Pirates of the promenade - Part Seven

[rubyrubyruby]

Once upon a time...The funhouse had nice double-doors bearing a big goofy smiley face. The elements have made it a wet watercolour streaked mask of Nope-nope. Tengu and Cash-money, two rigid statue mascots of the Park, have been half melted like candles, but their plump lower extremities remain sentinels to welcome new patrons. The double doors are open now, having been smashed open by Becky and Ron, two alpha ostriches from the Ark. They're nowhere to be seen now, and the dark funhouse and its okay and not-okay mirrors are inside. There's enough room to circle the wagon-wheels inside, and perhaps temporary shelter from the insanity outside.

At that very moment when Ruby yells out her reaction to the machine, Susan just *happens* to rev the engine. She then slides forward a bit on the seat, her knees sticking out the sides like a pair of wings. She is nodding emphatically as she hits the throttle again, now racing down the tracks to head toward the funhouse. "I don't even know where to begin. The giant ring, the dragons, the army, or the navy... Shit's gettin' real, girl." Her head turns to look toward nine o'clock and she sports a wicked grin at the mention of mirrors. One hand peels away to pick up the transmitter, "Copy that, BuzzBee. We're Oscar Mike. Be there shortly. Over." With that, she hangs up the transmitter on the hook about the controls.

Through the chaos and the haze, Lhasa spots the disembarking Sharkie and its heading toward the funhouse. "They got Ruby and the kid! That way!" she shouts to Wynter over the scream of the engine. The Snailwheelie accelerates, hits a sweet spot between the rails, and makes a smooth, roaring descent onto the off ramp past the turnstiles, past a small troop of bare-butted monkeys, and zooms toward her comrades and hopefully to safety!

Wynter leans out to the side half way to lightly tap the monkeys that get too close to the vehicle. No need to injure them after the long trip here. Her face is set in a thin lipped frown when she comes back to the full upright position and her tray table.. well there isn't one, thankfully, or she'd likely have bitten into it several times when they made jumps. "Good. Good.. "

Circling the decrepit building facade, for security purposes clearly, and not because they're stalling on entering the maw of the Clown, M&M are back around to the front by the time the rest arrive. While there might be some long-necked flightless birds hissing about the place, none of the Lost Bois have managed to anticipate the mass exodus from the roller tracks as yet. "Hey Ruby, good you're both okay," calls Merri over the multi-engine roars. His gaze falls to the squalling babby bundle, then casts away across the panic zone to the now unseen ocean. "Anyone else come over on that Ark we need to look for? Kid's nurse? We're not long for this shadow if that naval force comes around to this side of the coast!"

Ruby grabs for stability. One hand on the chassis and one arm to cradle the kid. "Hurrrrrgggh!" The speed demolishes further tongue wagging until she's got her breath back. "Whut?" Her mental hiccups come in a rapid pattern and then she raises her voice to be heard above engine and colicky baby noises. "Ark is done. Surprised it stayed afloat this long. Tha only things tha need lookin for be roight 'ere, Truth." She gesticulates with a free hand to flap about the interior of the unfun house. "You an Susan both saw this stoof? It ain't 'allucination because 'o wind burn in tha eyes? So this moight be real?" She squints. "We can't stick around any longah. Ark is delivered, for bettah or worse, an tha tribe 'ere gots their paws full, for bettah or worse. You gots tah tell me all you saw an 'aul arse."

Down the tracks Susan goes, slipping on through the boarding area, and hitting something on the way. It almost seemed like a brownish-orange tiger-like thing bouncing around on some thick tail? A double-take can't find it in the time she gives before focusing on getting them into the rendezvous point. Coming to a park, she detangles her legs to plop a boot down on the ground for stability. "Yep. We all had eyes on that fleet. Hard to miss it. Ain't seen one that big in... A long, long time. Only one purpose for a fleet like that."

The Snailmobile bearing Wynter and Lhasa speeds in a minute or two behind Susan and the others. In their haste to get away from the chaos outside, they're going faster than is probably wise, and there's a screech of a monotire against the floor. Breathing deeply to calm herself, Lhasa kicks out the kickstand. Once the Snail is safely leaning a bit on its side, she steps out of it hurriedly, feet shaking a bit as she goes. "Bloody hell," she mutters.

Wynter jumps out of the snail as they come to a stop just before Lhasa can set the snail on it's tilt. She strides over to Susan and Ruby at a walk-run peering intently at them both. Susan gets a small smile and a nod. Ruby on the other hand ... Wynter leans in her face close to Ruby's and /smiles/ in that off kilter way. "Hi." She says brightly. "Are you safe? And the babe as well?"

The Honeybee follows suit with cutting its engine and balancing on struts, to reduce the mad reverberations within the chamber. MerriSoleil pulls out on one side, scrutinizing Ruby a bit more when she washes her hands of all Ark concerns. Her gaze flicks again between the squiddo and the moms, reading unspoken consequences in the landfall and disembarkation which led to this point. She prods at some stuffed bags which used to dangle from the ceiling for a punchy bunchy obstacle course before hitting the mirror maze. Looking around at the others now, she nods in the contentment that they, at least, live on. "When did we lose Chiara and Jan? Might have gone back for Nailah.." she frowns, recalling something. The timing of that megabone. "What happened back there? Did she... alert the base?"

Ruby needs time to get her breath back after a lot of running around. Mentally and physically. But she's doggedly going to try and collate things. "Bigger than ours? We need tah get this down on tha charts. I don't think there anythin tah gain from extendin a visit at tha Cliff. Would loike a look at this other fleet but I not greedy or stupid. Will think better once we all back on boats. Party split oop? There be a base as well?" She gives the baby some very small bounces and swings to quiet her. Ruby does a bit of a quick re-swaddling to see if that will help things. To Wynter she offers a tired smile, "Safe as can be, considerin tha circumstances. Good tah see you. And all you femmes 'o course. Welcome tah shadow's toi-let."

Pursing her lips, Susan looks over toward Merri, pauses a moment to again marvel at this different look about... her, and then remembers she was going to say while beginning to nod, "Seemed like it, right? I lost the sisters here in the park when all hell broke loose, though." She nods again in agreement with being back on boats, "Probably. They were loading up their troop carriers out there. Had a crazy big one of them gates. Can mark down what I saw once we get back."