Not the Destination(Second Summer)

-“No, not at all. The engine is working fine right now. Grandpa spent most of yesterday's afternoon giving it maintenance so it wouldn't suffer a catastrophic failure during our trip. However...”

Alice stated, before making a pause, in her typical monotone (yet oddly emphasized) manner, and with a blank expression on her face. And yet, on the inside she was genuinely embarrassed as she explained her current circumstances.

-“...However, I'm afraid I should have planned things better. Unfortunately, I haven't learned to drive yet, and I volunteered myself to bring the van here despite that. By the time I realized my mistake, it was already time to go.”

She said as she intermittently joined her index fingers against one another, while she rubbed the asphalt with her right foot's toes, both clear gestures of her current nervousness. It seemed like her body had started to develop more expressiveness, despite her voice and facial gestures still being rather wooden.

-“I know pushing it around isn't an elegant solution, but I had to fulfill my promise, otherwise I'd look like a liar.”, she said she approached Lyndi, while her left hand grazed one of the van's sides, “Besides, The Enigma isn't too heavy for me to push, only a couple of tons, nothing beyond my capabilities.”

Then, as she was right in front of the dragon lady, she touched her chin with her right hand, while holding her right elbow with her left palm, a “contemplative” stance which she had copied from her own “grandpa” after spending so much time with him.

-“The only downside were a couple of cops that questioned me about it, but they didn't seem to mind too much in the end.”

edited 20th May '15 9:38:39 AM by VPhantom

Charlie scratched the top of his head, a smattering of leaves falling to the ground. He spoke breathily, a sound like wind mixed with rasping bark. "He there," Charlie pointed a long, thin twig at Damien, "Has offered... to drive. Perhaps... he could teach you as well? I have heard it said... that driving is a simple task to learn." Well, he wasn't wrong. Newly minted drivers, having freshly earned their permits, have often bragged how 'easy' it was to ace the learner's test.

edited 20th May '15 10:26:05 AM by HazzyHaz

"Well, I suppose I could give you some lessons if we can find a private enough road." Said Damien, already recovered from his earlier run. He smiled at Alice. "And don't worry or anything, it really isn't that hard. My grandma was asleep half the time she was teaching me, and I still managed to pass the test on my first try."

Damien stretched his arms, and then his stomach rumbled. Smiling sheepishly, he turned to enter the restaurant.

"Heh, 'scuse me. Pancakes and orange juice are calling my name." He walked into the restaurant over to the table his soon-to-be roadmates were sitting at, grinned as he came over.

"Hey guys and gals! You order yet? 'Cause if I'm driving I'm gonna need a full stomach."

Andreia blinked, slightly dazed by all the new people streaming in. She hadn't even known most of these people existed! She responded to Damien with "I haven't yet, but I probably should. Be right back." She went up to the counter and ordered a few chocolate chip pancakes, then returned to her booth and settled in, idly wishing she had brought her 3DS inside.

edited 20th May '15 9:54:27 PM by Tojin

"Sounds perfect Marvy." Yuna said in response to his inquiry about food.

"Yes, it was a very smooth journey" Hayate replied.

As Lyndia went over to chat with Alice, Hayate noticed Rachel off to the side, and decided to try and get to know more of his fellow road-trippers.

"Hi there, are you going on the road trip as well?" He greeted, briefly glancing at her overstuffed luggage bag in surprise (and a small measure of curiosity). Charmed or no, I'm surprised that's staying shut...wonder how'd she manage that?

"My name's Hayate, it's nice to meet you." He continued, before offering small bow in greeting.

As Alice gave her explanation, Lyndi regarded the robot girl with some confusion. She could somewhat understand Alice's predicament; Lyndi wouldn't like to go back on her word, especially if doing so ended up damaging her credibility. Still, a part of her felt that the problem could have been avoided somehow.

(Lyndi's 'solution' would've invariably involved taking a healthy bite out of the Enigma, except that it'd already been made crystal clear to her that vehicles were off limits in that regard.)

