Altered Tundra

Minutes to Manhattan

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LOCATION Party Floor → Bar → Party Floor Take Two → Some boring af people
INTERACTING WITH — Alexandros, Anna and Friends @Aewin @Grim327 @Melo

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Ava had originally intended to go find her brother at the balcony, but before she could, she got lost in the crowd of people that suddenly swarmed her. Guys had asked her to dance and she kindly told them to fuck off. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the offer. In fact, she was very flattered, but simply put, she wasn’t in the mood to dance. She needed to find her brother just so she could give him a piece of her mind when she noticed him at the balcony. However, by the time she actually reached the balcony, it was obvious that she was too late. He was gone. She only saw some chick gazing up at the stars. She didn’t bother with her and she went back to the party, hoping to find someone of intrigue.

Minutes passed as Ava zipped through one crowd of people to another, just hoping she might run into her brother. Of all the people she ran into, each and every guy that looked to be around her age had, at one point or another, asked her to dance or if they could get her a drink. It was getting exhausting and to be quite frank, she was about to explode. She didn’t really care about saving face at this point. Though, she knew the appearance of Ava Mossos, the good one, might be shattered. If she had even one more guy ask her something other than to do a repetitive activity with her or get her some kind of alcoholic beverage, she was going to lose it.

After some time of wandering around, Ava found herself taking a brief seat at the bar. Her legs were killing her and she needed to get off of them for a while. She turned to the bartender. “I’ll have whatever you’re serving on tap.” Ava stated, letting out an exasperated sigh.

The bartender gave Ava a glass of some kind of beer, to which she started drinking. “You sure you’re old enough.”

Turning her head, Ava nearly dropped her drink on the floor. It was fucking Alex. “You motherfucker, where have you been?” She asked as low as she could, trying to not rip his head off.

“]Exploring the party, of course.” Alexandros shrugged to his sister as he took a sip of his own drink.

“Oh yeah, I never would have caught that. And where did you go exactly?”

“Around.”

“Around?”

“Yes, around.”

He always did this. Alex loved to play his games too much. She knew that he was having fun with it too because he generally had a playful, smug expression plastered all over his face. Not only that, but he purposely repeated what she said just to piss her off.

And it was working.

Ava scowled, kicking Alexandros under the table with the tip of her heel. “Serves you right, jackass.” She heard him grunt lowly and she then would wield a triumphant smirk. Ava sipped her drink happily and set it down, briefly gazing at her brother who would greet her with one of his own. “So, find anyone interesting?”

“Mmm,” Alexandros hummed curiously, “I might’ve; no telling if she’s going to stick, though.”

“Oh come on now, Alex. I know you too well. If you’ve sought her out, she must be of some intrigue to you.” Ava casually stated, not even looking to her brother.

She heard him sigh, though he probably thought she didn’t. “Her name is Audrey Huntsberg.”

Ava turned around to Alexandros rather suddenly. “Huntsberg? Oh, where have I heard that name before.”

“Dr. Arthur Huntsberg, mother’s doctor. The one she went in for that consultation.”

“Right. That guy’s a dick.”

Alexandros simply nodded, then chuckled. “Trust me, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” he stated as he got up.

Ava did find it curious that, of all people, he would consider someone else to be a dick—or something like it—when he was one of the biggest jackasses that she had the displeasure of knowing. “Must be some woman for her to get under your skin like that. I may just have to seek this one out and thank her.” Ava was kidding for the most part.

Alexandros said nothing; he simply scowled lowly. He placed his drink onto the coaster and got up, looking at Ava. “Do try to socialize, dearest sister. I don’t care with whom, but don’t just sit here and drink alone. It’s unfitting of a Mossos, even if it’s you.”

And there it was. Ava had been waiting for the belittling Alexandros to come out. Ava wanted to kick him again, but she decided against it. She knew it wasn’t worth embarrassing the Mossos name over. One of them had to be the adult here. She knew her brother wasn’t going to be.

