup. and the portion size was… not exactly what would fill the stomach of both Thomas and Chantal. So Thomas remembered that he could buy sausages from the train, but no coal, as that was sold out. Even the bakery had no coal to sell - they needed that for their own bread oven, leaving Thomas behind with some frustration. And as he already drank beer, Jan was outside exploring nature and Chanty nowhere to be seen again, he couldn´t drive to the nearest larger town where he possibly could get coal.

But Thomas would not be Thomas if he just accepted his fate, a trait that might also grow one time on Chanty, too… by seeing the bath oven, he remembered the WM66 washing machine from GDR, without automatic heater - you had to put that off when having the right temperature, there was a thermometer for it. Thomas used it to boil sausages and wash dishes… and the bath oven in their host family´s bath was tempting. But since Chanty was complaining that she might soon run out of clothes (she won´t objectively, but… its a girl, in the end), he also thought he might be able to fit a drum in it.

The first effort with a wiper motor failed, as this was underpowered. But then Janne entered.

“Here are two beer, as you asked. So, what´s the matter?”

“Can you weld?”

“Looking at that sad fragment of a Primus in front of the house, I think I can at least better than you.”

“You´ll get that back. Anyway, can you repair a defective alternator regulator?”

“I think so. And how should I weld here? With what?”

Thomas connected the battery of his car with two starting cables and an electrode he got out of his toolbox, and a visibly impressed Janne noddeed, and asked for some good sunglasses.
While Thomas boiled sausages, Janne tried to get the alternator back to work, and the host family was thankfully not present because they were all out on the fields working after they waited for the team to give them the keys…
After bathing, cooking and dishwashing, it was soon time for the fourth function: The washing machine… Chanty and also Jan left behind a lot to wash, and Thomas was running out of stuff, too…

Chanty was outside, and crowded by cats and dogs, which she assumed were strays (propably not, but… its not that Chanty could know that), and the hungry animals cuddled with her.

“Meow.”

“I know… but… I have nothing left of the sausages… because… I was hungry msyelf.”

“Meow :(”

"And, … I dont have any money to buy you something.

“Meeeeooow. :(”

“I know, I am useless, I am sorry…”

A desperate Chantal was crying again, when Ana passed by.

“What´s wrong?”

“The animals are hungry and I have no food for them… and no money to get some.”

“Oh, well, they don´t look starving, Chantal.”

“NEITHER DO I, BUT I AM ALSO HUNGRY AS FUCK!”

“AGAIN? Didn´t you just eat?”

“I am at the point I would eat Kivas fried scorpions again…”

“That can´t be hunger, it´s something psychological - you need distraction. Well, I was just looking at these great small and windy roads. What a perfect place for some spirited driving…”

“You are right. The locals can´t really use that with their ancient shitboxes. They barely make it to 60”

“Oh, Chanty, I got an idea. I am going into the nearest town to shop. Should I get you some taxi customers?”

“What?”

“Yeah, one hot 5 kilometer ride plus the way back, 500 Holsian Krona, and you can feed a lot of animals then, I guess. I`ll buy animal food in advance for a 1000 Krona since I guess you will get at least two passengers here. I will drive against you, since I want some fun and the others propably, too”.

“But… with what car? And how did you calculate the price?”

“Yours? I mean, you can drive, can´t you? I will tell some in my team to distract Thomas, so you can get the keys. I guess he leaves them openly somewhere in the house you are accomodated? And come on, just look at the store prices of common things and put it in a fair relation then, so the 500 Krona are more or less … 30 dollars in today´s purchase power. Or 27 Euro, if you don´t know even that excange rate.”

“Yeah, sorry, you know that I am dumb. We need to look for the keys then…”

“Do you expect me now to tell you, naaah, you are smart? No, Chantal, I won´t lie to please people. I honestly got to like you a bit but it´s not that you`re smart, but you have friends and family to help you, so it´s not that much of an issue. You are good at many other things. Ah well, I´ll give you company, you can dye my hair then, because you did THAT as good as a professional hairdresser, really. I think that blue was nice, makes me more individual.”

“So… you like it?”

“Escuchame, Chantal. You are begging to be liked. I don´t need that. I just want to be respected. And you should, too. Almost everyone here in the camp likes you, and I got an idea why now, but the majority also makes fun of you. I would be really upset if that happened to me. Although, you showed me that respect doesn´t need to be deserved by intimidating others, and I am grateful for that. But damn, stop focussing on likes and let us get the car keys now.”

Where the keys were, was also the action right now…

“THOMAS! Isn´t that a bit hot?”

“Yeah well, you can´t just make a 30 degree fire… Fire is hot or it´s not. I better put that out now… but the water is still hot. Damn, I knew there was a difference to the WM66 and it´s the fact the heater isn´t electric but a fire made with wood.”

“Your fault for letting the grabbing stick sliding into the drum. Whose stuff is in there now?”

“Chantys… OH NO. She will kill me if we don´t get it out in time.”

“Yeah Thomas, I can see that.”

“HIDE OUTSIDE. I WILL LET THE ALTERNATOR GO FULL FORCE SO THAT THE DRUM THROWS IT ALL OUT BY THE OPENING! Stay away a bit, since it spills some water that is propably at least 60 degrees…”

“Thomas… are you…yes your are. This does not sound good”

“And it´s making some nasty vibrations… OH LOOK THERE GOES A SCREW.”

“And there… a weld… ONE OF YOURS BY THE WAY. The side that I welded is still holding up, not that this helps now, but I think it is worth a mention. I AM OUT OF HERE, SEE YOU OUTSIDE!”

With a BANG the bathing oven more or less disassembled itself, with a lot of smoke and steam spreading all around the house, thankfully, Thomas jumped out of the window in time and joined Janne in a safe distance.

“Alternators have surprising amounts of power, hm?”

“Yes, they have. And now, Thomas?”

“Collecting my daughters stuff, … if we can find it.”

“Some of it might be in the stratosphere now…drifting pink unicorn t-shirts might not be the perfect motivation for aliens to search for intelligent life on Holsia…”

“DAAAAAAAAAD! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?”

“Why do you think it was me? It could as well have been Janne.”

“BECAUSE I KNOW YOU!”

“The power of genes is surprising, isn´t it?”

Janne grinned a bit and looked at an amused Ana, a Chantal close to a nervous breakdown and a Thomas slowly realizing that his invention had a weak spot - it lacked a correct balancing mass.
Chantal was … well, not amused that some of her clothes were indeed washed to hot and changed from size [no, I am not allowed to reveal that in public] to size 38, maybe 40.

“NOT ALSO MY UNIC… DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!”

“well, doesn´t Andrea took some of yours last stage? I mean, maybe it fits to her, she is really small.”

“Hm, or… Ana, since you have blue hair now again, you might like that too…”

“Nah, Chantal, I am not your barbie doll… I don´t think that… EEH, stop dragging me, heeeeelp… ok, yes, I can at least try, if you want…”

In the end, Ana was not sure what to think.

“Hm. I definitely look more individual now, but … I don´t want to be associated with being cute, I prefer being seen as tough, but I also feel like I am going through a change of my mentality in this rallye, guess what? I`ll take that stuff and see how my team thinks of it, feels less wrong than I thought.”

Ana and Angel, who was very … irritated to see Ana with now really blue hair again and even Chantals style, went off to advertize their racing taxi event, as Angel was immediately in when he heard that it was to feed animals and help Chantal. They returned two hours later.

“So, here I am. A bunch of people will come over to be driven by you.”

“All right.”

“You look scared.”

“I am… I am not good at taking responsibility for others…”

“You do all that for feeding foreign animals, believe me Chantal, you ARE good at it. Just don´t try to crash and it´s fine.”

“But … if another car comes?”

“Here is absolutely not a lot of traffic. But we can block the road, sure. But with what?”

They finally asked other teams to assist them with a little help, using their cars as road block and telling the traffic to wait a bit until the two race drivers arrive. They asked the team Fuist, as they both might be interessed to assist as they actually are race drivers and might enjoy doing the favor without telling anyone what Chantal and Ana are up to, and the team Honey, I bought a shitbox listened, as they were standing nearby, but Clara was busy with doing some checks on their ride, so Vivian smiled at Chantal, as she saw her giving her father a lecture about bringing the spider to the camp and triggering anxiety of others and thought of that as very brave.

“Oh, some wild things your boomer daddy won´t appreciate? I am in for sure! But, what´s in for us, then?”

“So, you would drive with the team Fuist and secure the road for us?”

“Yes, but there is one thing. Clara just won´t do that for nothing. She is VERY competetive and just wouldn´t help the competition… and a bit of a loner, unlike you.”

“But… I am totally broke… all I can offer is… well, myself for whatever she wants to do with me, or…”

“Well, maybe a ride with your car is tempting, as our Pablato is really slow. The one you got there is definitely more fun.”

“But… it´s my dad´s ride… I am not sure if I can do that, he will kill me if something happens…”

“Ah, come on. If you crash, it´s the same problem, and Clara is a great driver. In addition, I assume your dad loves you despite being some oldfashioned dinosaur, at least from what I saw of him to this day.”

“So… eww… ok.”

“Yep, don´t be anxious, it is not really a loss if someone crashes into our Pablato, but Clara will definitely not abuse your car too hard, she is a cold loner but doesn´t want to cause you trouble by being too reckless”

, added Vivian.

Louis turned towards Vivian, visibly relieved.

“So, you are facing the, well, race track then at the finish line, while I am a few meters off in front to warn other cars in time to slow down? Would be great, because my Fuist might be a cheap mass-marked trash vehicle, but it is inherited and it means a bit to me, so I would not want to have it damaged.”

“Sure, grab yourself two camping chairs and some coffee and have a relaxed evening while dealing with irritated locals, we will be where the action is, but I need to talk to Clara first, she´s over there and I will need a bit of time for that, as she is really not the social one of us, depression hits hard”

Louis was a bit irritated.

“But, Vivian… Sorry to state it, but it seems obvious, Chantal is also depressed and the polar opposite, so, how is that possible?”

“Yes, because illnesses can have many different symptoms and outcomes, one is crying and overly emotional, another person can as well be introvert and a loner locking herself in from everyone else. I think it is totally wrong to imagine how somebody has to be just by suffering from a certain condition.”

“Oh, I did not want to be impolite…”

“Louis, that´s fine. Acutally it´s smart of you to ask me such questions instead of quietly judging my wife, Chantal or anybody else.”

Louis and Marceline got in their car and had a chatter, while Vivian talked to Clara, and Chantal and Ana prepared the cars. Taking the keys for the Primus was easy, as Thomas was again distracted with Janne, rebuilding the Nilfertinator 3000.

“So… let´s try again. By the way, Janne, what is that for a weird installation?”

“I added a fourth function. Marie is unbearable when she has no booze, and I need to do Jayde a favor that is… basically, providing him alcohol.”

“Eh… so?”

“It is now also usable as distillery. While your design was great idea, I was able to make it more efficient. These parts are no longer needed. Where to put them?”

“Ill throw it out of the window... well, of whats left of it.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Oh, sorry Angel, I didn´t see you. Are you ok?”

“Oh, e…e…eh yes, Thomas. You don´t need these parts anymore?”

“No, collected these from some backyard anyway, so that was junk we don´t need to bring back.”

“I think that I have use for them, thanks.”

Meanwhile, it was turning dark. The roadblocks were installed, and by now a group of 20 to 25 people waited for their ride. The first ones were a group of young men that were really irritated to see the driving done by blue-haired girls. While Chantal did all four runs herself, the drivers in the Aurora were changed after every run, first was Ana. She drove a bit reckless, not particulary skilled, but it went well in general. She finished behind Chanty, but the Holsians that were not used to speeds higher than 80 kph were equally excited or even terrified in both cars, needing to… look again at what they ate that day.


