rubyrubyruby

Wynter sees nothing of what is ahead. Sees nothing of what is behind either as she braces against the seat riding backwards for the impact of the snail wheel hitting the ground after a launch. She didn't even see her arrow hit the drake, too busy getting back aboard the vechile to brace.
When they land she lets out a yelp as joints pop and muscles stress with the hit. Nothing dammaging but she's sure to be sore tomorrow. She calls to Lhasa. "I'm good!"

RPG: Merrisol challenges a difficulty of 8. Merrisol chooses Force and the gifts PHY-ST and STY-SW. Merrisol succeeds.

Merri keeps her eyes on the drake as long as she can during the wheel's parabolic stunt, seeing where the arrow strikes at least, and the horrifying thrashes of the creature mid-air. Then they're coming down through a fringe of rainforest, transmuting everything into riotous blur, mixing foliage greens and lizardy greys like patchwork. But there it is again, solidly crashing down after them into the park grounds, flailing for them like a mindless noodle! With one hand grasping the inner frame of the Honeybee, Merri straightens up and out to one side of the buzzing vehicle, and rears back her throwing arm, sighting the erratic beast with wide, searching eyes. The moment to launch comes and goes; as the snout snarls closer, she changes her grip on the harpoon and swings it like a hockey stick, for a glancing blow across the chops. "Hurts bad! Turn back now!" It isn't the verbal command that has any effect, but the projection of beastly instincts that accompanies, sight unseen. Tucking back level with the wheel to ease the stress in Maggie's compensating lean, Merri gathers a sense of the lizard's capitulation before settling forward to view their new environment.

RPG: Merrisol declares that he has the Animal Empathy (ANI-EM) gift.

The Roller Coaster is one heck of a long boi. A long unbroken noodle stretched and kinked through the whole Park it looks like. It's got penne straightaways, macaroni bends, some crazy fusilli's, and a series of loop-de-loop Anelli's. The grounds have the remains of old attractions and kiosks, most of these have some upkeep that relies on recycled material rather than spare parts. Hurl-A-Whurls, Peekaboo-I-Scares-youz, haymaker-chairs-in-the-air, and others one would be familiar with in an abandoned Fairground. Someone has tried at least to keep things pruned back a little bit and junk from laying around just anywhere. One can drive on the paved and cobblestone paths if they're alert.
There's a bit of a commotion other than just the Monowheel bikers. Bright eyed sorts can note a Ruby waaaaay up on one of the roller coaster tracks running like a linebacker with a bundle cradled in one arm. When Merri gives a glancing boop to the snoot of the drake and sends it wailing and gurgling off into a wide arc away from the danger donuts, those sounds just spur Ruby's form onward with greater speed...like she might be able to run the loop-de-loop coming up all by herself.

Roars and cries of pain from up above are a good sign to Susan, taking some of the pressure off as she sticks her landing without too much fuss, though she isn't quite comfortable enough yet to have a look for herself. For now, she's doing her best to contend with an actual amusement park that needs to be navigated. (Problems Susan never thought she would be tackling. Welcome to shadow travel.) All sorts of greenery has been slapping her in the face, only partially blocked by the wheel as she barrels on through and up into the roller coaster tracks for a clearer path. The relief is short lived as she spies what is now in store for her up ahead with a quick series of smaller hills, her eyes widening again as she crests one and sees what she could swear is a Ruby up ahead. But, no. No, it couldn't be!

Snailwheelie lands with a shower of dirt and grass and loose stones, before Lhasa can right it with a herky jerky movement and get it back onto the path. She hears terrible noises behind her, but she doesn't turn around to look. Her eyes are scanning for their running Captain, and she does see her way up there! "Incarnate! She's up there!" she yells out, and points upwards to Ruby. She squints up, trying to figure out the best way to get up there as well.

Wynter is smacked by a passing bit of foliage and yelps again. Still she hastily turns about in her seat and looks for Ruby and what might be the baby. She looks upwards but not high enough at first. Then higher and higher, brows climbing the farther up she looks and then finds the amazon running at near top speed. There is a moment when she tries to stand, ready to say those magical words and fly up to the pair but she sits back down with a stiffled scream of frustration. "If they fall all bets are off! I'll push the who building up to catch them if I have too!" ,she yells and steams in silence from then on. Eyes glued to Ruby and bundle.