She still had much to learn about this culture compared to her own, even after so many years, and she was never sure whether Alice's oddities were exceptions or examples of it.

"Well, I can only request that you seek out my help if such a problem with heavy lifting arises again. Naturally, such a feat is well within my capabilities!" It might be a little difficult, perhaps, maybe, but that didn't stop Lyndi from believing it to be true. She decided to move on from thinking about it, looking over at Charlie now with a curious form of awe.

"I must say, it's been a while since I've encountered one of your kind. I'm more familiar with the folk who are, quite literally, of the earth." She gestured at the ground, head cocked slightly. "Very helpful fellows when it came to scouting out metal deposits. Not the best at conversation, however..."

Alexi never really noticed that Alice have arrived while pushing her grandpa's van or the fact that a wyvern have landed on top of Bunny HOP since Alexi was really focused on what Yuyu nicknamed her bf. Once she knows that she called him Marvy and secretly being half-dissapointed by her lack of creativity, she looked around again to update herself on who's here and the two people that sticks out is Alice and the school mascot, and it's only because the wyvern is talking to Alice. The only person that has not come yet, to Alexi's knowledge, is Tamae.

"By the way, I've eaten enough of breakfast already, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," Alexi said and left the snowgirl-parapsychologist to walk up to Alice and greeted "Hey...erm..Elise, isn't it? I'm Alexi, Tamae's friend, she told me that you're an interesting one. Oh, and nice ride you got. It got some..."

Alexi turned towards Alice's vehicle and it...actually looks worse than the picture, Alexi felt like her eyes is rearranging itself to just look at the colours. Then Alexi completed her fake compliment with "...personality." while trying to sound as genuine as possible.

edited 20th May '15 7:21:47 PM by sgtpendulum

The Land of Rabbits and Pancakes Okay, don't really need this, but I like location tags.

Diana groaned as she stepped off the bus and dragged herself and her luggage over to ye student favorite Bunny HOP. Her groan wasn't because of her baggage - she really only packed what she needed (though what she needed, others mights disagree with). Not was it because of public transportation, since the seats were fairly empty during this time of day.

No, the werelady groaned because of the hour. Who starts anything at 6 AM? Too damned early in the morning, and waaay too late to call it night... Di was always more of a night person anyway, but 6 AM was not it.

Yawning like a pup who hadn't had her nap, Diana stepped into the parking lot and noticed a rather sizable gathering of people. Ugh, too many people. Well, there's Dorothy, so I guess that's the group...

Walking over, Diana dropped her luggage next to the crowd chatting amongst themselves... before moving straight past them into the diner, hopping onto the HOP's many booth stools.

Too early to socialize. What she needed was some caffeine.

"Coffee!"

Her hair holding several large suitcases off the ground as she finally strode up to the gathering after a hectic morning of waking up late and remembering the trip about halfway through her morning hair routine, Tsukika bore a gentle grin on her face seeing everyone together. Suddenly, her grin turned devious as she spotted two of her friends speaking somewhat off to the side, and after carefully setting down her luggage in what seemed to be a growing collection of suitcases, she bounced over to the two, throwing an arm over each of their shoulders and nearly singing out, "Lexi-chan~! Ali-chan~! I made it, though it looks like literally everyone made it here before I did. How's it going you two? Anything new come up since last we talked? What're you two chattin' abo~ut?"

"Kyah~!" Alexi blurted as she got jumped by a barbed woman only to giggled, in a mix of good humour and embarrassment, when she recognised the voice and turned towards Tamae. "Damn, I got spooked by a spooky scary old lady," she joked, then she shook her head very briefly in dismissal of her own joke and answered Tamae's question "I've just introduced myself to Elise, actually. I've been dying to meet her ever since you talk about her recently. She's a robot, right?"