The second driver for the Firulais was Josué - and he had a calmer and smoother driving style, so the second run was offered at all “customers” with sensible stomach, with Chanty adapting to the speed of the Aurora to keep it balanced.


As some people asked for a “smooth” ride, after noticing the pale faces of the first group, the third run was almost identical to the second, with Josué and Chantal going for a sane risk level, but still entertaining the locals.

The fourth run was reserved for the daredevil passengers that wanted the scariest experience possible. Angel took over in the Aurora, asking Chanty to send the Primus as hard as she could, then he put on a cássette with Initial D music… not a good sign at all at this point.

Both cars drove hard at the limit, and even if Chanty was quite fast for her limited experience and generally shy nature, she was now so excited that she just focussed on beating Angel. The cars even banged some times, but the damage was superficial - for the Primus, just some rust was shoved off the panels, with similar effect on the Aurora. Every few seconds the lead changed, and the droning four-cylinder of the Aurora tried it´s best, but the Primus was just stronger uphill, but the last part of the improvised track was downhill, and with a totally insane drift, Angel finally passed his opponent and slided as first through the last corner, but Angel forgot about one thing: The Pablato blocking the way for security reasons, and the skidding Aurora missed it only by centimeters.


Clara was the first to react.

“Damn, there missed our insurance money.”

“There also goes some food again, what a waste”

, said Marceline. Vivian was not really willing to look at the dizzy passengers getting out of the cars and being busy with re-dining. Clara turned to Chantal, who lighted a cigarette to deal with what she just saw - Angel almost crashing hard.

“So, this was my part of the deal. Now it is your turn. Keys now.”

“They…are inside… left in the ignition, the engine is running to cool down…”

, answered Chanty, still visibly scared.

“Don´t worry, I will neither harm your car nor the passengers. As soon as they are ready, I will drive them back to the starting line. You can take a seat in the Pablato, Vivian will take you with her.”

Chantal then proceeded to Angel, who was also quite done with his nerves, but remaining professional and very polite to his passengers, as a Japanese should.

“Angel, Cigarette?”

“No, I don´t smoke… but, I could need a drink later, after my driving tasks are fulfilled. I might drive a bit slower then, if my passengers prefer this.”

“YES PLEASE, FOR FUCKS SAKE!”

, was the reply, and Angel might have nightmares for the next sleeping period from what had just almost happened.

Clara luckily didn´t go as fast as she could, but still had great fun pushing the barge hard on the six kilometers of Holsian backroads before handing it back to Chantal.

“Interessing. I could finally try it out one of these old sofas with some engine power. The engine is quite rough for such a luxury car, but the car feels light and really well balanced, while the suspension is on the comfortable size. Don´t these have adaptive dampers at last?”

“Hello, …eh, Clara, I guess? So, they weren´t ordered by the first owner. The whole car is configured very weird, has almost everything but no seat heaters or the suspension upgrades, which were usually the most common. BY THE WAY: CHANTAL JOLINA NILFERT! GET IN! NOW!”

“I… am dead now. Please…remember me…”

A desperately sobbing Chantal got inside with hanging shoulders as her father who appeared out of nowhere told her, and Angel stood there a bit helpless, not saying anything since he thought he could make the situation only worse. Inside the house, it became a bit loud and definitely more heated than the seats of the Primus ever could without the option ordered…

“You have done that for WHAT?”

“Stray animals… and if enough money is left, maybe feeding homeless. We saw some in the streets… we can not just drive here with such a large car, have fun and get drunk while others have to exist in poverty and remain hungry…please don´t yell at me, just hit me, that is easier for me…”

“Chantal, STOP! Have I ever hit you?”

“No, just thrown things…”

“Yes but not at you but at the wall!”

“Poor wall…poor cups, pillows and pencils… they suffered instead of me… you should aim at me now, with a hammer maybe…”

When Thomas was about to use the duct tape in order to silence his daughter for what she again started to say, Jannes voice was audible.

“READY! I have no idea what drama your freakshow causes again, but I will invite to … Holsian Midsommar now. We really distilled too much to fill that in the bottles we have.”

“THE DISCUSSION IS NOT OVER! YOU WAIT HERE UNTIL I AM BACK, CHANTAL!”

Jan went downstairs, complaining.

“What is this for a shitshow again? I WAS JUST BRINGING THE KIDS TO BED, NOW THEY ARE AWAKE AGAIN! Chanty, please help me calming them down again.”

The pair did its best to make the three kids of the host family, aged from 4 to 9, sleep in peace again, as their parents asked Jan to take a bit of care for them, since they worked as farmers and had to do repairs in the barns and were grateful that they got the time for it with Jan trying to be a nanny.

“Damn, you would be such a good father.”

“Don´t start this topic again.”

“But… you know, this is my dream. Our little happy family. Honestly, how am I doing at this task?”

“Fairly good, actually, you´re really a person that kids seem to like. They are sound asleep. I needed an hour for this.”

“So… how about names for our own kids then? But we need two of them, like all in my family have.”

"Wait what, what is Thomas second name then? I mean, yours is Jolina but I never heard his.

“Peter.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT?”

Thomas Peter Nilfert, coming back to continue the discussion with Chantal, just heard the last part about making him a grandfather, and he immediately freezed in shock, then just gasped for air and decided to get drunk as fast and hard as possible with the others that already enjoyed the freshly made booze.

5 Likes

Team Chitco
Part 3

Because there was draft that ended up not being saved, quick summary is in order and it covers what fun and interesting stuff might had happened that wasnt covered by some other team
This covers events from Stage 4 to Stage 8

Chanty misses her mom; Lauren is summoned

Salty situation
Talk Jakasxandra and Bong had afterwards can be summarised as “Well Chanty is weird, but so is obviously the case with half of this team. She is good person and enjoyable company.”
Bong, not known to be enjoyable company in most cases, could just agree with daughter.

After events of this Bong had utilised shovel again…to disdain of teammates that figured out the reason
Atleast he is going to have something to do: only time so far someone welcomed one of Marie`s pranks

Pi had experimented with some magic gloves without supervision of someone more qualified. As result, some travel bag was massively set on fire…she kinda got too scared to admit her wrongdoing
Consequences were Andrea`s clothing troubles which inspired talks about how Jakasxandra, for longest time, utilised clothes of good old Mrdja - because back then such was the case with Chitco fellas.
What was not of much bother is her smaller and slimmer build compared to said guy…
Either way, Andrea and Pi using oversized clothes that were generously borrowed was mostly the same, but with more…distinctive outfits.

Almost all links have names used as reference to why they are relevant to this team in particular…but are not limited to just interactions with Chitco team
Exception, while descriptive and informative, is likely too much so for some people and as such is SPOILERED below

SPOILER: Reference of "this"

Half-eaten cat

3 Likes

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
PART 7.1 - DID YOU REMEMBER THE KETCHUP?
(Note: This part is Drur - Hofrost and hence inactual and delayed - I guess I kind of have a writers block now unfortunately - but I am trying to catch up…)

With the new windshield in place and all the butter smell gone, it could have been all fun and games - however, it was not. When all the other teams seemed to get a good start, the IP was standing still.

“Are you going to start this goddamned thing today?”, Marie asked Andreas.

“I can’t find the goddamned choke knob!”, Andreas said. “It must be hidden somewhere under all the duct tape! Give me a knife!”

While trying to cut some duct tape away from the dashboard, the black IP was passed by the gold Primus, which made Marie rather upset.

“HEY SMURFETTE!”, she yelled through the open window. “DID YOU REMEMBER TO PUT KETCHUP ON MR. FLUFFY?”

“Who is Mr Fluffy?”, Andreas asked, while the Primus was suddenly doing some very erratic driving that could be seen through the windshield of the IP.

“Oh, it’s just a…german brand of…fish nuggets!”, Marie tried to lie.

“I am pretty sure it is not!”, Andreas said while the inline six roared to life.

“How could you know that, have you ever been to Germany?”, Marie asked.

“NO, BUT AT LEAST I KNOW WHERE GERMANY IS, YOU PROBABLY THINK THAT IT IS SOME VILLAGE IN SOUTHERN FINLAND OR SOMETHING!”, Andreas said, while losing his patience.

While on the twisty roads, Andreas did his best to try to catch up with the Primus, but with no luck.

"OK, the Primus is the better handler, not gonna lie, 90s luxobarge vs. 70s panel van with well pumped air shocks…, Andreas said, “…but how the fuck is the moron driving? That is going to kill them, I am pretty sure!”

“I hope it does”, Marie said.

“Stupid kid”, Janne said. “Probably thinks she is Sabine Schmitz or something.”

“I wish that she would have been as alive as Sabine Schmitz”, Marie said.

“That was dark even for me…”, Janne answered.

Andreas decided to calm down a bit on the twisty mountain roads, since overtaking the Primus was an impossible task anyway. Soon, they saw a pretty interesting sight though… The Shift Happens AMCW City Shuttle standing at the side of the road with the hazard flashers blinking.

“Should we stop and help them?”, Andreas asked.

“We really should since we got the windshield repaired…”, Janne answered.

“IF JANNE STARTS TO REPAIR A GODDAMNED BUS IT WILL TAKE 12 YEARS UNTIL HE IS FINISHED!”, Marie groaned.

“Uhm, you’re right, no, we won’t stop!”, Andreas answered and pressed the accelerator a bit harder again, once again catching up on the Primus…

"What the fuck…well, I guess they have had a driver change for some reason, that did cost them time, because now Thomas is driving…but he is driving like a maniac too for some reason.

TO BE CONTINUED

(Honestly, this is mostly filler text, but hopefully the next part will be more interesting)

@Madrias @Happyhungryhippo

3 Likes

TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
PART 8.1 - AS SEEN ON TV

(Now I have managed to catch up, so following parts may be better than the last ones)

The weather had been better than it was when the team jumped into the IP at Hofrost to leave for Talrem. The repaired windshield was a good thing to have now indeed, but much to our friends surprise something else was repaired too…

“Hey, why isn’t the hood some kind of cross between piss yellow and puke green anymore?”, Andreas said. “It is black…almost!”

“I don’t know”, Janne said, while the inline six woke up. “What do you think yourself?”

“Ehrm…”, Andreas said, “…could it be the magic that had spilled over a bit, and…”

“Oh, so NOW you believe that magic works”, Janne said. “How come?”

“NO, I DON’T!”, Andreas answered.

“That fucking magic must suck then.”, Marie said. “I would have done a better paintjob with tar and a toothbrush.”

“I never thought about it like that, but you may be right”, Janne answered.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH

What the fuck has happened to the wipers?", Andreas said with some confusion in his voice.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH-SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHHHH!

“That noise drives me crazy!”, Marie said.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH-SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHHHH!

“I BET THAT IT IS YOUR FUCKING FAULT WHEN YOU ATTACKED THE WINDSHIELD WITH AN AXE!”, Andreas answered. “I bet you broke the wipers then!”

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHH-SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHHHH!

Luckily, they were able to crank up the volume of this masterpiece to somewhat manage to be louder than the wiper. Even the volume of Marie reached somewhat sane levels some beercans later when she passed out inside the car. Reaching Talrem, Andreas wondered if they shouldn’t wake Marie up.

“Nah, she’s in her right element now”, Janne said while Marie was snoring and drooling on some piece of duct tape that was now stuck into her face.

FAST FORWARD TO THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

Waking up alone in the IP, Marie was a bit dizzy and not aware of where she was. But since the cars were all left outside, unsupervised, she understood that the actual camp must have been somewhere else. This was a golden opportunity for her to pull of a prank she learned when watching a certain British TV show…

Getting into the Primus, she put in a CD that was in the IP with some of the prophet’s…eh…bes…nah, most annoying songs.