When Alexandros left, Ava would return to her drink. Though, as she would think about what he said, it irked her how he was probably right. As much as it pained her to admit it to herself, much less him, it was a tad pathetic for her to be sitting at the bar, drinking alone. In that moment, her mind was made up. She would go and seek out some company. It didn’t matter who it was—well maybe just a little bit— she would go and actually socialize with people other than herself.

And, over the course of the next ten minutes, Ava did just that. Going from group to group, just scanning them from afar, she would see if any were worth interacting with. She saw a group of people who looked like some nerds. She definitely could fit into that group, but they looked just a tad pathetic for her. So obviously that was a no. Going about ten or so feet past them, she saw another group. They all looked like they were party animals of some sort. Surely she could strike up some kind of conversation with them, but she didn’t feel like putting on a facade just to get cozy with them. Plus, she definitely didn’t want to get high right now, so again that was no.

Ava sighed as she found this to be hopeless. Maybe she wasn’t the type to socialize. Especially since she was so goddamn picky about who she wanted to talk to. It didn’t help that most of the people she saw were either too fake for her to handle or simply she didn’t get the right vibe from them. Though, as she would half-decide it in her mind to just call it quits, she accidentally bumped into a group of people.

“Geez, knock me over why don’t yah?” Ava groaned, nearly tumbling over some blonde. As she glanced at her and the rest of the group, she noticed that she might’ve made a mistake. The blonde in question appeared to be like one of those people who were too damn happy that it was sickening. She didn’t even speak and already Ava knew she was that kind of person. As for the rest of them, there was an Asian guy, some white dude and a couple of others that looked positively boring.

Put on your happy face, Ava. These people don’t seem as unbearable as the rest of the party do.

Gathering herself, Ava dusted off her dress and looked at the group before going straight to the blonde she nearly fell on. “Yeah so sorry about that. This isn’t necessarily my kind of scene.” Ava stated, giving a half-assed apology, “so, uh, yeah,
I'm Ava."”

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Though there was a brief moment of awkward silence after SAvayna practically ripped into not only Grant and Nadeline, but she also did so to Reia, whom in which seemed to not take too kindly to it. That was obvious when she retorted nastily back at the blonde, claiming she had no right to talk down to her given who she was. After she spoke that harsh truth, Savayna threw her hands up in the air as a sign of defeat and went over to The Thorn until the others were ready.

Meanwhile, the other two parties would also begin to make the final preparations. Jaakuna had joined Lorenzo over by the Valefor just so the latter Ivalician Prince was aware of how to operate it and how much mist output was recommended. Of course, the numbers that Jaakuna gave him seemed to be lost on the Rozarrian prince, much to the exasperation of his daughter and sister. Instead, Jaakuna simply showed him a visual reference of exactly how much mist he normally would put in for a long journey. So that Lorenzo had it etched into his mind, he would show him as many times as Lorenzo didn’t convince him that he understood how imperative it was that he’d use that exact amount of mist. Not less nor more. Jaakuna wanted to make sure Lorenzo understood the risks of even a smidge over the showcased amount of Mist could cause instability to the Valefor’s systems.

And after ten additional minutes of Jaakuna teaching Lorenzo what to do and what not to do, they were all ready to finally hit the old dirt road. Jaakuna and Emiri took their places on the Aegis Warbike, Keiran and the Rozarrian Royal Family were all seated in the Valefor, and the newly-engaged couple of Grant and Savayna were firmly placed on The Thorn.

As the computer AI would monitor their movements, a sound went off that signaled the back door to open, revealing a clear path about ten feet high from the Tchita Uplands. As it would, Jaakuna smirked. “I know we want this to be a safe and pleasant journey, but just so you all know, I’m--I mean we--are going to beat all of y’all to Dalmasca.” Suddenly Jaakuna began revving up the Aegis rather worryingly as he snickered lowly, looking back at Emiri, winking.

“HA! Jaakie my boy, you have much to learn in the ways of--” Lorenzo immediately barked back, only to get slapped twice by both his daughter and his sister.

“We’ll get there when we get there, this isn’t a race,” Reia huffed at him.

