rocketralph | Level 13 [Action] Backdated to July 30

[Vanellope inspects his work while absently getting another flashlight set up with spare batteries. Maybe it wasn't necessary to have seven back-ups, especially with so many pokemon able to help out, but it gave her something to do other than panic over the thought of power outages. After a few hems and haws, she finally nods, popping the sucker out of her mouth so she can comment properly.]

If I was a storm? That'd keep me out.

[Still, it...definitely made the lobby look pretty odd. Barren.]

Now we just need a base of some kind, y'know?

_{[Blanca, Ralph's Flaafy, eyes the flashlights before shaking his own tail. The bulb at the end flickers. He's a good lamp! Why do they need all the lighty sticks?]

[Meanwhile Ralph is still admiring his handywork.]}

What, you mean this isn't enough of a base? The whole hotel's a base!

The hotel's a fortress.

[She does stop loading up her flashlights at the flickering of Blanca's tail, offering him a weak shrug in return. Other than the truth, something she wouldn't want to get into with the pokemon, she didn't really have an excuse.]

What we need is a base inside our fortress. Like a planning, safety room. Only prob'ly still down here and not one of the actual rooms. [Because that was just more furniture to push.] Kinda like tents on a camping ground!

Alright, commander couch cushions, you make the base. I'm gettin' somethin' to eat before that one guy's Nidoking eats everything.

[Vanellope gives a mock salute before getting to work, walking around the lobby to pick up spare pillows at the like. She'd still need to make her way up to their room to nab some blankets, but first -- ]

Go see if they've got mac n' cheese to make, or somethin'. Ooh, or poptarts!

Mac n' cheese it is!

_{[Sorry, squirt, find your own candy. Ralph goes and gathers up just that before wandering back over to the construction site to see how things are going. He pauses while crossing the floor when thunder crashes overhead. Memories of the arcade's power flickering flash behind his eyelids. Brrr.]}

[Vanellope would be absolutely shocked that poptarts are considered candy. Instead, with thoughts of mac n' cheese filling her head, she starts on her base project, humming the Sugar Rush theme to herself. By the time Ralph returns, there's actually been some impressive progress made -- it's big, of course, since it has to accommodate both Vanellope and Ralph, and since it's made out of blankets, pillows, and couch cushions, it should be a pretty comfortable stay.

The pride in her craftsmanship is startled out of her by the loud crack of the storm, and she drops her next pillow-brick in favor of eyeing the ceiling as if that would make the flashes and rumbles stop.]

_{[Ralph's shadow falls across her and he's still looking up as well.]}

Sounds like the whole world's commin' down out there, don't it? Now then, let's see what you've got goin' on here.

_{[The wrecker's brows drift upward. In just that amount of time she built all this? She really must have been from a racing game. And it wasn't bad either. Ralph spent his days tearing buildings apart and this one (if he uses the term building lightly) looks pretty sturdy.]}

What are you gonna call this place? Fort's gotta have a name.

...Yeah.

[Way to freak her out even more for a second, Ralph, jeez. With him around again, though, and distracting her with her masterpiece, she's able to perk up a bit again.]

Name, huh... Well, fitting or not it's too nice to be Hobo Corner, or anythin' like that, so! How about Casa Manta?

...Do y'like it?

_{[He's just as freaked out on the inside, Vanellope, don't you worry. He then considers the fort again and rubs his chin.]}

Casa Manta...I like it!

_{[He has no idea that it basically just means blanket house but it sounds fancy and forts are supposed to have fancy names.]}

[Blanket house is the fanciest name.]

Good! 'cause you have to stay here, too. The best way to weather the weather is to weather together!

[Not that she has any experience with weather, outside of what little she's experienced in this game.]

Hey, was there any food left?

Yup! Tadaaa!

_{[He reveals the NOT POPTARTS with a flourish and kneels down.]}

Don't let it get cold, the line at the microwave is a mile and a half long.

[Well, since her heart wasn't set on poptarts, she takes it without complaint and starts digging in. Construction is hard work.]

I guess even they're worried about power going out... [That gets her to frown, eyeing up the window again.] Even if they're just thinking about their stomachs.

_{[Ralph finally sits down next to her with a thud and continues to eye the fort.]}

Yeah...remember the storm of 2001?