That was followed with some strategically placed glue on the stereo controls in the Primus. That meant that this CD was now played at full volume, on repeat, and could not be ejected. Furthermore, the stereo could no longer be set to tuner or cassette. Yes, this was just a take on the classic Top Gear prank…

What James May didn’t have in his Golf, however, was an equalizer. The Primus, however had one.

That meant that max bass and max treble was now glued. Some of the sliders in between, however, was glued at the bottom, and the rest was set on totally random values… everything to give a sound quality that was state of the art, out of this world…

Satisfied with what she had done, Marie went back to the IP to sleep there for the rest of the night…

TO BE CONTINUED…

@Happyhungryhippo

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Shitbox Rally - Stage 10

Stage 10: Talrem to Prentare

Weather: Temperatures around 0°C, torrential rain turning into snow during the later half of the stage, some thunderstorms, strong winds, and potential frost at night.

Depending on your vehicle class, you’re going to be taking one of two paths to get there.

(A, B, C1 class): The road winds up the mountain pass we approached yesterday. The roads are shitty, steep, and soaking wet with rain, sleet, and snow, making the trip a slow, treacherous slog. Some of you might feel like mountain goats on this trail, climbing the way up to Prentare.

(C and CE class): The lack of space for the largest vehicles means we have to make a substantial and significant detour. We start by going back down to the valley we found yesterday, and following it somewhat around and gradually up the mountain. The roads are still shitty, wet, and coated in snow, but less steep.

Timeloss lost two hours after getting stuck in the snow. Thankfully, they’re able to get it unstuck easily enough, but the broken ball joint is where the two hour “time loss” happens.
(@Fayeding_Spray)

The “Crazy” Eight do one hell of a crazy figure eight as they spin out by accident, and then again deliberately in order to get going in the right direction again.
(@TheYugo45GV)

The Spy Kids find out the hard way that just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you can’t overheat. One serpentine belt later, and an hour cooling down, the German SUV is on the move again.
(@SheikhMansour)

Straight Outta Seratos experiences the joys of driving a rear engine car in the snow, up until the clutch gets stuck. 3.5 hours later, and a new clutch slave cylinder installed, they’re on the road again.
(@Shibusu)

After spinning out four times in the snow, Machinas Con Passione headed on toward the next camp, hoping to make better time there.
(@SurrealCereal)

Ramjet has a brief fight with some electrical gremlins, solved by tightening all the grounding screws. This costs them an hour on the side of the road.
(@JCurtiss96, @Leone)

Prentare is a city of 88,000 people, and like Thornes from before, it’s extremely vertical in nature, built up instead of out. It’s a very dense location.

Our camp is basically all over the roads of the town. Hopefully you’re comfortable driving tent pegs in between the cobblestones… Because that’s how we’re sleeping. There aren’t any official services, but some nearby businesses might be offering the use of their toilets. The support train is parked on a disused rail line that was intended to be a subway system, before the engineers figured out that steam locomotives and lengthy tunnels don’t mix, and then the budget dried up. For the adventurous, there’s a mostly-assembled subway station not far away, almost inviting people to wander around inside… And possibly get some sleep if you didn’t like the idea of being in a tent in town.


Spreadsheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQriVPEky_B00QiZ6lYrtLVt-u3XWPQW7CvfFNFordo91W4o4LYgWKmW6-SchgIpnTR4wQ6cfSyyQfl/pubhtml

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Stage 10: Magic Moments

teams included: Shift Happens by @Madrias, Hillbilly Rollers by @Knugcab and Firulais by @Angelustyle

teams mentioned only: Chitco by @MrdjaNikolen, Fuist by @Djadania

In the next morning, Thomas had a serious hangover. Jan had to convince him to leave the bed at all, just like Chantal. Thankfully, Thomas can´t remember everything of the previous day, including Chanty doing her racing taxi and planning to make him a grandfather… which is propably a very good thing.

When they were about to proceed to the starting line, the radio of the car was blazing awful music at full volume!

“WHAT SHIT IS THAT? WHO USED THE CAR LAST?”

“CHANTY, WERENT YOU USING IT LAST NIGHT? I SAW YOU DRIVING OFF TOGETHER WITH THE FIRULAIS CAR”

“JAN, YOU DAMN SNITCH! AS IF I WOULD LISTEN TO THIS CRAP? WHAT LANGUAGE IS THAT EVEN?”

“SWEDISH!”

“ALL RIGHT KIDS, WE WILL PAY THIS BACK TO THE HILLBILLYS! BUT FIRST HELP ME TURNING OFF THE RADIO BY GIVING ME THE FUSE DIAGRAM!”

“DAD, DOES THIS MEAN WE HAVE NO MORE MUSIC?”

“FOR TODAY, DEFINITELY!”

A very disappointed Chanty then looked at her headphones as if she wanted to marry them, and then just put them on and solved the problem for herself with that.

The way up on narrow and muddy roads was quite slow and challenging, and Thomas was very happy to have fitted more or less still roadworthy all-season-tires on the car, so that the large RWD car could be kept on course, and a bit of playing with the traction control switch allowed for a good balance between not getting stuck and not skidding off the road. When Thomas and Chanty had a smoking break, they were surprised how much colder it was now, and had to grab pullovers to enjoy their cigarettes, and they hoped that it will be not THAT cold in Prentare, and the snow/rain combination would stop.

“What is this place here?”

“Prentare.”

“Looks like a shrunken capital. So, I can´t see a campsite, we are right in the city center.”

“There is none.”

“So, a hotel again? GREAT! My back was already getting used again to a proper bed yesterday. And even if the weather is now a lot better, its still cooooold if your aren´t kissed by the sun´s rays…”

“If the roadbook doesn´t lie, … we sleep in the streets.”

“WHAT? NO WAY I AM LIVING LIKE A HOMELESS!”

“Thomas, this might be a humbling experience for you then.”

“I SAID NO WAY. You can do what you want, but I will book a hotel room.”

“And that from someone born and raised in a socialist country, weird.”

“JAN! I HAVE BACK PAIN!”

“You skipped the biking excercises that you promised for two stages now. You should do that now, or do you want to die early?”

“Yes.”

Chanty, who just switched her headphones off and stopped dancing with herself, gave her father a hard slap with the roadbook, again crying and clearly being sad.

“DON´T SAY THAT! IF YOU DIE, I WILL KILL YOU!”

“Calm down, I meant yes to… that I should do cycling today… ok??”

A still crying Chanty then firmly hugged her father, pointing out that she saw a propably abandoned bike at the roadside only a few blocks away, and that she will get it for him, while Thomas organized a table in a nearby restaurant.

Thomas tried to read out what was written on a special offer advertizing, doing that loudly to make the translator ring translate it.

“I SUCK D—S!?”

Some heads turned towards Thomas, with a range of facial expressions going from amused to really offended.

“Nah that can´t be accurate, I need to work on my pronounciation of Holsian…”

Now as Thomas seems to talk with a ring, the locals just thought he … is an inpatient from the local hospital´s mental ward and didn´t bother much. Then, he finally read it out correct.

“ALL YOU CAN EAT. Well, that´s for us then, definitely. Let´s go in before that glutton gollum finds out then, because that discount troll and my little monster don´t work well together at buffets.”

The Rhinos entered the restaurant with only two members, as Chantal wanted to do something first that would make her hungry… And… well, the restaurant owner regretted it already when Thomas took his fourth dish, but then Chanty entered, excusing herself that she sweated a lot and needed a shower at a nearby public bath first… and started eating. Why she carried some bench seat… is a mystery for now only she knows the answer to.

The “All you can eat” advert was… removed even before Chantal finally considered herself some kind of saturated.

“Chanty,… you better stop now.”

“But why? Itff deliffiouf. Mmm.”

“The waiter and the cook will kill you soon if you don´t stop ruining them. So, eat your dessert and let´s get out of here.”

“Deffert? Whif deffert?”

“HOW DID YOU EAT THIS UP NOW? IT WAS STLL HERE NOT EVEN A MINUTE AGO! Move it Chanty, I better give them some tip… YOU BLACK FOOD HOLE!”

After finally leaving and relieving the restaurant owner, Chantal showed her father the bike, but Thomas already cheated by using a starter wired to… the battery of his car that was taped in place in the rear, building an E-Bike, since Thomas didn´t really want to do excercising.

“THOMAS! THAT IS CHILDISH CHEATING!”

“It´s not. I promised you to ride a bike, and I DO RIDE A BIKE NOW.”

“NO! This isn´t sport, that´s just… ah come on, it´s your fault then if your heart finally gives up.”

“YELLOW CARD, JAN! Don´t speak up to me like that! I warn you once, not twice!”

“Yeah, Thomas the Temper Engine, I see!”

Chanty was now having another panic attack from seeing her loved ones arguing, and jumped onto the bike and accellerated hard, as the starter of the car does have some force to crank that large V6 engine.

“DAMN! THIS BIKE DOES NOT HAVE THE BRAKES ADAPTED! STOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!”

But it was too late, Chanty was already out of sight, and lost control with the extreme accelleration, unable to slow down with the almost non-existant brakes, and managed to hit a lamppost with high speed, and to put it mildly, after encountering Maries rage, she looked a lot better than now. Sadly, Marie was standing next to her now, as the Hillbilly Rollers were leaving a pharmacy, buying Marie some pills against her hangover headache. Janne was almost wiped off the sidewalk from the uncontrolled bicycle.

“OH SHIT! That was painful! Chantal! HEY, CHANTAL! CAN YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”

“Yes… DAMN! THIS HURTS!”

“You don´t get my painkillers, smurfette!”

“MARIE, YOU ARE NOT ASKED!”, answered an annoyed Andreas.

“Can you stand up?”

“I can´t… use my legs”

, cried Chanty, overwhelmed by the shock.

“Well, if you are now paralyzed, you can maybe ask your daddy for a wheelchair from Primus, these cars look like prescribed from doctors anyway!”

“SHUT UP!”

, yelled Janne and Andreas, perfectly sychronized, but what Marie said was already processed in Chantys brain, who was now terrified and cried even more, so that she was totally unable to communicate with others anymore.

“I wish that would have happened to you, Marie”

“Come on, Janne, you know that bikes are for kids and environmentalists only. So, that leftist kid got what it deserved.”

“You should be happy that you didn´t get what you deserve - YET!”

Janne tried to calm Chanty down and checked her for serious injuries.

“We will carry you to Shift Happens, they can perform magic, so that can be cured easily, if it is no serious injury.”

“Yeah, but this looks serious.”

“Andreas, I am NOT BLIND.”

In that moment, Jan and Thomas appeared out of nowhere, and very exhausted, as they ran as fast as they could. Thomas visibly suffered from seeing Chantal in that state, and tried to ease himself up with black humor.

„At least it´s the lamppost in front of a pharmacy, so the way is short to get medical supplies… and the hospital is right over here.“

„No, Thomas, we need some magic. I don´t want to hand her out to people with 1930s knowledge and instruments. When they see how her mental health is, they will propably lobotomize her. I will now use the emergency ring!“

„Fine, Jan, but they already weren´t able to help her with magic when we asked last.“

„That is something way more serious than feeling homesick. Actually, they did help us with magic already, remember when you had a weird feeling where I was when I insisted on walking ? That was them doing magic.“

“They should magically let her disappear instead, that would do us all a favor”

, said Marie, with Thomas heating up even more.

“YOU GOLLUM WILL NOW GO AWAY AND LEAVE MY DAUGHTER IN PEACE, OR I WILL STUFF YOUR MOUTH!”

