gonna_shoot_it | 1st Quarter Alert [Action/Video]

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1st Quarter Alert [Action/Video]

[When Calhoun awakes, she finds herself facedown on a table in what must be Tapper's. The wood is slightly sticky under her cheek and smells of root beer, although when she moves a hand around stiffly, there's no mug anywhere to go with it. Which is strange.

What's also strange is that she's in Tapper's when she's supposed to be leaving Sugar Rush. That was the last thing that happened, right? Wreck-It had finally gotten his butt moving and they were going back to where they belonged before...

Stiffly, Calhoun sits up and looks around. And her eyes narrow. This isn't Tapper's. Wherever this is, it isn't the familiar watering hole filled with other arcade citizens. There isn't a single familiar face anywhere. And her gun is nowhere to be found.

For that matter, her armor isn't anywhere to be found. This is a plain white dress. What in the seven levels is this dress.

Calhoun is not amused. With a low growl, she gets to her feet - hits her head on the low-hanging light over the table - and takes another glaring look around the bar. Definitely not in Sugar Rush anymore. This isn't saccharine pink enough. There is, however, a thick journal with her name on it. She knows better than to leave a key item like that behind. After flipping through it quickly and deciding it's infinitely TL;DR, she takes the impatient route and just pokes at the transmission options a few times before she finds the video function.]

Anybody care to share what the flying fairydust is going on around here? Short version. I don't have the time to go through this whole cheat guide here.

[Aaand end transmission.

Alright. Now. First things first. She has to find her scanner, then her gun, then her armor. Then she can figure out what happened.

And somebody is going to get smacked for this.

Calhoun can be spotted slowly making her way through the main part of the village, looking almost like a lioness on the hunt at first as she tries to sniff out any kind of threat. Once she's made her stops into all the stores and found what she's looking for, she'll be a little more at ease, but no less irritated-looking. She's still got this place to scope out and figure out.]

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[Sure, Loki can do short versions.]

Aye! Pay attention as I will enlighten you in the most short way possible.

[He takes a deeeeeep breath.]

This is the land of Luceti and you are one of the many test subjects of these scientists called the Malnosso.

Just like everyone here, you see? Such a tragic fate...

[Loki shakes his head.]

Those wings are not meant for flying.

[Bingo, there's the short version she's looking for. The kid talks a bit funny, but hey, maybe that's just the theme of the game.]

Right. So what's the objective? [We're all test subjects aaaand... then what? How do you get to the boss? There has to be some kind of point to this game.

Also, he's just created another burning question.] And what are the wings for?

[Guess who has two thumbs and spends most of the day oblivious of the sarge's presence? This guy, that's who.

The same lummox who is all to easy to sneak up on as he walks through the square. In fact, Calhoun may be stalking him just in time to witness him trying to sneak a scratch onto his posterior.]

[Some part of her is genuinely relieved to see Ralph walking along here. Really. This place has been nothing but strange from the get-go and his is a familiar face. Or back. Whatever, he's not exactly a shape you see too often from anyone but Ralph.

That said, the rest of her is just irritated that he's strolling along like nothing is wrong. She considers catching up to him, but she opts instead to fold her arms and scowl at him.]

I'd say hello, Wreck-It, but I'd hate to interrupt this important scratching business of yours.

[The voice instantly makes him flinch. And a part of him feels wistful. After all this time... he's kind of come to miss it.

He stops mid-scratch and slowly turns to face her.]

Sarge? Is that... you?

[In spite of any better judgment, amusement flickers into her eyes at that. But that's it. No smile. Not yet, at least. Important business first.]

No, it's Princess Toadstool. [Eyeroll.] Of course it's me. Where's everyone else?

[Not wasting time, this one. If she's here, and he is too, that means Felix should be around somewhere. They'd all been together before this. Anyone else would just be icing on the cake.]

[Calhoun's a familiar face alright. A horrifying, commanding familiar face, but a familiar face all the same. He feels all the smaller in her presence as he panics to answer her question.]

Oh! Well... Uh! The kid's... [He pauses for a moment and counts on his fingers, as if this were a question that required math to solve.] somewhere. And... everyone? Oh, Felix! Is he with you?

[Some odd joy slips into Ralph's voice. He hasn't really realized how much he misses the little guy.]

[Ralph how does calculating where the kid is require ticking numbers off on your fingers? Calhoun raises one eyebrow slightly as he goes through that process, but shakes it off with a frown when he asks about Felix.]

