WEEK 4

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WEEK 4

READY, STEADY, GO-KARTS!

After a harrowing week of forced honesty and a surprise attack from the God of Conflict, it seems the Goddess’ “gift” has finally faded - and just in time! Today marks the date of the highly anticipated Go-Kart Race, featuring a whopping twelve teams from the Goddess’ picks and a number of teams comprised of locals. Fortunately the weather is holding up well for the event, with clear skies and a radiant sun beating down on all contestants as they wait to begin, the heat reflecting off the asphalt. Hopefully everyone thought to use sunscreen!

The local arcade has decked out the go-kart track in flags representing the different teams, and some local businesses have set up both a spectator stand area near the finish line, as well as kiosks selling snacks and drinks for the spectators and anyone who happens to wander by! There are also some midway fair game booths and portable game machines if you're not really here for the go-karts and just here for a fun afternoon out. The best part is that everyone who enters the event zone gets three free tokens courtesy of the arcade, so you've got nothing to lose~ Unless you do happen to lose, which means that you'll probably have to purchase more tokens from the distracted teenagers volunteering manning the admin booth.

ALL'S WELL THAT-- HUH?

Eventually, all the preamble is completed, and it’s time for the race! A light counts down from red to yellow to green, and the racers are off!

While the start of the race is a jumble, a few in particular begin to pull ahead of the pack: Spade of the Sea and Kururu and Schneider in particular! Tragically, Team Bloody Angels just can’t seem to get the speed they want and seem to get stalled by various traps, falling further and further behind…

In the middle of the bunch, Atem and Sunrise manage to maintain their speed, while THE CUTIE PATOOTIES, Fire’n Ice, and Aaron and Morgan all struggle to surpass each other - leaving Beautiful, Bright Knights of Lovely Radiance, and Exquisite Midnight Shimmering unfortunately trapped behind the three and unable to pass at all. Towards the back of the group, Badass Ladies compete directly with TEAM ROADKILL for their place, while Frieren and Arven have a leisurely drive by comparison.

The first and second laps go without incident. But on the third…

Something about the local teams changes. Instead of the regular frustration of losing, some of them seem to fall into, well, road rage.

Schneider and Kururu, nearly caught up to Hiiro and Jordi, find their hopes dashed as a woman in a blue bandana bumps them from behind - the impact enough to cut their engine for a moment too long, allowing Hiiro and Jordi to pass the finish line in first place without any trouble.

The middle of the pack gets the worst of it. Jesse and Mafuyu find themselves hounded by a woman in aviators who manages to ram into their Go-Kart hard enough to dent the guard, putting pressure on the wheel - while they cross at the same time as others, they are unable to steer the Go-Kart due to the damages, and find themselves ramming into guardrail. While Mafuyu is miraculously without injury, Jesse takes the brunt of the force and will be feeling that whiplash the next day.

Aaron and Morgan get a brick - a literal brick - chucked at them, and while they manage to avoid getting hit themselves, they have to do a violent swerve to do so. That’ll also be a bit of whiplash for them, too. Badass Ladies get sideswiped by one of the locals and their kart ends up grinding against one of the guardrails. Eek.

The real destruction, however, hits the back end of the group - a man in yellow sneakers manages to bash hard into Eli and Kirumi, pushing them off course. The impact causes them to bump into Aerith and Maika along the way, who lose control of the steering wheel and knock Fray and Argenti into the wall. Fray sustains injuries as he’s dragged against the wall for a moment until Argenti is able to right their path again, pulling them back into the middle of the course. Eli and Kirumi don’t get off so easily, either - the bump against Aerith and Maika isn’t enough to stop their momentum, and Eli cracks his right shoulder against a barrier as Kirumi hits the brakes to prevent further injury. Fray, Argenti, Eli, and Kirumi will be feeling whiplash the next day.

Braphine’s chosen aren’t the only victims, either - a woman with red combat boots and a man in a green jacket each crash into local competitors, and the result is a six-kart pileup.

Frieren and Arven and Team Bloody Angels witness all of this from the back of the race, though neither team can do much except to continue on to the finish line.

What should have been a celebration at the end instead turns into panic as medics are called onto the scene and emergency personnel are summoned to the track. While many of the people in the stands seem roiling with discontent and beginning to argue and fight over the cause of all these injuries, a few of the locals hurry down to the course to help. Schneider, Aaron, Argenti, Aerith, Eli, and Kirumi will find themselves aided by familiar faces - the boutique staff recognized them and are here to lend them and their partners a hand in getting treated for their injuries.

As the racetrack descends into chaos, it soon becomes difficult to keep track of everyone. However, Hiiro, Schneider, Sally, Morgan, Argenti, Aerith, Frieren, and Celeste all notice a figure in a strangely ancient hood standing among the stands, a fierce grin on their face - before the figure turns and disappears into the crowd.