“Looking at your daughter, you have already a hard time stuffing her mouth with food, but Jan could need a bit more to eat.”

Thomas pushed Marie, who … had problems keeping balance, as she was even a lot heavier than Chantal, and she fell almost on Chanty that would have become flat as a pancake, so Thomas tackled her to change the direction towards … hard cobblestone.

“AAAAAAAAAAARGH SHIT!”

“What is it Thomas?”

“I think that gollum is even so heavy that I broke my arm at the contact. FUCK!”

In just that moment, Shift Happens arrived, called by Jan with the emergency ring. They improvised with a bench seat in their bus as bed for Chanty, while Thomas, still standing on two feet, was checked outside since Chanty, now crying less and again aware of what happens around her, should not see her father being injured. Angel sent Ana to comfort Chanty a bit, as he himself didn´t dare to join - that much stress might trigger a mindreading incident. Jayde was setting up his stuff, while Lauren dried Chantys tears with her furry paw.

“So, it will be all right, Ana is here since someone will have to guide you to your campsite, as our magic drinks include a lot of alcohol…, and Andrea and her centaur friend… Ah, Pi, yes, that tattoo on Andrea is really a good reminder, were also here. They both can´t see blood so I told them to come back later, and sorry for throwing Jan out, but he was just too nervous and is propably better off preparing your campsite, as you are not in real danger. So, many people look foward to be hugged by you as soon you walk out of here.”

“That means…that I … have almost as many friends as diagnosed mental illnesses? Really?”

“Of course you have, and…”

“LAUREN! Can you please come over?”

Kiva interrupted them, and Lauren excused herself and went outside, and Jayde pointed on his casted arm.

„We need to make sure nothing is broken, as we can´t fix that easy. It would be a very risky magic spell, and we don´t even try that on ourselves because of the possible complications. Ana, I could you please do that? It might be easier if a friend touches her, and I need to get some herbals.“

Ana did as ordered, and Chanty cried a lot, as some pressing here and there caused some pain.

“Eh, if you still feel pain on everything, you are definitely not paralyzed, so, forget about what that hillbilly monster said, do you understand?”

“Yes… but… how bad is it? It feels like nothing is in place anymore?”

„Oh, oh, quite a lot broken, but guess what? There will be enough space on that giant cast for all people to sign it!“

Chantals eyes became empty as if her soul was leaving her, and Ana already regretted being sarcastic, but even if Ana changed a bit towards Chantys mentality, it doesn´t mean it would make her a totally different person in a couple of days.

“Please kill me!”

“THAT WAS A JOKE, SORRY! I thought… you would take that one better. After all you´ve told, getting into bad accidents isn´t new to you, so… I thought you`d be more relaxed…”

Outside, Kiva explained Lauren the problem.

“Thomas just wouldn´t calm down because we can´t heal his broken arm.”

“Well, we can actually, but don´t recommend it.”

“I DONT CARE! I have to work when we are back and I can´t need an useless arm then. I am not sitting at some fancy glass office in the city center, I AM A DAMN CAR MECHANIC! AND MY CUSTOMERS… AAAH! RELY ON ME! And not to forget…I … so, I … urgh. Where was I?”

“OH NO! Heart attack. Kiva, get Mani, now. And don´t let Chantal notice any of this! She´s feeling bad enough already.”

Inside, Jayde came back with some kind of… a drink, and asked Ana how Chantys state is.

„Surprisingly, she doesn´t seem to have anything broken. Just… well, in a fight between concrete and skin, the skin rarely wins. I mean, she is well-cushioned, so that is useful I guess.“

“But there was no pillow, just a fucking hard lamppost”

, cried Chanty, going through the shocking event of the impact once again. Jayde signalized Ana NOT to explain what she meant with “well cushioned”…

„We can try this magic drink then. Chantal, I will now make you sit up to drink it, this can hurt a bit, but you will be better soon.“

Jayde served Chanty something that… tasted the worst she has ever tasted, it was exactly like she imagined the sponge of the school chalkboard to taste, that was older than herself at that point and developing into some own kind of lifeform…. Added up by a spice resembling Thomas unholy chili wodka a lot.

Outside, Mani had to perform very dark magic with a lot of time pressure.

“Mani, he is almost dead, please, make it quick!”

“You forget that I can raise the dead if needed, I am not just a healer like Jayde, I am an actual magician. When I have to somehow fix this heart, I can as well also heal the arm. Now that Thomas has almost left this world, you can also put the bone in position, he won´t notice too much of it. But I don´t want to perform this out here where others can see me. This will cause me losing focus and also spectators would consider me an evil person for doing that dark stuff.”

“But Chantal is inside, she will notice then…”

“We have to risk that, if it´s that bad I can as well make her forget with another spell, lets carry him into the bus.”

Lauren did as asked, and Mani took a bit of blood from Thomas´nosebleed he also got from having enemy contact, and ripped off Thomas clothes, and writing mysterious runes onto him while spelling something that sounded really, really scary. After a 10 minute procedure, Mani sunk to the floor of the bus, totally exhausted.

“That… was exhausting. I have rarely used so much power in such a short time period. His heart… well, even if he didn´t become that upset today, I guess he would not have made it to the end of the rallye in either case. I can´t tell how long it will be fine now, but I guess it will give him 3 or 5 more years he can spend with his loved ones, maybe even more.”

Lauren gently took Manis hand.

“You did great. Plus, Chantal already got her medicine from Jayde… with… the usual side effect. She was immediately so fucking drunk that she didn´t notice anything that happened over here. Will Thomas wake up now?”

“No, propably not before tomorrow, by then the arm should be… well, maybe not totally fine, but he can use it again with only a slight pain. Damn, that medical bill will be …expensive, Thomas. Don´t get another heart attack over it, old man!”

“Mani, that´s a dark joke. Anyway, I guess he won´t mind you plundering his booze. I suggest you do it already now before writing the invoice because… Marie will definitely use the opportunity when she sees Thomas sound asleep!”

After exiting the bus, Chanty, totally lost and drunk, told Ana then what she did before joining the all you can eat: She removed the bench seat from the IP of the Hillbilly Rollers that now have to deal with… that revenge sabotage, but Chanty fell so hard in her home dialect that the translator ring failed, but… Ana had enough to laugh about anyway, as a drunk smurf is also something funny.

“Also, da habbsch mir also de Schraubnschlüssl jenomm, dis jing eigntlsch janz einfach… war abbor bissl schwers Ding da wegzutragn… ssch wees jarnimmor wosch dis hin hab…”

“Chantal, I have no idea what you are telling me, but I am convinced it´s great, yeep. So, while you tried to not to fall over your own feet, I asked Louis and Marceline, and they said Jan has put your sleeping bags in that unused subway station since he thought that´s the best rain protection. Can I leave you alone then?”

“Suuuuureeee…I`m just a lil delulu…”

“Oh, you don´t say?”

When arriving at the subway station, Chanty ran towards Jan and gave him a love overdose, and Jan was a bit irritated.

“Damn, are you drunk? But its good that you are fixed now, that was really hard to watch after the accident… but where is Thomas?”

“SSSH! Jan! Come over to me, I can not explain this loudly in the presence of her…”

Ana told Jan that Thomas escaped death once again with a lot of luck and black magic, and Jan was actually very furious at Marie now, asking Ana if she could take Chanty with her as he has to do something, then Ana remembered that she hasn´t given Chanty her share of the taxi rides yet, and would motivate her realizing her plans to feed the poor and hungry of Holsia, and that Angel will definitely help her with that.


An hour later, Chanty was already distributing animal food at the few strays in town, and since homeless also looked for shelter down there in the abandoned subway station, she thought about them and bought some snacks… with Angel more or less managing most of it as Chanty was too drunk, but felt great for being able to help others, but she worried a lot about Thomas and knocked, a bit less drunk by the end of the day, at the bus doors, and Lauren was stepping outside.

“Oh, Chantal, what´s the matter? We were already going to sleep, if it´s urgent, tell me, but otherwise you can come over tomorrow.”

“Is my dad ok? He is not at our … eh, campsite, although it basically isnt a campsite, but…”

“Yeah, I see, he still needs some rest.”

“Is it serious? Can I see him?”

“Chantal, look, I can promise you he is just exhausted, nothing serious, we fixed that broken arm and some extreme fatigue is the usual side effect of black magic, he will join you tomorrow in good shape.”

Lauren did not tell Chantal about the next almost lethal heart attack, as… Mani fixed the worst of his cardiac issues for some time now, and Chanty would not need any more bad news after having a stressful day herself.

“Can´t you fix … my shitty personality with that black magic, too? Like… making me less dumb and more happy, so I don´t annoy the others any more?”

Lauren sighed, then hugged Chantal and gently stroked her head.

“Chantal, you are perfect the way you are. I think even if your loved ones are a bit stressed with you, they would not want anyone to change a single thing about you. And the only one being able to make you happy… is yourself, and I think you were already on a good way today, but don´t forget about yourself when helping others.”

Jan, on the other hand, took away the itching powder from the host family´s oldest kid back in Talrem when he was doing the “babysitting”, but forgot to give it back, which he regretted since he promised to do so. On the other hand, this would be a good thing to put in Maries clothes, which he successfully did, but was then caught by Andreas…

2 Likes

Stage 10

Pov: Team HIBS (Honey I Bought A S#!tbox) 30 minutes into the stage, and in 3rd place, set to be their best result of the season.
(If you are struggling to figure out who’s speeking, they take it in turns, and frequently address the other by name)


“Well, this is more like it Viv isn’t it? Finally among the top runners”

“I will admit, its taken a while for anything mildly interesting to happen, and perhaps putting on all-terrain tires for a rally mostly on the road wasn’t the best idea”

“Hey, when I repaired this pile of junk T4 from the scrap parts you so generously got me. I built a rally car. None of this hosy posy round the roadsy we’ve been doing for 9 stages.”

“Hey, it was not scrap, those were premium parts from 1979”

“So, thats why they rotted away”

“That was only surface corrosion and you know it”

“Oh sush, besides, the only reason you got me those was definitely just to hang out with me…”

“No it was not”

“Was too”

“Was not”

“Was too”

“Clara, I only fell for you after I got the parts and was forced to listen to your wacky ideas about fitting a winch to a road car, remember?”

“Correlation, not causation.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense”

“Does too”

“Does not”

“Does too”

“Does… Wait, is that…”

“You aren’t gonna win an argument that eas…
Holly S#!tbox, MCP has stopped for fuel, we’re up into 2nd place.”

“And it was my genius plan to fill the car before we left.”

“You only did that because you thought there wouldn’t be any fuel stops up here”

“Hey, it worked didn’t it”

“Ok Viv, you win this round, but its not like we are moving at an exactly blistering speed”

“Hey, 19mph is perfectly fast for me thank you, any faster and we’d be down there…”

Roadside cliff

“Yikes, dont remind me”

“Go any faster and I will”

“Shut up”


Little did the bickering couple know, that 2 minutes ahead, was Faolan Industries, who had a poorer average speed, and were losing time to them in the steeper hills, and just another minute behind, were the interceptors, which weren’t really living up to their name, and were not exactly closing in on them.


“Ok, there’s no way we are getting up that”

“I beg to differ”

Its a 36° gradient, and we have front wheel drive

“True, but now you will see the genius of my engineering”

“You mean the consequences of your design
mistakes?”