I wouldn't be asking if he was, would I, genius? [No, there is nothing to worry about here. The guy is a hero and will be perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about.] You really haven't seen him around anywhere? You're not joking.

[Yeah, she knows he isn't joking. That oddly cheerful tone was a giveaway. But she has to ask all the same while she tries to get her thoughts in a straight line.]

[When in doubt, go to the bakery was Vanellope's new thing. Rapunzel hung out there a lot, plus the cupcakes they had were always to die for. Figuratively, of course. Anyway, she's decided to take a few from the bakery to take back to the apartment and her route takes her right across the plaza. She's tiny enough that people don't really give her a second look, so she can peer around at everyone without getting noticed... And woah wait that's a familiar, ridiculously tall bombshell blonde!

She races on over, careful not to drop her goodies.]

Sarge!

N-no m'am. I'm guessing, if he didn't come with you... he's still back at the arcade. [He doesn't know why that sounds so disappointing to him.] I don't know if you noticed, but we're kinda in a whole different game, now.

[Now that she's had a heads-up from Ralph that Vanellope was somewhere, Calhoun isn't exactly surprised to see the girl running over. Not surprised, but definitely glad to see a familiar face all the same. Especially one who is apparently functioning just fine outside of her game. Everything really did work out fine.

Calhoun gives Vanellope a lopsided grin in greeting.]

Well, if it isn't the President.

[Her frown twitches a little lower at that. "Back at the arcade"?]

I noticed. But as far as I know, I've never seen a game quite like this one before. [How can they be away from the arcade and yet still in another game? She pins Ralph with a suspicious stare.] What game is this?

[Well, that's sure to make her grin even wider.]

Yup, that would be me! Ooh, it's so cool to see ya here! Maybe now the Stinkbrain'll believe me when I tell him I'm the president!

[Okay she missed something, didn't she.]

What, did he hit his head on something harder than usual and forget?

Kind of hard to explain, Sarge. I mean... this game is really different than any other we've been in before. I mean, really different. Like its magic or something. It's called Luceti and it's... kinda like one of those life simulator games? But we're also trapped here by scientists, and no one is self-aware. They all say they've been taken from their own worlds, and apparently there's war minigames? Plus we've got wings as our life meters.

[She shakes her head.]

It's worse than that! He doesn't even remember savin' everyone! Last thing he remembers is falling into Diet Cola Mountain. [Scowling because it was a lame thing.]

[A person in armor walks around the village when she notices an unknown presence.

Her helmet perks towards Calhoun... and looks up. And up.

.......

SPARTAN-023 realizes how her shortest friends feel around her.]

[And while she is making her way through the doors, she may come across a shelf with a winged octopus sitting on it. He's got a purple cashmere hat covering the top of him and several of his tentacles are wrapped in reinforced leather.

He's attempting to open a packet of fish.]

A sim game with life meters? [Well, there are weirder games out there, right? She guesses that makes sense.] So they change color when you're low on health? Or blink?

[Calhoun quirks an eyebrow at that. Diet Cola Mountain was definitely a ways back. Not far, no, but a ways back all the same.]

Like he's from the last checkpoint or something? How did that happen?

[Calhoun can feel that she's being looked at and gives a small, thoughtful frown before glancing down. Everyone is shorter than her, so this is a familiar thing.

Also familiar is that armor. She knows she's seen it somewhere before. Not in Hero's Duty, no, but it's still familiar.

But that can wait.]

Something wrong, soldier?

[Of all things to weird her out, it's not the fact that there's an octopus, or even a winged octopus with reinforced tentacles. It's the hat.

And so she's giving a blank stare at that hat.]

...Huh.

[SPARTAN-023 returns her mind to the task. She was human military, and more conscious of the situation. This makes things easier.]

New here, ma'am? ... I think you'd use more than a dress in winter.

[She knows it.]

I don't really know first-hand. But from what I hear, it's like these wings're all set to insane mode or something! Really easy to hurt them, and if you take em off? It's game over. The respawn process sounds like a real pain, too.

[He slips into a casual tone. It's refreshing to finally be able to talk with someone who knows what he's talking about.]

Welcome to Luceti, don't touch the wings on your back, it'll hurt.

Everything's free, relax, have a nice day, and wait until the shifts or drafts happen.

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