Mina - having come to spectate and cheer on everyone from the stands - gets a rather panicked look on her face as she watches it all unfold. She quickly takes out her phone and begins typing frantically at it, before hitting “send.”

All at once, all of Braphine’s chosen will hear their phones begin to beep.

CALL FOR HELP.

I've added emergency commissions to the app - please take them on if you are able to/need to!

We can get through this if we all work together. So, please... look out for each other out there, okay?

COMMISSIONS

HELPING HAND

Please help the injured! Even if it's as small as first-aid or comforting a scared child who's gotten lost in the aftermath of the go-kart crash, any little bit of help would be appreciated by the overwhelmed medical staff at the scene! Unless you’re already injured, in which case, please allow yourself to be tended to!

(OOC note: For clarity, this commission reward applies both to characters who are helping the injured and those who are injured in the thread!)

HOLY HEALING

The hospital is going to need more supplies. For those who are strong enough, please seek out Archangel Shadows in the Nekyia. They should drop blessed feathers - these feathers then can be taken to Braphine’s Temple, and the priest or priestess there should be able to turn them into medicine for the injured.

RACETRACK REPAIRS

In the aftermath of the go-kart pileup and everything associated with it, it's time for people who are good with their hands to roll up their sleeves and help the locals with repairs - clear the debris off the track and make sure the way is clear for the emergency vehicles and construction crews who need to access the site!

OOC

READ ME!!!!

• Welcome to your Week 4 event log! While this log covers the go-kart race and its immediate aftermath, please feel free to use this log to thread out anything else happening during the week after and we will see you next week for the Week 5 event!
  
• Note to all go-kart participants that there has been some shuffling in the team compositions due to player drops as well as Everything That Happened on Friday. Regardless, you can claim event participation gacha rewards if you signed up and have one thread of at least 10 comments with a go-kart related prompt on this post.
  
• Archangel stats and information have been added to the bestiary!
  
• AC is due end of the month! Make sure you get that in~
  

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Comments

[bloodandstars]

[ What's she grinning for? Maika tilts her head a little as she tries to decide if she gave away something she didn't intend. ]

I thought you'd say that it's more of the same. Or...

[ Nevermind. She doesn't know Aerith well enough to guess at things like that, obviously. To cover the lapse she turns on her head to survey the area. ]

...Well, I'll call this those vandal bastards making things easier.

[ Plenty of chaos. As for applying Aerith's advice here? That's trickier. ]

[gardenful]

[ That makes her laugh. ]

Hmmm, those vandals sure make me feel like I'm back home, always getting caught up in something that causes a stir.

[bloodandstars]

I'll nail a thank you note to their faces when I catch up with them.

[ Joke? Probably? Her shoulders relax a tiny bit at the laugh, though. ]

...I didn't expect the locals to come help. Shouldn't they be blaming us for this?

[gardenful]

[ You know what... she'll take that one as a joke! ]

Maybe, but maybe they like some of us enough to come help?

[ She smiles at Maika, giving her a bit of a shrug. ]

I did do a few photoshoots, and I bet I'm not the only one. If we bring in good business, I bet that's a positive point for us.

[bloodandstars]

Maybe so. Even the arcade might still make a profit out of this if they're clever about it.

[ At least that's a motive she can understand. She glances around at the mess to recalibrate and shrugs. ]

So what do you normally do back home when this happens? Skip town?

[ That'd usually be Maika's next step but... ]

[gardenful]

[ She laughs, giving Maika a half-shrug. ]

Actually... you're not far off. We kinda do. You know, when you're on wanted posters and all that, you don't wanna attract too much attention.

[ And yet they always do anyway... and it seems like that stays true here too. ]

Thinking about getting away from all this mess?

[bloodandstars]

And you're great at that. Right? Just like here.

[ Not like any of this was Aerith, specifically, attracting attention. She's just saying. It doesn't seem like lying low is her specialty any more than it's Maika's.

Maika casts another look around. Habit says "yes." It's just... ]

...In a minute. You should, before those idiots come back to start something else while everyone's busy. I've got a few things to look into.

[ Where by "things" she means "injured people" and taking care of the mess she feels partially responsible for. But it sounds more menacing like that. ]

[gardenful]

[ It sure isn't, which is why she doesn't protest at all. If only Maika knew about the chaos her friends cause everywhere they go... maybe she'll tell her, someday. ]

You know, saying it that way really doesn't convince me. Maybe I should stick around too.

[ If Aerith is good at attracting attention, she's also good at being incredibly stubborn. ]

[bloodandstars]

You've got a bump on the back of your head the size of an egg, [ okay not true, and it wasn't injury-squishy, but! Maika will ignore that: ] but I can't stop you. Suit yourself.