Turning her attention towards the imposing tree-man, Alice exclaimed:

-“Charlie. I'm so glad to see you could come with us, my friend.”, she said before starting to play again with her hands as a sign of worry, “Your suggestion is a sensible one, but I'm afr-”

Her sentence was cut short by the boisterous voice of a rather muscular and good-looking man that Alice haven't met yet. Turning around to face him, Alice made a little bow before saying:

-“I appreciate your kind offer, good sir, but I don't think that-”

...And then the hunk cut her sentence short once again, by turning around and going somewhere else, before she had a chance to explain why she was so nervous about learning to drive. It was a little distressing for her, as this was a rather “unique” quirk of hers, and one that has caused her and people around her a lot of troubles in the past. Nonetheless, she decided to let it go for now, and instead focus her attention back on her reptilian friend.

-“Thanks for your consideration, Lyndi.”, she said while making a little bow, “I'll have it in mind for future eventualities.”

Then she just watched as Lyndi started to talk with Charlie. It was a curious sight for her because, despite both of them being friends of her, she hadn't seem them interact with each other until know. She hoped they could become friends too, as she wouldn't like to see two of her best friends fighting. But, her focus shifted once again after she was addressed by one of the travelers... At least, she assumed she was being addressed, as the girl had spoken her name wrong.

-“Maybe she's a foreign exchange student too?”, she thought, as odd pronunciations were common among non-English speakers. Nonetheless, after a brief instant of confusion, she recognized the girl before her as one of Tamae's friends.

-“Nice to meet you, miss Stavros.”, she said while bowing once again, “Ta-chan has also told me good things about you; she says you have lots of spirit and a peculiar taste in music. I hope we can become good friends.”

Then, after (wrongly) acknowledging Alexi's last statement as a sincere compliment, she started speaking about the monstrous contraption with genuine affection and respect.

-“I'm also glad to hear you like grandpa's vehicle. He built it himself during the times of the 'Peace & Love' movement. It was his first attempt to built an eco-friendly engine, and it still works as it did back then. It's sturdy as a tank, and tough as an elder dragon. I love this car, it's such a wonderful and unique machine.”

It was just as she was finished her sentence that she felt a friendly hand on her shoulder, and when a familiar voice started speaking in an almost musical tone, the robotic girl just couldn't contain her emotion.

-“Ta-chan!”, she exclaimed as gave her friend a spontaneous hug, “I'm so glad to see you, my friend. To be honest, I was a little worried for a brief moment, but that was just me over-thinking once again.”, then she let her friend go in order to not make her feel too overwhelmed, “I was talking to miss Stavros about The Enigma, she says it's a 'nice ride'; I'm glad to hear she likes it.”

Then, noticing that her friend was using her amazingly strong hair to carry around her personal effects, she inquired:

-“Do you need help with your luggage, my friend? We can put it inside the van so it doesn't get on your way while we're at the restaurant.”

edited 21st May '15 12:08:42 PM by VPhantom

"Oh...?" Charlie slowly blinked. "I am not surprised. We typically... find enough companionship among ourselves. The plants around us as well." The rest of the wyvern's words registered, and the Ent's face furrowed with worry. "Metal deposits? You are... you are a miner?"

edited 21st May '15 9:20:55 AM by HazzyHaz

Caffeinated Canine

After getting her coffee in a to go cup and setting down the cash to pay, Diana hopped back outside to see what was going on with the group. Blowing on the rising steam, she stepped over to Rachel and asked, "So, couldn't be bothered to give us some limos for the trip?"

"Heh, look who calls me spoiled all the while asking for limos" Says Rachel grinnig and gently giving her a pat on the shoulder for a greeting to Diana "And wasn't this trip meant to be this way? Wandering with friends to see the country freely?"

"Anyway, daddy wouldn't rent us limos for something like this after all" says Rachel... smiling subtly as she looks at the gathered people "Sure it's going to be loud, cramped and totally not the way a girl like me should travel... But well... I got invited so I guess I can't complain... it may just be fun like this"

Alexi can't help but blushed a bit when Alice talked of her about her spirits and her taste in music, though she doesn't know what 'peculiar' means but she'll take it as a compliment. "Aww, you said that to Elise about me, Tamae?" Alexi said. "I'm flattered that you said that, thanks! Maybe I won't talk shit about classical for about a day, maybe throughout the whole trip too."