“I didn’t see you stop me while I was struggling for days fitting a winch to a car with no anchor points. You were too busy staring at me. Meanwhile, I wa busy being the true visionary of this team, by fitting that winch”

“That we haven’t used yet”

“Well, im about to”

“You cannot be serious, that would put in jeopardy our best finish so far, and given the upcoming smooth roads and highways, probably ever”

“As stupid as it sounds, I spent days fitting this thing and if the only use if have for it is blocking traffic while
some other team hosts racing events on the road ahead, I am going to lose it.”

“Ok then, have it your way, but you are setting it up, and im driving”

But im the driver,

“Nope, should have checked the T’s and C’s when you married me”

“Which were?”

“I can take over driving the S#!tbox whenever I like”

“Im pretty sure that wasn’t in the wedding lisence”

“Just do it Clara”

UGHHHHHH, FINE”


As Clara began setting up the whinch onto a tree at the top of the slope, they heard an alarming noise. The distant grumble of a 1989 5.5L V8, approaching at the blistering speed of 16 mph.


“Claraaa, the Interceptors are catching upppp”

“Shut up I know”


Before they knew it, the Interceptors had inched their way by on the narrow road, taking the shallower but longer road, and were up into second place.


“Great, fanatic, phenomenonal, spectacular, amazin…”

“Stop with the adjectives, im working on it”

“Well work on it faster, even MCP will catch up at this rate”

“Ok, Give it some beans”

“The car doesn’t have any beans, its from 1974”

“Just do it, I’ll do the winch”

Slowly, the car began to accend the 75% gradient with the aid of the winch, which actually seemed to work.

“Yes, yes, come on Viv, more power”

“That’s literally all I got.”

“Well, lets hope its enough”

“Atleast we’re moving, im just wishing we get out ahead of the guys who just overtook us”


Over the next 2 minutes the car slowly made its way up the steep gradient untill it was firmly at the top on the other road.


“Lets hope that shortcut was enough, now out”

“But I just started drivingggg”

Out

“Fine, but you better push it hard, there’s no way we came out ahead of them after that little stunt.”


But as it turned out, they had. Accidentally they’d chopped a whole minute off by accidentally circumventing the narrowest section of the route, where overtaking would have been impossible, and they would have been slowed down by the teams ahead.
They continued bickering till they crossed the line, and they were absolutely shocked to hear where they placed.


“What!?”

“Haha, you owe me a drink”

“Clara, you dont drink”

“Did i specify in a bar? Im going to order the most expensive milkshake money can buy, and you’re gonna pay for it.”

“How come?”

“Its in the T’s and C’s of marriage silly ‘Vivian must buy Clara a drink if she successfully winches a car up a slope and gets them a stage win’.”

“The lisence definitely does not say that”

“Does too”

“Does not”

“Does too x2 triple lock I love you”

“Damit. It’s impossible to say no to you”


And with that Vivian went to the nearest café (which in such a sparsely populated area wasn’t easy) and ordered a single, large strawberry milkshake. Still having absolutely no idea how the currency worked in this world, they of course overpayed.


“Yum”

“Are you going to share?”

“Maybe, what number am I thinking of?”

“Number one?”

“Howd you tell?”

"Because we won obviously "

“Well, not exactly, grab a straw”

4 Likes

Team Firulais

Stages 9 and 10: Ángel’s Solution, Initial D Style Driving, a Crude Invention and a History Lesson

(Mentioning: The Rhino Squad [@HappyHungryHippo])

Early Morning at Hofrost
Ángel’s Explanation

As soon as the team woke up, they looked from afar to the confused Hillbilly Rollers. However, they didn’t approach… Plus, Ángel’s Artwork wasn’t all that appreciated.

As they made breakfast though, Ángel decided to explain what happened last night.

Ángel:“So, now I explain. When you guys were out, I was talking to different people all across camp. I had 4 Mind Reading Accidents that afternoon and later I took a decision which you may have noticed…”
Josué:“Which was taking the car.”
Ángel:“Bee-bo. And what I did then was taking the car, all the way to a place rural enough so I couldn’t have Mind Reading Incidents…”
Ana:“What do you mean ? That, you were far enough from civilization so you couldn’t read their minds ?”
Ángel:“Yeah, that was the idea. While I suffered a bunch of migraines that afternoon, I think I found a solution. Hopefully the next town is small enough for me to continue getting away with it…”
Josué:“Just… Don’t take the car next time.”
Andrés:“Or, at least, when we wake up, be there with the car early.”
Ángel:“I will. By the way, I… Giving it a second thought, I think Tomás should drive today.”
Tomás:“Oh… Okay.”

Besides that breakfast conversation, and some more, the rest of Stage 9 was normal.

They later helped Chantal with some business opportunity, and Ángel got a bit of scrap metal before that, after Thomas’ Attempt to make a Washing Machine and Dryer failed… But after the driving, Ángel was on a bit more than trying to sleep. In fact, he wasn’t sleeping.

He had given some thought and decided to use the scrap metal of the Nilfertinator 3000 to make some sort of rudimentary version of an Air Conditioning Unit… Consisting of a Fan, a tiny water pool, and some tubing.

Little did Ángel know, making such thing was useless in an ambient like this… But he had good intentions.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t finish it before it was too late in the night, recurring to sleep as late as 6-Moon-55. At least he later got a place to sleep in Talrem; someone had decided to rent Ángel a shed for the night. Not only allowing him to work on his rather silly project a bit further, but also allowing him to finally sleep in somewhere… a little less cramped.

Morning at Talrem…
Ángel takes command.

After a rather uneventful morning, and some eating at the local bakery, Ángel decided he’d drive for the remaining stages… A decision which was, initially, slightly panned, but, ultimately accepted.

However, another thing caught the eye of the team.

Josué:“What is that ?”
Ángel:“What ?”
Josué:“That.”

Said Josué, pointing at Ángel’s “A/C Unit”.

Ángel:“Ahhh, you mean, my invention… Yeah, it’s some sort of rudimentary Air Conditioning Unit… I know we are on the mountains, but, maybe it can make our day more enjoyable when we reach warmer lands.”
Josué:“So, how does it work ?”
Ángel:“Up front, a fan which is activated by the wind and blows inwards. In the middle, a small water pool, preferably with cold water. In the back, tubing which leads to the cabin.”
Josué:“So, a swamp cooler.”

Ángel stayed confused given how he didn’t even knew that was the actual name…

Ángel:“Uhhh… Yeah.”
Josué:“Well… Keep working on that. I’m glad we may finally have A/C by the late stages of this…”

After giving it some more work, Ángel decided to work on it further by the next town. He hadn’t finished yet… which was good, as the Swamp Cooler wasn’t exactly going to be useful in cold weather…

Road to Prentare.
Yumeisotitanian History Lesson

As they drove further and further into the mountains, at a rather sedate pace, Ana came up with a rather… Peculiar question…

Ana:“Ángel ?”
Ángel:“Yes ?”
Ana:“Why do you have mind reading, and telepathy, and all that ?”

He initially hesitated, but shortly afterwards he decided to tell them.

Ángel:“Should I tell you ? It’s a bit of a long story.”
Ana:“Yeh, I mean, we aren’t going exactly fast thru here, so, c’mon, talk to us a bit, time flies when you talk.”
Ángel:“Well… To start with things… Do you know what a Yumeisotitanian is ?”

The silence meant they didn’t know.

Ángel:“OK, so, Yumeisotitanian Humanoids are, essentially, an out-worldly species, which arrived to earth around the 15th or 16th Century. Why are they called Yumeisotitanians ? Because they come from the planet of Yumeisotitania, a small and rather unstable planet, which every few hundreds of years, has a “Snapping”.”
Tómas:“What’s a “Snapping” ?”
Ángel:“Well… To put it simply… Imagine Earth. Then imagine a small portion of the earth suddenly breaks apart from the rest. Then the planet terraforms to adapt to this sudden change. The break apart part is arguably the quickest. The Terraforming process is done mainly because the bits affected by the Snapping are in the Oceans, and usually only take water, or, in other cases, really tiny islands, and said process of Terraformimg takes a while… Well, in one particular snapping, as many as 5000 Yumeisotitanians were taken along with their Islands, and this was the Snapping that brought Yumeisotitanians to Planet Earth.”
Andrés:“So… How did they survive if they drifted along so long ?”
Ángel:“Being honest with you, I don’t know… In any case, the arrival to Earth was surprisingly quick. Most of the Yumeisotitanians landed on the Oceans… This time, the oceans of Planet Earth, and most notably, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the North Atlantic Ocean. And most drifted towards the continents, while others to the Islands around those Oceans… Most Yumeisotitanians live in Japan, but they are now spread across the globe.”
Josué:“Interesting…”
Ángel:“I mean, they also are in Russia, Certain bits of the US, Canada, Chile, all across Asia, the Pacific, certain bits of Africa, Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, and bits of Southern Europe.”
Josué:“Any notable features ?”
Ángel:“Uuhhh… Maybe their powers. Aside from that, we are probably very weak compared to some other species we may encounter across the rally. Like, I asked a storekeeper at Lauda if he knew about Yumeisotitanian Magic. He obviously didn’t, but, from what I could see at the store, Aetheriian Magic is very, very strong… Or at least, stronger than Yumeisotitanian Magic, that’s for sure. I know we are a somewhat capable species, but, I’m pretty sure we have still a massive lot to learn…”

There was a brief moment of silence.

Ángel:“Oh, and, Tómas. Remember when I had my first Mind Reading Incident at Nevada ?”
Tómas:“Yes.”
Ángel:“Well… One of the bits of what I said there was in Yumeisotitanian.”
Josué:“You guys have your own language ?”
Ángel:“Wita !”
(In Yumeisotitanian:“Yes !”)

Before they even realized, they reached Prentare.

Afternoon at Prentare
A Mildly Busy Day.

What they planned to be a rather easy stop at another small city turned out “well”, as just a few hours after arriving, Ana and Ángel noticed how Chantal got herself in a little bike crash. Ángel sent Ana to the rescue, as he wanted to avoid Mind Reading Incidents for a while.

What he did, instead, was continuing to work on his invention… Working on that swamp cooler in the middle of the street wasn’t exactly a practical, quiet, or comfortable task, but, as the sun came down, Ángel’s Swamp Cooler was finished. He bolted it to the Roof, and instead of cutting a hole in the roof to make the cold air go inside… he looked at the cracked rear-right window of the Aurora… He had an idea, but executing it in the middle of the streets wasn’t exactly going to be good… At least, if he didn’t want to get in any more trouble. So he left that for the next day.

Later in the day, Ángel helped Chantal delivering food to stray animals and homeless people… Not only he enjoyed helping, but also, the abandoned subway station put him to think about something.

“What if… I sleep here ?”, he wondered.

Effectively, Ángel would sleep for the night in the Subway Station… It’d be his first experience as a homeless person… Of sorts… But same as the stop at Talrem, he was actually glad to find somewhere to sleep… And somewhere spacious to sleep in. He just hoped not to catch any disease by the morning.

(As always, Collabs are open for everyone…

Gee, this felt a lot like filler text…)

1 Like

Shitbox Rally - Stage 11

Stage 11: Prentare to Asda

Weather: Low teens, colder early on in the stage, cloudy, minimal rain/ snow, and windy


While yesterday brought us to new heights, today shows us that everything that goes up must eventually come back down. Most of the crews will have no issue with the road out of camp, as it’s not as steep, not as wet or caked in snow thanks to remarkably effective road clearing services, and a little better maintained than yesterday’s mountain-goat trail. For those in CE class, you’ll have to make a detour again. The observant ones among you will notice that, well… A section of this trip is the same road from yesterday. However, once you get to the valley, you turn left at the intersection, going the other way.