MerriSoleil's bemusement over the vista of derelict constructs of fairground fun renders her speechless for several moments, merely nodding randomly to Maggie's various exclamations. They did not manage to land upon the track and only just manage to avoid crashing through the old wood and steel scaffolding that holds up one of the noodlely configurations of coaster. Their eyes are dragged soon enough to that lone long-legged figure dashing around up there, and Merri presently finds her voice to question: "...Why though?" As it seems Susan has skillfully mounted the tracks at some point to chase down their Captain's Captain, M&M confer a moment and decide to keep up with the race from ground level. Dodging around a twisted pile-up of empty cars, the wheel darts through a hole in the supports created long ago by those track-jumped vehicles, trailing the action and occasionally shouting out in a bid to get Ruby's attention.

The nice thing about such a long roller coaster is apparently the access points and overpasses. The logistics must have been interesting when up and running, but now there doesn't appear to be anyone enjoying it, just running crazily along it. Where a group of thrill seekers were supposed to line up in years long gone, there's cordon of narrow switchbacks to handle people wanting to board non-existent cars. There's also some low enough dips to accept some Monowheel or bipedal traffic if one wants to try and jump on.

The drake is flapping away and in desperate need of an eyepatch, but soon it appears there are other critters in the Park. Towards the Coast where the sea is hungrily lapping at the amusement park, there's a cacophony of animal noises. The lions, tigers, the bears, oh my. Oh look, the roof of one of the Arks is that way as well. And here come the animals so long contained in that big floating zoo...Finally able to stretch their legs and limbs as they disgorge. It's Black Friday for the beasties of the shadow voyage. It's like a river of fur and hair and what have you. Predators and prey in motion gasping for the sudden sale on apparent freedom and fresh air.

Ruby hears the animals and the sound of the monowheels both. She risks a glance over her shoulder and does a triple take that almost sends her clumsily off the raised platform. Panting hard, her eyes are as wide as they'll go. She stumbles and slows, trying to make sense of her comrades riding the single wheelies amidst the other biz that made her try to set a land speed record.

Animals. Lots of animals. Susan is now hearing the sounds of all manner of them that are recognizable from the Ark. Cresting another hill on the tracks, she is even treated to a view of a bunch of them, along with the top of an Ark in the distance. It's one more thing, added to the dragon, Ruby, and this roller coaster she now seems to be trapped on. With the priority being the roller coaster, she gives the thing a quick once over, first checking over the path immediately ahead of her and then attempting to work out the course she had set herself on and what manner of hell might be in store for her soon. Her eyes bounce between right in front of her, to up ahead of her, and over toward Ruby and bundle repeatedly ping-ponging as she plots and readies herself. That next jump is sized up as she works over to the far side of the tracks with the idea of working it, with some boosters, to try and skip over a loop and settle in closer to Ruby. Is Lhasa rubbing off on her? Maybe.

Said lady with a deathwish is not far behind. "We'll get you up there," Lhasa assures Wynter with a determined look on her face. She shifts gears on the Snailmobile, making it leap forward onto a platform that leads onto the roller coaster track. She lets out a yelp at the clickety clackety sound of the planks of the track against the wheel. She sees that Susan on Sharkmobile is up ahead, so she plots a path that won't send her crashing into her, and zooms on up with an accompanying loud clacking sound. "Susan might have room for Ruby on her vehicle, so that we can get her down!" she says loudly enough for all her crewmates to hear. The menagerie and resulting chaos below is ignored, as she's singularly focused on getting the Captain on safe ground.

As the riders encroach upon the park proper it becomes more evident that there are more than confused alpha specimens rampaging through the grounds. Flickering in and out of view through the maze of ruins and coaster beams are other beings, mostly upright, yet moving with a shambling sort of feral grace. Most seem to sport tails, long and feathered or short pom-poms. Their hides were once plush and tufty, but time has made them patchy and ragged. Their paws are thick and clumsy, some encased in dirty once-white gloves. Their heads are disproportionately large, bobbling, some equipped with old felt hats. As Ruby pauses on the tracks, they begin to cluster below in the worst possible vision of zambie swarming... that of fairground workers who perished in their mascot costumes.