Then she hear Alice talking about the van, calling it 'The Enigma', the name alone made her cringe on the inside, but, hey, at least it explains the dumb colour scheme, the peace & love is a weird thing and not in a good way. When Alice talked of the specification, though, it kinda peak Alexi's interest.

"An eco-engine, sturdy and tough?" Alexi echoed after Alice. "That's kinda overkill for the road trip but oh well, if we run into, say, a giant vampire slug, then we'll know what to do. For real, though, that's genuinely interesting, your grandpa's a cool dude...Wait, why didn't you just call him daddy? Or are there other 'family members'? Oh well, everyone's here already, I think. Should we just order takeaway and eat our breakfast in the vehicles? By the way, I'm taking dips in the RV."

edited 22nd May '15 8:14:10 AM by sgtpendulum

Marvin grinned back at Yuna's response.

"Well, let's head inside, then? Meet the other people who are on this trip?"

Lyndi lowered her head in response to Alice's bow, happy to be of service to a friend... and then soured as the girl compared the colourful Enigma to her older relatives. Not that Alice could be blamed for it, as Lyndi did make an effort to keep her animosity under wraps, but it didn't stop it from stinging. Strong as an elder dragon... Can only hope it's not as obnoxious as one too...

She decided to let it slide, because it was Alice, and turned her attention back to the ent. Wrapped up as she was in her thoughts, she missed the concern in his voice. "Ah, previously. Was born into a family of miners, as most of my kind tend to be, but never found it to be... liberating enough, I suppose. I found a new occupation here, a few years back."

As was her nature, she couldn't continue without first flourishing her wings in a grand gesture. "Official representative of Averyville college! Or mascot, as the students like to say." She glanced around at some of the younger members of the group. "I do believe that I actually recognise a few of our companions from the place. I'm almost certain that that man who ran by is a graduate. Would you have any acquaintances here besides Alice, Charlie?"

Tsukika's grin widened a bit at Alexi's statement and nickname while she returned Alice's hug,"Maybe you'll be able to say something true about it, without all those wicked fibs coming out of your mouth!" she exclaimed playfully. She then froze for a second, seeing Diana out of the corner of her eye. Her grin disappeared for a moment as she suddenly slipped away from Alice with a muttered, "Wait just a moment, Ali-chan, gotta do something," and dropped into a sprinter's crouch before dashing forward and leaping, arms outstretched, towards Diana, "DAI-CHAN~!!" she wooped in happiness, barreling through the air in the direction of the werewolf.

edited 23rd May '15 7:43:44 PM by Gladonost

The bunny girl who was given a gift from Alice went to the break room(aka the office. No one uses the lockers no more, so all of the employees just dump their bags in the manager's office, the managers don't mind, anyway) to place the gift into her bag when her manager took notice and asked "What's that, Ginger?"

"Oh? This? It's just a gift," The bunny waitress tried to wave it off as if it was nothing."From a stranger,I think she's a college student from the way she's gathered with her friends, who wants to make up for what she did...Even though I don't remember what she did or why is it so severe that she gave me a gift in the first place. And from the way she's speaking, she might be robotic, too, which is kinda cool."

"And you've just accepted it?"

"Yeah, I think it's nice of her, regardless."

"And you don't know what's inside of that box?"

Ginger gave the manager a stink eye as she zip up her bag and said "Look, I'm not going to open it right away, that's just disrespectful, and what are you implying, boss?"

The manager held up his hands in defense and stated "Look, I'm not being disrespectful, just...paranoid, for a lack of a better terms. Trust me, I've work here longer than you do, these kids can be a bit mean sometimes and the pranks they can pull-"

"Screw this, I'm out," Ginger yelled, ended with a grunt of disappointment and stomp out of the office in anger.