Keiran raised his eyebrows at her, though he would pull up a digital menu displaying the status of the Valefor in front of him. “The synchronization is at ninety-six percent. Outputs are steady. We’re free to go whenever,” He told Lorenzo with a dull expression on his face.

“Don’t go encouraging him! Please, we have to be careful! The vehicle hasn’t been tested!” Nadeline told him, but once he had gotten the all clear signal, Lorenzo grinned madly, shifting the vehicle as it would burst forward. “I’M GOING TO KILL YOU JAAKUNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa….” The words were distinctly heard as they flew off.

“I think she’s blaming you for that,” Emiri told Jaakuna, smiling. Grant didn’t bother replying, though once he figured he was set, he would follow Lorenzo’s lead. “Let’s leave them in the dust!”

Letting out a chuckle, followed by a louder, more ecstatic, almost maniac-esque battlecry, Though the Aegis was plenty fast on its own, Jaakuna knew that wouldn’t be enough, not with the Valefor in play. So instead, he would use his own Mist to empower it almost twice its normal output. Burning and surrounded in a thick, red and orange aura, the Aegis would only need a single moment until it took off.

It was like a blur that zipped past the Tchita Uplands, sending whatever monsters that were in the way on a one-way journey to the Gods. Whether it was a malboro or just a flying garuda, they stood no chance against the distorting Aegis that made quick work of the distance of the Tchita Uplands and did the same with the Phon Coast.

Good thing for Jaakuna and Emiri, the Aegis had a strong GPS system that was already locked on the coordinates to Rabanastre. Though the speed that they were going was faster than intended and Jaakuna had heard Emiri’s initial--and continued--screams as sharp turns were taken and monsters were vanquished. Though it was all happening so fast and too quick for Jaakuna to even adjust himself to the speed, he could have sworn he heard Emiri to tell him to slow down. However, before he would even register, they had already made it past the Salikawood. As they entered it, Jaakuna saw The Thorn. Though, Jaakuna wouldn’t see it for long as, when they passed it, he gave Grant and Savayna a very sportsmanlike middle finger and he stuck out his tongue at them. Then, just as quickly as he had done that, he zipped past them, forcing them to crash into one of the many trees in the wood.

Brisking past that rather quickly, Jaakuna and Emiri came to the Mosphoran Highwaste. For the most part, he expected it to be busy. Jaakuna made swift turns to evade any strong monster attacks. Though, as he would notice the sight of the Valefor, he heard screams coming from it. And he knew why. Lorenzo had forgotten what Jaakuna had told him. He has forgotten that any output above the absolute recommended would cause it to go faster than preferred. The screams from Nadeline and Reia were an obvious hint at that. Still, Jaakuna wasn’t about to let him beat him.

“I know Nadeline is going to hate me for what I’m about to do, but just watch this,” Jaakuna snickered back at Emiri as he revved up the Aegis to full speed. Up until before this moment, he was going about half the max speed, but as he shifted it into turbo speeds, Jaakuna zipped through the vast ranges of the highwaste as the green and red bike would mark itself right next to the Valefor as he exchanged looks with all of those in the Valefor. “Forgive me,” Jaakuna stated, offering an apologetic smile before returning to his usual mischievous smirk.

“The Valefor has overclocked its capacity based on your Mist,” He stated, unfazed by the speed, though he did show some slight concern as he noticed the look on Lorenzo’s face. “You want us to go faster, but I’m almost certain that you’re going to end up passing out at this rate.”

“Ask not the sparrow how the eagle soars!” was Lorenzo’s only response, clearly having gone crazy from power. Or maybe he was just that stupid.

“WE DON’T NEED TO GET THERE SO FAST!” Nadeline screamed in terror, her body practically forced back into its seat.

“That’s loser talk!” Emiri laughed, though she held onto Jaakuna tightly. “We’ll see you in Rabanastre!”

Jaakuna knew his machine. He knew how it operated. He knew exactly what he needed to do to render it useless for a brief moment. He knew how much output of mist he would need to do that without making those within it be in any mortal danger. This was an easy feat and someone who was in control of his own mist, Jaakuna could easily do it. Though, the trick here was not what he knew to do but rather how it would affect his friends’ opinion of him. He did ponder on it but in the current position that he was in, there was no time to think, only act.