_{[He's almost sure that Sugar Rush was plugged in back then.]}

[Vanellope shudders a little, stuffing a forkful of Mac n' cheese in her mouth.]

Mhmn... Everybody was crowded around the station, ready to go. [Everybody but her, anyway.] King Candy was really upset.

We got really lucky...

_{[Thunder rolls overhead and he leans back to watch the ceiling.]}

We sure did...but that can't happen here. Y'know. I've met so many people who don't think this is a game that I'm startin' to think they might be onto something.

[Finally, Vanellope plops down on the ground, rolling her eyes dramatically. Big gestures were more distracting.]

Yeah, right. Everybody knows Pokemon's a game! 'sides, not like we're suddenly gonna not be game characters. [She can hear the wind kicking up harder outside, and there's even a non-thunder crack from somewhere outside. A tree, she thinks.] ...But it's just the in-game weather, anyway. So there's nothin' to worry about.

_{[He scratches the side of his head as he ponders over what Heather tried to beat into him.]

[Ralph isn't really one to change his opinion about much but...]}

Don't you think it's kinda odd? All these game characters who don't, y'know, know? I know folks stick to their roles pretty close when they first get plugged in but I've been here for a year and then some...

[She shrugs. It wasn't really something she considered, having been so sure of her status in this world.]

Not like their codes aren't rewritten a lot anyway. They took out things like powers and combos, sometimes how people look. If I had that much of what's written in me taken out, I might forget, too.

Eh, maybe you're right...maybe we're the only ones who never got scrambled. Hah. Imagine you an' me. As the players.

Now that'd be weird.

[Polishing off the last of her meal, Vanellope sets aside her bowl and flops onto her back to watch lights flicker through the blanket ceiling. She wrinkles her nose, clearly uneasy.]

An' we wouldn't have to worry about so much...

I think we'd make good players. We know better than the hero types, y'know? 'bout playing fair.

_{[Ralph glances aside. He's not the most...graceful loser. And he hasn't mentioned those poor poke'gears he's smashed before Vanellope ever showed up.]}

Yeah, fair.

[She let's the conversation lull for a bit, listening hard to the weather outside. Another loud rumble gets her to flinch.]

...What do you think it's like? Being a player.

_{[He scrunches up his face as he thinks.]}

No quarter alerts...no programming. Be whoever you wanna be. Havin' something to do for fun besides aiming bricks at windows.

_{[Specifically Gene's window.]}

Hmmn. I guess that's kinda like being here. Except... You know, the bein' whoever you wanna be.

[At least their batty bosses weren't crazy enough to send them out in this storm.]

I hope the players keep leaving us alone... And that we're not plugged in somewhere with weather like this.

I'm not even sure there's been a player for a while now. Maybe we're just sitting in some basement somewhere. Or a museum.

That'd be nice. Staying like that forever.

[Vanellope sits back up and crawls over to the opening of Casa Manta, finding one of the pillows she'd discarded for its unsuitable shape. Instead of adding to her building, she drags it back, along with a flashlight, and flops over on top of it, pushing her chin in the puffy surface. The light in her hands goes on, off, on, off.]

...S'long as wherever we are doesn't run out of power, anyway.

_{[Ralph just sort of rocks his feet from side to side as he ponders about players and the concept of reality and a whole bunch of other stuff he was never programmed to do.]}

Still kinda wish they hadn't made us...y'know.

_{[He traced an R in the air with a finger.]}

[The light clicks off again, but this time she pauses.]

Yeah. [Vanellope sighs.] I mean, it could be worse? We've met some nice people there... Another girl I met said she's gonna sell candy, like me. Instead of what they trained us to do.

I guess spreadin' cavities is better than spreadin' chaos. What's your pal's name?

[She makes kind of an odd face at the word 'pal' -- she likes plenty of people she's met, but who was to say that they felt the same? She could call Cobra Commander her friend all she wanted, with how adamant he was about that being impossible. With those she got along with... Vanellope didn't want to jinx it.]

Cynthia. She's older than me -- and Sugar Rush, I'm pretty sure -- but she's really nice. Doesn't want to be a bad guy.

Good, good. Maybe if we got enough of us not-so-bad guys together we could, I dunno. Take a stand and leave it all behind.

Level 13 [Action] Backdated to July 30

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