The manager let out a sigh and said "I'll give you 50 bucks if you-"

He didn't even finished his proposition before the bunny waitress kick the door open again, grumpily open her bag and took out the box. "You lucky that I'm broke, boss," she lamented before slowly taking a peek inside the box.

Meanwhile, Alexi raised an eyebrow at Tamae and said "What? I am seriously impressed by all of that features, what do you mean by 'wicked fibs' you old-" before realizing that her friend has gone off and preyed on their werewolf friend. Alexi simply shrugged and offered to Alice "Look, I'll help ya load Ta-chan's luggages onto your van, if you allow."

(VP, Imma let you decide what's inside. What kind of crazy, yet well meaning gift would Alice give?)

edited 24th May '15 4:22:36 AM by sgtpendulum

"Only 'Lexi and Hayate," Charles admitted. "Not many others are... willing to speak with... a tree."

Inside of the manager's office

Unbeknown to her, by peeking inside the box, Ginger activated a little mechanism that was meant to be triggered by opening the box. What happened next was a little too strident considering the small size and innocent appearance of the package: A small explosion of light, music and confetti sprang out of the box, and after that, a small levitating machine, which appeared to have two emerald-like “eyes”, emerged from it. The strange gadget emitted a blue ace of light, which it used to “scan” Ginger, before it spoke with an overtly enthusiastic, yet friendly voice:

-“Heeeeeeello, dear user! My name is Multi-purpose Adaptive Robotic Companion, or MARC for short, at your service! I've been programmed to obey your commands and assist you in any way I can. It's a GREAT pleasure to meet you, and I'd be more than HONORED to be of help!”

MARC said, before playing what appeared to be some sort of leitmotif.

Outside, near the parking lot

Alice's worries banished after verifying that not only her friend was alright, but also in an excellent mood. That kind of contagious enthusiasm was something that she really appreciated about her... Something that motivated her to TRY to be more like her, despite her current limitations and strange circumstances.

With those worries out of her head, she turned her attention back to her new acquaintance. While she didn't want to force someone else to do a job that she thought was meant for her, (after all, every single robot she has ever met was built to help organics, that was the ultimate purpose of all of them) she didn't want to offend her by flat out refusing her help. Besides, Tamae was a really close friend of hers too, so it only made sense for her to want to help a friend, and denying her of that chance would also be incredibly rude, according to Alice's train of thought.

-“I'd appreciate your help, miss Stavros, if you were so kind.”

She said as she lifted Tamae's heaviest piece of luggage with great ease, but also immense care and respect. As she did, she tried to “break the ice” (not that she understood the non-literal meaning of that phrase) with Alexi...

-“I know my voice doesn't convey it, but I'm really excited for our upcoming trip, miss Stavros. There are so many things outside our town that I'd like to see. I'm really, really happy right now.”

edited 24th May '15 5:02:46 PM by VPhantom

Bunny HOP Parking Lot

"I call you spoiled because you are," Diana said plainly. "Wouldn't hurt to share some of that with the rest of us..."

Taking a tired old sip from her coffee mug, Diana's ears (her wolf ears, to be precise) perked up. The wolfgirl quickly handed over the cup to Rachel... before the wild hair monster leaped onto her, tackling the both of them to the ground.

"Dang it, Tsu, you almost made me drop my coffee! You know how much hot coffee burns? And it's a pain to get out of your clothes, and the smell lingers, and everything..." Diana grumbled as she pat Ta-chan's back, blushing lightly at her tight hug, wolf ears and wolf tail out from the sudden surprise. "Though, yeah, nice to see you too..."

Danica yawned as Andreia went inside and a few other road trip participants arrived. She winced as Tsukika pounced. "Wow, loud." She frowned an began counting on her fingers. "Hm, there's me, Andie, Bud, Tsukika, Rachel, Charlie... Are we still missing anyone?" She looked around.

"Don't forget me and Marvin!" Yuna called out to Danica as she entered the restaurant.