As easy as breathing came to him, Jaakuna maneuvered a sharp turn. In that same moment, he sent a wave of his mist towards the Valefor that would, for a few, long moments, shut it completely down. Of course, he had programmed it into the Valefor’s mainframe to reactivate after thirty seconds of being forcefully shut down. However, that didn’t change the fact that Jaakuna willed his Mist to cause the Valefor to shake and rumble as it would find itself in a ditch. Meanwhile, Jaakuna, laughing as excitedly as he possibly could, pushed through the Highwaste and had made it to the Estersand.

As Rabanastre was on the horizon, Jaakuna had not only ensured his victory as he and Emiri left their competition in the dust, but in the process, he proved once again that Jaakuna Hinoko, proud pilot of the Ifrit and Archadian Crown Prince, was the best there is, the best that was, and the best that ever will be. He would further prove that as he came to a stop at the gates of Rabanastre as he and Emiri simply waited for the others to catch up.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Jaakuna couldn’t believe how easily frightened the Rozarrians were. He understood why Nadeline and grant were cautious about entering his untested prototype, but the surprise was seeing that Reia was just as--if not more--wary of riding in the Valefor. Despite how much faith Jaakuna obviously placed in Lorenzo, there was still a clear hint of doubt from all of those who had shared their opinions about Jaakuna’s crimson car.

As Jaakuna would sigh, he seemed to prepare himself to speak. However, before he would get the chance, Savayna stepped in front of him. “A bunch of pussies, the lot of you.” They would all hear her crassly state. “Nadeline and Grant I can understand. Frankly, you two are known for your constant complaining. But Reia? Where’s your sense of adventure? You’re Lorenzo’s sister. Surely you share some rebellious streak that he has copious amounts of.” Savayna stated as she approached Reia, giving her a sort of smirk, “I mean, Grant did say you had a lot of men leaving your room. If that isn’t rebellious to what an Empress should act, then I don’t know what is.”

And after she was done, she looked around the room, then to Jaakuna, chuckling to herself. “Oh, my apologies, ex-husband. You were going to say something.” She gestured towards him, slightly bowing her head, “please go right ahead.”

Jaakuna laughed but shook his head slightly. Obviously, she had said what needed to be said. The only thing that was left to be decided was what Reia would have to say to all of that.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

As everyone had went to their various shops to stock up for the voyage ahead of them, Jaakuna would personally escort the Rozarrians to his personal garage. First they would hail an Aircab to the destroyed Emperor’s Tower. Jaakuna didn’t need to go inside the tower itself. There was a secret tunnel along the east entrance to the tower. It had a special mechanism on the left of the iron door that responded to Jaakuna’s specific Mist. It was engineered by Jaakuna in his teens. This garage, much like for Lorenzo, no doubt, was Jaakuna’s escape to tinker and play with whatever was on his mind at whenever time he felt like building something.

He placed his palm on the panel and it shined various colors before a beeping sound would confirm Jaakuna’s Mist signature and it would open up the entrance, but differently how it normally would open. Instead of going up how it usually did, the door would split into three parts like a triangle and the ground beneath the four of them would lower about five feet. From there, twenty steps separated them from an underground tunnel that led straight to Jaakuna’s garage. The tunnel itself had steel tubes that were embedded with magicite of various colors that illuminated the path in brilliant colors. Copper coils and other various wiring gave way to allow electrical energy to surge through the tunnel and power the garage mainframe.

Eventually after the group had walked through the tunnel, they would reach the end to a silver, metallic door with blue lights. Upon Jaakuna surrounding his left hand in his mist and placing it against the center of the door, must like the tower door, it split into three parts and opened, allowing them to enter Jaakuna’s garage. It was much like Lorenzo’s back in Stigma, instead of being connected to the water, its main feature was how it had a transparent roof, showing exactly how far away from Archadia it really was. The view of the sky placed it far east but still very much in the marshy lands of the Tchita Uplands.