Merri shouts, "Critters! Critters, ho!" Not to be perfectly obvious, since Maggie can see them all just as well as her mate can, empathy notwithstanding, but in sheer amazement of the volume of the massive Ark, spilling in from the shore. Motoring around ground level just got more challenging than the straight and narrow paths of the crazy coaster. Executing a tight turn to dodge away from a stag prancing along with his mate, the Honeybee scoots for the turnstiles of the track's boarding platform... where there lurks a couple of weirdos with the same idea. Kwazy Kangawoo. Sporkens the Pig. Merri squints at them, jaw clenching as he grates, "Those. Aren't. Critterrrss...!"

The football in the crook of Ruby's arm is bawling, and she's come to a complete halt now. Squinting hard and making out comrades, here of all places. Riding machines of all things. She feels the track vibrate with their presence, but at least that seems sturdy enough. Her free hand waves at them. "Watch out for tha ani-mauls! Beasts everywhere! Everrrywheere! Bog's balls! Run 'em down if you 'ave tah!" Some old zealous hatred is fully blooming from seeds planted in her youth. The googly eyes, the fixed smiles, the eye-scorching colours. "Auntie said they wouldn't moind! Said this was tha best place tah unload! She promised! Oh my Bog! There's Taffy...Taffy tha bloody Turtle! Run 'em down or 'e will eat yer toes while you sleep! Tha fookin squirrel twins! Ffffffff-!

Indeed, those faux critters of a different kind try and take a swipe at passing vehicles. But they certainly have their mitts full with the sudden influx of the legit beasts. The bounding, stampeding and darting swath of them is as much a danger to bipeds as Monowheels.

Susan sits up in her monowheel while crouching down like a jockey, preparing for the upcoming jump. In those final moments, she cuts the wheel hard from the right side of the tracks over to the left, hits the boost, and pulls herself up to almost a standing position with her head sticking out the right side so she has a clear view of her landing zone. In the air, she lets off the booster, pulls the single-wheeled cycle to the side, and hits it again to maneuver a bit more on her way in. It is only at this point that she starts to think about how sturdy the wood is on the track on the other side... It's these kind of problems that keep her from noticing the creepy mascots gone wild!

Her eyes are hidden by great, reflective shades that parallel the madness of the ancient carnivale - the old metal beams and bright vendor stands nearly buckling under jungle growth, and the roiling shapes of so many animals and their man-sized mentors that thrive and trash through the old commongrounds. The dark mirrors are lifted up, and pressed into the windblown platinum hair, revealing a skeptically narrowed gaze admist the faintest hint of amusement. "Inanity."

MerriSoleil has the harpoon in hand still, but is definitely disinclined to use it on the Critters-NOT-Critters, much less the alpha critters they invested so much in preserving to bring to this shadow of heat and pain and madness. She tucks against Maggie for those tight turns as their monowheel overtakes and dodges around the Mascots to hop the platform and fall upon the initially flat track. Kangawoo and Porkens stagger from the turbulence of the speeding vehicle, huge heads unbalancing them for a ragdoll bouncing from the platform. "Think Susan's closest to Ruby, Only!" calls Merri, craning again to search along the hills and swerves of the coaster rails. "Let's find a good spot for everyone to exit and regroup!"

Maggie nods to MerriSoliel, though she does not try a verbal reply just yet. Casting hurried glances up, around and about while the turns necessary to stay mostly on course and avoid smashing into anyone , either humanoid or animal-oid come fast and furiously. Taking in the cluster beneath Ruby, she shakes her head once. "Do you think they mean her harm? Or is she the embodiment of some kind of religious thing, Beloved?" Of course she knows that there is no way to tell. Rhetorical questions. Not useful, Maggie. Yet they did give her a moment to really see and... She gestures with her chin. "There. That building looks to be mostly intact." Her eye has been caught by ehat might once have been a fun house. Maybe. If such a thing existed here. Or a storage shed.