Another deafening bang announces that Shift Happens had tire trouble. Team Firulais joins them in running over the same piece of debris and popping both passenger side tires. The Interceptors blow a tire quite a while later, but waste no time getting it swapped out. The Spy Kids also have to stop and replace a burst tire, as does team Honey I Bought a S#!tbox. Machinas Con Passione finally catches up to the group after a popped tire swap, the car sounding a lot shittier now than it did when it started. Troublesome Trio and Theo also had a flat to fix, which they did with ease.
(@angelustyle, @AndiD, @SheikhMansour, @Rambow, @SurrealCereal, @06DPA)

The brakes on Timeloss’ car start to fade really, really badly. They stop to fix the problem with some new brake pads, brake rotors, and fresh brake fluid, losing two hours.
(@Fayeding_Spray)

The “Crazy” Eight have to replace a headlight after a minor fender bender with one of the local truck drivers. Luckily, the ‘30s-era truck they bumped is tough, and minimal damage was done to it.
(@TheYugo45GV)

Snork’s Tuners had their trouble free streak end in a huge cloud of steam. One of the radiator hoses has burst, and it takes 3.5 hours to find a replacement one in their spare parts, get it installed, and refill the radiator.
(@charlemagnejv3)

Ramjet has to stop on the side of the road to fix a serious engine issue, as the wagon starts backfiring loudly. 3.5 hours, new spark plugs, fixing the fuel system, and a roadside tune-up later, they’re back on the move.
(@JCurtiss96, @Leone)


Asda is a small village housing 1433 people in it. It’s clearly a forestry village, with a “banking handoff yard” nearby - Thanks to their charcoal fuel, Holsian banking locomotives can’t quite do the whole climb in one shot, so they come here to refuel while another locomotive takes over to push the big, heavy trains over the mountain. It’s a relatively simple and modest mountain village, not too big, but not too small, either, for the amount of people there.

Our camp is in that handoff yard, thanks to the train being there. Unfortunately, it’s on a lovely 3% grade, so everything’s a little bit… tilted. The same, honestly, can be said about where we’re camping, so try to make sure your sleeping bags, bedrolls, and tents don’t roll downhill… Or your cars, for that matter. For safety, the cars will be parked lower down the hill than the tents… So that accidents don’t happen. There are wooden outhouses around, but if you want a shower… You’ll have to do that in the rain.


Spreadsheet is here: SR2024 Stage Results - Google Drive

2 Likes

Team Chitco
Part 3

Stage 9 was somewhat uneventful to this team if we exclude driving on roads too narrow for anyones liking. There certainly was an effort by some locals to accomodate but this was clearly very overwhelming to them

Going from Talrem to Prentare on Stage 10 did brought out the fact that Kontir has 4X4 and manual locker differential. Still pace on hand was less than exceptional, and it wasnt helped by the need to refuel from additional fuel cans at freezing temperatures…which would then need to be promptly refilled along the remaining fuel tank when some gas station WAS reached. Sleep was partially achieved in car itself and partially in subway station that seemed to be refuge to some other teams as well: most notably Jakasxandra was exploring around said station in time when sleep just wouldnt set

Stage 11 also wasnt seeming too eventful itself if we exclude lovely tilt indicated in post above. Car was again one of possible points of sleep and nobody felt desire for shower.
Seems that the whole thing is going smoothly

2 Likes

Shitbox Rally - Stage 12

Stage 12: Asda to Dalhus

Weather: Mid teens, full clouds, and windy.


This time, as everyone leaves the camp, it’s obvious that the road is at least wide enough to support all of the vehicles, but other than that, it’s much like yesterday: mostly driving downhill, still nestled in the mountains, and still a rough time for those larger vehicles due to a few narrow spots and numerous switchbacks. As we get closer to Dalhus, however, the mountains gradually taper off into hills, a sign that we’re through the worst of the mountains.

Shift Happens pulls off to the side of the road as a team twists the SOS ring, calling for help. Kasiya, Inaelus, Manikihali, Kivenaal, and Sariya head outside, rift-walking straight to the location of the trouble.

GECA requests help after two rogue members attack Valentin, leaving him badly injured and halfway down a significant hill. The two rogue agents have teleported home with their rings, and after someone turns their SOS ring, help arrives in a hurry. Inaelus focuses on getting the rest of GECA to head to camp to grab their stuff while Mani brings Norse and Val to Earth with one of his rifts. Once Mani gets back, well, he joins the rest of Shift Happens in picking up bits of carbon fiber bicycle, and cleaning blood off of the road. The rest of GECA arrives in camp 3 hours later than expected, and Shift Happens spends 5 hours doing cleanup… And waiting for Kasiya’s temper to cool enough for him to get out of Wyld form.
(@Elizipeazie)

The Highway Hooligans’ Ishu has issues! More specifically… Jake sneezed and drove straight into the back of the Shift Happens bus, popping the airbags in his face as well as Trevor’s face, and causing the inertia switch to kill the fuel pump. The car seems fine, and the crew is okay, just requiring some extra effort to cut the deflated airbags out of the wheel and dashboard, rip the front bumper off and throw it in the back of the vehicle, and replace the headlights. Oh, and apologize profusely to Jayde, who got jostled off of his feet and onto the floor of the bus in the crash. All told, 3.5 hours lost… And a promise of an interesting day for Jake.
(@Madrias)

“Stop popping the tires!” Team Firulais, yet again, has a flat to fix. Joining them for a tire-swap session are Transporttjäns Eriksson Aktiebolag Eslöv, the Spy Kids, the Troublesome Trio and Theo, Ramjet, and the Hillbilly Rollers.
(@angelustyle, @WoodenPlankGames, @SheikhMansour, @06DPA, @JCurtiss96, @Leone, @Knugcab)

Gremlins! The Rhino Squad is crippled for 5 hours after a mysteriously waterlogged bit of electronic equipment causes some mishaps. After the seat moves full forward under its own power, the power tilt-and-telescope steering wheel starts dancing up and down, in and out, the car alarm and horn start wailing, and the radio decides to blast Chanty’s music at full volume, they’re forced to stop and try to fix the problem.
(@HappyHungryHippo)

Machinas Con Passione hears a rattling sound from… Somewhere. Suddenly, and almost without warning, the whole car literally falls apart around them, like something out of Looney Tunes, becoming a vaguely-car-shaped pile of metal, fiberglass, plastic, and rubber. Like every gamer knows, only the last hit point matters, and this car just showed what happens when it runs out of hit-points. Time to go join the train riders, because this shitbox has just driven its last mile.
(@SurrealCereal - Yes, this is the big one for you that we mentioned in DMs.)

Dalhus is a small town of 17,000 people, and it’s clearly an industrial town that popped up because of the railroad, and stayed relevant because of what they did for the railroad. They’re the western terminus of the cross-mountain line, so all traffic crossing the mountains eventually goes through here. As a result, they have a huge yard for rolling stock and banking equipment to push heavy trains up over the mountains. They also have a huge factory, which has to be huge for a reason: it is a locomotive factory. All of this leads to them having a fairly sizable station for a “small town” that would look very much comfortable in a small city. The town itself clearly makes use of their connections with the railroad, being broken up into cluster communities of a few thousand people each, scattered around the hills, each being serviced by a local branch line leading right into that industrial zone.

Our camp is halfway in between two of those communities, still vaguely close to the yard where the support train is parked. There are no services in camp directly, but a fairly lengthy walk can get you to flushing toilets in the station building.


Spreadsheet is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQriVPEky_B00QiZ6lYrtLVt-u3XWPQW7CvfFNFordo91W4o4LYgWKmW6-SchgIpnTR4wQ6cfSyyQfl/pubhtml

2 Likes

Team Shift Happens & Team Highway Hooligans & GECA - Interstellar

(Thanks to @Elizipeazie for the collaboration.)
(Content Warning - Contains violence.)


Stage 12


Another morning arose at GECA - Interstellar and with today being the fifth consecutive stage planned to be done on their bicycles, an established routine, but the extended distances and recent uphill challenges (refer stage 10) have taken their tolls.

Regardless, the group departed in an orderly fashion as usual, taking care to find their initial groove as they left the village.

Not long after, ““city”” limits were reached, followed rather swiftly by the group spreading thin as per established procedure on descents. Initially, and for quite some time, all was well as the group stayed vaguely connected, though retained a reasonable distance between two given riders for safety.

Eventually, the road got steeper, amplifying the distances between GECA members vastly, as some riders were more daring than others. Amongst the braver ones were Valentin, Bill and Bob, with Norse still close enough behind to have an immediate line of sight most of the time, in turn closely followed by an almost reckless Hugh.

A tight left hander was followed up with a loong and steep straightaway providing remarkable visibility of both the road and the areas below to their right, largely comprising of more or less dense forest, additional roads they would be riding on later as well as a single-track rail line poking in and out of the mountains with great effort, both Bill and Bob line up to the much heavier (and thus faster) Valentin, with the former alongside and the other close by behind Val.

Content Warning: Violence, Blood. Read at discretion.

From beside Valentin, Bill procures a small, but high quality pocket knife. Without any rhyme or reason, to Valentin, at least, the knife unfolds and Bill takes a swing at Valentin, lightly cutting up his left forearm.

Having been focused on the road ahead, Valentin had no way of anticipating this move as he instinctively covers the cut on the left arm with his right hand. The loss in stability causes Valentin to veer towards Bill, allowing him to make a second, substantially more well-aimed attack, managing to reach around his arm to cut up the inside of it near the elbow.

Immediately after, the knife is dropped as Valentin bumps into Bill, a fountain of blood erupting from the arm by that point.
Bill, in turn, pushes Val away from himself with all his might, sending the latter off the road to his right.
Running over a small mound of impromptu-dirt-ramp, Valentin spectacularly takes flight, disappearing into the forest by the roadside.

It was at this moment when Norse realized that - once again - shit has hit the fan, prompting him to become the first GECA member turning his SOS ring, thus alerting Shift Happens, all while still barreling down the hill at speed.
Once that was done, he, as well as Bill and Bob slammed the brakes hard, creating three narrow lines of rubber in the road surface as they came to a stop.

Norse, completely ignoring both Kerman brothers, immediately went to look for Valentin, spotting a mess of a broken-to-bits bicycle first as it - or what was left of it - was very visibly entangled in a tree.
The remainder was nearby on the forest floor.

The sight of both apparently was reason for Bill and Bob to immediately turn their rings, thus disappearing into nothing without a trace.

By this time, other GECA members arrived to Norse’s bike on the roadside, stopping to see Norse making his way down the cliff towards a nearby railway line, where another figure was visible.
Some of them also turned their rings as things were obviously not right, even if the only other true witness was Hugh Jass.

:sweden: “FUCKING HELL NOT AGAIN!!!” he screamed out of full lungs upon arrival to find a still conscious Valentin covered in his own blood.

Valentin was just groaning in pain as Norse started to tend to the most glaring issue by fashioning a rather crude tourniquet out of a shoelace, some fabric (partially his own jersey, some additional strips ripped out of Valentin’s jersey) and a sturdy stick for leverage.


On a winding road, Kivenaal was pushing the bus about as hard as he could, the self-driving AI outright filling the display it had with progressively more concerned emoji and a flood of debug spew as Kiva cut as close to curbs and walls as he could get, making room for what little local traffic there was.

This came to an abrupt stop, however, when everyone got an intense, uneasy feeling.

“Someone turned an SOS ring!” Kivenaal declares, parking the bus at the side of the road with the hazards on and shutting the engine down.

As the doors open, Kiva, Mani, Sariya, Inaelus, and Kasiya all step outside. Kayden shuts the bus doors behind them as Sariya stealth-rifts the group into the area.


The sight that greeted them was chaotic and messy, with three bicycle skid marks, a busted bicycle down in the trees, the scent of blood in the air, and Norse down the cliff next to Valentin.