“Well, here it is,” Jaakuna let them gaze upon the perfection that was his secret getaway.

Inside his garage, there were a few unfinished projects that Jaakuna has yet to finish. He had a more compact version of the Ifrit that was in one hangar. There were a few aircars and motorbikes that had been taken apart with several of their interior being ripped out and hanging freely. Then, as they would turn, they saw a few giant monitors that were hooked to something resembling a supercomputer. Just one of the perfect examples of the Archadian technology prowess. Jaakuna walked over to the computer, pressing a button near the top of the clunky keyboard. A sudden loud noise of hangar doors opening was heard. It was hard not to hear it, for it could deafen anyone who was directly next to it. Though, as the doors would open and lower a platform, there rested a beautiful ”contraption” as Savayna put it. Slim and red like a candied apple, the Valefor was out for the viewing public.

“And that is what you’ll be driving, Lorenzo,” Jaakuna couldn’t help but let out a jealous chuckle, “this is my greatest achievement. This is the only one to ever exist. Lorenzo could gawk if he wished. Meanwhile, Jaakuna would step up to the platform and let the engine purr. “This here is a magicite-powered Aircar that can achieve speeds nearly as fast as the Ifrit can when it's not warping. Equipped with a mist-activated throttle, it reacts to the mist of whom is helming it. The higher the mist output, the faster it can go. In case of battle, it’s also equipped with various cannons and lasers. Oh and it sits up to four people.” Jaakuna informed Lorenzo, gazing at the blonde Prince with a serious look. “I must admit, not even I have tested it out completely. To be frank, I’m a bit afraid to.” Jaakuna murmured that last part. “I’m sure it’ll be quite the experience for you.”

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

431

Shuffle your music player and post the first 10 songs

Olympus Coliseum — Yoko Shimomura — Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack, Disc I
Numb/Encore — Linkin Park/Jay-Z — Numb/Encore: MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Collision Course
Don’t Lose Hope — The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus — Am I The Enemy?
Sorry Not Sorry — Gemini Syndrome — Memento Mori
You’re Not My Kind — Five Finger Death Punch — God Your Six(Deluxe Edition)
The Judas Kiss — Metallica — Death Magnetic
Rock n’ Roll All Nite - Kiss Cover — The Summer Set — Punk Goes...Classic Rock
Birth of the Wicked - live in Athens — Iced Earth — Alive in Athens
I Get to Do It With You — Garfunkel and Oates — Secretions
Kissing in Cars — Pierce the Veil — Selfish Machines

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

It's just that I do find it kinda troublesome if I have to do that for a really big post. If I'm going to color-code stuff, I will do that thoroughly -- not just the main character's dialogue and thoughts, but also the NPCs (usually using silver so they don't stand out too much), and even coding/designing entire layout of the post. I'm not much of an aesthetic trash like Tundra, but if I'm doing it I am a hopeless perfectionist who doesn't like half-assed work.
_{It's merely a whining from me, that's all.}

@tsukune

Oh yes, I completely agree. God, you have no idea how many times I have dreaded doing color formatting when I have a 3k-worded post that is mostly dialogue. It's not only tedious as all fuck, but some posts I almost think it's not worth it. Almost. But, at the end of the day, as I said in my previous post, I am aesthetic trash by trade. As such, I endure the annoyance I often feel. It does end up being worth all of the stress from coding it once I see the finished product.

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

As someone who loves to dress up his posts, I have no problem with using colors in my posts. However, I do refrain from using colors for my non-dialogue text. The only exception to this would be using either gray or silver. I'm probably in the minority here, but I find colors gives posts a bit more life. Though, it depends on what RP I'm in. If other people are using colors, then I will approach it like I always have, but if I see no one adding color to their character's dialogue, then I will make that one special exception since I don't want to make my posts stand out(not in that way, at least).

But hey! I'm aesthetic trash, so what do I know?

Iquenos: In Nomine Domini

@Briza Clarification given via Discord. o7

Iquenos: In Nomine Domini

@Briza Shall I clarify?