Ruby staggers as she watches Susan drive closer, and then leap higher towards the upper track she's on. A fair amount of balancing or good driving. Ruby tries not to look down because heights are unnatural realms to be in. There's something unsettling about seeing a big steel wheel getting bigger, akin to seeing some calvary officer and mount galloping closer. Ruby grits her teeth.
Behind Ruby the track continues onwards into a series of corkscrew curls that ~could~ be taken at speed, but it looks like the direction will take it towards the coast and the Ark as well if someone wants to bypass the madness below. There are a number of exits to get off when the tracks dip down after hair-raising heights. Presumably when it was operational, it must have been a logistical nightmare of multiple carts running this thing with little side rails to drift off when people needed to hurl or their time expired: These can be used to disembark. Those still on the Park's ground level can do the same if they wish to drive against animal crossing traffic. Though that way risks more Mascots as they attempt to herd the mobs of alpha animals all looking for a place to claim.

Susan waits to the last second for one last adjustment with a tap of the boost to align with the tracks. The wheelie bounces twice with a boost in the middle to keep it in a straight line with the tracks. "Whoa! Whoa!" It's not a horse, Susan. Not a horse. On the up side, the tracks held! With the wheel making solid contact on the tracks, she sits back down, hits the brakes, and puts her feet out to stabilize. "Cap'n! Here to give you a lift!" Her head whips about to get a look around and flip on the radio, "Sharkie here, checking in. What in the holy hell is that out there?! What are those things!" Susan looks back to Ruby with wild eyes and shouts, "What *is* this place?!"

Diana is still below, and as others careen overhead, she looks up. Way up. Then, calmly, lowers the sunglasses back down over her eyes. When she kicks down, her monowheel's engine roars and dirt sprays at the sudden acceleration. This does mean she drives against the press of animals, and their aesthetically matching minders, doing her best to avoid direct collusion by weaving back and forth. Like others, she seeks the safety of cover - by accident, the very fun house that was pointed out by others.

Good thing about spending so much time shipboard and riding out bad conditions on deck... All this gorge-altering up and downing doesn't send MerriSoleil reeling from her perch or doing something unspeakable to Maggie's hair from behind. "Sure.. yeah.. there're a good dips that way to roll off," she agrees, gripping the edge of her seat tight and bracing into the turns and swoops as they get closer to an exit point. There's even a trail to follow, as Diana's dragonwheel zooms across the grounds in the same direction. "I dunno who those things are, Hotstuff.. friend or foe. But think we're closing in on explaining Ruby's rocky relationship with animals!" She reaches over and keys the longwave after listening to Susan's burst of questions through the static. "Sharkie, this is.. BuzzBee, we're on your nine, making for that tall house with the rainbows and... Wait, are those mirrors? Carp.. mirror maze..." she grumbles, then: "Watch out for the horse!" Wait, is it a horse? Neigh! The weirdly gallumphing critter's suspicious zipper seam across its midsection is a dead giveaway!

Maggie jumps a bit as her mate uuses the radio. Maggie did not realize it was there! It is a good thing that Merri is here! Reaching an exit from the swoop-a-whirligig, Maggie leans into the controls, guiding the Bee into a tight approach to the building in question. Zooming around the near corner, the back of the building is revealed to the pair. The wall nearest to the jungle has been slowly disintegrated by long tendrils and creepers.. A riot of greenery chokes the entrance, leaking through cracks and crannies. Shards of ancient mirrors glitter and sparkle in mockery, the crazy-quilt reflections of sky, jungle, animals, minders and the HoneyBee with riders colliding over and over in miniature. There is no way in. The fence hugs the far corner of the building, an opening in the mesh torn by the jungle. With a cry of, "Nope! Hold on!" Maggie races through the detritus of ages, skids into a tight, grit splaying turn, then guns the engine. Using a thick vine as a pathway, she takes the Monowheele through the hole in the fence and out. Surely there will be a glade or opening nearby.

"Taboo!" Ruby yells to be heard over the engine and general cacophony below. She grimaces, showing her teeth and hissing out a breath. Susan's ride gets the hairy eyeball. Ruby weighs the situation. Weighs the baby. Reluctantly, she sidles up alongside the wheel and manuevers herself behind the Selkie. "Oooooooo, what 'ave you all been gettin your 'ands on out there?" The baby squawks and lands a few wilds slaps against Ruby when it manages to get limbs free of the swaddling. She rapidly yammers, "Ark is done an delivered but good. We need tah leeeeeeave. Get us out 'o 'ere 'ot shot!"