“Right, everyone, you know your duties,” Inaelus says, taking charge of the situation.

(The following events take place at about the same time.)

Inaelus sends GECA onward to the campsite:

Inaelus gathers up the loose GECA members as best as she can, all too aware of the impending explosion and heavy magic use that was likely to happen soon.

“I need all of you to continue your trip into the camp. We have this situation under control and we will get everyone home safe. The side of a road is not a safe place to be, all of you know this. Mani, go down there, help out Norse and Valentin. Sariya, Kivenaal, Kasiya, cleanup duty.”

Inaelus watches as the crew slowly starts to filter out and ride onward, some occasionally looking back until they’re around a corner and no longer able to see the crash site.

With their navigators occupied elsewhere, GECA relies on the locals to help them get to camp.

Mani goes to help Norse and Valentin:

Mani drops down the hill about as quickly as he can reasonably go, showing surprising grace in this effort, a hint at his stealthy past. He makes it down to Norse and Val.

“I can get the two of you to a hospital on Earth. It’ll take a lot of effort to deliberately rift between here and there, but I think I can manage,” Mani says. He glances up at the departing group, glad to see that his magic use would be witnessed by very few.

Norse tried his absolute best to stop the bleeding and also keep Valentin awake.
While the former is largely successful, he was having a really hard time with the latter.

Valentin’s pained groaning softened into diluted and weak moaning.
:sweden: “Things will be fine. SH will get you outta here and home in no time. Please just stay awake!” Norse spoke as he frantically inspected Valentin for other injuries, chief among with being what was a very-obviously-broken left leg.
Failing to see a means to provide further direct aid, Norse carefully turned Valentin’s SOS ring as well.
Otherwise, it was just hopes and dreams as Norse repeated the phrase “Please stay awake.” in Swedish, complete with tears rolling while huddled over Valentin in hopes of help arriving soon.

Mani slides a bit as he gets closer to where Norse and Val are at, then carefully taps on Norse’s shoulder.

“Inaelus cleared the others out so I can do an open rift. I’m going to have to bring both of you back to Earth, though - Explaining me to the hospital staff would take far too long,” Mani explains.

Norse did not notice Mani making jis way down towards him until the latter was basically looking down at him and Valentin from directly above.
Likewise, he did not understand much of what Mani said, only recognizing “Earth” in the moment.

“Just do it already…” Norse spoke, not even taking his eyes off Val, “:sweden: we’ll be home soon. You’ll be safe.”

Mani concentrates on opening the rift to start with, creating a surprisingly-iridescent blue rift nearby, before using levitation magic to lift up Val and bring him, and Norse, through the rift.


Gothenburg, Sweden

  • The ambulance bay of Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

A shimmer in the air deposits Mani, Norse, and Val near the ambulance bay. Mani keeps Val positioned exactly as he was when he was laying on the ground, taking the time to check possible futures.

“Damn it, I’ve got to stick around… Norse, go get some help. I’ll have to start altering memories of people so they think they’re picking him up off of a mountain road, driving him back here, and then getting him in here. And so they don’t remember me.”

The process of getting back to earth was rather nebulous to both Val and Norse.
The instruction of “go get help” was initially met with a degree of confusion since Norse had to reorient himself, given the sudden change in environment.

Soon after, he hurries off, as Mani’s memory-altering magic does it’s work:
Two paramedics hop off of their ambulance, rush to the back and start working to aid Valentin.

Meanwhile, a heated discussion unfolded bezween the two:
“Did we flush him with any medications yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Do we even know what’s wrong with him!?”
“I don’t… Do you?”
“How the fuck did we get him here without any prepwork whatsoever!?!?”

By that time Norse returned with two more people from the emergency room, a stretcher in tow.
Initially, they did not seem keen on making the trip quickly until they realized that Norse was, in fact, not lying.
As such, they immediately took over, learning that Valentin currently is a blank slate treatment-wise and nothing has been done to him beyond the immediate first aid by Norse.

Mani focuses intently, doing his best to make sure that in all of this chaos, he wouldn’t be remembered. As the hospital staff get Valentin stabilized and up onto a stretcher, he’s able to release his levitation spell, able to focus more on altering memories. He keeps this up until Norse, Val, and the hospital crew were inside, at which point, he slowly fades the magic and then rift-walks back to Holsia.


Accident Site, Holsia


Mani returns from the rift and joins the others in trying to clean up the mess of debris and blood scattered all over the hillside.

Containment and Cleanup:

Sariya groans as GECA heads toward the campsite and Mani disappears with Norse and Valentin. Sure, Inaelus, Kivenaal, and herself were capable of cleaning this up, but she could see Kasiya’s rage building. Sure enough, an explosion of blue wrath-fire and a savage war-howl belted out by Kasiya’s towering Wyld form announces that their job just got harder.

“Inaelus! Stop him from turning the trees into torches! Kiva, with me, we’re trying to get all the bike shrapnel and get that cleaned up!”

“Got it, Sariya!” Kivenaal yells, rushing to pick up some of the shattered frame of Val’s bicycle, while Inaelus did her best to try to settle Kasiya down.

Ten minutes later, Mani returns, and Sariya quickly puts him to work as well. “There’s blood all over the road. Get that cleaned up before…” She winces at the sound of squealing tires and a crash. “Before someone else crashes.”

Mani runs up the hill to see the Hooligans looking dazed and confused, as two of them kissed airbags and the third kissed the back of the driver’s seat. “You three okay?”

“Yeah. Slid on something slick, fucking sneezed, and ended up right in the back of the trailer.”

“I’ll get that cleaned up.”

While Mani was using blood-magic to erase the blood from the road, Inaelus finally got through to Kasiya and calmed him down enough to return to normal, braving the heat and the blinding light he’d thrown off to let him know that everything would be okay. With Kasiya now calm, Kivenaal was able to put out the unintended forest fire, and the cleanup effort was soon complete.

Hooligan Havoc:

“God damn it,” Jake grumbles.

“What?” Cody asks, unbuckling his seatbelt and leaning forward to change the song, then sitting back in his seat.

“I’ve had to sneeze for the last 4 fucking miles, and it just won’t… FUCK!

The Ishu hits a patch of slick road and starts to slide. Jake steers in the direction he wants to go and lets the V6 rip, tires squealing as the front-wheel-drive car-van-truck tries to straighten up and drive away. Jake’s sneeze hits hard, and is immediately followed by two more before everything goes white for Jake and Trevor, and a foul-smelling gray for Cody.

“My fucking nose!” Trevor yells.

“I really could have done without kissing an air-bag…”

“Eww… The back of the seat smells like a gym sock…”


Jayde had been watching the cleanup effort thanks to a spell he’d put on a window when a sudden, violent shunt knocked him off of his feet and sent him sprawling, banging his incredibly-sore right arm on the bus floor.

“Whoever fucking did that can have an interesting fuckin’ day,” Jayde grumbles, getting up with a pained growl. He exits the bus and glares at the Hooligans.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Jayde!” Jake yells. “The road was slick and I sneezed.”

“So you decided to hit the largest stationary object on the planet?”

“I was trying to avoid ending up down there,” Jake says, pointing down the hill toward the forest, “and ran out of luck trying to do it.”

“I am so fucking tempted to give the three of you an interesting week…”

“I said I was sorry,” Jake grumbles.

“You will be,” Jayde mutters darkly, before getting back into the bus.

Trevor grabs his pocket knife and cuts the air-bag so that he doesn’t have a big floppy curtain hanging in his lap. Jake soon does the same, then tries to restart the engine. It cranks, starts up for a second, and stalls. Then it just cranks, but makes no effort to restart.

“Where’s the fuel pump inertia switch?” Jake inquires.

Cody grimaces. “Under the car. Behind the rack of fuel cans.”

Jake sighs, getting out of the Ishu and staggering over to the passenger side, where he takes out each of the three 10 liter fuel jugs and sets them on the tiny sliver of solid road he had to work with. As he’s reaching in to reset the fuel filler, his right foot slips off of the road, causing him to face-plant the cargo box, lose his grip on the fuel-jug rack, and then slide down the hill. He comes to a stop in a bush with a wince. “Fucking OW!

“You okay, Jake?”

“Yeah, Trev, I’m fine. Just… Seriously, what the fuck!?”

Jake slowly climbs back up the hill, swearing to “any god that’s listening” that he was going to make an effort to lose a couple dozen pounds on the way. He resets the fuel pump, puts the cans back away, and then gets back in the car.

“I vote that we sit here a while,” Jake mutters. “I just kissed an air-bag, face-smashed the box, jammed my fingers into the fuel rack, and then got hugged by a thorny bush.”

“No fuckin’ problem,” Cody replies, nursing a bloody nose.


Dalhus Camp, 8 Sun


Kasiya watches as GECA gathers their supplies from the train and heads home, twisting rings and vanishing a few seconds later. The Hooligans were busy setting up a tent, all of them a little shaken up from the car crash earlier. Jayde had his tent set up by Takaraya and headed inside right away to sleep off the pain.

He’d spent a little time interviewing the GECA crew to figure out what happened. Most hadn’t seen it, but Hugh… He’d given enough insight for Kasiya to make a vow to himself. Whatever they had in mind, attacking someone like that, the Kerman brothers had just climbed to the top of his shit-list to deal with once he was back home.

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Team Firulais

Stage 11: Glass Breakin’, Tires Poppin’, Fire’s Burnin’

In Collaboration with @Madrias [Shift Happens]

Morning at Prentare.
Early Morning Coldness

Surprisingly, sleeping in the abandoned subway station was more comfortable than sleeping in a tent on the street… At least for Ángel, that was.

Josué seemed to have a bad night, and so did Ana. Ana had run out of booze too, and, in fact, the entirety of the Team was starting to struggle with supplies.

Josué:“Hopefully the next town is marginally big… So we can buy stuff, that we are running out of.”
Andrés:“Yeah, we running out of food… And probably of spare tires as well.”
Ángel:“Look at our Front Left ! That looks almost entirely made of… Patchwork.”
Josué:“Where did you sleep in, by the way ?”
Ángel:“In the Subway Station.”
Josué:“Wait. There’s a Subway Here ?”
Ángel:“Well, it’s abandoned… So I thought ‘Will this be more comfortable than the car ?’, and it turned out, it kinda was… The only problem… I’m freezing.”
Ana:“Aren’t you from Russia ?”
Ángel:“I know ! I just don’t cope nicely with cold weather, I’m more of a beach boy… For, whatever reason.”

They laughed as they went to take breakfast at a local bakery, and later sat off towards Asda.

Road to Asda.
Tires Poppin’ - The Tire Nightmare Comes Back !

The early bit of the stage was going easy… Until they popped yet another tire… And then another went flat too, meaning they, same as their little break failure on their road to Lauda, ended up in a ditch. Unsame to the last time they were on a ditch though, they did 3 things - One, they took it easy, no tempers today. Two, they pushed the car out all together, and Three, Ángel took the chance to get rid of that cracked window. Meaning this was also a stop for “repairs”.

Glass Breakin’ - Making Room for the Swamp Cooler

Ángel:“So, guys, after you change the tires, I may do a modification to the body.”
Ana:“What is it ?”
Ángel:“Has anyone seen my toolbox ? I need a hammer. Or something which will effectively break glass.”
Ana:“Why ?”
Ángel:“Haven’t you Hurd…? I’m making a… How’s it called, Josué ?”
Josué:“Swamp Cooler.”
Ángel:“That.”
Ana:“But why would we want to cool down on this weather…?”
Ángel:“Yeah, I know, it’s not a brilliant idea now, but, it’ll be great for later, hotter stages. I know you guys don’t really tolerate heat very well.”