[ She says. Although she gives Aerith another look like she's considering stopping her after all. ]

[gardenful]

[ That makes her laugh. Oh, right. Maika had been messing around with her hair, hadn't she? ]

Oh, that thing. Wanna see it?

[bloodandstars]

[ Maika leans forward intently, most definitely an affirmative. ]

Got a weapon hidden in there?

[gardenful]

[ She undoes her bow, pulling it loose by tugging on one end. Her hair is still tied underneath, which is unusual for her, but she only did it because she knew that it might fall loose during the race. ]

Well, I don't know about that.

[ Because what she pulls out from her bow is a clear orb. It's entirely translucent, fitting neatly in her palm as she holds it out to Maika. ]

I don't really know what this does. I just know it was a gift from my mother.

[bloodandstars]

[ A memento? Maika hesitates uncharacteristically for just a moment before she reaches out to pick it up. People don't trust her with fragile things, and for good reason. It even makes her a little nervous. ]

...Where I'm from, gems like this show a lineage. It'd be like proof of your connection to her.

[ They also usually have magic, but Maika's no mage. She turns the little orb carefully in her palm as she studies it. ]

Maybe it's a luck charm, even without powers.

[gardenful]

[ Thankfully, it feels pretty firm in Maika's palm, almost like it wouldn't break even if it fell out of Aerith's hair and onto a huge platform and into a lake— ]

It kinda feels like one.

[ And it's why she has it on her always, even now. ]

But you know... it does feel like proof of my connection to her. Of who we are.

[bloodandstars]

[ STILL TOO SOON, THANKS AMB!!!

Maika turns it carefully over and nods, holding out her hand to offer it back. Sturdy or not, she doesn't trust herself with these things. ]

Is that why you always wear it?

[ A guess, but she's pretty confident in it. ]

[gardenful]

[ HEH ]

Yeah, mostly.

[ She takes it back, holding it in her palms, a look of contemplation crossing her face. ]

I also keep it because… I’m not sure what it does. [ She looks back up at Maika, unsure smile on her lips. ] This wasn’t always clear, but one day it suddenly changed. Maybe if I keep it on me, I’ll figure out why.

[bloodandstars]

[ So it's not powerless after all? Maika tilts her head as she gives the thing a searching glance. ]

...For relics from the Courts, they'd be activated with blood. Blood to wake the bloodline magic. Did you do anything to it?

[gardenful]

That’s the thing.

[ She frowns, holding it up with her fingers and looking through its clear surface. ]

I might’ve, but I couldn’t tell you how I used it. There are some… things missing from my memories. Things that I used to know aren’t there, but I sure couldn’t tell you what those things were in the first place.

[bloodandstars]

[ Oh. That startles another glance out of Maika, a flicker of uncertainty accompanied with a little frown. ]

...Then it might still come back to you. Sometimes there are things the memory doesn't want to handle. And sometimes, other things just crowd them out.

[gardenful]

I'm hoping so. I know they were important.

[ Even if she can't remember their contents, their missing weight is noticeable. ]

But for now, I'll do what I can without 'em. No reason not to keep on moving forward, right?

[bloodandstars]

They're all important.

[ Unfortunately, to her way of thinking. She looks at the clear stone again and the light reflecting through it. ]

But that's right. Only a cat can lie around and wait for the prey to be delivered into its mouth. The rest of us have to go out and hunt.

[ Seize your future and your memories by the throat and then shake it fiercely! Or something like that. ]

[gardenful]

[ Maika is certainly right about that one—most don't have the luxury to wait for their lives to happen to them. They have to go out and do what needs to be done.

It reminds her a bit of chasing down the black-robed figures back home in a hunt of their own for any kind of answers at all. Aerith looks up at the sky, wondering if her friends are still looking at the sky of Cosmo Canyon or if they've moved on. ]

You called me a cat, before. Does that mean you'll go out and hunt for me instead?

[ She's teasing, asking only because the only other thing she can do is agree with that sentiment. ]

[bloodandstars]

...Too dangerous. Feed a cat once, and you've got a freeloader for life.

[ A crooked little smile teases at the corner of her mouth for a brief moment as she watches Aerith watching the sky. She wonders what she sees there, what her horizon looks like. ]

And you're too honest to be a cat.

[ Aerith will just have to settle for condor or chocobo, probably. Something less suspect. ]

[gardenful]

Then if you think I'm not a cat, you will hunt for me.

[ She turns, fixing Maika with a grin. ]

At least, that's what I got from what you said.

[bloodandstars]

You hear what you want to hear all the time. What if I think it's funnier to watch you hunt for yourself?

[ Geh, that grin. Maika tries valiantly not to slip up enough to smile back. ]