Little did he seem to know: in the night they’d have a -quite literal- rather heated moment.

In any case, out went the right rear quarter glass panel, now turned into bits with some Hammer Action, and the bits ending on the ditch they just exited -knowing probably no team would dare to pass there-, and was replaced by a lot of duct tape, which would later have a hole for the tube of the swamp cooler so the cool air would actually enter the cabin, and then later the remaining Duct Tape would be painted by Ángel to… Just let his creative side free.

Other than that, and some more Yumeisotitanian History given by our favorite Yumeisotitanian Humanoid, little seemed to happen between their breakdown, and their arrival to Asda. The most noticeable thing for the teams spotting the Blue and Black Aurora where the fact that 2 tires seemed to be made almost entirely of patches and make-up repairs (meaning, when they finally bang, they will go “BOOM”), and the fact that they had a Swamp Cooler… a feature which was not necessarily wanted in this cold weather, but for the Firulais, it was an achievement. And probably a “first time” on the rally.

Sadly, later in the night, it’d turn out Angel’s Invention wouldn’t last nearly as long as they would’ve wanted.

A lot later…

Late Night at Asda.
Fire Burnin’ - Hopes (and Ángel’s Swamp Cooler) reduced to Ashes

Ana:“Mind if I go to talk to the people at Shift Happens for a moment ?”
Ángel:“Not at all. Take your time, we’ll wait for you here.”
Josué:“I’m going to sleep.”
Andrés:“Same.”
Tómas:“I’m keeping awake.”
Ángel:“Same. I can’t believe what people’s reaction would be if I told them their town is named equal to that British Megamarket Chain…”
Tómas:“Ain’t ASDA a Car Insurance Company ?”
Ángel:“I… Think I need to research further.”

As this rather uninteresting conversation kept on going, Ana went to the Shift Happens camp… not to talk. But to take a bottle of beer from their trailer… Little did Ana know, whoever ought to steal beer from Shift Happens was gonna have a bad day, as both Jayde and Manikihali put curses in them.

And in the case of the Firulais, it was a really bad note to end the day. Apparently, the bottle Ana grabbed was from Mani, as when she drank it, she started to feel really hot… Like if she’d just drank fire.

Ángel:“Oi, Ana. Where did you get that from…?”
Ana:“…”
Tómas:“Are you OK ? You’re very r—”

Suddenly, the whole camp of the Team is awakened by a Bright Ball of Fire coming out of Ana’s Mouth for several seconds… Like if she’d just become a dragon. Ángel and Tómas, who where right in front, bailed to the ground to not get cremated in an instant.

Sadly, the same didn’t happen for the Aurora, which was just behind those two. The Swamp Cooler melted and so did the Tubing. The Roof Caught on Fire. The Rear Left Quarter Panel Glass got burnt really badly, and the whole driver’s side of the car now looked like a burnt toast.

Now, with little water to extinguish the fire, the Firulais, who where a bit separated from the rest of the other teams that day, had to try every single trick they could to extinguish the flames before the damage to their car got any worse… And also to try and keep the show away from the locals.

This later incurred in a rather heated discussion… But no words, attempts of punches and kicks, insults and fights that resulted inside the team that night would fix the just brutal damage their car had taken… Ángel couldn’t even sleep that day, now that his “place” was too hot to be safe.

As for the others… Josué and Andrés where stunned, and Andrés now called Ana “Charmander” in reference to the famous starter Fire Type Pokémon. Tomás wondered how this could’ve happened, and would ask Shift Happens the next day. Ana apologized for almost the entirety of the night, and the ash-y flavor on her mouth wouldn’t fade until the next morning… And Ángel… He just seemed like he’d been traumatized; while his older sister treated him so badly he already had a bit of a trauma because of that, today was another day which was the absolute worst… And, in his attempts to sleep, he’d start to feel indications of another “Mind Reader’s Hell” incoming for the next stage…

… Only daylight would reveal just how vicious had been the damage.

Stage 12 will come soon !
And, as always, Collabs are open !

(Yes, this was a whole week late…)

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Stage 11 - Temper(ature) issues

Teams included: Hillbilly Rollers by @Knugcab, Shift Happens by @Madrias and Firulais by @Angelustyle

“AAAAAAARRGHHHH WHAT A FUCKING CRAP IS THIS!!!”

Thomas angry yell made the locals in Prentare stare at the large gold car. He seems stuck with his forehead on the steering wheel… Jan and Chanty could hear Thomas swearing even down there in the subway station, and ran outside - Chanty was freezing instantly, despite wearing a pullover for the cold night down there.

“What… did you do there?”

“So, I was waking up at night and came back to the car, and the airbag deployed, I have no idea why, and I stuffed it back into the steering wheel and closed it with glue, but… then I fell asleep again, with my head on the wheel… AND YOU CAN SEE THE RESULT, SO DO SOMETHING!”

“What then, Thomas?”

“JAN, JUST GET ME OFF HERE!”

“But…how?”

“You remember how I got the duct tape off Chantys mouth?”

“Thomas, we don´t have a hairdryer here, and its fucking cold, how to warm that glue up then?”

“YOU HAVE STUDIED, JAN, I EXPECT YOU TO BE SMART!”

Actually, Chanty used her braincell to do something smart - no, not crying, that wasn´t neccecary, but screaming for help doing that attracted Shift Happens, and getting Thomas loose was… an easy task for them, and they didn´t even want something in return because the sight of a swearing Thomas stuck with his head on the steering wheel was … enough of a reward for them.

But, the team couldn´t start… Chanty took off her hoodie and sat down on a bench, crying again.

“DAMN, Chanty, what is it?”

“I miss mama again soooooo much…”

“So, you want to catch a serious cold now?”

“Rudolph needs to be protected from the cold…”

“Really, I don´t want to discuss on this basis anymore with you, Chantal. The day already started bad enough.”

„Well, it´s not that I didn´t tell you a few times that the airbag light was on“

„Jan, the damn ignition was off, how is it able to go off then? It´s impossible. I guess another sabotage from these hillbillys. If I wasnt that exhausted from black magic, I would make Köttbullar out of them!“

„WON´T YOU TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT FOOD! I AM HUNGRYYYYYYYY! And I have a hangover…and I am cold… and HUNGRY!“

„Yeah, you are cold because you took off your pullover.“

„RUDOLPH WAS COLD! He needs it more than me to not get a cold.“

„Chantal, trust your father, elks don´t feel cold easily and there is no need to warm your plushie up.“

„RUDOLPH IS SPECIAL! You don´t know anything about him.“

„Now that´s enough. I am not fit, but you, madam, are neither making the impression that you should be driving now. Time for the spare driver then, Jan, you drive.“

Jan did as ordered, Chanty complained about hunger, headache and homesickness, and Thomas took another nap in the backseat, still feeling the side effects of black magic.

„Finally you drive like a man“,

said Chanty, leaning to the left against Jans shoulder, but accidentally touched a few buttons… of which an old expenisve Primus has…. quite a lot, and accidentally jammed the seat heaters at maximum, as the old plastic plates weren´t the strongest anymore… which they would notice soon.

„WHY IS THIS SO WARM? What did you touch, Chanty?“

„WHY ME? WHY NOT YOU?“

„because…. Whenever there is something clumsy to do, you´re in for it…“

„JUST SAY YOU HATE ME AND THAT I AM DUMB! At this point, you can as well openly admit it…“

„Chanty, pleeeeease, not again drama… where are the switches?“

„Must be below my elbo… oh.“

„So, what did you say about that it could as well have been me?“

„I AM ALREADY SILENT! Damn… they are jammed… how did I hit them with so much force without noticing?“

„Because you are used hitting everything everywhere by accident already… ARGH. It´s a cold morning, yes, but the weather is warmer now, I really dont need such a hot ass anymore.“

„Sitting on something warm means I have to…“

„Eat again?“

„NO! I have to pee now!“

“I can´t stop now in the middle of the ro… ah, nevermind, there isnt another car anywhere near us anyway.”

Arriving at the village of Asda, Thomas entertained the others with his cursing when taking apart the complex interior to fix both the glued radio and the stuck seat heatings, while Chanty and Jan complained about pain in a… well, difficult area of their bodies.

„Argh. I can´t sit properly on that hard camping chairs. It´s almost as bad as after that fucking cactus.“

„Chanty, don´t complain to me, YOU have caused the mess.“

„How should I know that these buttons are there, plus, that these seats become so hot like in my exes Volvo 850… in that one, the seat even started to burn“

„CANT YOU STOP MENTIONING YOUR EX? Its bad enough that you still buy weed from him and that he likes your tiktok posts.“

„Well, know how to silence me, I guess?“

„Yeah, I`ll get the duct tape for my own sanity“

„I MEANT BY KISSING, YOU IDIOT!“

Late in the evening, they heard loud screams and saw a …bright shade… in the distance.

„Uh, what was that, a coyote?“

„No, Thomas, that sounded not animalic.“

„DAMN, THAT´S ANGEL!“

„A japanese coyote then, ah.“

„DAD! YOU ARE UNBEARABLE“

The trio rushed to the direction where the light and scream came from, and as it was in some distance away, they took the car and found the Aurora of the Firulais burning – and the team panicking next to it, trying to put out the flames with only sparse amounts of water.

“These flames they painted on the car become more and more realistic.”

“DAD! DON´T JOKE! FOR ONCE, DON´T BE SALTY!”

Thomas stopped the Primus with a keen drift and exited even before the car was still skidding, with a scared Jan grabbing the steering and Chanty laughing about that James Bond move that should look like… an action hero, but actually looked like a bag of potatoes fell off a truck.

„WHAT IS THIS?“

„A.aaa…Ana spits f…fff…fire … aaa…“

„AND THE CAR IS BURNING NOW? Come on, take less drugs, I guess your friend tried to cook again and thats the reason for this inferno.“

„N…no, she literally spits fire…“

Chanty now joined the scene and immedately checked for Ana, who was quite feared by what just happened.

„How… do you spit fire?“

„I DON´T KNOW! It even… wasn´t painful… but this is too much for me…“

Ana refused to cry, as she wants to be tough under all circumstances, but also grabbed Chanty and gently pushed her against her shoulder to lean on and it, closing her eyes for a bit, trying to process what just happened while gratefully taking Chantals empathy. Meanwhile, Jan tried to manage the situation, as Thomas found out that the unchecked fire extinguisher … better should have been checked for function.

„The beer, Thomas, TAKE THE BEER. WE HAVE SOME LEFT!“
„Not we have some left, I HAVE SOME LEFT. DAMN, ANA, YOU DRAGONESS, NEXT STAGE YOU WILL REPLACE IT!! I was really looking foward to drinking it in peace today, but now your car has priority.“

,said Thomas, opening the bottles on the door frame of the Primus and pouring the light Holsian beer onto the Aurora.

„Jan, it´s not enough! DRAIN THE COOLANT into the empty bottles, we can figure out a replacement later, but this is urgent now.“

„Isn´t the coolant alcoholic and flammable?“

„No, Josué, that mixture is thinned that much with water that… No, it´s not.“

„Naaaaah, we call it coolant WATER and not coolant beer, why should it be alcohol? Who would waste beer or wodka for cooling a car?“

„CHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNTY, PLEASE…. focus on being there for Ana, and better…. dont try yourself at science…“

Soon, the fire had been put out, but the Aurora was ready for the junkyard, although that might have been the case even before the start of the rallye, but now definitely. Chantal now had the adrenaline slowly fading, and her urge to cry took over more and more… to fight this, she grabbed one booze bottle out of the trunk of the Primus and decided to drink that what was left in it… hoping that this would make her sleep in peace soon.

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